Chapter 95: Those Sneaky Little Yellow Minions

"Attack power 2800! And he went from Armed Dragon LV3 all the way to LV7 in a single turn!"

Syrus couldn't help but panic a little at the sight of the imposing Armed Dragon LV7 looming over Chazz's field.

"Chazz has seriously gotten a lot stronger," Jaden murmured, genuinely impressed.

He could feel the pressure himself.

Even from where he was standing.

The only saving grace was that Rowan still had four Ojama tokens on his field, ready to absorb the hits.

"Let me be generous and spell it out for you, Rowan. Armed Dragon LV7's special effect: by sending one monster from my hand to the Graveyard, I can destroy every monster on your field with an ATK lower than that discarded monster's!"

Chazz said it directly, smugly, as if he'd heard Jaden's thoughts from across the arena.

"That can't be right!"

Alexis, Bastion, and Jaden all flinched in the same instant.

"Does that mean all four of Rowan's Ojama tokens are..."

"Heh. Exactly. No matter how many of those worthless little creatures he piles up, Armed Dragon LV7 can wipe the entire field clean in one move."

Chazz folded his arms with the satisfied confidence of someone who had already won.

And the truth was, the rest of his hand was set up well enough that even if Armed Dragon LV7 got destroyed this turn, he could summon it right back next turn without much trouble.

On top of that, his continuous trap, Royal Decree, was already on the field and locking down every trap-based defensive option Rowan had.

In other words, Chazz had maneuvered himself into an airtight position.

"Rowan..."

Alexis glanced over at him with a flicker of worry.

But then she paused.

Because Rowan's expression hadn't changed.

That same unhurried calm. And if anything, the edge of amusement playing at the corner of his mouth had grown sharper.

"Sounds like nobody ever told you: enough ants can bring down an elephant. Let me give you a proper lesson in that today, Chazz."

Rowan said it lightly, already reaching for his deck.

"My turn. Draw!"

That feeling again...!

The moment Rowan drew, both Jaden and Zane straightened at the same time, eyes locking onto him with sudden intensity.

There was no mistaking it.

A duelist's draw guided by conviction. Rowan had pulled exactly what he needed.

"Activate Spell Card: Graceful Charity! You're not unfamiliar with this one, are you, Chazz?"

Rowan held up the card with an easy smile. The image of a halo-crowned angel materialized over his field.

"Draw three cards from the top of my Deck, then discard two."

Chazz let out a low growl through clenched teeth as Rowan pulled three cards from his deck and added them to his hand, bringing his total to six.

Then, without hesitation, Rowan selected two and sent them to the Graveyard.

"One of the two cards I'm discarding is the Spell Card: Ojamagic!!"

The moment the card hit the Graveyard, a new image bloomed into existence over Rowan's field with a deep hum: a magical card depicting a swirling vortex, with three small figures in yellow, green, and black circling one another.

"Ojamagic?!"

The name landed strangely on everyone present.

Whether it was Chazz across the field, the Duel Academy students packed into the stands, or the North Academy contingent, they all wore the same bewildered expression.

The Ojamas were famous as zero-ATK fodder monsters. Everyone had heard of them. Nobody knew what this card actually did.

Not even Chancellor Sheppard, or Principal Foster, or any of the other adults watching.

They all stared, waiting for Rowan to continue.

"This card's effect: when it is sent from the hand or field to the Graveyard, I can add one Ojama Green, one Ojama Yellow, and one Ojama Black from my Deck to my hand."

The smile on Rowan's face was getting brighter by the second.

He fanned out the three Ojama monsters from his deck toward Chazz in a brief, deliberate show, then added them to his hand.

Over on Chazz's side of the field, a small spirit materialized near his shoulder: a yellow creature in red underwear, swaying back and forth in its characteristic obnoxious fashion.

"Hey hey, big bro, how come that guy over there's got one of me? And my brothers too?"

"Quiet," Chazz said through his teeth, the vein at his temple visibly pulsing.

He shooed the Ojama spirit away with a wave. "It's not like these garbage monsters are rare. Of course there are multiple copies floating around in the world."

"...I have an Ojama Yellow too," Rowan murmured, catching just enough of the exchange to raise an eyebrow.

He looked down at his hand with a mildly strange expression.

The 0-ATK Ojama monsters printed there seemed to be shifting faintly, the artwork just barely in motion.

Chazz clearly hadn't understood what his Ojama Yellow spirit was getting at.

Most Ojama cards weren't rare.

Multiple copies existed throughout the dueling world. That was true.

But a card that had awakened a spirit, one with an actual living presence housed within it, there was only ever one of those.

In Rowan's case, his deck had come from the System, which meant all of his cards carried the potential to awaken spirits.

And right now, the 0-ATK Ojama monsters in his hand looked very close to doing exactly that.

Rowan's mouth twitched.

He found himself suddenly, genuinely uncertain whether he wanted to keep running this deck.

The memory of Chazz's Ojama Yellow, in all its grating, underwear-clad glory, was already giving him a headache.

What he wanted was a dueling spirit like Dark Magician Girl. A proper one.

Not... whatever this was going to be.

"Hey hey, big bro! Use us Ojama brothers and make that spiky-haired idiot across the field cry!"

A distinctly insufferable little voice piped up from somewhere within his hand, urging him on.

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