Vroom——
As the duel began, flames engulfed the entire dueling arena. Shinji angrily shouted that Crow was a traitor, but Crow remained silent, his expression cold, as he pursued Shinji.
Behind them, the police who had hurried back witnessed this scene.
"That kid Crow..." As a Heaven's Will Worker, a super workhorse, Ushio had been loafing around in the morning when he suddenly received a new order to capture a kidnapper, and he rushed over.
Anything else could be ignored, but even kindergarten kids getting kidnapped couldn't be tolerated!
He held a loudspeaker, shouting at Shinji, "Shinji Weber! Whatever demands you have, we can talk it out. Release the child you kidnapped. No matter what, children are innocent!"
Hearing Ushio's shout, Shinji's expression didn't change at all.
At this moment, he was completely consumed by "Earthbound" power, his desire for destruction and malice were fully awakened. He was originally an extremely radical person, prone to extremes, now further agitated by the Evil God's power.
However, being extreme was one thing; his own "logic" hadn't broken down.
"Nonsense, you people only know how to look down on us from above, treating us from the Lower City as expendable cattle. Even our efforts, our voices, are treated as a joke—
Moreover, you say the children are innocent, but aren't you here to capture a child today!?"
Shinji was referring to the earlier incident he and Crow witnessed regarding Serena's capture.
Back then, although it wasn't intended, the listener took it to heart. Just as resistance against the Upper Area had begun, it appeared they would be suppressed, and Shinji lacked a strategy. When he saw Crow trying to rescue a child, he immediately thought of an alternative approach.
Since it was impossible to defeat the Upper Area in terms of power, they might as well go down together and let the Upper City witness their fury!
"You—" Ushio looked at him as if he were a madman.
"I'm just doing what you of the Upper Area do, how am I wrong!?"
Ushio gritted his teeth but couldn't counter his argument.
Because of the scandals caused by the Upper City's nobles recently, even a policeman like him found it disgusting.
"Crow, you must understand, right!? I'm just using their methods against them! Why can't you understand me?"
"Shinji!!" Crow gritted his teeth, driving and confronting Shinji, "Protecting children should be a basic instinct for everyone. If even children are harmed, then aren't we worse than beasts!? Even if the rebellion succeeds, wouldn't you become just another noble?!"
"How dare you compare me to them?!"
"You're doing exactly what they do right now!"
Sizzle—
The two cars collided side by side, causing the children inside to cry loudly. Serena tried to reach the child but missed entirely, grabbing at empty air.
At that moment, Crow instinctively closed his right eye, gasping quietly.
"Ha...Crow, it looks like your leg is injured, huh?" Shinji keenly noticed Crow's discomfort after colliding their D-wheels.
As a Racing Duelist, one of the first of his generation in this dimension to learn Racing Duels, he placed great importance on driving skills and state, immediately noticing Crow's issue.
Seeing this, he almost instantly made his decision—
Vroom...
At the last turn, he abruptly changed his driving speed, causing a positional shift between their cars, allowing Crow to take the turn before him!
Crow's expression changed upon seeing this.
"What's the matter? You attack first!" Shinji said.
He glanced at the pursuers behind them, scoffing.
As long as he defeated Crow, he'd have countless allies ready to back him up. These useless security police couldn't capture him.
By then, he could threaten the upper-class families with these two children.
Meanwhile, Crow gritted his teeth, glancing at his hand card, then at Shinji beside him, deliberating carefully before whispering to Serena.
Serena looked at him in surprise, not understanding, but at Crow's request, she nodded.
"My turn!"
Crow drew a card.
He glanced at it and said, "Normal Summon, Blackwing - Mistral the Silver Shield!"
A crow wearing a silver shield mask flew out from his card, standing guard on his field.
Blackwing - Mistral the Silver Shield, LV 2, Dark Attribute, Winged Beast-Type, DEF 1800.
"Set a card, end my turn."
"...Is that all? Crow!" Shinji saw Crow ending his turn just like that, his right hand couldn't help but tremble, "Your body is already in such a state, and you're still here trying to stop me?
Do you really want to prove that you're the one who's right?"
