Chapter 214: Hit Me, Idiot

“With the effect of the Continuous Trap Spirit Barrier, as long as I control a monster, all battle damage I take becomes zero!”

The massive lightning attack had been stopped a hair’s breadth away by the brown protective barrier that surrounded him. Rowan, not the least bit flustered, smiled thinly at the old man Kagemaru.

Besides the Trap he had Set, he still had four cards in hand, and among them was that little chestnut ball creature. It could easily switch one of the opponent’s monsters into Defense Position.

As far as Rowan was concerned, if that Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, could deal him even a single point of damage, he’d count it as his loss!

Go on then, hit me, you fool.

“You damned little…!”

Kagemaru glared at Rowan’s grinning face and felt his blood pressure spike all over again.

[Ding. Kagemaru’s Emotion Points +900]

Alexis Rhodes and the others, seeing this, let out a collective sigh of relief.

“First using Astral Barrier’s effect to take the monster’s attack himself, then using the defensive effect of another Continuous Trap, Spirit Barrier, to bring the battle damage down to zero. That really is a perfect chain of combos!”

Chancellor Sheppard couldn’t help nodding along with a smile.

“In other words, as long as Rowan has a single monster on his field, that barrier is an absolute defense,” Kaiser Zane Truesdale agreed with a nod, adding his own analysis.

“I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but doesn’t Chairman Kagemaru look younger than he did a little while ago?”

Chazz had suddenly noticed something. He squinted doubtfully at the bald old man inside the life support machine far across the field.

His words made everyone else freeze for a moment. They turned to look at Kagemaru, who was still dueling Rowan inside his machine.

It didn’t take long for all of them to see it. The bald old man in the oxygen mask, his whole body submerged in nutrient fluid, was clearly a little younger than before.

Most of the wrinkles on his face had vanished. It was as though a man of a hundred and some years had shed decades in an instant!

Rowan, of course, had noticed this long ago.

He had even clearly sensed, a moment earlier, that the two Sacred Beasts Kagemaru had summoned had been absorbing some kind of special energy from the surroundings and from every corner of the outside world since the instant they appeared.

And through the Dark Item on Kagemaru’s finger, a ring of darkness, that energy was being fed back into the old man’s body.

Making him younger, and stronger!

“Hmph hmph, only noticing now?”

Kagemaru had caught the looks and words directed at him by Chazz, Chancellor Sheppard, and the others. His voice was already noticeably fuller of vigor as he chuckled from inside the machine.

“This is the true terror of the Sacred Beasts. From the moment the true forms of the Sacred Beasts are summoned into this real world, with the exception of this brat who is Shadow Dueling me, whose Duel Monster Spirits will remain unaffected for the time being…”

“The life force of every monster in the cards that houses a Duel Monster Spirit that might awaken in this Duel world is being absorbed by the Sacred Beasts without pause, and a portion of it is returned to me!”

Kagemaru raised his hand, and the golden ring on it, shaped like a single eye, gleamed.

That was clearly what he relied on to connect to the Sacred Beasts and, for now, control them!

“My Ojama Yellow does seem much weaker!” Chazz pulled out his Deck at those words.

He quickly saw on the card that his Ojama Yellow had grown noticeably feeble and aged.

“Big Brother Chazz, save me…” a weak little voice called out from the card.

“My Winged Kuriboh too…!” Jaden Yuki hurriedly took out his own Deck and checked on his partner.

The pair of tiny wings on Winged Kuriboh had drooped, and it lay weakly in the card, crying out.

“Kuri…”

“As expected, you’ve got to follow the right boss. That Yellow over there is obviously an idiot.”

On Rowan’s side, the smug little phantom shapes of the Ojama brothers had popped up beside him. They stood whispering to each other as they looked over at Chazz and the others outside the Duel Field.

This was also one of the reasons Rowan had beaten that hot-blooded fool Jaden to the punch and taken this duel with Kagemaru.

Besides not wanting Jaden to ruin such a golden opportunity to farm a huge pile of Emotion Points, he also didn’t want the life force of the little chestnut ball creature, or of Ishizu, the Gravekeeper’s Assailant, to be absorbed by the other side…

“So, after all that talk, is your turn over yet?” Rowan cut in, interrupting the old man’s smug reverie.

Kagemaru’s face darkened again.

“Hmph hmph, you should all prepare yourselves to witness the birth of my eternal life!”

Irritated, Kagemaru guided the mechanical arm to place his last card onto the Duel Disk.

“That ends my battle. I Set one card, and end my turn!”

With a heavy thud, a giant projection of a Set card appeared on his side of the field.

“Then it’s my turn. My draw!”

Rowan drew from his Deck. He even called on his god draw power on the spot.

He could hardly wait to make use of the fine new monsters his opponent had just summoned!

“Looks like Chairman Kagemaru is very likely in for it!”

Jaden Yuki and Chazz instantly perked up, their expressions turning strange as they spoke.

Kaiser Zane Truesdale was the same. He looked on with anticipation, waiting to see what Rowan would do next.

The aura Rowan gave off was practically a signal that he was about to make his move!