# Council Chamber
"No. Whatever falls, falls."
Reiji finished speaking. I didn't share his calm. It wasn't anxiety, exactly. More like a splinter lodged somewhere I couldn't reach to pull out.
Behind us, Tsukikage stood still, still as a statue. Riley pressed close to Reiji's side, his stuffed toy crushed in both arms.
"One thing," I said, before anyone had given me permission to ask it. "Who is Roget?"
"Jean-Michel Roget," the man in gray replied. "Director of the Public Order Bureau."
"That isn't what I meant to ask."
"It's all you need to know." The Chairman laughed, light and easy, the same way he had laughed at everything since we walked in. I still couldn't tell that laugh meant he found all of this amusing.
Reiji's eyes cut toward me. Not a warning, exactly. Closer to "why did you spend a question on that?"
"We should go," Reiji said smoothly. "My brother has taken quite an interest in your Director. He has always been fond of studying people."
"If they think we're digging, they'll close every door still open to us. But answers rarely hand themselves over for free."
# The Day of the Friendship Cup
"Yugo, slow down! Security will catch us again!"
Wind tore past the black-and-white D-Wheel like bullets.
"We're already late because of you, Yuzu! And Security doesn't arrest Friendship Cup participants! We've got nothing to worry about!"
The stadium rose into view ahead of them, lights and bouquets fireworks blooming across the sky.
"Damn it, it's already started!"
"Yugo!" Yuzu's voice climbed higher as the D-Wheel accelerated more.
# The Duel Palace
Yugo took the endless stairs two at a time and still wasn't out of breath when he reached the top. Yuzu arrived ten seconds behind him, panting.
"We're here! The Duel Palace!"
The view stopped her short: a vast stadium, a long round track, the never-ending roar of the crowd rolling over them in waves.
"Incredible," she breathed. "It's even bigger than Maiami Stadium."
"Right!? And we get to duel here!"
"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for!" Giant holographic figures of one commentetor boomed across the arena. "Our King, Jack Atlas, will open this year's Friendship Cup with the ceremonial duel!"
The roar collapsed into a single chanted name. Yugo shouted it along with them without thinking twice.
"And the lucky challenger who will face the King this year is, Sakaki Yuya!"
Yuzu went still.
# Underground D-Wheel Bay
"This is manual mode, this is autopilot," a young staffer explained, gesturing at the dashboard. "Duel Chasers use autopilot during chases on the high-roads too. Don't worry, you can still control direction and speed. It only keeps you on track and stops you from losing balance."
"I'll be okay with that?" Yuya asked.
"You'll be fine," the girl beside him said. Then, quieter, to her partner: "Security's Director flagged this one personally. We have to give him the best we've got."
A crimson D-Wheel rolled forward from the rack. "This is the newest model in the fleet. In power and speed, it matches Jack Atlas's own D-Wheel."
Yuya looked it over without much interest. It didn't matter which one he took. "Thanks for the help. I'll take this one."
# Stadium
The crimson D-Wheel jumped into the ring.
"Yuya?" Yuzu's voice cracked.
"That's him?" Yugo watched the rider go on the outer wall with a jump that nearly carried him over the edge. "Rough with the D-Wheel, huh."
Yuzu's bracelet lit up, faint. She stared at it, then at him, and her eyes filled with happy tears before she could stop them.
"It's him," she whispered.
Yugo's grin faded a shade after looking at bracelet. "That's him? So that's the one they picked as this year's sacrifice. I feel kind of bad for him already."
"Sacrifice?" She finally turned her head.
"Oh, right. I never told you about the Ceremonial Duel."
Yuzu looked at him, still confused.
Yugo shrugged. "The King only fights the winner of the Friendship Cup. This Friendship Cup is nothing but a contest to grant the right to challenge him."
"But why?"
"The ceremonial duel exists for one reason: to show the whole City King's power, and to remind everyone why he deserves his throne.
"It lets the whole City watch the gap between King and everyone beneath him. See exactly how far above the crowd he stands."
