Arriving at the examination hall, Yugen stood at a high spot in the audience seating and looked around, quickly spotting several familiar faces.
For instance, there was Marufuji Ryo from the Duel Academy, also observing from the high platform, and Asuka Tenjouin, who was often seen with him in the early stages of GX.
And then there was Chazz Princeton and his lackeys in the audience area already wearing the Obelisk-Blue uniform.
Both Chazz and Asuka were top students from the Duel Academy's Middle School Department. Only those admitted through such direct advancement could immediately enter the highest Obelisk-Blue Dormitory upon enrollment.
Other candidates entering through exams, even with perfect scores, could only be assigned to Ra's Dorm. That's why Mitsuzawa Earth, despite having the top score upon enrollment in the anime, could only enter Ra's Dorm. Only by showing excellent performance later could one get a chance to be promoted to Obelisk-Blue.
Yugen looked around once more, noticing that despite it being exam time, he had not seen a certain familiar Jellyfish Head.
Without any surprises, Judai's train should have been late today. At this moment, he should have bumped into Muto Yuugi on the road and received a Feathered Chestnut Ball from Yu-Gi-San, Judai's first Elf Card in the main story, which protected him during various Dark Duels in the early phases.
Simply looking at the GX story, the reason for Yuugi randomly encountering and gifting an Elf to a lucky Jellyfish Head wasn't explained at the start.
But if you consider the later movie "Bonds Beyond Time," it can be guessed that Yuugi had already met Judai who came back from the future many years ago, and thus in the present, Yuugi regarded Judai as an unwitting ally.
"Examination ID 001, Fujiki Yugen."
It finally started.
Yugen got up and walked towards the dueling area.
While observing from above earlier, he had already noticed the examiners were using several exam-specific card decks in rotation. As different candidates took the stage, it was those few decks going back and forth, and he had roughly figured them out.
Nothing he couldn't handle.
...
...
A minute earlier, Chazz Princeton and his two lackeys were relaxed, sitting in the stands.
"According to the grouping, the one with number 001 should be up soon, right?" Lackey A said, "I wonder who this year's number one will be."
Lackey B: "Heh, it doesn't matter who it is. This year's freshman emperor has long since been decided as Brother Chazz."
Chazz's lips curled into a sneer, chuckling under his breath.
"There's only one overlord of the Academy, as they say, two tigers cannot share one mountain... Well, if that guy is good enough, it'll be nice to have an opponent to pass the time. After all, if dominating is too easy, the three years in the Academy would be quite boring, hm hm..."
"Brother's right, hahaha..."
The three of them laughed together.
Then they heard the voice announcement.
"Examination ID 001, Fujiki Yugen, please proceed to Field One for the exam... Examination ID 001..."
The laughter abruptly stopped.
Lackey A: "Nani? This name, could it be..."
Lackey B: "Brother!"
Both turned around to see Chazz... but he was nowhere to be found.
"Huh? Brother, why are you under the bench?"
Despite it hurting a bit from the fall, Chazz couldn't care less. He swiftly crawled out from under the bench, his eyes wide and fixed on Field One.
Then he saw a familiar silhouette enter the field.
The Academy overlord Chazz Princeton, before he even set out, was midway to disaster, with his dream of domination vaporizing before he even enrolled, replaced instead by a fear once dominated by the Underworld...
Why is it you again!?
...
...
"Hello, teacher."
Standing on the field, Yugen greeted politely.
The examiner was an expressionless tough guy type, wearing sunglasses, unemotional: "Prepare to duel."
"Yes, teacher."
Yugen unfolded his Duel Disc, but before starting, he thought of something, furrowing his brow slightly.
"Wait a moment, teacher. Say, hypothetically... just hypothetically, although I win, during the duel you develop unhappy feelings, or are dissatisfied with the process itself... Is it possible you could fail me?"
"Don't worry." The sunglasses-wearing examiner remained poker-faced, "We examiners are professionally trained, not low-quality third-rate duelists. No matter the duel, I won't get angry."
After pausing, he added.
"Furthermore, the final decision on grades is by Professor Chronos, not me."
"I see."
Yugen felt relieved.
He remembered Professor Chronos, known as the man resembling the card art of Pot of Greed by ninety percent, also nicknamed the Strong Desire Spirit.
While initially appearing as a villain from the animation's perspective, he only targeted bad students. For top performers, like Mitsuzawa Earth, even when hit directly with a baseball, the professor could smile it off, saying it's fine... As long as you maintain your grades, the teacher will quickly recover...
So Yugen figured, being top in the written exam, Professor Strong Desire probably wouldn't trouble him.
"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP 4000]
[Examiner, LP 4000]
"I have the first turn, draw."
Yugen directly drew three cards.
"Front row, cover one Monster Card, back row, cover two Covering Cards. Turn over."
Up on the platform, Chazz began to feel suffocated upon seeing this opening move.
This familiar scent, this aura from the Underworld...
"Then it's my turn, draw." the examiner announced, "I normal summon 'Genetic Werewolf' in attack position."
[Genetic Werewolf, Attack Power 2000]
As soon as this card appeared, Yugen recognized which of the exam card decks it belonged to.
A Strong Attack Card Deck centered around Four-Star monsters, mostly with over 2000 attack points, easily forming field suppression by combining with Equipment Cards to reach two to three thousand attack points.
It's considered a headache-inducing deck for freshmen during entrance exams.
From the stands, some observing students also commented, "Look over there, Number One encountered that strong attack suppression deck."
"Yeah, I'm glad I didn't face it. What an unlucky guy..."
Only Chazz clasped his fingers tightly, remaining silent.
Unlucky? No, no, no.
The unlucky one is that examiner on the other side.
Facing this kind of nonsense with a strong attack deck, it's like eight lifetimes of misfortune...
"Attack with 'Genetic Werewolf'!"
The Cover Card flipped, revealing an old magician holding a green magic staff.
[Stubborn Old Mage, Defense Power 600]
"'Stubborn Old Mage', ability activate." Yugen declared, "When this card is flipped, select one opponent's monster and destroy it.
I destroy your 'Genetic Werewolf' on the field."
The old magician threw a magic bullet before perishing, causing the Genetic Werewolf to explode with a bang.
Within ten seconds on the field, the Genetic Werewolf was already trapped, yet this was still considered normal play. The examiner hadn't noticed anything wrong at this point.
"So it's a monster with a flip destruction ability, huh. Ending the battle phase then."
The examiner drew a card and inserted it into his Duel Disc.
"Now activating the Magic Card 'Resurrection of the Dead,' which allows a monster destroyed this turn to be revived in attack position." (Animated Effect)
The Magic Effect activated, opening a vortex leading to the Netherworld. After a burst of golden light, the dust-covered Genetic Werewolf returned to the field.
"Activate the Cover Card, Trap Card 'Demon's Deal'."
Yugen pressed a button on his Duel Disc, revealing the back row directly.
"When an opponent activates a Magic Card, pay 1000 Life Points to randomly discard one opponent's card."
[Yugen, LP 4000→LP 3000]
"Nani?"
The examiner was startled, looking down at his hand, and noticed one card had vanished into thin air with a golden light effect.
"Not over yet, following that, I activate the continuous Trap Card - Torrential Burial." Yugen motioned to reveal another back-row card, "It can be activated upon a monster's summon, special summon, or flip summon.
Destroy all monsters on the field!"
A torrent surged out from the cards, sweeping across the field. The pitiful Genetic Werewolf, before even finding footing, was once again caught in the whirlpool, ground to dust.
The examiner: "..."