Chapter 130: Bet You Didn’t Expect Me to Have More!

"How could this be?! My Illusion Gate actually...?!"

Camula spun around in shock, staring at the golden Illusion Gate behind her, its cracks steadily spreading wider.

Even Bastion and Chazz, watching from below, along with Alexis and the others, who had just tensed up bracing themselves against whatever Camula was about to unleash, all wore expressions of astonishment as they stared at the scene unfolding on the distant platform across the way.

"Could it be...?!"

The next instant, both Camula and everyone else present seemed to arrive at the same thought at once, and all eyes turned toward Rowan.

It was obvious enough. Among everyone present, Rowan was the only one who could possibly have done something.

Sure enough, Rowan had just raised his hand, revealing a monster card from his hand for everyone to see.

"I believe I mentioned before, no matter how powerful your card is, it still needs to actually activate successfully."

Rowan said, a faint, sunny smile spreading across his face as he looked at Camula.

"I activate Herald of Perfection's special effect on the field! When my opponent activates a Spell, Trap, or monster effect, I can send a Fairy-Type monster from my hand to the Graveyard to negate that effect and destroy it!"

As he spoke, he slid the monster card he'd just revealed into the Graveyard slot of his Duel Disk.

"I choose to send to the Graveyard the Level 2 Fairy-Type monster, Diviner of the Herald, the very one Cyber Angel Benten's effect had just added to my hand from my Deck, and use it to negate and destroy your Illusion Gate!"

"Herald's Radiance!"

At Rowan's gesturing wave, Herald of Perfection, standing on the field before him with its rainbow-colored wings and its body like two white metallic spheres stacked together, lit up with a holy radiance of white and green light.

As that radiance burst outward, it fell upon the golden Illusion Gate standing behind Camula, seeming to purify it outright, and in an instant the gate's once-golden luster turned dull and lifeless.

Then it shattered into particles and vanished from sight.

"How could this be...! My Illusion Gate has actually been destroyed! You damned brat!"

Camula's fists clenched at once, her expression darkening as she glared at Rowan with pure venom.

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

"Beautifully done! He actually managed to destroy Camula's most troublesome card, Illusion Gate!"

Bastion and Chazz, among others, pumped their fists in excitement at once.

"That means it'll just come down to an ordinary Shadow Duel now."

Alexis let out a breath of relief as well, the tension from before easing off her face as she spoke with a touch of warmth.

"Don't think that just because Illusion Gate is gone, you can actually beat me!"

Camula gritted her teeth, pulling a card from her hand and setting it onto her own Duel Disk to activate it.

"From my hand, I activate the Spell Card, Foolish Burial! I don't suppose this card's effect needs any further explanation, does it, you irritating brat across the field?"

"I send one monster from my Deck to the Graveyard! And of course, the one I choose is Vampire's Curse!"

Camula's eyes bore into Rowan with a meaningful intensity, watching closely for his reaction.

She knew perfectly well that Rowan still had at least one more Fairy-Type monster left in hand, one he could use to activate Herald of Perfection's effect on the field.

Namely, that Cyber Angel Benten which had returned from the Graveyard to his hand earlier.

Rowan was quick to grant her exactly what she was hoping for.

He immediately revealed a monster card from the four remaining in his hand.

"I activate Herald of Perfection's special effect, discarding Cyber Angel Benten from my hand to negate Foolish Burial and destroy it!"

The mature, elegant-looking monster card he'd just revealed dissolved into motes of light on its own and vanished, sliding into the Graveyard slot of his Duel Disk.

"Bzzzz!!"

The rainbow-winged, white metallic sphere monster on the field before him lit up once more with that same holy white and green radiance, spreading outward.

"Herald's Radiance!"

The white and green holy light burst forth, and in an instant the Foolish Burial Spell Card that had appeared on the field before Camula dimmed and dulled, then shattered into particles and disappeared.

"Damn it!" Camula's expression twisted for a moment.

[Ding. Camula's Emotion Points +200!]

But soon enough, the corner of her mouth curled upward again, and she said smugly, "Sure, you summoned a troublesome monster, but you're still a little too green for this."

"All it took was a little bait, and I managed to lure out your ace in the hole!"

"Nani?!"

Watching from below, Alexis and Chazz, among others, couldn't help but startle at the words.

Could it be that the chain she'd been setting up, sending Vampire's Curse to the Graveyard with Foolish Burial and then reviving it, had actually just been broken?

Was Foolish Burial itself nothing but deliberate bait, meant to lure Rowan into triggering Herald of Perfection's effect?!

"This damned Fairy-Type Ritual Monster's effect really is quite the headache. But it has one fatal precondition. You need enough Fairy-Type monsters left in hand to serve as the 'bullets' for activating it. And now, I've successfully burned through your hand!"

Camula said with a smug laugh, raising the Duel Disk on her left wrist, its Field Spell Zone unfolding at once.

She then placed a Field Spell Card onto it.

"From my hand, I activate the Field Spell, Infernalvania!"

"RUMBLE!!"

Amid the rumbling roar of the trembling ground, the field around them transformed once more, turning in an instant back into that same sinister castle from before, surrounded by its scattering of grim little fortress walls.

Only the two second-floor platforms serving as the dueling arena, where Rowan and Camula stood facing each other, along with the red-carpeted floor of the hall below where Alexis and the others stood, remained unchanged.

"Not good!"

Seeing the sinister castle walls materializing all around them, Alexis and the others felt their faces go pale at once.

Infernalvania's effect let its user discard a Zombie-Type monster from hand to destroy every monster their opponent controlled on the field.

Back when Professor Crowler had dueled Camula, she'd used it to easily destroy his ace monster, Ancient Gear Golem.

But before long, they all seemed to remember something, and with strange looks on their faces, instinctively glanced over at Rowan's reaction.

Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, they found a certain someone still looking perfectly unbothered, his smile even growing steadily sunnier.

"Hmph, and just like that, that troublesome monster of yours on the field is about to be wiped out by me on the spot!"

Camula said smugly, raising her hand, about to reveal a Zombie-Type monster card from her hand to activate the Field Spell's effect.

"You didn't actually think those two Fairy-Type monsters just now were all I had in hand, did you?"

Just then, Rowan had already gotten ahead of her, pulling out yet another Fairy-Type monster card from his hand with a broad, satisfied grin, right as Camula's expression changed abruptly at the sight.

Bet you didn't see this coming. I've still got another card up my sleeve.

-------------------------

Patreon Advance Chapters: patreon .com / ElvenKing20