Chapter 114: Hit Anything Else and It Starts Coughing

"Know why, when I picked which Dragon-Type monster on your field to NTR as Fusion Material, I went with Red-Eyes Black Dragon instead of this Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon?"

Watching Darkness keep feeding him Emotion Points without end, Rowan's grin nearly split his face in two. In excellent spirits, he tossed the question over almost as an afterthought.

"NTR... is that some strange word he just invented?" Alexis said, a bead of sweat rolling down her face as she rubbed her temple, half exasperated.

The trio of self-declared academic disasters, Jaden and Syrus among them, just stared blankly, not catching the faintly odd meaning of the word at all. Instead, they turned their attention to the actual question: why had Rowan chosen the opponent's Red-Eyes Black Dragon as Fusion Material, rather than the clearly stronger Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon standing right there?

If they remembered correctly, by Rowan's own explanation, Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman only needed one specific Buster Blader plus any Dragon-Type monster at all to be summoned.

"Is it because, forced into Defense Position in front of this dragon slayer, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon both sit at exactly 2000 defense, and to your Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman, there's simply no difference between them?" Darkness forced out through gritted teeth, his face twisted with displeasure.

Such arrogance! He was being looked down on, and by Darkness of all people!

"No. It's because the dragon-slaying blade in its hands only enjoys cutting down stronger Dragon-Type monsters. Cut down a weak one, and it just coughs."

Rowan wagged a finger, putting on an exaggeratedly serious expression as he said it.

"..." Alexis, and Jaden and the others watching from a distance, nearly toppled straight over at that.

Meanwhile, the color beneath Darkness's mask went even greener.

[Ding. Darkness's Emotion Points +500!]

Hearing that pleasant system chime, the satisfaction on Rowan's face deepened a little more.

"Now for the finishing blow. Darkness!"

"Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman, attack Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon! Crescent Moon Heaven..."

Rowan caught himself mid-sentence. "Ptoo. Scratch that. Destruction Sword Flash!"

He said it with a wave of his hand, gesturing across the field.

On the field before him, the platinum and black armored dragon slayer raised its blade with an air of ceremony, dark, powerful energy igniting along its edge. The instant it swung, that energy became a massive crescent-shaped slash and shot forward.

"Roooaar!!"

Facing that huge, dark crescent wave bearing down on it, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, still pinned to the ground, could only whimper and roar as it braced for the killing blow. An instant later the slash cut clean through it, and it burst into a ball of fire and smoke, gone.

Yet the dark crescent wave, having cut through Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, still carried on to strike Darkness standing behind it. Though for some reason, its force had clearly been reined in somewhat, it still sent his black-coated figure flying, and he crashed down with a pained cry at the edge of the white energy field behind him.

He was out cold instantly.

And his remaining 2300 Life Points, up against a full 5800 points of piercing damage from Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman tearing through the 2000 defense Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, dropped to zero in an instant. He ended up in the hole for more than half again what he'd had left.

[Ding. Darkness's Emotion Points +200.]

"Another talented individual, contributing Emotion Points even while unconscious..."

Hearing that system chime ring out again, Rowan found himself a little startled. His eyes lit up as he glanced at the unconscious, black-coated figure lying across the field.

As far as he was concerned, Alexis's brother was someone worth keeping around.

Rowan suddenly recalled that, after all this was over, Alexis's ridiculous older brother was apparently going to lose his memory of the whole Shadow Duel business for a while...

Which meant...

The more Rowan thought about it, the stranger his expression became. He was practically radiating the aura of a saint.

"Rowan, something's changing over here!"

Alexis suddenly cried out, as if she'd just noticed something. Rowan looked up and saw that with Darkness's defeat, the white energy field that had hosted the Shadow Duel had begun glowing again. Even the orb of light imprisoning Jaden, Syrus, and the others started giving off a blinding white glow.

Alexis and the others grew a little frantic, worried the energy might vanish and drop them straight down into the lava below.

"Kuri kuri!"

"No need to worry. This energy should be sending us back the way we came."

Hearing the round Kuriboh's voice on his shoulder, Rowan settled down at once and offered the reassurance. Given how sharp its instincts were for good and evil, and for sensing danger, it was unlikely to be wrong. Especially since, if he remembered the original storyline correctly, this white energy field had served exactly this purpose before.

"Hmmm!!"

The next moment, the blinding white light flared, and Rowan, Alexis, and the others all instinctively shut their eyes.

When they opened them again a moment later, Rowan found that they were now standing on a wide stretch of brown rock near the volcano behind Duel Academy. Alexis, still not quite recovered from the flash of white light, leaned against him, half-dazed.

"Darkness's whole Shadow Duel ritual space really doesn't get the job done efficiently, does it."

Rowan's mouth twitched as he grumbled to himself. After all, he'd been in his own luxury cabin when this whole thing started, and now he'd been dropped off at the edge of some volcano? The least it could do was pick him up and drop him off properly, door-to-door.

Here he was, a model of saintly patience, staying up all night playing cards with the guy, delivering him so much "laughter" and "warmth." The worst that had happened was the other guy's soul getting sealed away. That's all.

And he didn't even deserve door-to-door service for that?

Rowan's verdict on the whole affair: cheap. Just plain cheap.