Sayer's heart jolted at Kira's stance.
He really intends to pick a fight here and now? In my own base? Against the head of the psychics?
Sayer couldn't help thinking it, but then recalled the scene he just witnessed—Goodwin catching his fireball bare-handed and crushing it.
The Director was definitely strange tonight.
Despite himself, Sayer found that his eyes were not adjusting to the dark—the darkness felt only more impenetrable. Even the city lights outside seemed to vanish, plunging the whole building into the abyss.
"…So it seems, there's no avoiding a fight tonight."
Sayer took a deep breath, raised his Duel Disk, and shouted,
"Very well. Director of Sector Security, I've long wanted to see what you're capable of in a duel."
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Sayer, LP 4000]
Sayer's Duel Disk lit up. Glancing at the indicators, he smirked. "Looks like Lady Luck is on my side from the get-go. I'll go first! Draw!"
Sayer drew his card, and summoned a monster from his hand.
"Normal Summon Tuner Monster—'Krebons'—in attack mode!"
A clown in a purple hat and monocle appeared, looking both comical and creepy, pale half-hidden smile, juggling balls in his hands.
[Krebons, ATK 800]
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn."
Kira replied, "My turn. Draw."
Sayer watched him closely.
He'd gathered tons of intelligence on Goodwin, but there were almost no public records of him dueling. No one seemed to know what was in the Director's deck.
Well, if he never duels, he can't be that good, right?
Sayer smiled. "Let's see what your deck has, Director."
Kira smiled faintly.
"As you wish."
He pulled out a card.
"I activate the Spell Card—Terraforming.
I can add any Field Spell from my deck to hand."
He searched, soon retrieving a card.
"Activate Field Spell—Malefic World!"
Black waves swept across, transforming the surroundings. Both duelists now stood in transparent city blocks filled with strange lights.
"Malefic World?"
Sayer peered curiously at the domain enveloping them, sensing a strange malice. Racking his memory, he couldn't recall such an archetype.
"Malefic World is the realm of Malefic monsters. Only here can they use their full power."
With a careless flourish, Kira revealed a card.
"From my hand, Malefic Cyber End Dragon! By sending a 'Cyber End Dragon' from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard, I Special Summon this monster!" (Anime effect)
A card ejected from his Extra Deck, which Kira briefly revealed before sending to the grave.
"Emerge from the black flames of eternity—Malefic Cyber End Dragon!"
Blinding light, a silver three-headed dragon blasted through space-time, metallic heads tearing dimension apart, armor slick as silver mercury, joints sparking blue-violet arcs.
Malefic Cyber End Dragon—summoned!
[Malefic Cyber End Dragon, ATK 4000]
The force of the projection was so powerful, even Sayer—used to 'real-impact' psychics—felt suffocated, shielding his face, his red hair disheveled by the scorching wind, unable to hide his shock.
"A four-thousand ATK monster, summoned for free!?"
It shattered every rule of dueling he knew.
Are there really decks that cheat this badly? And that pressure—was this even a hologram?
As a psychic duelist, he could tell this was no mere hologram, but a physically manifest monster—like their psychic powers. But it seemed more than that; the oppressive aura and visceral impact were leagues above anything he'd seen.
In truth, Kira noted, so-called "psychic duels," while a natural-born ability, were still an inferior form of Dark Duel.
Psychic dueling's ceiling was much lower—they could only conjure solid monsters to inflict physical harm, lacking the metaphysical, soul-damaging power of the true Shadow Games. In Shadow Duels, LP could equate to real life—lose your LP, and you die with no visible wounds.
Not so for psychic duels: losing all LP just meant being beaten up, rarely resulting in death. There wasn't a direct link between duel life points and real life.
"Now, from my hand, Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon! By sending a 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' from my deck to the Graveyard, I Special Summon it as well."
He sent another card from deck to grave.
"Special Summon—Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
A storm tore through spacetime; from a swirling vortex, the gigantic white dragon soared heavenwards, bone wings spread wide.
[Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon, ATK 3000]
"Another one!?"
Sayer involuntarily took two steps back.
Is it fair to keep summoning boss monsters for free, one after another?
Or is this some kind of badge-of-office cheating? This is the power of privilege?
"Battle," said Kira, "Malefic Blue-Eyes, attack 'Krebons'!"
…
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