The prison burned, a riotous clamor. Passing through the gate, Kira could almost taste the acrid smoke, mingled with the stench of blood.
A burly black-skinned man roared and charged from inside, swinging the sacred weapon of physics—an honest-to-goodness crowbar—down without even seeing who had come.
Kira didn't dodge. Don Zaloog, who'd been hidden in the deck case at his side, flashed out—as if peeling off from Kira's body—and sprang a flying kick straight at the man's face.
The thug had never imagined the guy could spawn a double from his body. Caught flat-footed, he took Don Zaloog's boot full-on, flipped onto his back, blood pouring from his nose, and blacked out on the spot.
Kira pushed deeper and quickly realized it was only the beginning.
Pandemonium wasn't an exaggeration for the prison. Someone had wrecked the systems; cell doors all over had opened. Prisoners, pent up and feral, poured out of their cages, smashed through the blocks, and swarmed outward.
The doorman had been low-tier. In the rear yard, flames boiled; a man strode like he was bathed in fire, his blade heated to a red-hot brand by the blaze, hacking through the courtyard.
Kira recognized him: a Level 4 Duel Monster, Darkfire Soldier #1—a supposed special ops soldier.
A monster spirit.
Kira frowned slightly.
The spirit seemed to scent Kira too. Whether or not it sensed the unusual intruder, it pivoted and charged him, blade trailing a serpent of flame.
Don Zaloog cursed and moved to engage, but Kira waved him back.
If he remembered right, Darkfire Soldier #1's ATK was 1700; Don Zaloog wasn't a good match.
Silent Magician stepped forward without being told. The slash met a white magic circle mid-swing—clang—and snapped into three pieces.
The soldier froze, adapted, and flicked the broken blade like a throwing knife. Silent swished her staff; a transparent sigil caught the shard and dragged it in a perfect arc—one-eighty degrees back to sender.
Darkfire Soldier #1, startled, couldn't avoid it; the red-hot shard pierced his chest, and he burst into fragments.
"So there are spirits."
Kira knit his brows.
The inmates here were all Dark Duelists; some might indeed be able to summon spirits. But prisoners in this place would have their decks—their primary weapons—confiscated. How were spirits here?
Unless—
A rasping sound came from the shadows. A long, ribbon-like blur flashed out of the darkness, lunging at Kira.
Before he could react, Don Zaloog had already drawn. Flame spat from the revolver's muzzle. The shadow took the shot with a screech and recoiled.
"Try a sneak on Master Don Zaloog's watch?" he barked, hands on hips.
Kira turned—he'd shot a black snake.
A man stepped slowly from the gloom.
Unlike the other rioters, he wore no prison garb—he was in black combat gear. Tall, hard-jawed, bronzed, his solid frame wrapped tight. Clearly not an inmate, but someone who'd come prepared.
Likely the mastermind behind the riot.
"A spirit," the man said, eyes narrowing at the one beside Kira. "So KaibaCorp's people have arrived, more or less on schedule?"
"You behind this mess?" Kira asked, glancing around. "Who are you?"
"Me? Snake River," he smiled. "Just a nobody."
"As for this chaos—no, not my doing. But it isn't wrong to say it's related to me. I was ordered to come… to give Prison No. 7—no, more precisely, KaibaCorp—a little trouble."
"Oh?" Kira arched a brow.
Targeting KaibaCorp?
"A duelist who can command spirits—KaibaCorp must consider you a rare resource, eh? Hahaha. All the better. Let's start with you."
Snake River snapped his duel disk open. The flames around them parted as if pulled by an unseen hand, forming a ring—a barrier isolating the two.
A Dark Game, clearly.
Kira tilted his head.
"Strictly speaking, I'm not with KaibaCorp. Just passing through. Though… rare resource isn't wrong. Fine."
He opened his disk, pulled a deck from one of several cases, and slotted it in.
"Duel!" x2
[Snake River LP 4000]
[Kira LP 4000]
"I'll go first. Draw!"
He added the card to his hand, quickly picked one, and slapped it down.
"I summon Black Mamba in defense!"
A pitch-black serpent appeared, tongue tasting the air, eyes gleaming with menace at Kira.
[Black Mamba DEF 1000]
"A Spirit Card?"
Kira recognized it—it was the very snake that had tried to ambush him and ate Don Zaloog's bullet.
"I set one. Turn end."
"My turn. Draw."
Kira glanced at the draw and revealed it at once.
"I summon Gozuki."
A blue-eyed undead minotaur—originally a manga yokai—now refit by Kira into a universal Zombie workhorse. A black-bodied minotaur warrior landed, heavy maul in hand, blue prayer beads at his neck and a gold ring through his nose, looking quite fierce.
[Gozuki ATK 1700]
"Gozuki's effect: once per turn during my Main Phase, send a Zombie from deck to GY."
His disk auto-searched and ejected a card.
"I send Vampire Grace."
A noble vampire's phantom flickered and vanished like a ghost.
"A Vampire deck, huh?"
Kira only smiled and ordered:
"Battle. Gozuki attacks Black Mamba."
The maul crushed the snake's head. It stood no chance.
"I activate my set Continuous Trap: Viper's Grudge!"
The backrow flipped.
"When a Reptile on my field is sent to the GY: Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Snake monster from the deck!"
Kira understood.
Oh—a Snake deck.