Chapter 175

"Argh!!"

The spinning, razor-edged half-blade streaked across the field and struck the muscular Amazon Tania square on the arm, carving a wound clean enough to see with the naked eye.

She let out a sharp cry of pain, cold sweat beading on her forehead.

Her Life Points, sitting at 3600, ticked steadily downward under the full four thousand points of freeloaded damage from Amazoness Swords Woman, and dropped straight to zero.

The monsters on the field flickered and faded into nothing.

The towering black iron cage of the Amazon Arena collapsed inward and vanished along with them.

[Ding. Tania's Emotion Points +1000!]

Even with cold sweat soaking her brow from the pain, Tania kept her face dark, teeth gritted, glaring at Rowan.

She never, in a thousand years, would have imagined she'd end up practically freeloaded to death.

Losing like this, compared to going down swinging in a real slugfest, was somehow so much more humiliating.

"Now that was a great duel!"

Catching sight of Tania's expression right on the verge of exploding, Rowan, ever the helpful type, struck one of Jaden's signature victory poses and raised a hand with a smile, delivering his closing line

Tania felt her blood pressure spike straight past the danger line.

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

"RAAAH!!"

But right at that moment, a wave of dark energy suddenly rippled up from Tania's body, forcing her frame to hunch forward as she slowly began to transform.

Within moments, she had vanished entirely, replaced by a massive white Amazon tiger.

It let out a roar in Rowan's direction, unable to hold it in any longer.

The pitch-black glove she'd been wearing, the Shadow Charm, slipped from her form and fell to the ground, dissolving into a faint glow before it vanished completely.

"Eh?! That Seven Stars Shadow Duelist, Tania, her true form is actually a tiger?!"

Syrus was the first to cry out in shock.

Everyone else's faces went slack with the same disbelief.

Rowan himself, though, wasn't particularly surprised.

As far as he understood it, Tania's true form really was the materialized Duel Spirit he'd just fought, the one in that muscular woman's shape.

The reason she'd transformed into this Amazon tiger now, right after losing their Shadow Duel, was simple.

Sometime before this, Tania had lost a duel to the person who'd recruited her into the Seven Stars Shadow forces.

As punishment, she'd been cursed: the moment she set foot in this world, the real world, she would turn into a tiger.

The only reason she'd managed to hold her original Duel Spirit form throughout their match had been the power of that Shadow Charm.

"Duelist named Rowan, I'll remember you. I hope you never set foot in the Duel Spirit world again."

"Because if you do, I promise you, I'll come find you and settle this score."

The rough, gravelly voice that had once belonged to Tania rumbled out from the white Amazon tiger's throat, directed at Rowan, thick with frustration.

Then, just like Bass, her Amazoness Pet Tiger, she began dissolving into motes of light from the ground up, vanishing entirely as she returned to the Duel Spirit world where she belonged.

"That muscle-bound woman actually bit the hand that fed her?" Rowan looked just the slightest bit put out.

By his own account, he'd poured his whole heart into bringing that woman a taste of the real world's warmth and hospitality.

You'd think that would've earned him a nice basket of Amazon regional specialties as thanks. Instead he got threatened with a grudge match?

"That Seven Stars Shadow Duelist, the tiger Tania turned into, didn't even lunge at Rowan and take a bite out of him. That kind of self-control is honestly pretty impressive..."

Alexis let out a sigh and pressed a hand to her forehead at the sight.

Even she, just imagining herself in that situation for a second, felt her own blood pressure spike.

The fact that the other woman could hold herself back, could resist the urge to throw down with a certain someone right then and there, said something.

Truly worthy of being the queen of the Amazon tribe on the Duel Spirit side, that restraint.

Although, the fact that Rowan had just tried to poach one of her people did leave her more than a little annoyed.

"So, whose turn is it to carry Bastion back this time?"

Watching Alexis and the others walk up, Rowan spread his hands and posed a rather unavoidable, real-world question to Chazz, Jaden, and the rest of the group.

With Tania and her Amazoness Pet Tiger, Bass, both gone, Bastion had reverted straight back to his normal state.

Even so, though he'd recovered, the injuries he'd taken from the Shadow Duel were still very much real. Bastion remained unconscious, laid out flat on the ground.

"Last time, after Atticus fought his duel, it was Bastion who carried you two, unconscious hostages that you were, back home. So obviously, it's your turn to carry him this time!"

Chazz said it the instant the thought crossed his mind, immediately dumping the whole troublesome task onto Jaden, that hot-blooded idiot, and Syrus.

"Uh... Syrus, buddy, this is exactly the moment to prove your worth as my sidekick!" Jaden's expression froze for a beat before he turned straight to Syrus.

"That's so unfair, boss! There's no way my size and strength could carry Bastion!" Syrus scrambled for an excuse just as fast.

And then, a heartbeat later, everyone's eyes landed squarely on Chumley, standing in the middle of the group, and on Professor Crowler with his golden mushroom hair.

Both of them, at the exact same moment, took a step back to put a little more distance between themselves and everyone else.

Chumley and Professor Crowler froze on the spot.

Mamma mia, why was it always the two of them? Getting singled out for looking a certain way earlier, and now, when it came time to carry someone, the two of them were the unlucky ones again?

Sure, back during the whole Camula incident, it had also been Chazz and Bastion who'd carried people out.

But somehow they always ended up roped in too.

"Our Slifer Red koala boy, sounds like everyone's decided it's you." Professor Crowler, after a full second of stunned silence, wasted no time turning to the round, chubby Chumley beside him.

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