Chapter 41
"Activate Spell Card -- Chemical Reaction H2O."
With two Hydrogeddon and one Oxygeddon now assembled on his field, Bastion's smile widened. He reached into his remaining two-card hand and played the spell.
"This card's effect: by tributing two Hydrogeddon and one Oxygeddon from my field, I can Special Summon one Water Dragon from my hand, deck, or Graveyard!"
"Two hydrogen, one oxygen -- come forth, Water Dragon!"
The two earthen-brown gas creatures and the single blue-green one were swept up together in the spell's light, spiraling inward like a whirlpool. Three streams of color -- brown and blue and teal -- spun faster and faster until they collapsed into a single massive shape: an enormous dragon made entirely of churning, living water, rearing up on Bastion's field.
[Water Dragon] [Level 8 / WATER] [ATK 2800 / DEF 2600]
"Twenty-eight hundred ATK -- the Water Dragon, the natural enemy of every FIRE-attribute monster on the field!"
A wave of noise swept through the observation area. Students who had been quietly watching suddenly weren't quiet anymore.
"Bastion Misawa truly lives up to his reputation as Ra Yellow's most prominent first-year," Alexis remarked, letting a hint of genuine surprise into her voice.
"Bastion's seriously something else," Jaden said, unable to hide his excitement.
"Ohoho, two turns and he's already assembled Water Dragon -- a 2800 ATK powerhouse with brutal summoning conditions, and an effect that revives all three material monsters from the Graveyard the moment it's destroyed..." Professor Crowler watched from the field's edge, barely containing himself from breaking into a full victory dance.
"Just like that, finish off that dropout boy!"
"Rowan, this is the strategy I built specifically for this duel."
Bastion raised his hand with a confident smile and flipped one of his two set cards.
A trap depicting a lightning bolt striking its target revealed itself.
"Thunder Break's effect: discard one card from my hand, then destroy one card on the field!"
"What I'm destroying -- is that face-down Defense Position monster on your field!"
He pointed directly at the horizontal card sitting on Rowan's side of the field.
A bolt of gold-yellow electricity screamed out from the Thunder Break card and struck the face-down monster dead center, shattering it into fragments that dissolved and vanished in an instant.
From the observation area, Alexis and the others could just make it out -- that had been the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian.
The same card she'd encountered last night.
"Here it comes, Rowan! Water Dragon -- direct attack!"
The enormous blue dragon surged forward, coiling upward to strike.
"Those three set cards of mine aren't just decoration."
Rowan lifted his hand with complete calm and pointed to one of the three cards behind him.
"Activate face-down -- Continuous Trap, Nightmare Wheel!"
A familiar card flipped up, and from within it came a skeletal torture machine rising into existence in a flash of light, about to close around its target.
"I've been waiting for exactly this. Activate second face-down -- Counter Trap, Solemn Judgment!"
"By paying half my Life Points, negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card and destroy it!"
Bastion's expression broke into the look of a plan coming together perfectly.
A ripple pulsed out from his revealed Solemn Judgment card.
The skeleton torture machine that had barely begun to materialize, together with the Nightmare Wheel itself, was shattered apart and scattered into nothing.
"He destroyed both the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian and the Nightmare Wheel in one go...!"
Alexis's composure flickered, genuine shock crossing her face.
"Bastion is incredible!" Jaden said.
Syrus, Mindy, and the others were equally stunned.
Those two cards had been among the central pillars of how Rowan had beaten Alexis just last night.
And Bastion had ripped them both out on the spot.
"Beautifully done, Bastion!" Crowler clenched both fists in quiet triumph.
Rowan still had two set cards left, so it wasn't a total collapse -- but in Crowler's estimation, they couldn't possibly be enough to hold back Bastion's offense.
Even if Rowan managed to destroy Water Dragon directly, what followed would be the problem: Water Dragon's destruction effect would immediately revive two 1600 ATK Hydrogeddon and one 1800 ATK Oxygeddon from the Graveyard, launching a second wave that Rowan simply wouldn't have the resources to withstand.
He didn't get to enjoy the thought for long.
Because even as Water Dragon reared up for its direct attack, Rowan's mouth curved upward, and his hand moved to a second set card.
"Activate second face-down -- Continuous Trap, Nightmare Wheel."
The exact same skeletal torture machine rose into existence once more, identical in every detail, and closed around the massive blue Water Dragon before it could reach him.
The dragon thrashed and let out a furious, helpless roar, locked firmly in place.
Surprise, surprise.
Rowan smiled.
"Mamma mia!"
Crowler recoiled.
"How -- how is that possible! There's a second Nightmare Wheel?!" Bastion's composure cracked.
The words came out before he could stop them.
He had anticipated Rowan might have something like Mirror Force -- a trap that wiped out all attacking monsters the moment they swung.
That was precisely why he had chosen Water Dragon as his weapon: powerful ATK, and a destruction effect so difficult to deal with that it hardly mattered if the dragon went down.
He had planned around Mirror Force. He had planned around most things.
What he had not planned around was a second Nightmare Wheel. A second one.
The same binding trap, twice, in the same deck.
Even if it wasn't a Dark Magician deck like he'd originally expected, who in their right mind ran two copies of Nightmare Wheel?
Bastion screamed the question internally, completely at a loss for words.