Chapter 211

Hearing Rowan’s muttering, Alexis Rhodes, the bald Chancellor Sheppard, Bastion Misawa, and the others could not help twitching at the corners of their mouths.

This guy had stolen someone else’s monster, and now he had the nerve to complain that Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, one of the Sacred Beasts, was a worthless scrub with zero attack.

Where was the justice in that?

“Still, he isn’t wrong,” Zane Truesdale said, eyes locked on the Duel Field as he analyzed the situation. “Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, taken over by Rowan’s Relinquished and used as an Equip Card. Once it loses the attack it used to gain from the Traps in the Graveyard while it stood on the other side of the field, it’s no different from a completely useless zero attack scrub.”

“But Rowan Ritual Summoned earlier, which means he still has his Normal Summon for this turn.”

“Come on, brat! Whatever other tricks you’ve got, bring them on!”

Having heard Zane’s words too, Kagemaru, inside his life-support machine, let a sour look cross his face as he glared at Rowan. He refused to let even a hint of fear show in his voice.

“You don’t need to tell me. I wasn’t planning on holding back anyway.”

Rowan drew another card from his hand of five and slapped it down onto his Duel Disk.

“Next, I Normal Summon Kinka-byo in Attack Position!”

“Meow!!”

A faint dark glow flared, and a pitch-black cat fiend, like some malevolent spirit, shimmered into existence. It let out an eerie wail as it appeared on the field in front of Rowan.

[Kinka-byo] [Level: 1] [Attribute: DARK] [ATK: 400] [DEF: 200]

“Hmph hmph. After all that, all you summoned was a scrub like this?”

Seeing the jet-black spectral cat that Rowan had summoned, Kagemaru let out a hoarse, aged laugh.

“Looks like you still have no idea what people mean when they say Level 1 monsters are often the real monsters,” Rowan answered with a confident smile.

“I activate Kinka-byo’s effect! When it is Normal Summoned successfully, I can select one Level 1 monster in my Graveyard and Special Summon it!”

“And the one I’m reviving is, of course, the Level 1 monster I sent to the Graveyard as an offering for the Ritual Summon just now. Mystic Piper!”

Rowan raised his left arm, the Duel Disk strapped to it, and a beam of orange-yellow light shot out from the Graveyard slot. It landed on the field in front of him and took the shape of a comical little figure dressed like a circus performer.

[Mystic Piper] [Level: 1] [Attribute: LIGHT] [ATK: 0] [DEF: 0]

“Another monster with zero ATK and zero DEF…”

Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and the others stared in astonishment at the circus piper that had just been Special Summoned onto Rowan’s field.

But clearly, going by what Rowan had just said, this scrub of a Level 1 monster carried some very special effect!

“Even a pile of that kind of scrub monster, what use could it possibly be?” the old man Kagemaru forced out, putting on a brave front.

For some reason, an uneasy feeling in his chest was growing stronger and stronger. It was as though these Level 1 scrubs were going to bring him some unimaginable torment…

“Then let me show you what it does. By Tributing Mystic Piper itself as the cost, I can draw one card from my Deck.”

Smiling, Rowan lifted a hand to his Deck and drew a card.

At almost the same instant, the Piper that had barely appeared dissolved into particles and vanished, returning to the Graveyard.

“And if the card I drew happens to be a Level 1 monster, I get to draw one more!”

“Unfortunately for you, the card I drew is a Level 1 monster…”

Under Kagemaru’s shocked, bewildered stare, Rowan grinned and flipped the card he had just drawn to show it.

It was a Level 1 monster that Alexis Rhodes, Jaden Yuki, and the rest all knew very well.

That round Kuriboh!

“Kuri kuri.”

On the card’s artwork, the small, brown, ball-shaped monster immediately called out to Rowan.

As a card with a maxed-out Duel Monster Spirit bond, drawing the round Kuriboh was practically a guaranteed god draw for Rowan.

And of course, the little guy was something Rowan had slipped into the Deck himself, and it didn’t conflict with the Relinquished Deck in the slightest.

“So, thanks to Mystic Piper’s effect, I get to draw one more card from my Deck.”

As he spoke, Rowan drew another card from the top of his Deck.

His hand instantly went back up to six cards.

Alexis Rhodes and the others, who knew a certain someone well, quickly noticed the corner of Rowan’s mouth twitch when he looked at the newly drawn card.

Clearly, he had drawn yet another card with a nasty effect…!

“Battle Phase! Kinka-byo, direct attack! Soul Rending Claws!”

“Meow!!”

Rowan swept out his hand, pointing at Kagemaru, who sat far across the field inside his life-support machine.

The pitch-black spectral cat on the field in front of him let out an eerie wail and lunged at its target.

Its dark, ghostly body slipped uncannily through the machine’s casing and raked its claws straight across Kagemaru’s face.

“Gah!!”

The old man Kagemaru grunted, wincing in pain.

A claw mark was left across his face, and his 4000 LP dropped by 400 with a series of beeps, becoming 3600 LP.

The damage was small, but the insult was enormous…