"Heh, so what if you guessed it? Now that Terrorking Archfiend is on the field, defeat is impossible," Titan declared with absolute confidence.
"I activate the special effect of Infernal Queen Archfiend! Once per turn, I can target one Archfiend monster on my field and increase its ATK by 1000 until my next Standby Phase! I choose Terrorking Archfiend!"
A wave of dark purple energy surged from the Queen and poured into the roaring Terrorking. The bone-armored demon swelled in size, its muscles bulging. Its ATK counter ticked up rapidly, soaring from 2000 to a massive 3000.
"3000 ATK!" Jaden and the others grew even more tense.
"But Jiang He has that face down Obnoxious Celtic Guard," Chumley said, sounding confused. "Whether it has 2000 or 3000 ATK shouldn't matter, right?"
After all, the Celtic Guard's effect prevented it from being destroyed in battle by any monster with 1900 or more ATK. Conversely, the Infernal Queen only had a measly 900 ATK, which wasn't enough to break through the Celtic Guard's 1200 DEF.
"He probably has another way to boost his attack," Alexis speculated, her eyes narrowed as she watched from the sidelines.
"Smart girl! You're absolutely right!" Titan laughed, pulling a card from his hand and slotting it into the disk.
"I activate the Equip Spell, Malevolent Nuzzler! I equip it to Infernal Queen Archfiend, increasing her ATK by 700!"
Dark energy hissed as it flowed into the Queen. The hideous demon let out an excited screech as her ATK rose to 1600.
"This is bad! 1600 ATK is outside the range of the Celtic Guard's protection!" Syrus cried out in alarm.
"Heh heh! Now, I can easily destroy that annoying guard," Titan gloated. He raised his hand and gave the command. "Infernal Queen Archfiend, attack the face down monster! Infernal Blast!"
"Did you really think my three set cards were just for decoration?" Jiang He countered, raising his hand toward his backrow. "I activate my Trap: Wall of Disruption!"
As the card flipped up, a purple and black barrier manifested.
"When an opponent's monster declares an attack, all Attack Position monsters they control lose 800 ATK for every monster they have on the field! You control two monsters, which means both Infernal Queen Archfiend and Terrorking Archfiend lose 1600 ATK!"
"What?!" Titan gasped.
Two beams of lightone purple, one blackshot out from the trap and snared the attacking Queen and the standby King. The two demons withered instantly, their strength drained.
The Queen's ATK dropped to 0, while the 3000 ATK King plummeted to 1400.
"Beautiful move, Jiang He!" Jaden, Syrus, and the others cheered in surprise.
"The Queen's attack continues," Jiang He said with a bright, sunny smile. "Let's see the 'mighty' destructive power of a monster with 0 ATK!"
Because the trap was activated during the attack and only lowered the stats without changing the target, the battle was not negated. Titan's Queen was still forced to follow through with its strike against the face down monster.
"You arrogant brat! Don't celebrate yet!" Titan snarled, infuriated by Jiang He's grin. "Even if the Queen can't destroy your monster, my Terrorking still has 1400 ATK. The next strike will be more than enough to shatter your Celtic Guard!"
"And who told you," Jiang He said, his expression becoming quite peculiar, "that I had a Celtic Guard on the field?"
"What did you say?!" Titan froze.
Alexis and Jaden leaned in, their eyes fixed on the field.
The purple blast from the 0 ATK Queen struck the face down card. The massive card flipped over, revealing the truth.
"Skreee!!"
A strange bird with a head resembling a bat and a sharp beak emerged from a shimmer of light. It let out a sinister cackle, flapping its blue wings to whip up a freezing, dark tornado.
[Stealth Bird]
[Level: 3]
[Attribute: DARK]
[ATK: 700]
[DEF: 1700]
"No way! That's... Stealth Bird?!" Titan's face turned pale.
When he saw that Stealth Bird had a DEF of 1700, his expression turned green. The result of a 0 ATK monster hitting a 1700 DEF wall was painfully obvious.
"Skreee!!"
The Stealth Bird cackled again. The icy tornado it generated didn't just stop the Queen; it swallowed the purple blast and reflected the force of the impact right back at Titan.
The biting wind slashed across the Infernal Queen and tore into Titan, who was standing right behind his monsters.
"Gahhh!!"
"Arrgh!!"
The demon and the duelist screamed in unison as the blue wind sliced into them. Because the Queen had attacked a Defense Position monster, she wasn't destroyed, but the pain was very real. Titan, wrapped in his black coat, was suddenly covered in small cuts. A deep scratch appeared on the lower half of his face where his mask didn't cover.
His Life Points ticked down rapidly, dropping from 4000 all the way to 2300!
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