Chapter 163:

"Let me show you exactly why this deck earned the name Difficult to Fathom as Shadow!"

The instant Amazoness Pet Tiger's attack landed against the face-down monster on Bastion's field, the massive sideways card flipped automatically, triggered by the strike.

A soft glow rose, revealing a small, spherical, bomb-shaped monster bristling with five hooked claws, snapping out like a sprung trap and latching directly onto the tiger's neck.

[Blast Sphere] [Level: 4] [Attribute: DARK] [ATK: 1400] [DEF: 1400]

"What?!"

Even Tania looked genuinely startled for a moment.

She clearly hadn't expected that particular monster to be waiting in Defense Position.

"Blast Sphere's special effect. When this monster, Set in face-down Defense Position, is attacked, it attaches itself to the attacking monster as an Equip Card."

Bastion smiled, full of confidence.

"Then, during your next Standby Phase, the equipped monster is destroyed, and you take damage equal to its ATK."

"So next turn, once that 1900 ATK Amazoness Pet Tiger goes down, that's a full 1900 points of damage coming her way!"

Chazz pumped his fist, cheering Bastion on with genuine enthusiasm.

"Bit of a shame it wasn't the Amazoness Swords Woman it latched onto instead, but that's still a genuinely solid bait play, dear Bastion!"

Rowan nodded along, offering his own praise, tacking on a little dig by borrowing Tania's own oddly affected nickname for Bastion, just to mess with him a bit.

It would have taken out a monster with its own troublesome effect still lurking, and dealt Tania nearly half her Life Points in damage on top of it.

"Nicely played, dear Bastion!" Jaden added, giving him a thumbs up.

"Way to go, dear Bastion!"

Syrus chimed in right behind him.

A vein practically popped on Bastion's forehead, a little hash mark of pure irritation flickering across his face.

He genuinely wanted to ask what kind of terrible teammates these were, working harder to mess with his head than the actual opponent.

"That set monster was a little more surprising than I expected, but still well within what I can handle."

Tania just laughed it off, entirely unbothered.

"Battle's not over, though! I've still got one monster on my field that hasn't attacked yet!"

"Amazoness Swords Woman, direct attack! Sword of Fury!"

At her signal, the equally muscular Amazoness swordswoman surged forward, her curved blade wreathed in flame, cutting straight toward Bastion.

"Too naive! Activating my set trap, Magic Cylinder! When an opponent's monster attacks, that attack is negated, and the attacking monster's own ATK is dealt back to its owner as damage!"

Seeing the swordswoman's attack closing in, Bastion gestured to the one remaining face-down card on his field, clearly having planned for exactly this.

A low hum sounded as the trap flipped open, revealing an image of two deep purple magic cylinders, and a pair of matching cylinders materialized on the field itself.

One cylinder swallowed the fiery energy from the swordswoman's blade whole.

The other immediately blazed to life with that same fire, and fired it straight back.

The flame took shape as a searing blade of pure energy, slashing across the field to strike Tania directly.

"Argh!"

Tania let out a pained grunt, staggering back. A fresh scorch mark seared across the exposed muscle beneath her light gray outfit.

Her Life Points, sitting at 4000 LP, dropped sharply by 1500, settling at 2500 LP.

"That Ra Yellow kid, Bastion, seems to be picking up some bad habits from a certain someone..."

Alexis, along with Jasmine and Mindy beside her, all wore the exact same complicated expression.

Jaden, Chazz, and Professor Crowler all blinked, landing on roughly the same thought.

Though a moment later, they reconsidered.

At least compared to Rowan's own decks, Bastion's build still fell within the range of what could reasonably be called normal.

And that combo, baiting with a face-down monster then following up with a trap, really had been a beautifully clean play.

But then they heard Rowan let out a long, disappointed sigh, wearing the exact expression of a mentor watching a promising student fall short of his potential.

"Bastion, you really are still a little too straightforward for your own good."

He was, apparently, missing that essential spark of "healing talent" and "positive energy."

According to Rowan, if Bastion had simply set one more Trap Card, one that boosted the opponent's monster ATK instead, then triggered Magic Cylinder off that inflated number, wouldn't the damage output have been maxed out completely?

And if he'd taken it one step further, layering in that trap he'd used all the way back during the entrance exams, the one that destroyed a monster on the field and dealt damage to both players equal to its ATK...

Wouldn't he have been able to wipe Tania's Life Points to zero in practically a single move?

Free unlock, several dozen bonus Amazoness clan Barbies included.

Everyone listening to Rowan shake his head and sigh over this "wasted potential," Jaden, Chazz, and Professor Crowler among them, all found themselves speechless.

They genuinely wanted to say one thing to him.

Of course.

When it comes to being cursed, nobody does it better than you.

Was that really the kind of deck construction and play sequence a normal person came up with on the fly?

Even Bastion, mid-duel, heard the whole exchange and went blank for a second, briefly regretting that he hadn't thought to consult Rowan beforehand while fine-tuning his Difficult to Fathom as Shadow deck.

But the Shadow Duel was already underway. For now, all he could do was press on with the strategy he already had.