Chapter 28
"Quit with the backseat dueling, you creep! Who could have possibly predicted he'd set Obnoxious Celtic Guardian?!"
"Exactly! Summoning a stronger monster and attacking is completely normal strategy!"
The moment Syrus finished his murmured analysis, Jasmine and Mindy turned on him simultaneously, voices sharp, rallying to Alexis's defense.
"That's enough, Jasmine, Mindy."
Alexis raised a hand and stopped them before they could go further.
Her expression had shifted into something harder, more focused, the embarrassment already being processed and set aside.
She fixed her eyes on Rowan with a gaze that burned considerably brighter than before.
"He properly restructured his deck. It's not just a trap card or two added in like I assumed. He's running entirely different monsters, including Obnoxious Celtic Guardian."
"But that restructuring comes at a price. A deck built this way loses the Dark Magician OTK entirely. So the advantage is still mine."
Jasmine and Mindy nodded. So did Jaden and the others watching from the nearby boat.
Even Crowler, lurking invisibly somewhere in the dark behind them, seemed to nod in quiet agreement.
Rowan said nothing.
He just let the assumption settle.
Honestly, it was working in his favor.
"The battle phase isn't over!"
Alexis pulled one of her remaining two hand cards and slapped it onto the field.
"Quick-Play Spell, De-Fusion! I return one fusion monster on my field to the Extra Deck and Special Summon its original Fusion Materials!"
A burst of orange-gold light spread across Cyber Blader's form.
The figure shimmered, then split cleanly into two separate silhouettes: Etoile Cyber reappearing with her deep orange hair, and Blade Skater touching down beside her, all violet and white, ice blades gleaming beneath her feet.
Blade Skater Level 4 / EARTH ATK: 1400 / DEF: 1500
"Since this is still the battle phase, the monsters Special Summoned by De-Fusion can still declare attacks," Jaden said, leaning forward with his eyes shining.
"That's elite Obelisk Blue strategy right there! This is incredible!"
"Jaden," Syrus said flatly from beside him, "whose side are you on? If Rowan loses, I get expelled."
"Ah. Right. Sorry. Ha ha..."
Rowan had already stopped paying attention to that side of the boat.
His hand came up toward one of his two set cards, and he tapped it open.
"Activating set Continuous Trap, Nightmare Wheel!"
"Nightmare Wheel's effect: I target one monster on the opponent's field. While this card remains on the field, that targeted monster cannot attack and cannot change its battle position."
A skeletal rack of gears and bone materialized from the card's light, assembling itself behind Blade Skater before the monster could react.
The mechanism snapped shut around the ice dancer's body with a grinding clank, locking her in place as she struggled against the restraints.
"Nightmare... Wheel?!"
The trace of satisfaction that had been returning to Alexis's face vanished instantly.
Then her eyes narrowed as the full picture hit her.
"Wait. Is this even a Dark Magician deck?!"
She stared at Rowan, voice edged with the specific kind of frustration that comes from realizing you have been playing against entirely the wrong mental model.
Because she was right. No Dark Magician deck played like this.
Not the traps, not the monster choices, none of it matched any version of that deck she had ever considered.
"I don't think I ever actually said I was using the same deck as last night."
Rowan shrugged, expression perfectly unbothered.
Alexis opened her mouth. Closed it again.
He was right. She searched her memory.
The infuriating truth was that he had never once said so.
All that reasoning, all that theorycrafting, all that careful deduction about how his Dark Magician deck handled being countered, and the entire time she had simply been wrong about what deck she was facing.
The secret was that there was no secret. He had just switched decks.
Alexis felt the heat rise into her face.
[Ding! Alexis's Emotion Points +400!]
Jasmine and Mindy felt it too, vicariously and involuntarily.
"It's... not the Dark Magician deck?" Jaden and Syrus exchanged a look, equally at sea.
Back in the dorm, Rowan had always been using that deck.
Crowler, floating somewhere in the lake behind everyone, processed this information for a moment, decided his mental bandwidth was genuinely insufficient for tonight, and quietly sank below the surface.
"I set one card face-down." Alexis bit down on her frustration and made herself think clearly.
Her last hand card went to the back row. "Turn end."
It was all she could do.
After De-Fusion, she had two monsters on the field: Etoile Cyber at 1200 ATK, and Blade Skater at 1400. Blade Skater was now locked down by Nightmare Wheel, sealed away from attacking and frozen in position.
Etoile Cyber's 1200 ATK matched exactly the 1200 DEF of Rowan's Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, which meant attacking it would accomplish nothing.
One set card in the back row. Turn ended. The momentum had visibly shifted.
Every spectator leaned in slightly without meaning to.
"My turn, draw!"
Rowan pulled from the top of his deck.
"Before anything else, Nightmare Wheel's second effect activates. During my Standby Phase, as long as Blade Skater remains targeted by this card, you take 500 damage."
"What?!"
The skeletal wheel mechanism pulsed with an arc of sharp light.
Blade Skater cried out, and a crackling current leaped outward and reached Alexis.
She made a small sound, sharp and involuntary.
Her life points fell.
Alexis: 4000 LP... 3500 LP.