In the end, Kira accepted the mission Z-ONE proposed.
He'd take the place of canon Goodwin and face Yusei and the others three-on-one, playing the villain to help them evolve. Honestly, Kira himself didn't have much confidence in taking on all three at once, and he always wondered about that while watching the anime.
Sure, canon Goodwin was tough, but to try a 3v1 was really underestimating the opposition. Yusei and Jack were both top-tier duelists with the Crimson Dragon's mark as an extra cheat.
Not only did Goodwin want to duel 3v1; he even let their side have three turns for every one of his! With such a massive gap in turn and card advantage, the only thing to balance the fight was allowing himself the combined total of the others' 12,000 life points.
Maybe Goodwin was just that confident, and after gaining the powers of both the Crimson Dragon and Earthbound Immortal, was even more inflated. Or maybe, deep down, he went into that battle seeking death, hoping Yusei and company would beat him.
Kira himself had little confidence in a 3v1, but he figured the outcome didn't matter. He wasn't planning to do any cruel shadow games for real, just play the villain, pretend to threaten the world, scare the 5DS crew, and help them grow. Win or lose wasn't important.
Surprisingly, Z-ONE had even more faith in Kira than Kira did in himself.
According to Z-ONE's assessment, Kira had been a King for a while now, walking a long way down the King's path. Based on personal experience, Z-ONE figured Kira's current level should make defeating three non-Kings easy.
But Kira cared less about that—instead, he was focused on finally securing his "collaboration fee".
Z-ONE promised that afterward, he'd share with Kira some of the cards owned by himself and the Iliaster organization.
To Kira, this was a great deal. After all, these people traveled across countless timelines, collecting cards that were probably unobtainable in the present day—ultra rare cards, one-of-a-kind world exclusives, cards not even printed yet, even original creations from Z-ONE's group. All enticing for a collector.
With the deal settled, Z-ONE added, "Also, as an added bonus, regarding the Sector Security, your Vice Director may have learned things he shouldn't have."
"My Vice Director?" Kira was puzzled for a moment, before realizing whom Z-ONE meant.
That clown—Lazar?
Come to think of it, he'd barely seen Lazar around the Sector Security lately. What had that guy been up to?
Finishing their conversation, Kira left that special space and returned to the Sector Security's control room for the supercomputer.
Looking around, he realized Sherry, Elsworth, and Akiza weren't nearby anymore. The trio had all been sent outside the Security, landing on a grassy field.
Kira didn't know if Z-ONE had spoken one-on-one with everyone or just him, and he decided to ask the others about what they'd seen before the teleportation later.
For now, he needed to track down that clown, Lazar.
…
Lazar had indeed been scarce lately.
He hadn't visited the Sector Security much, calling in sick for days. Before, he'd stop by the superior's office at least twice a day, even if just to suck up. Lately, not even that.
This all began a few days ago, after he'd received a mysterious message.
An anonymous email, impossible to trace. Lazar opened it to find only a video file attached.
He played it—and saw none other than Director Goodwin.
In the footage, Director Goodwin's face was ashen, his expression grim, voice weighty.
"If you're watching this message, then I should already be dead."
Lazar was dumbstruck on the spot.
Dead?
But isn't Goodwin still fine at this very moment?
The video continued, Director Goodwin saying, "I might not be able to hold on much longer. Someone has forced another self into my body. At any moment, I may lose control.
I have no living friends or relatives left, so I can only leave this warning to you, Vice Director.
If you're seeing this video, be wary. The Rex Goodwin at your side is no longer me, but an imposter.
He has come to bring disaster to this world. The citizens of this city, you, your family—everything may be destroyed by that catastrophe.
You have to warn the others. You must take action against him."
". . ."
Lazar was paralyzed.
Let's get real—he was just some bootlicker expecting to coast to retirement, only promoted to Vice Director because of his flattery. He never imagined having such burden dropped on him.
So immediately after receiving the warning, Lazar made his decision—
—Destroy the evidence, and pretend he'd never seen it.
Joking, right? Report and move against his boss? That's suicide!
Lazar knew a single video wasn't enough evidence. More importantly, he realized the imposter Goodwin was someone he couldn't possibly mess with.
Wasn't that just asking for a death sentence?
The biggest rule Lazar relied on—apart from choosing sides and sucking up—was "If trouble can be avoided, avoid it; the bigger the trouble, the farther you hide."
Right now Lazar was holed up in his safe house, sighing deeply.
"Life is so hard..."
Life had been much better in the past, just loafing and brown-nosing his way to promotion. But now the city had descended into chaos—Earthbound Immortals, city-wide Shadow Duels putting everyone at risk, and now even rumors that Director Goodwin's body was possessed by some unknown entity.
Lazar sighed again.
He really missed how the world used to be, before things started going crazy.
At that moment, a voice suddenly spoke from behind him inside the safe house.
"So Goodwin left himself such a backup... Hmph, even though it's not aimed at me, it still leaves me cleaning up after him. Really a troublesome guy."
Hearing the voice, Lazar was so frightened he almost jumped out of his skin.
Turning around, he found "Director Goodwin" already standing behind him, scaring him half to death.
"G-G-G-Goodwin... D-Director..." Lazar stammered, trembling uncontrollably.
Kira instantly understood what had happened.
This dimension's Goodwin was originally replaced by a slightly-future version of himself. But before he was eliminated, the original Goodwin foresaw his own end and left this warning for others.
Kira had arrived after that, disposed of the impostor Goodwin, and then taken over his position himself.
That warning video was intended to guard against the new Goodwin—but now the blame had landed on Kira instead.
"Sigh, I guess it's just my bad luck," Kira sighed, then narrowed his eyes, grinning at Lazar.
"As for you, Vice Director Lazar... I really don't want to do this, but there's no other way..."
"You know too much."
…