"I don't want to prove anything, I just feel that children shouldn't be dragged into this!"
"Then don't blame me, Crow!!" Shinji roared, the dark mark on his wrist began to flicker, representing his belief, the bottommost Earthbound Immortal Power started to surge, making the surrounding fiery corridor even darker, "Normal Summon, LV 2, Tuner Monster, Battlewasp - Sting the Poison!"
A fierce real wind began to blow in the dueling arena.
A mechanical wasp appeared on his field, with ominous liquid dripping from its stinger.
"When this card is Summoned·Special Summoned, its effect activates. From the deck, I add a Battlewasp monster other than this card to the hand card. I add Battlewasp - Twinbow the Attacker to my hand card!
Then, immediately activate its effect, activating during the main phase. Special Summon this card!"
"Use the two monsters to tune stars!"
"Use the membranous wings to whip up explosive gusts, and the stingers to carve a path of reality!"
"Synchro Summon, LV 5, Battlewasp - Azusa the Ghost Bow!"
The anthropomorphized wasp holding a bow and arrow appeared in the air, aiming its bow at Crow.
Battlewasp - Azusa the Ghost Bow, LV 5, Wind Attribute, Insect-Type, ATK 2200.
"Battle, use the ghost bow to attack your Silver Shield!"
Azusa the Ghost Bow slowly drew the bowstring, aiming at the crow defending Crow's field, then, after a moment's aim, fiercely drew the bowstring and the arrow shot out instantly, piercing through the Silver Shield, but it didn't stop there, after penetrating the monster, it even hit the D-wheel, causing Crow's speed to plummet sharply.
Moreover, it seemed to aim at Crow's leg, causing Crow, already injured, to lose control and cry out in pain.
"That's too despicable, attacking someone's injury!" Among the law enforcement officers chasing the two, someone instinctively shouted.
Although in Racing Duels there are methods to use monsters to attack directly to make the opponent unable to continue driving and thus win, even those Racing Duelists in the lower city chasing "freedom" wouldn't use such methods - even the law enforcement officers wouldn't use it - at most they would just summon monsters to block the path.
But that wasn't the end.
Because they could see, this duel wasn't just a "dueling image," it seemed for some reason, Shinji's monsters had become "materialized," capable of causing real harm!
However, despite accepting this pain, Crow wasn't too surprised, but rather, in such a situation, he burst out with strength once more, controlling his vehicle to crash into Shinji.
"Courting death!" Shinji, eyes red with rage, didn't care what Crow was thinking.
Bam!
"Ahhhhh!!!" Crow screamed aloud.
Shinji wanted to disengage after one strike, but found that this time, Crow controlled his vehicle tightly, sticking fiercely.
"What are you trying to do—" Shinji was startled, looking back and seeing "Rin" fearlessly standing on his D-wheel, directly approaching him, "Are you crazy—"
Even if you jump over, so what? You haven't untied the binding ropes, by then I just need to throw you off, won't you be done for?
But unexpectedly, at the moment Serena jumped over, the binding ropes inexplicably loosened!
He didn't know what happened, he couldn't see—
He couldn't see, there was a panda that Serena threw over when he first collided with Crow, secretly untying the knots just for this moment!
The next second, Serena even more recklessly jumped off the vehicle, taking the two children away from Shinji's vehicle!
"Crow!!!!"
Shinji went completely mad, recklessly crashing into Crow—
Having completed everything, Crow seemed to finally be at peace, utterly losing all support, unable to put effort into dueling anymore.
He knew Shinji well, and smart as he was, he had long thought of how to rescue the two children.
Thus, as the price... initiating a duel but not putting his whole heart into it, being knocked away was unsurprising.
His D-wheel was knocked away, the immense impact directly hitting him against the guardrail of the track, but just like how he had previously "flown down" from a higher track with a glider, the track, damaged extensively by the Fusion Army, could no longer protect the driver.
He fell from the sky, the unbalanced crow could no longer fly, just like a meteor, plummeting madly from the sky until finally...
Bam.
A cracked crater appeared on the ground below.
Crow lay in the pit, gazing at the sky, his eyes gradually losing focus, completely devoid of light.