Yuzu's expression tightened.
"So every time Jack enters one, he doesn't just beat his opponent. He crushes them. Mercilessly. The point isn't only to win. It's to remind everyone watching why he's King. That's why they call the challenger a sacrifice." He shrugged, carefree. "By now it's just custom."
A brief silence followed.
"That doesn't sound like friendship," Yuzu said.
She turned back to the track and prayed, silently, that Yuya would win and would come out okay.
"And now," Melissa's voice rang out, "the King arrives!"
A single playing card lit up across the massive stadium, no number or symbol, only a King on both ends, each holding a Duel Monster card.
Jack Atlas rose into view from underground, on his D-Wheel, and the crowd's noise became something closer to a physical force.
He circled whole stadium once, then hollered to the stands: "So, how should I finish him?!"
The crowd screamed back as one voice: "FIRST TURN!"
# Council Chamber
I watched the whole scene unfold on the holographic screen. It answered a question I hadn't needed to ask out loud: "why" an entire city worships this man. Asking for a first-turn finish. An impossible task.
"A King's duel should always entertain!" Jack declared. Yuya gasped. "First, I take my turn. Second, I let my challenger do everything he can. Third, I show him the distance between us, and finish this!"
The crowd went wilder.
"He knew exactly what this crowd wanted to hear."
A first-turn victory is near impossible against a competent opponent. The third turn wasn't a boast. It was a schedule: build your force first, then give the challenger one real turn to build something, then dismantle it while it still looks impressive. He hadn't promised mercy. But he hadn't refused the crowd's demand either. He had bent it, and made them hungrier for it.
The Council looked pleased. Reiji and Riley did not. And because we had requested to get Action Duels accepted into this tournament's rules, Yuya at least had one real advantage Jack hadn't accounted for.
"Then let's start!" Melissa looked at the computer screen. "An Action Duel?!" Her confusion carried even through the broadcast. "I don't know, but let's—"
"It has been installed as per your request," the man in gray said.
"Modeled on their style," the elder woman added, something almost curious in her voice. "Let us see whether the King can still perform against a method he has never faced."
"There is no such thing as a fair fight in a war," Reiji said quietly. "Only fights you can win."
A truth. And not a comfortable one. I wondered whether this Council would ever understand how true it was. None of them had once looked truly afraid of the invasion we kept warning them about. Reiji had noticed it too. It was why he watched their faces more than their words.
"Action Field on!" Melissa called. "Crossover Acceleration!"
The countdown fell. Three. Two. One.
"Riding Duel... Acceleration!" Everyone shouted.
Both D-Wheels tore off the starting line.
Jack LP: 4000
Yuya LP: 4000
"My turn!" Jack drew without looking at the card. "I Normal Summon Mad Archfiend!"
[FIRE / Fiend / Effect / Level 4 / ATK: 1800 / DEF: 400]
A hulking, chained zombie tore itself free of the track.
"And because I control a Fiend, I activate Blaze Resonator's effect from my hand! Once per turn, I Special Summon it!"
[FIRE / Fiend / Tuner / Effect / Level 3 / ATK: 1300 / DEF: 300]
A smaller, wiry creature rattled onto the field, chains humming with restrained heat.
"I tune Level 4 Mad Archfiend with Level 3 Blaze Resonator!" Jack's voice dropped, resonant enough to carry over the engines.
Resonator turned into three rings, and Mag Archfiend into four orbs, swallowing all rings.
"Rise from the furnace no throne has ever tamed! Take wing, and remind this city why fire answers only to its King!
"Synchro Summon! Level 7! Red Emperor Arch-demon!"
[FIRE / Dragon / Synchro / Effect / Level 7 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 2000]
The dragon that tore free of the light wasn't a hologram in any way Yuya was used to. Every part of its armor looked forged, not projected, its wings cutting real turbulence through the artificial wind.
We had been told how Riding Duels worked. Seeing one was different. For a moment, I wondered if this was Real Solid Vision.
