Night at Duel Academy, in a forest clearing.
"You sure about this?" Kira asked.
"Of course."
The burly man clenched his teeth and nodded hard.
It was Don Zaloog. He wore a loose coat and sunglasses, seemingly to hide his conspicuous Eye of Horus. Duel disk on his arm, stance set opposite Kira, he looked like a man facing death.
"My men trust me, entrusting their lives to me—I can't betray that trust."
Zaloog barked.
"I must become stronger—only then can I bear the duty of a leader!"
"Boss!"
The Dark Scorpion cheer squad was moved to tears.
For our sake, boss will suffer a prison-duel against this devil of a duelist…
Truly touching.
"Okay, if you insist—"
Kira smiled and raised his duel disk.
…
A few minutes later…
"Spell—Dark Scorpion - Tragedy of Love. If Zaloog and Meanae exist on my field together: send Meanae to the GY and destroy all monsters your opponent controls."
"Then I discard a card to equip Zaloog with Twin Swords of Flashing Light - Tryce. Equipped monster loses 500 ATK but can attack twice per Battle Phase.
Zaloog, two direct hits."
"And Zaloog's effect: when it inflicts battle damage, your opponent discards a random card. So discard two."
"…"
"Trap—Drop Off. The card you just drew in your Draw Phase—discard it. Go on, pitch it."
Zaloog: "…"
Lost.
And lost to himself… literally.
Zaloog tilted toward rage.
Shoot once and force the opponent to discard? What the hell!?
Couple that with all the confiscate, Drop Off… after a combo or two, he'd barely even played when his hand was already gone.
How was he supposed to duel? With what cards?
What disgusting—
Oh. The disgusting one is… me.
Never mind, then.
Zaloog doubted life.
Why had he never realized how vile his own effects were?
"How about it?"
Kira smiled at the zeroed Life Points Zaloog.
The man was tough—he sprang up instantly, resolute.
"Again!"
"Okay."
They shuffled up and started another duel.
…
Only minutes later.
"Continuous Trap—Call of the Haunted. Revive 'Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow.' Chick, direct attack."
"When Chick inflicts battle damage, return one card on the field to the hand. Bounce Call of the Haunted. Since it left the field, Chick is destroyed."
"Effect of Makyura the Destructor—this turn I can activate Traps from my hand. So I activate Call of the Haunted again, revive Chick, and direct attack."
"Chick's effect, bounce Call…"
"…"
Sitting on the ground with LP at zero again, Zaloog turned his head in a daze.
Who am I? Where am I? Who killed me?
He then stared blankly at Chick in the cheer squad, who was just as bewildered.
Everyone's eyes now focused on Chick.
Their looks said, "Not bad, kid. We never realized you were this sleazy."
Chick himself was utterly confused.
Huh? I'm… this strong?
"How about it?" Kira smiled.
Zaloog gritted his teeth. "Again!"
"Sure," Kira nodded.
But just two turns later—
"…I activate Spell—Creature Swap. Each player chooses one monster they control and swaps control. I'll choose my 'The Dark Scorpion Burglars.'"
Zaloog gritted his teeth. "Then I'll give you 'Don Zaloog.'"
He stepped across the midfield line himself.
"Haha, Zaloog really does have a sense of humor. But it doesn't matter which you swap," Kira smiled. "I Normal Summon 'Stygian Security.'"
[Stygian Security, ATK 100]
"Stygian Security attacks the swapped 'Dark Scorpion Burglars' on your field… Of course, with only 100 ATK, it'll blow itself up.
But Stygian Security's effect—when destroyed by battle and sent to the GY, Special Summon a Level 1 Fiend from the Deck."
Kira smiled faintly.
"Itself is a Level 1 Fiend. So I Special Summon another Infernal—"
"Stop, stop!"
Zaloog placed his hand on his Deck.
"I surrender!"
Five-speed surrender—cannot be chained or negated, may be activated at any timing, rules-level interruption to stop the opponent's storytelling—say no to prison.
Come on, he'd experienced this lock before. Next would've been Stygian Security suiciding into the Burglars three times, Burglars milling three Jackpot 7 to the GY, and then a rule win…
The five Dark Scorpions looked at each other.
Suddenly, they felt… we're kind of strong, aren't we?
Strange.
All these years, they'd never felt that way. They didn't think they were trash, but they weren't strong either.
Mediocre stats, so-so effects. Their best beater was Gorg with 1800 ATK at Level 5—middling in a world of top duelists.
Zaloog looked at the man before him, expression complicated.
He stood so casually, with a gentle smile—seemingly harmless.
But any opponent who'd dueled him would feel as if staring up at a towering devil.
No, it wasn't that Zaloog was strong, or Chick was strong, or the whole gang was strong.
It was this guy.
Even with cards as middling as the Scorpion gang—even with minor characters like them—in his hands they could unleash a power even they hadn't imagined.
Zaloog suddenly recalled a legend long told in the Duel Monster world—about divine duelists in the outside world.
"Even the weakest card can have value."
"There are no weak cards—only weak duelists."
Supposedly said by a great duelist, a king like a god—echoed even in the spirit realm. Zaloog had always scoffed.
Ridiculous.
Even the best general needs elite soldiers to win. Duel Monsters have inherent disparities; the strong rule the weak.
No matter how amazing a duelist—could they really slay gods with our five Scorpions?
So he never believed.
Now, he did.
This man's dueling was as dark as a demon's, yet as strong as a god's.
If it's him… maybe…
Maybe the five of them had truly met the rumored Duel God.
"Boss, still… training?" Chick asked cautiously.
Zaloog only shot him a look.
"Training? My ass!"
He stood, dusted himself off, and declared righteously:
"We are merely Duel Monsters—foot soldiers. We listen to the general's orders. What are we doing playing our own cards?"
"Huh?"
Chick froze.
Boss, that's not what you said before.
"Before, we had no wise lord—no choice but to fight ourselves. But now…"
Zaloog strode up to Kira, his single eye earnest.
"If milord will not disdain us—"
"Stop. Enough!" Kira held up a hand.
He suddenly had a bad feeling that letting him finish would be… unlucky.