Chapter 189

"Starting to feel a little fear yet, kid, the one they call Rowan? This is the power I've gained now that I'm a true Shadow Duelist!"

Titan raised a fist, clenching it tight, drunk on his own triumph.

"So after all that talk, are you actually going to activate Archfiend Matador Knight's effect and try to attack me directly?" Rowan asked, his tone dripping with mock helpfulness.

"This...!"

Titan choked on his own words. His gaze dropped instinctively to the two remaining face-down cards still sitting on Rowan's field.

He remembered exactly what had happened last turn, the trap Rowan had activated: Staunch Defender. If one of those two face-downs happened to be another copy, then even if he used Archfiend Matador Knight's ability to attack directly while Dark Arena was active, Rowan could simply force the attack onto Metaion instead, and that Timelord's post-battle effect would bounce every monster on the field back to its owner's hand, dealing 300 points of damage per monster in the process. It would turn straight back into a death sentence aimed at himself.

In an instant, cold sweat broke out all over Titan's face. It felt exactly like being back in that earlier duel with Rowan, trapped in that same agonizing choice between the Stealth Bird and the Wall of Disruption. To attack, or not to attack?

Before he even realized it, the veins across his skin had bulged out even further.

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

"This whole scene feels weirdly familiar somehow..." Alexis said, her expression a little odd, clearly remembering something.

The moment she said it, Jaden, Syrus, and Zane all started nodding rapidly in unison, like a row of chicks pecking at grain.

That same absurd situation again, where what should technically be an open, honest strategy somehow still managed to feel completely underhanded.

"You infuriating little brat...! But this situation is different from last time!"

After a long, agonized moment of indecision, Titan finally steadied himself, drawing on the dark power of his death mask, and let out a cold snort.

"I'll hold off this turn. Turn end!"

"Either way, next turn your Metaion's going to get shuffled back into your deck too, thanks to its own drawback, just like Raphion before it!"

"And if I'm not mistaken, that Metaion was probably the only Timelord left in your hand!"

Thanks to the power his death mask granted him, Titan's memory and perception had sharpened considerably. He recalled, faintly but clearly, that Metaion had been the very card Rowan drew last turn. Which meant that, statistically, the two cards remaining in Rowan's hand probably didn't include another Timelord.

"You're... more or less right, I guess."

Rowan raised an eyebrow and gave an oddly noncommittal answer.

"More or less...?" Jaden and Chazz both looked thoroughly confused.

So was he right, or wasn't he?

"Well, since your turn's over, it's my turn. Draw!"

Rowan didn't bother elaborating further, drawing from his deck with a faintly mischievous grin already forming. He pulled a card from his hand and held it up for everyone to see.

"Activating the Quick-Play Spell Mystical Space Typhoon from my hand! Destroying one Spell or Trap on your field!"

"And obviously, what I'm destroying is that pitch-black Field Spell of yours, Dark Arena!"

The moment Rowan finished speaking, the swirling lightning bolt design on the Quick-Play Spell in his hand kicked up a genuine tornado, sweeping outward and tearing straight through the darkness blanketing the field.

CRACK!!

With a sound like shattering glass, the darkness enveloping the entire area was blown apart and vanished all at once. Slowly, the field in front of the abandoned dormitory reappeared, along with the same night sky stretching overhead as before.

"Next, I'll Normal Summon in Attack Position, Time Maiden!"

Rowan slapped another card down onto his Duel Disk.

VWOOM!!

A faint glow flickered to life, and from it emerged a strange, mechanical angel with a familiar gray, cylindrical lower body, matching thin gray arms, and golden filigree patterns etched across its form.

[Time Maiden] [Level: 1] [Attribute: LIGHT] [ATK: 0] [DEF: 0]

"Time Maiden...? A regular, low-level Level 1 monster this time, not one of those Timelords from before?" Atticus frowned, a flicker of worry crossing his face.

Could it be true, exactly like Titan said, that Rowan really was out of Timelords in hand, forced to fall back on some low-level filler monster instead?

"Heh heh heh, so it's a real nothing monster this time, huh?!"

Across the field, Titan, still grinding his teeth over the loss of his Field Spell, let out a triumphant laugh at the sight.

A Level 1 monster with zero attack and zero defense. There was no way, he figured, that this thing could possibly carry the same kind of nauseatingly brutal effect as those last two Timelords, the kind that made him want to reach through the field and strangle someone.

But Alexis and Bastion, who knew Rowan far too well by now, immediately turned to study his expression instead.

As long as that look on his face wasn't one of genuine frustration, it was pretty much guaranteed there was some horrifically nasty plan hiding underneath it.

And sure enough, a moment later, they watched Rowan's smile grow even brighter and sunnier than before.

It looked, disturbingly, exactly like the expression he'd worn right before unleashing Metaion's effect.