Chapter 56

"So what if you guessed right? Terrorking Archfiend is already on the field. There's no path to victory for you now."

Titan's confidence hadn't cracked. He raised his fist and called out the effect.

"Infernalqueen Archfiend activates her special ability! Once per turn, I select one Archfiend monster I control and increase its attack points by 1000 until my next Standby Phase!"

"I choose Terrorking Archfiend!"

A surge of dark violet energy rolled off the robed Queen and slammed into the Terrorking.

The armored demon seemed to swell, its presence expanding, the ground trembling faintly beneath its feet.

2000 attack points climbed to 3000.

Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley's expressions all darkened another degree.

"But Rowan's got the face-down monster in Defense Position," Chumley said, brow furrowed.

"Whether it's 2000 attack or 3000 attack shouldn't matter that much, right?"

He was thinking of the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian.

Its effect prevented it from being destroyed in battle by anything with 1900 attack or more.

And the Infernalqueen's 900 attack couldn't scratch its 1200 defense.

"He might have something to boost the Queen's attack."

Alexis's eyes moved over the field, a quiet, unreadable flicker in them.

"The cold beauty catches on fast. Exactly right."

Titan drew one of his remaining three hand cards and set it on the disk.

"I activate the Equip Spell, Malevolent Nuzzler, equipping it to Infernalqueen Archfiend. It raises the equipped monster's attack by 700."

The Queen screeched with excitement as dark energy poured into her. 900 became 1600.

"That's past the Celtic Guardian's threshold!"

Syrus yelped.

"With that, your troublesome little swordsman gets swept off the field." Titan raised his hand with satisfaction.

"Infernalqueen Archfiend, attack the face-down monster! Inferno Shockwave!"

"You think I set three face-down cards just for decoration?"

Rowan raised a hand toward the first of his three set cards.

"Trap card, open. Numinous Healer... no. Wall of Disruption."

The card flipped up, its purple-black divided design catching the dim light.

"When an opponent's monster declares an attack, all attack position monsters my opponent controls lose 800 attack points for each monster they control. You have two monsters on the field. That's 1600 points off both Infernalqueen Archfiend and Terrorking Archfiend."

"What?!"

Two beams of light, one purple, one black, shot from the revealed trap and wrapped around both demons simultaneously.

The Queen, mid-charge, faltered. The Terrorking, waiting at Titan's side, buckled.

The numbers fell.

Infernalqueen Archfiend: 1600, down to 0. Terrorking Archfiend: 3000, down to 1400.

"Nice one, Rowan!"

Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley called out together.

"The attack still goes through," Rowan said pleasantly, with a bright, easy smile aimed at Titan.

"Let's see what 0 attack points does to my monster."

The trap had reduced the attack power, not cancelled the attack itself. The Queen was still committed.

She would still strike the face-down card.

"Don't get comfortable!"

Titan snapped, the smile irritating him more than it should have.

"Even if the Queen can't break through, Terrorking still has 1400 attack points after the reduction. That's enough to destroy your Celtic Guardian on the next hit!"

"Who said anything about the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian?"

Rowan's expression was strange. Almost pitying.

"What did you just say?"

Titan went rigid.

Alexis, Jaden, and the others all leaned forward slightly.

The Infernalqueen's shockwave, all 0 points of it, struck the large face-down card in Rowan's field.

The card flipped.

"Kraaaah!!"

Something dark and blue and wrong-looking erupted from the reveal.

A creature with a bat-like head ending in a hooked beak, wide wings spread against the cold air of Pandemonium, wearing an expression that could only be described as a sneer.

It threw back its head as an icy cyclone kicked up around it.

Ghostrick Alucard... no.

Skull Servant... no.

Sangan... no.

Stealth Bird. Level 3 / DARK ATK 700 / DEF 1700

"That's... that's a Stealth Bird?!"

Titan stared at it.

When his eyes dropped to the defense stat, what little color remained under the mask visibly drained.

1700 defense.

A monster with 0 attack points had just attacked into 1700 defense.

The result required no explanation.

"Kraaaah!!"

The Stealth Bird tilted its bat-beaked head and let out something like a cold laugh.

Its wings snapped, and the icy cyclone they'd been building tore outward and wrapped around the Queen's shockwave, flipping it back the way it came.

The freezing wind hit the Infernalqueen like a blade. It hit Titan the same way.

"AAUGH!"

"Ah!"

Monster and duelist screamed together. The Queen hadn't been destroyed, she'd attacked a Defense Position monster, but the backlash tore through her all the same.

And Titan, wrapped in his heavy black trench coat, suddenly had visible gashes across his body, cuts appearing where fabric had been, dark lines of blood on the lower half of his face where the mask didn't cover.

His Life Points counter dropped.

4000 LP --> 2300 LP