Almost everyone who left the Chancellor's office chose to keep their keys on their person. For example, Jaden went back and turned his into a pendant to hang on his chest.
Except for Kira.
He went back, tossed his key into his desk drawer, snapped on a lock, and left it there.
Because he knew there was no need.
The keys were a front. What really unsealed the Beasts was Shadow Dueling. By absorbing enough duel energy, the seal would naturally unravel.
In the anime, Don Zaloog and his gang bypassed dueling and stole all seven keys, but sticking them in the seal did nothing—completely useless.
And at the end of that arc, even though all the Shadow Riders had been defeated, the seven keys suddenly flew out as if guided by autopilot, slotted themselves into the stone locks, and unsealed the Three Sacred Beasts.
Collecting duel energy—that was the true purpose of the Shadow Riders. Kagemaru never cared whether his seven recruits won or lost. Whether they won and took the keys or got stomped and handed them over, he didn't care. The result was irrelevant; only the process of dueling mattered.
As long as the Shadow Duels produced enough energy, that was enough.
Knowing that in advance gave Kira another plan.
The simplest, most direct method was still as he'd thought before: find where that old codger Kagemaru was holed up and take him out. But the geezer's whereabouts were unknown; even his board hadn't heard from him in ages—he wasn't easy to find.
So there was another way.
No matter how well Kagemaru hid, he would have to show himself in the end to unseal the cards and take the Three Beasts.
Since they knew the goal and the method, if Kira collected enough duel energy ahead of Kagemaru and took those three cards first, wouldn't Kagemaru have no choice but to reveal himself and try to snatch them face-to-face?
Kira thought that move was good too, and the two plans didn't conflict. He'd be dueling anyway while searching for Kagemaru, so he could collect duel energy as he went. The two plans could progress in parallel, each as the other's fail-safe.
And lately, after classes at night, he and Jaden would sometimes party up and, via consciousness projection, continue exploring the Spirit World online.
The map of the Spirit World was enormous—just running the map was exhausting, but the exploratory content was rich. The two of them charted a bit each night, logged off before midnight to sleep, didn't affect the next day's studies, gradually searched for the location of the Supreme King's City, and also made time to progress the side quest to find Joey Wheeler.
So a busy week passed, and the first weekend of the new term arrived.
…
On Friday evening after class, Kira left the island and headed to the newly established headquarters of the Knights of Hanoi.
A new force, yes—but with a duelist's strength like a dimensionality-reduction strike, they had quickly unified the local outfits, and the Knights grew in short order. Kira also had people use their intel network to sniff out the Shadow Riders.
There now seemed to be a faint lead.
"This way, Leader."
Kurozaki led the way, nodding obsequiously to the white-clad leader behind him, whose face was hidden behind a dark-tinted visor.
As he followed, Kira said, "Tell me more about this place. You called it…"
"The Dark Web," Kurozaki explained with a grin plastered on his face.
"It's a force with reach all over the world. Its business includes underground Shadow Duels, rare cards, and all sorts of… items that can't see the light of day."
Kira nodded.
A black market tailored to dark duelists.
"Who runs it?" he asked.
"The founder? That I don't know—and no one does," Kurozaki said, shaking his head. "But everyone says the force behind the Dark Web is unfathomable, and its founder's Shadow Duels have reached a godlike realm.
Plenty of big names in the underworld have confidently challenged the Dark Web's authority before, but the result… well, most of the time, they end up as goods being traded on this very market."
"That impressive, huh."
Kira spoke casually, but his mind was already running through names from the source material who might have done such a thing.
A few names flashed by, then he quickly crossed them off. Mr. Marik, for instance, kind of fit the vibe—but he knew Mr. Marik had long since turned over a new leaf, and shouldn't still be in the world of dark duelists.
"The Dark Web is a great place—you can buy things here that money can't buy anywhere else.
Like rare cards—even discontinued ones. Of course, a lot of them were stripped off their previous owners' corpses…"
Kira said nothing.
Not surprising. Dark duelists were mostly desperados. Though they lived in modern cities, they had their own rules. Killing for cards wasn't rare.
The intel said the Shadow Riders had recently come to this Dark Web underground market and seemed to have taken a special interest in the alchemy materials section.
Kira immediately thought of Chairman Kagemaru and his obsession with alchemy. He may have turned to the power of the Three Sacred Beasts after deciding alchemy couldn't save him, but it was likely he never completely gave it up—still scouring for a slim chance at immortality through alchemy.
If they traced from the alchemical reagents he bought, maybe they could find his trail.
But it soon became clear that rare wares here weren't limited to cards.
From a distance, he noticed a stall with a few cards hanging on display and felt something off. He couldn't recall any cards like that.
Some obscure original cards he didn't remember?
Curious, he walked over and took a look—and froze.
They weren't normal cards for dueling at all.
Each card's name field held what looked like a person's name, from all over the world.
And the art on the cards was the image of a person.
Men and women, old and young. Some stared blankly, numb-faced in darkness; others, terrified, raised their hands as if pressing against an invisible pane of glass—imprisoned in a lightless cell, their fear and screams frozen on their faces.
Seeing someone approach, the stall owner immediately greeted him with enthusiasm.
"Oho, has this gentleman found a soul he fancies?"
Kira frowned.
"What are these?"
"Heh, first time here, eh? These are all premium souls sealed through a dark game," the man said with a smile. "Don't worry—they've all been processed through Shadow Games.
Release one, and each will obey any order you give without question—just like an obedient doll."
Kira's brow creased tighter, a trace of disgust rising within.
The man seemed to take it the wrong way—assuming the goods on display didn't suit the customer's tastes—and hurried to add, "If you're into a different type, I've got those too!
A missing Fortune 500 chairman, a politician's kid…
Or maybe this is more your thing? A fair, tender little girl—I guarantee she isn't even of age yet—"
He was hawking with spittle flying, but mid-sentence his voice trailed off on its own.
Because suddenly, from the white-clad man with the shaded visor before him—
He felt killing intent. The fatal kind.