"Akiza? Are you there?"
Sayer turned and called his missing subordinate's name. But his voice was swallowed by the darkness, vanishing with no answer.
He stepped back, bumping into another subordinate behind him. This one was still there, but had noticed something was very wrong and started glancing nervously around.
The dead light above flickered for a moment.
A chill wind seemed to blow through. Sayer instinctively raised his arm to shield himself. In the blink of an eye, when he turned again, the second subordinate had also disappeared.
Sayer was terrified.
Both subordinates had vanished almost instantly—just a couple seconds from the power outage to the first man's disappearance.
Making someone beside you disappear without a sound in less than two seconds—even for a psychic duelist, that seemed impossible, let alone against other psychics.
If the first one had been caught completely off-guard, the second had vanished right under Sayer's watchful eyes. It was as if Death itself had snatched him away.
Heart pounding, Sayer snapped out his Duel Disk, scanning the pitch-black corridor.
Then, as if sensing something, he shouted: "There!"
Without even looking, he snatched the top card from his deck and thrust it into his Duel Disk.
"Spell Card—Fireball! Activate!"
A green spell card lit up in the air. Instantly, a fireball blasted forth, searing a brilliant arc through the darkness, aimed at a silver silhouette.
But that figure stood completely still, watching the blast come with a small, almost amused smile. As the flames approached, he simply raised an arm, fingers splayed as if to use his hand as a shield.
Sayer's eyes widened in shock.
The fireball struck the man's palm and stopped as if completely neutralized—caught by nothing but his bare hand!
It was as if he'd grabbed the fireball out of the air!
Sayer could almost hear his own jaw hitting the floor.
He wasn't the strongest psychic duelist, but he was near the top. A fireball manifested with his power, hitting someone directly, could burn an ordinary person to a crisp, easily.
But this fireball—so powerful—had been caught bare-handed!
And the man… was that really Sector Security Director Goodwin?
Sayer's eyes bulged, pupils shrinking.
As the head of the city's most powerful organization, Goodwin was a key subject of investigation for Arcadia. Sayer thought he knew him well, but he'd never heard of the Director having such abilities.
Goodwin, holding the fireball for a few seconds, then clenched his fist—
—Snap!
The fireball disintegrated instantly, gone in a puff of ash.
Sayer was even more shaken. Even psychics could only manifest dueling monsters' powers through their Duel Disks. Yet this—catching fireballs by hand? What was this—superpowers?
What he didn't know was that, in an invisible state floating nearby, Silent Magician was rolling her eyes while swinging her wand.
No idea why Master insisted on showing off today. If it were up to her, she could have blown away that fireball or blocked it with a defense spell. Would've been so much easier...
Kira shook his hand carelessly. "Sayer, you're the head of the Arcadia Movement, right?"
Sayer struggled to maintain composure, feigning calm: "Well, well, isn't this the satellite zone's own Sector Security Director Goodwin?"
He deliberately emphasized "satellite zone."
Yes—Goodwin was born in Satellite. But that was a top secret, even within Sector Security. If it got out, it would cause a scandal.
Everyone in the city generally despises Satellite-born trash. The idea that a Satellite native was in charge at the pinnacle of city power? Catastrophic news.
If it leaked, Director Goodwin's position would be in danger.
Sayer had found out this secret long ago through his intelligence network, using it as leverage over Goodwin.
That's also why, even though Arcadia was blatantly gathering superpowered duelists for an army and sometimes causing trouble, Sector Security always looked the other way.
So long as Sayer held that blackmail, Goodwin was no threat to his organization—or so Sayer thought.
Of course, he didn't dare make the secret public, because a secret's worth lies in its exclusivity. If Goodwin fell, the next Director might be much harder to handle.
"So, Director, what brings you to my place in the middle of the night?" Sayer asked lightly.
"Oh, nothing. Just passing through and thought I'd pay you a visit."
Kira strolled to the corridor window, glancing down at the city below.
"You've built up quite a base here. I see you're recruiting faster lately. Planning something with your psychic army?"
He glanced at Sayer sidelong.
"Is that your plan? An army of psychics?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Director," Sayer said, raising his hands innocently. "I just provide a home for the rejected and homeless, nothing more."
Kira replied coolly, "Does your 'home' also include brainwashing your members and implanting keywords to turn them into controllable puppets at a moment's notice?"
Now Sayer's face finally changed.
That was Arcadia Movement's core secret and Sayer's final trump card—secretly brainwashing members so that with just a keyword, they'd become puppets, absolutely loyal.
But how could Goodwin possibly know that?
"Black Rose Witch—Akiza Izinski, she's your trump card, right? The strongest psychic duelist in Arcadia? I'm sure you know her background. Her father is Mr. Izinski. If he knew his daughter was here, brainwashed into a combat weapon for your own ends… what do you think would happen?"
Sayer chuckled.
"I built Arcadia from nothing. If you think I'd be afraid of a mere senator at this point, you underestimate me, Director."
He paused, then shifted the subject with a smile.
"But since you're here, that tells me one thing.
Either Sector Security has no hard evidence of our experiments— or you're not ready to break ties with us, isn't that right, Director?"
He grinned, fiddling with his hair as if posing.
"So, Director, what's your offer?"
But Kira smiled even wider.
"No deal. I already recorded your confession just now—that's all I needed."
Sayer's face darkened.
"You should know, Goodwin, recordings like that prove nothing. They're not accepted as evidence."
"I know. I'm just curious what Akiza, and the others here, would think if they heard those words."
"Oh, right, I didn't come to negotiate—just to inform you."
"Inform me… of what?" Sayer asked.
Kira calmly raised his Duel Disk. "Just to notify you... of your death."
…