"What... the hell…"
Sayer's eyes widened, and his powerless body slowly collapsed backward.
The "Malefic" deck—every time, that crazy deck just spat out one broken monster after another, as if it was all a big joke. In his mind, he had already decided this was definitely some kind of privilege abuse deck—cards Goodwin had printed thanks to his authority, just for himself.
Freaking bastard.
But even so, he had defended against everything. All of it. Nothing got through.
And yet, that bastard had immediately pulled out some sort of... Catapult Turtle!
That trashy turtle, looking totally harmless, totally like some weakling card—yet, with just a wave of its hand, so casual, it gave Sayer the darkest, most despairing experience of his whole life.
The life point counter dropped to zero. Sayer's skin began to lose all color, fingertips becoming transparent, as if some invisible force was eating away at him. His life force slipped away like fine sand between fingers, every breath bringing searing pain.
In utter despair, he realized—he was dying.
Every cell in his body resisted his orders; his vital functions were shutting down one by one. Even the strength to scream was stripped away from him, leaving only the cold reflection of his killer's unmoved silhouette in his pupils—a white demon, watching his end with complete indifference.
But how could he accept this?
He still had unfinished ambitions, a vision not yet realized. He'd brainwashed so many psychic duelists, so many with exceptional powers, people who could wipe out entire city blocks without effort. With just a few keywords, every one of them would obey his every word.
But all his schemes, all his years of planning—he never even got the chance to use them!
He was supposed to be the king of this new world. How could it end like this—
"GOOWIN!!!"
Sayer's features twisted in agony, as if in a last burst of strength. With all the hatred left in him, he gathered everything for one final punch, aimed straight at Kira's face.
But Kira didn't dodge or even flinch. He stood there, smiling calmly, as that hatred-fueled punch came swinging in.
And then—the attack passed right through him.
Yes, right through him—Sayer had become a spirit, a ghost, unable even to touch his enemy.
With terror in his eyes, Sayer finally looked back—only to see his own corpse, kneeling quietly on the ground behind him. Without realizing it, his soul had burst from his body, and now he was nothing but a lingering phantom.
"No... No... Anything! I'll do anything— just don't let me die—Save me—!"
"Thanks, but that won't be necessary." Kira narrowed his eyes, smiling gently. "No need to worry, Sayer. Whether it's Akiza, your Arcadia Movement, or every secret you've collected all these years, I'll inherit everything for you.
So just get going and rest easy."
Sayer almost spewed blood toward the sky—if a spirit could still bleed, that is.
"Goodwin!" His face twisted like a vengeful ghost. "You'll die a horrible death!"
With that, his power finally gave out. Even his soul faded away, vanishing to nothing.
Kira calmly straightened his clothes and said to the spot where Sayer disappeared, "Thank you for your blessing, but it really isn't necessary. He's already died a horrible death."
Hmm.
Now that he thought of it, the two of them even died similarly. Goodwin and Sayer—both killed in their own hideouts, dying with their eyes wide open, unable to rest in peace. Maybe, if they meet in the underworld, they can sit at the same table and compare notes on being victims.
As usual, Kira picked up Sayer's deck, giving it a quick glance.
"Just as I thought... All psychics…"
Psychic-types would someday get some good cards, but in this era, they were really pretty weak. That's why, before their duel, Kira really didn't expect much from Sayer's deck. Checking it out was just a formality; he didn't think there'd be anything good.
But "Emergency Teleport" was a nice surprise—a genuinely valuable card, and one that would only get stronger as the meta evolved.
As for Synchro bosses, Sayer only had two: the "Thought Ruler Archfiend" he just used in the duel, and a Level 5 Synchro, "Magical Android," with 2400 Attack. At the end of your turn, you recover 600 life points for each psychic monster you control.
The latter wasn't rare, but Thought Ruler Archfiend was considered pretty rare in this world. With 2700 attack, it was fairly potent. Besides the effect Sayer just used—absorbing the destroyed monster's attack as life points—it had another nifty ability.
Whenever a Psychic-type monster is targeted by a Spell or Trap, you can pay 1000 life to negate and destroy that card. In essence, it gives all your Psychic monsters built-in Spell/Trap target protection.
Of course, despite being called a demon, it's still Psychic-type, so it has that same protection itself.
The rest of the deck had nothing noteworthy.
Kira continued down the hallway until he reached Sayer's room.
The door was locked, but that was no obstacle for him. He unlocked it, then stepped inside.
The room was a bit dim and, overall, messy—almost as if someone had just moved in and hadn't had time to tidy. The walls were lined with bookshelves, with statues on either side. Above the shelves hung some calligraphy and paintings that looked expensive. It seemed Sayer had an appreciation for art.
"There should be a hidden door here," Kira said.
Silent Magician appeared without a sound, silently pointing at one bookshelf with her staff.
"Behind this, huh?"
Kira studied the shelf, guessing the mechanism was probably tied to one of the books. But with so many crammed together, he had no interest in searching one by one.
There was no need, anyway.
Silent whispered a spell, her staff shining with a pale light. At once, the whole bookshelf was bathed in white glow. It was as if some invisible hand shoved it aside, revealing a hidden door behind.
"My Silent is pretty amazing," Kira chuckled, patting her on the head. She blushed, pouting as she dodged his hand and looked away.
Kira stepped into the secret room. It wasn't large, just enough for Sayer to store all his classified information.
After all, intelligence could be used as a weapon. In fact, here Kira found proof that Goodwin was from the Satellite Zone.
Moreover, the Arcadia Movement's information was more detailed than Kira had expected. He even unexpectedly found mention of "Iliaster".
Sayer's files suggested that Sector Security director Goodwin was just a pawn, acting on orders from a mysterious group called "Iliaster".
But they seemed to know little about this organization—only that Iliaster's current goal seemed to be gaining control over the Crimson Dragon's power, with a massive force that might even intend world domination.
Of course, Kira, who had the canon as a reference, knew this was all Sayer's wild conjecture. Iliaster was really Iliaster's Four Stars of Destruction, a messiah group working to rewrite history and prevent disaster; stuff like world domination and controlling the Crimson Dragon was just nonsense.
But saying Security was Iliaster's pawn was on the mark.
Kira kept flipping and raised his eyebrows at what he saw.
The files didn't just contain intelligence; there was evidence of Sayer's own crimes—framing organization members for murder he committed, brainwashing his own people, human experiments killing numerous members—this place was basically Sayer's confession.
…
…
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