Chapter 110: You Almost Want to Applaud and Encourage Him

Darkness saw the barrier thinning and seized on it immediately, pivoting to psychological pressure with a satisfied laugh.

"It looks like that barrier can hold for another five or six turns at most. If this duel drags on much longer, those three hostages are going to end up in the magma."

"Why do you have the impression you'll last another five or six turns?"

Rowan looked at him with a mildly baffled expression, genuinely unable to let that go without comment.

Because if this Dragon-killer deck let the opponent survive past three turns, he'd have to seriously reconsider his own reputation.

"Hmph. Bold words. My turn, draw!"

Darkness pulled from his deck sharply.

Then his mouth curved as he looked at the card.

"It seems your little anti-Dragon deck has run its course. Activate set card! Second Continuous Trap: Call of the Haunted! Revive Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the Graveyard!"

The familiar trap flipped up. A column of orange and yellow flame erupted from the magma lake below the energy platform, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon rose from it once more, throwing back its head with a fierce roar.

...

Then, before it could get a second roar in, the Dragon Capture Jar on Rowan's field pulsed red and slammed it back down into Defense Position.

The dragon crouched against its will, pinned in place all over again.

"Wait," Syrus said from inside the sphere, exchanging a look with Chumley.

"If the second face-down was another Call of the Haunted, why didn't he activate it last turn when Skilled White Magician went for the direct attack? He could have blocked with Red-Eyes."

"Because it would have just been destroyed again," Jaden said, his expression growing more serious.

"Tribe-Infecting Virus was still on Rowan's field. If Red-Eyes came back, Rowan would discard one card and wipe it out a second time."

He paused.

"So Darkness chose to take the damage and keep Red-Eyes safe in the Graveyard. He was saving it for this turn. Whatever he's planning, this is it."

"Hmph. So you are a worthy opponent after all. No wonder you're carrying one of the Gate keys."

Behind the black dragon mask, Darkness's tone shifted, something like genuine composure settling into it.

"Then let me show you what Dragon-type monsters are truly capable of. Activate from my hand, Spell Card: A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon!"

A card appeared on his field. The illustration showed a colossal orange-yellow dragon rearing back, smashing the rocks beneath it to powder with a single beat of its wings.

"A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon?!"

Alexis reacted immediately, color leaving her face. She knew that card.

"Heheheh. This card's effect: by returning one Level 5 or higher Dragon-type monster from my field to my hand, I destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the field."

Darkness raised one hand in a slow, deliberate gesture. Red-Eyes Black Dragon, still crouched under the red energy suppression, dissolved into a beam of red light and returned to his hand as a card.

"I return Red-Eyes Black Dragon to my hand. Destroy every Spell and Trap card on the field!"

"Shatter! Dragon Capture Jar!"

A gale tore outward from the A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon card on his field, sweeping across the entire arena.

It hit Rowan's continuous trap and the remaining face-down beside it simultaneously.

Both cards shattered into particles and vanished.

...

"He did it. Darkness broke the lock." Alexis's voice dropped.

"The Dragon Capture Jar and Tribe-Infecting Virus together, that whole suppression chain, he broke through all of it."

Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley all went quiet, their expressions falling.

If Darkness was willing to return Red-Eyes to his hand just to destroy the Seal, he almost certainly had another way to deal with Tribe-Infecting Virus.

Nobody made that kind of trade without a follow-up plan.

"Without that annoying trap in the way, your defeat is guaranteed, boy!"

Darkness grinned beneath his mask, the satisfaction of someone who had been holding their breath for a very long time finally exhaling.

He wanted to see Rowan's face tighten. He wanted that same grave, alarmed expression the girl nearby was wearing, the same look as the three hostages in the distance.

Instead, what he got was Rowan standing there with a pleasant smile, watching him with the patient air of an audience member waiting for the next act, practically poised to applaud.

Darkness's eye twitched.

"Don't think that composure will save you. This turn, I'll show you a darkness and a power beyond anything you've seen!"

He grabbed one card from the three remaining in his hand and slapped it onto his Duel Disk.

"Summon, in Attack Position! Black Dragon's Chick!"

Several streaks of flame shot up from the magma lake below the energy platform.

They converged on his field, and in a pulse of light, formed into a single crimson dragon egg.

Along one side of the shell ran a dark, jagged crack, and through it, a pair of small scarlet dragon eyes peered outward.

Black Dragon's Chick Level: 1 Attribute: Dark ATK: 800 DEF: 500

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