Chapter 182

"The first one's a Goblin Deck..."

Rowan muttered to himself, looking over the three remaining options left after he'd redeemed the Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Claw.

[Deck: Goblin Deck (original Ra Yellow build)] 500 points. [Deck: Barrier Machine God Deck (Underworld Torment build)] 1500 points. [Deck: Darklord Deck (Underworld Life-or-Death Burn build)] 1500 points.

As for that first option, the weaker beginner's version of the Goblin Deck that Ra Yellow himself supposedly used, Rowan had no intention of even considering it. From what he remembered, that deck couldn't even hold a candle to Zane Truesdale's Cyber Dragon deck in terms of pure "Underworld" nastiness. It was about as ordinary and toothless as a starter deck could get.

But looking at the remaining two genuinely Underworld options, a smile spread across his face.

The Barrier Machine God Deck was clearly the kind of top-tier torment build where every single monster's effect was designed to be miserable to play against, all backed up by a matching pair of Barrier trap cards working in tandem. The Darklord Deck, meanwhile, twisted life-gain effects into life-drain effects instead, a proper poison build. Its bleed rate was even more absurd than the Stealth Bird deck he'd redeemed earlier.

Still, when it came to pure torment value, the Machine God Deck was clearly the more Underworld of the two. With that in mind, Rowan decisively redeemed it.

The moment the new deck was locked in, combined with the Dragon's Claw he'd just redeemed, the one granting the Crimson Dragon's true sight to see through a target's good or evil nature, his once comfortably plump stockpile of 7000 Emotion Points came crashing straight back down to a mere 200.

"Money really does flow like water, doesn't it."

Rowan stared at his drastically shrunken points total, now nowhere near enough to redeem another Crimson Dragon Mark, and let out a long sigh. He decided then and there that he'd need to squeeze every last point of profit out of that unlucky old bastard Titan to make up for it.

"Ding, ding, ding."

Just then, Rowan noticed that the Duel Academy communicator in his pocket, which had sat silent for what felt like an eternity, had suddenly started buzzing. Curious, he pulled it out and flipped it open, and Alexis Rhodes's face soon appeared on the screen, her expression noticeably tense as she got straight to the point.

"Rowan, Professor Crowler just came to the infirmary to gather everyone. He says a new Seven Stars Shadow Duelist has shown up!"

"Professor Crowler came to tell you...?"

Rowan blinked in surprise at that. That blond mushroom head's Spirit Key had vanished long ago, right after his loss to Camula. Under normal circumstances, there shouldn't be any reason for one of the Seven Stars' dark faction to come after Professor Crowler specifically, right?

But a moment later, a possibility occurred to him. If it was that unlucky old bastard Titan, then, well, it wasn't entirely out of the question. Maybe the man had gone looking for the blond mushroom head to collect on some unpaid debt.

A short while later, Rowan arrived at the infirmary with the round Kuriboh in tow. He found Professor Crowler standing there, sweating bullets, staring down at a receipt sitting on the infirmary table. Not far off, sitting on a nearby hospital bed, were Chazz Princeton, Bastion Misawa, and Jaden Yuki, all wearing identical expressions of utter exasperation. Alexis sat in a chair with her arms crossed, wearing the same look, clearly having already gotten the full story out of the blond mushroom head professor once already.

"So what exactly is going on here...?" Rowan asked, glancing at the receipt before turning to the group with a look of open bewilderment.

"That sixth Seven Stars Shadow Duelist who showed up, it turns out he's the same fake Shadow Duelist Titan from before, the one who accidentally triggered the Shadow Duel space in the abandoned dorm and ended up dueling you," Alexis explained, glancing pointedly at the receipt in Professor Crowler's hands before turning to fill Rowan in, clearly out of patience.

Professor Crowler stiffened from head to toe at that.

"And the reason that fake Shadow Duelist Titan showed up at the abandoned dorm in the first place was because Professor Crowler hired him, to try and scare you and Atticus off!" Syrus and Zane Truesdale both said at once, fists clenched, glaring at Professor Crowler as they explained the situation to Rowan.

That only made the sweat pour down Professor Crowler's face even faster. The moment he noticed Rowan's gaze land on him, the blond mushroom head professor looked ready to sweat out an entire washbasin's worth on the spot, his heart clenching with panic.

Oh mamma mia! This time he was absolutely, positively going to get exposed, that photo of the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm he'd snapped with his camera was going to come out for sure! And then Chancellor Sheppard was going to fire him on the spot!

"Titan showing up again this time is obviously because he's come looking for his fee! Whether he's actually a genuine Seven Stars Shadow Duelist or not, that's still not entirely confirmed!"

Seeing that Rowan hadn't said anything yet, Professor Crowler quickly jumped in to try and ease the tension weighing on him.

"And if he isn't one, then I, as your teacher, will personally handle him myself when our agreed meeting time comes tonight!"

"Well, since Professor Crowler's put it that way, let's just leave it at that for now," Rowan said, spreading his hands as he watched the blond mushroom head professor put on his most earnest face.

"But if it does turn out he's a genuine Seven Stars Shadow Duelist, and it falls on us to deal with him in the end, then..."

"Then I'll take that generous fee that was originally meant for Titan, add a little extra on top, and hand the whole thing straight over to you, my dear... Rowan, my boy!"

Sweat poured down Professor Crowler's face all over again as he hastily raised a finger, practically falling over himself to make the offer. Paying off the problem student to buy forgiveness for the whole Titan incident. A little money spent now to avoid a much bigger disaster later.