Kaihara walked out, just in time to hear a long, anguished scream.
There was a sound like an explosion, firelight blinding him. He raised his arm to shield his eyes, and through the blur saw a figure slammed into the wall beside him.
Looking more closely, he saw a man in a white coat, duel disk on his arm, the coat billowing like a cape. The room was a wreck—craters and debris everywhere, bodyguards and duelists lying all around, defeated.
The white-coated man was striding in as if nothing could stop him, calling out,
"Next? If no one else is coming, bring out your manager."
There were still some Shadow Duelists watching, but none dared step up.
No kidding. The duelists here were all about equally matched, but seeing their colleagues get crushed instantly, who'd go up and get killed?
For this man, taking them out was like squashing ants—not even on the same level. The bodyguards knew they were only for dealing with small-time troublemakers—against real experts, all they could do was cheer from the sidelines.
Shadow Duels were deadly serious—people could die for real. They were only here for the paycheck, not enough to risk their lives.
Kaihara frowned, but wasn't afraid, and strode forward.
Kira noticed the sharply dressed man—he stood out from the other grunts. So he turned to him.
"Let me guess, the big boss finally decided to show up?"
"Revolver from the Knights of Hanoi graces us with his presence—pity we didn't know ahead of time to prepare a proper welcome," Kaihara said politely.
But everyone knew those were just empty words. Revolver was on the dark web's wanted list—just not getting attacked on sight was already polite; why would they prepare a welcome?
Kira didn't mind, just replied calmly, "Sorry for the disturbance. ityActually, I just have a question about a job posted on your market."
"If that's all, you could have just come and asked—why cause so much trouble?" Kaihara shook his head.
Kira laughed.
"I thought so too, but your people refused to let me in. I tried to carve my own path, but not only did they not get out of the way, they even fought back. I had no choice but to fight through."
He shook his head.
You should know your own reputation—how could my people let you in?
No, even after the last incident, you still dare to show your face here—what arrogance.
Kaihara grumbled inwardly, but kept his composure. "So, how can I help you?"
"Nothing much. I just recently heard you took on a big job about Kaiba Corporation's Prison No. 7," Kira said.
Kaihara was surprised. "You're here for Prison No. 7?"
"Yeah. Someone spent a lot to hack the prison's security system and hired Shadow Duelists to help. But in the end, it seems they didn't break anyone out or steal anything.
Looked like they just wanted to mess with Kaiba or show off their skills."
Kira spoke slowly.
"Being able to hack Prison No. 7's security and sneak a Shadow Duelist in to cause trouble—that's no ordinary ability. I'm quite impressed, and would like to meet the person behind it."
Kaihara frowned.
"Is that so? That's a pity. You should know, it's against dark web rules to reveal even a word about clients—not targeted at you, Revolver. I'm afraid I can't tell you the client's identity."
"I figured as much. Which is why I didn't come empty-handed."
Kira raised his duel disk, removed the deck, and inserted a new one from his card case.
"You see, if you're forced to reveal information through a duel, it's not your fault, right?"
"Heh, you sure are confident, Revolver. But overconfidence can be dangerous."
He gestured, and a lackey handed him a duel disk. Kaihara put it on.
"Then let's see if you have the skills to match your arrogance."
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Kaihara Ryuusuke, LP 4000]
"I'll go first—draw." Kira said. "Activate Spell Card 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards."
He drew two, and immediately played one.
"Spell Card 'Take Over 5'—send the top five cards of my deck to the graveyard."
Five cards slid into the graveyard.
"Now I summon 'Rapid-Fire Magician'!"
[Rapid-Fire Magician, ATK 1600]
"Next, activate Spell Card 'Magical Stone Excavation.' Discard two cards to return a Spell from my graveyard to my hand."
Kira discarded two cards, and a glow appeared from the graveyard as a card returned to his hand.
"I return a second 'Magical Stone Excavation' from my graveyard to my hand."
Kaihara: "?"
He couldn't understand the play.
Discard two cards to get back a 'Magical Stone Excavation'? That's pointless.
From the result, he's just wasted two cards.
Is Revolver really being that generous? Giving up two cards right away?
"Rapid-Fire Magician's effect: as long as it's on the field, every time I activate a Normal Spell, you take 400 damage."
Rapid-Fire Magician fired a ball of light, hitting Kaihara in the face.
[Kaihara, LP 4000 → 3600]
Kaihara laughed. "Is this just tickling?"
All that effort for 400 damage and half your hand—how funny.
"One of the cards I discarded for 'Magical Stone Excavation' was 'Night Assailant.'"
Kira revealed the card.
"Its effect: when sent from hand to graveyard, I can return a Flip Effect monster from my graveyard to my hand." (old effect)
"So you can get back a monster from the grave too?" Kaihara shook his head. "Even so, it's still inefficient…"
"Is it really?"
Kira smiled mysteriously.
"'Night Assailant' itself is a Flip Effect monster. And the other card I discarded with 'Magical Stone Excavation' was also 'Night Assailant.'"
Kira revealed the other card in the grave.
"Night Assailant."
"So what?" Kaihara asked.
But as soon as he spoke, he seemed to suddenly understand.
His face froze, struck dumb with shock.