Chapter 122: Why Don’t You Just Call Yourself Joey Fire Instead?

"The one I choose to revive is, of course, the one I just sent to the Graveyard with the Spell Card Foolish Burial: Vampire's Curse!"

At Camula's beckoning wave, a faint glow rippled across the field before her, and a silhouette took shape: blue hair, unmistakably sharp fangs, bat wings, a body clad in purple armor.

It let out a low, mocking chuckle as its eyes settled on Professor Crowler.

[Vampire's Curse] [Level: 6] [Attribute: DARK] [ATK: 2000] [DEF: 800]

"Did Professor Crowler seriously just get played?!"

Watching the scene unfold, Kaiser Zane Truesdale, Jaden Yuki, and Chazz Princeton all felt their expressions shift, if only slightly.

"How could this be...! Has that Camula really seen through Professor Crowler's deck to this degree?"

Alexis Rhodes said, unable to hide her surprise as she watched the live feed relayed on her communicator screen.

Logically speaking, Professor Crowler rarely dueled other people to begin with, so his opponent shouldn't have known what was inside his deck at all.

Not to mention that a deck could always be adjusted between duels.

And yet what Camula had just used was so precisely tailored against him...

"She probably used that materialized Duel Spirit, the vampire bat, to spy on the golden-haired mushroom-head professor's revised deck. It showed up outside our window earlier, after all."

Rowan said, not looking the least bit surprised.

If he'd guessed right, after that vampire bat slipped out through the infirmary window earlier, it had gone on to spy on the decks of everyone else holding a Spirit Key, Professor Crowler included.

"Ohohoho, no need to put it so harshly, boy. This isn't called snooping on someone's deck. It's called gathering intelligence."

Hearing Rowan's voice carry over, Camula laughed smugly as she defended herself.

As she spoke, the materialized form of a small vampire bat Duel Spirit settled near her shoulder, its diamond-shaped eyes flashing red.

"A materialized Duel Spirit?!"

Kaiser Zane Truesdale, Jaden Yuki, and the others all noticed the little vampire bat perched near Camula's shoulder the moment she spoke.

"Indeed. That bat isn't like an ordinary one at all. It really does resemble the monster on the Vampire Bat card."

Bastion Misawa said, nodding as he compared it, confirming what Rowan had said.

"One of the small-fry Duel Spirits on my side says the same thing. That it's no ordinary bat."

Chazz added, an anger mark all but bulging on his forehead as he kept swatting at his own Ojama Yellow, who was wiggling in its red underwear and shamelessly grinding its rear end into his face.

"Mamma mia, a materialized Duel Spirit... don't tell me I'm actually caught up in a real Shadow Duel...!"

Professor Crowler went rigid at the thought, cold sweat immediately starting to pour down his face.

"What's wrong, mushroom-head professor? Trembling in fear already? It's still your turn, you know."

Camula sneered, deliberately borrowing the nickname Rowan had just coined.

"Y-you vile vampire woman, I'm trembling with excitement!"

Noticing that Jaden, Chazz, and the others were all looking his way after that remark, Professor Crowler snapped back to attention at once, fists clenched as he shouted back at Camula.

"Even with that spying trick of yours, the advantage is still mine!"

"I'll show you right now what a truly powerful duelist looks like! Someone you can't bring down just by peeking at his deck!"

With that, Professor Crowler set one of the three cards remaining in his hand onto the Duel Disk before him.

"I Tribute my two Special Summoned Wicked Tokens to Tribute Summon Ancient Gear Golem in Attack Position!"

"BOOOOM!!"

Amid a flash of light, the two golden Wicked Token statues, offered up as tribute, dissolved into motes of light and vanished.

Moments later, amid trembling ground and rising dust, the towering form of an ancient mechanical gear giant rose into being, appearing on the field before Professor Crowler.

[Ancient Gear Golem] [Level: 8] [Attribute: EARTH] [ATK: 3000] [DEF: 3000]

"There it is! Professor Crowler's ace monster, Ancient Gear Golem!"

Jaden said, eyes bright with excitement as he pumped his fist at the sight of the towering machine.

"That should carve a serious chunk out of her Life Points, and with 3000 ATK behind it, she won't be able to get past it easily without taking damage of her own in return."

Kaiser Zane Truesdale said with a faint smile, nodding in approval.

"Dueling is beauty itself! One must always duel with elegance! Watch closely, everyone, this is a proper lesson in practical dueling!"

Professor Crowler declared, practically floating on air again. Then, with a wave of his hand, he gestured toward the blue-haired vampire across the field.

"Ancient Gear Golem, attack Vampire's Curse! Crowler Giant Fist!"

"What kind of name is that supposed to be..." Rowan couldn't help but want to poke fun at it, if only a little.

Then why not just call it Joey Fire while you're at it?

He'd thought his own move names, things like Crescent Moon Heaven Piercer, were already embarrassingly over the top.

Turns out this golden mushroom-head professor could top even that.

A textbook case of chuunibyou if he'd ever seen one.

"Guah!!"

Ancient Gear Golem's dark, mechanical fist slammed into the blue-haired figure of Vampire's Curse, and it shattered with a pained cry, breaking apart into particles that scattered into nothing.

At the same moment, the shockwave from the shattering particles washed over Camula standing behind it, dropping her Life Points straight from 4000 down by 1000, leaving her at 3000.

Yet Camula herself showed no sign of having taken any real damage at all.

If anything, she still looked utterly at ease, as relaxed as ever.

Clearly, being the last true vampire left in the real world came with a constitution, and a strength, that let her shrug off an attack that hadn't even been all that painful to begin with.