Chapter 170

"I'll send the Level 8 monster in my deck, Mozarta the Melodious Maestra, and the Level 4 monster, Tamtam the Melodious Diva, to the Graveyard."

As Rowan gestured, drawing the two monster cards straight from his deck, a ghostly figure took shape before him: an elegant songstress in a flowing red gown, fairy wings shimmering with translucent light, alongside a small girl in a green dress holding a conductor's baton.

An instant later, both figures were pulled upward into a swirling vortex of red, blue, and green light that had opened above the field, twisting together as they fused.

"Let the supreme genius follow the baton's path and become one, carrying the song of victory onto the battlefield. Fusion Summon! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir!"

Rowan delivered the line with a theatrical flourish as the fusion vortex surged and split open. From within, a single wrapped flower emerged, slowly unfurling to reveal a cold, silver-haired little figure inside. As the bloom fell away completely, it revealed her true form: a flowing pink singer's gown.

She descended gently onto the field before Rowan.

[Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir] [Level: 6] [Attribute: LIGHT] [ATK: 1000] [DEF: 2000]

"Whoa, what an entrance!" Jaden, Chazz, and Syrus all stared, thoroughly impressed.

What confused them most, though, was that this time Rowan hadn't reached for something obviously cursed-looking, like the Lava Golem or the Stealth Bird deck.

Instead, he'd summoned something that looked genuinely elegant. Charming, even.

"Cute as she is, with only 1000 ATK, there's no way she's holding up against Tania's Amazoness Swords Woman or Amazoness Paladin, is there?" Alexis said, puzzled.

Unless that little monster had some other trick hiding up her sleeve.

"No matter how many of those dainty little things you send at us, they're never going to match the strength of an Amazoness warrior!" Tania called out from across the field, entirely unbothered.

"If she really were just some weak little 1000 ATK monster, why would I bother going through the trouble of using a Level 8 monster as Fusion Material just to summon her?"

Rowan shot back, a bright, sunny smile spreading across his face.

"Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir's special effect. This card cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effects, and any battle damage I would take from her battles becomes zero."

"What?! Can't be destroyed, and zero battle damage?!"

Tania froze.

That meant her Amazoness Swords Woman's whole nasty trick, threatening weaker monsters while baiting stronger ones into damage, was completely neutralized by this one deceptively delicate-looking monster.

"That's a genuinely powerful effect!" Alexis and Professor Crowler both looked stunned.

Honestly, it sounded even stronger than the Litmus Doom Swordsman Bastion had just summoned.

And if this monster really couldn't be destroyed by battle or by effects...

Then that meant...!

Alexis and the others watching, Tania included, all suddenly landed on the same realization at once.

Rowan had used Ostinato to summon this monster in the first place. That card's usual drawback destroyed the Fusion Monster it summoned at the end of the turn.

But if Bloom Diva couldn't be destroyed by any effect at all, wouldn't that completely sidestep Ostinato's own built-in penalty?

"Figured it out, huh? But that's not even the best part yet."

Watching Tania's shocked expression, Rowan smiled and raised the Duel Disk on his left arm. A soft flash lit up from his Graveyard.

"Now I'm activating the effect of Tamtam the Melodious Diva, the monster that just went to the Graveyard a moment ago as Fusion Material."

"When she's sent to the Graveyard as Fusion Material, I can choose one monster on my field with 'Melodious' in its name, and reduce its ATK by 500, dealing 500 damage to my opponent."

"There's no way. He's actually weakening his own monster?!" Tania said, startled.

Did having an indestructible effect really let him get this reckless with it?

An instant later, as Rowan's words settled, a soft flash lit up from his Graveyard, and the small, translucent figure of the green-dressed girl with the conductor's baton appeared, drawing some invisible thread of power out of the silver-haired, elegantly dressed Bloom Diva.

As Bloom Diva's ATK ticked down by 500, settling at 500, a ball of green light gathered at the tip of the little conductor's baton.

An instant later it shot across the field with a sharp crack, straight at Tania.

"Argh!"

The green energy bolt slammed squarely into the arm Tania threw up to block it, and she grunted in pain. A faint scorch mark seared across her arm.

Her Life Points, 4000 LP, dropped by 500, settling at 3500 LP.

"That barely stung, and you summoned a genuinely troublesome monster on top of it, but I'd say your turn's about done now, isn't it."

Once the damage settled, Tania let out a confident laugh, looking back at Rowan.

After all, even a monster with a nasty effect couldn't threaten her much at only 500 ATK.

Jaden, Chazz, and Professor Crowler all seemed to share that same assumption.

"Wouldn't count on that! Battle begin! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir, attack Amazoness Swords Woman!"

Rowan, still wearing that same sunny smile, waved a hand and gave the order without a second's hesitation.

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

Patreon Advance Chapters: patreon .com / ElvenKing20