Chapter 186

"Heh heh heh, the Field Spell Dark Arena's effect. Whenever either player's monsters are able to attack, they must attack, and I get to choose the attack targets!"

Amid the panic from Alexis, Professor Crowler, and the others, Titan called out smugly from across the darkened field, his figure hidden by the enveloping gloom. The one thing that irritated him was that even now, with the darkness of Dark Arena blanketing everything, Rowan's expression hadn't shown a flicker of concern.

"Damn it! You want to keep up that fake composure, kid? Then let me show you something even worse. This time, it's my turn to make you suffer!"

Titan glared at Rowan with open displeasure, raising a hand.

"Archfiend Matador Knight's special effect. While the Field Spell Dark Arena is active, it can attack you directly!"

"Which means that troublesome Timelord sitting on your field can't even function as a wall to block this attack!"

"Go! Archfiend Matador Knight, Dark Death Ray!"

"Heeheehee!!"

At Titan's gesture, the jester-like fiend astride its ram-horned bone beast spread its claws wide, gathering a cone of sickly green energy. Cackling madly, it sent the blast streaking straight past the deep green Timelord standing on Rowan's field, aimed directly at Rowan himself.

"Seems like even becoming a Shadow Duelist didn't cure that condition of yours, the one where you just can't seem to spot a face-down card."

Rowan's smile only widened, the look of a man watching his bait finally get taken. He raised a hand toward one of the three face-down cards on his field.

"Let Doctor Rowan give you another round of treatment, free of charge."

"Activating a face-down card! Trap: Staunch Defender!"

At his gesture, one of the Trap Cards on his field flipped open, revealing an image of a fiend looming over a cowering soldier.

"That's Staunch Defender?!" Titan flinched in shock. He clearly knew exactly what this card did.

"The classic trap that forces a redirection of an attacking monster's target onto one of your own monsters instead?" Bastion, the one among them who'd studied the theory most thoroughly, immediately identified the trap's effect from the sidelines.

"Except with what Rowan's doing right now, combining it with Raphion's effect, that plain old staple trap just turned into something absolutely brutal," Chazz said, his mouth twitching.

After all, Raphion's effect triggered every single time its battle ended: it dealt damage to the opponent equal to the attack power of whichever monster had just battled it that turn. A hedgehog of a monster, built entirely around reflecting damage back. Nobody in their right mind wanted to touch it.

"Looks like you're plenty familiar with what Staunch Defender does too."

Rowan grinned at the bead of cold sweat that had just appeared on Titan's face.

"When an opponent's monster declares an attack, I get to choose one monster on my own field. For the rest of this turn, all of your monsters are forced to target that monster instead, and every single one of them has to attack it."

"So that attack from your Archfiend Matador Knight? My Timelord's going to be the one taking it."

VWOOM!!

The instant the words left Rowan's mouth, Raphion the Timelord flickered and teleported directly in front of him, carried by the crimson glow of Staunch Defender's redirection. Like a living shield, it raised both hands and effortlessly caught the incoming blast of sickly green energy.

At the same moment, cradled between its palms, that same sickly green cone of energy reflected straight back across the field, streaking toward the very man who owned Archfiend Matador Knight: Titan himself.

"Enjoy the taste of your own monster's power stabbing you in the back! Dark Death Ray!"

Titan's face went slack with panic as that same familiar green beam tore straight through him a second time. He doubled over, clutching his chest, screaming in agony.

His Life Points dropped once more, this time by his own Archfiend Matador Knight's attack power of 1600, falling from 2400 all the way down to a measly 800.

Two massive chunks of his own life total, both "delivered" courtesy of his own Archfiend Matador Knight's attacks. A wave of pure, choking frustration surged up in Titan's chest.

[Ding. Titan's Emotion Points +800!]

"Not bad at all... your very first burst of Emotion Points, and it comes in at a solid 800 right out of the gate!"

Rowan couldn't help but look genuinely impressed at the pleasant chime of the system notification. His eyes lit up as he gazed across the darkened field at Titan's shrouded figure.

He'd already decided he was going to give the man plenty more "treatment" during this duel, starting with that little condition of his where he apparently couldn't spot a face-down card to save his life.

Especially considering the man had been hiding in the dark this whole time. Must be pretty cold in there. Which meant it was only natural, Rowan reasoned, for a kind soul like himself to help raise Titan's blood pressure and body temperature a little. Just to warm him up.

The reasoning behind it was, frankly, heartwarming.

"Damn you, don't get too full of yourself just yet! I'll Set one card face-down and end my turn!" Titan snarled through gritted teeth, strange veins bulging faintly beneath the power of his mask. He slid a card from his hand into his Duel Disk, setting it face-down, and ended his turn.

Even though Rowan's Staunch Defender had just forced every one of Titan's monsters to attack this turn, his other monster, Archfiend Matador, sat at zero attack and zero defense, while Raphion the Timelord on Rowan's side couldn't be destroyed regardless. Whether they attacked or not made no real difference either way. So Staunch Defender's forced attack clause hadn't caused any complications this time, quietly overridden by the power of the Shadow Duel ritual space itself.