The crowd didn't merely roar. They shouted king like a chant.
"I set one card. Turn end."
"One opening move," I thought, "That was all it took for the entire arena to lose its mind." I noted his first play in mind. It was worth remembering.
"My turn!" Yuya's voice cracked with nerves he was clearly trying to burn off throug. "I'm going to show you my Entertainment Duel!"
"I set the Pendulum Scale!" He called, sliding two cards into place. "Scale 1, Timegazer Magician! Scale 8, Stargazer Magician!"
The word PENDULUM flashed across his Duel-Board in a burst of colors, and twin pillars of light rose behind either side of his D-Wheel.
His voice steadied, finding its rhythm. "Swing pendulum of my soul! Draw an arc of hope across the sky! Pendulum Summon! Come forth!"
Three lights tore into landing at once.
"Spiral, dance of soul and starlight! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
[DARK / Dragon / Pendulum / Effect / Level 7 / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000]
Beside it, two smaller monsters dropped into formation, Level 4 apiece.
The crowd's noise shifted, no longer the same wall of sound. Something closer to a rising, bewildered murmur: thousands of people trying to process a summoning method that matched nothing in the history they knew of.
Jack glanced back at Yuya for the first time.
"I overlay my two Level 4 monsters!"
A dark, swirling galaxy tore open in front of his D-Wheel.
"Fang of pitch-black darkness, rise against those who oppose you!
"Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"
[DARK / Dragon / Xyz / Effect / Rank 4 / OU: 2 / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000]
The stadium's confusion broke apart into something closer to euphoria.
"I activate Pot of Greed!" Yuya snatched two fresh cards from his deck. "Now, Dark Rebellion, detach one material and halve Arch-demon's attack, and gain the difference! Treason discharge!"
[OU: 2 → 1]
Red Emperor Arch-demon's ATK: 2600 → 1300
Dark Rebellion's ATK: 2500 → 3800
"Again! Treason discharge!"
[OU: 1 → 0]
Red Emperor Arch-demon's ATK: 1300 → 650
Dark Rebellion's ATK: 3800 → 4450
The whole stadium gasped at the effect alone.
"Such one-sided effect...! Is this it?!" Melissa's voice cracked with disbelief. "Is the King already—"
"Not yet," Jack cut in, unshaken. "I activate trap card: Red Dragon's Fang from my hand! When there is a monster with higher attack than mine, I may play this card from my hand! I target all the monsters you currently control and negate their attacks, this turn only!"
Dark Rebellion and Odd-Eyes froze mid-air, wings locked, jaws inches from Red Emperor Arch-demon's throat.
Yuya's D-Wheel banked hard around the ring's outer wall, snatching a glowing card off without slowing.
"Action Card: Negation! The monster I choose can't be affected by cards until the end of the turn!
"Dark Rebellion, Attack! Mandible Discharge of Disobey!"
The freeze shattered. Dark Rebellion's wings snapped open and dashed towards target, and Red Emperor Arch-demon went up in a column of ash.
Jack LP: 4000 → 200
The crowd didn't quiet. If anything, it grew louder. The Commons cheered openly from their section, and a few Tops leaned forward in their private lounges despite themselves.
"So this is what an Action Card does," Melissa said, stunned into honesty. "The King's Life Points, nearly gone!"
A bulky figure on stands moved his chin. "The Riding Duel once again has evolved. And by us Commons no less!"
Jack's D-Wheel wobbled hard from the recoil, then steadied.
"Two hundred," I thought. "Thin. But not nothing."
"If Jack had played that differently," I murmured, "he'd already be finished."
Reiji didn't answer. He was watching Jack's face on the projection, and Jack wasn't rattled at all. His looked "interested."
Jack snorted. He paced his D-Wheel next to Yuya. "You call this an Entertainment Duel? Is losing part of the performance too?"
Yuya's jaw tightened.
"You call this entertainment? You show the crowd everything you're doing and expect them to be impressed? Entertainment is making them think they've seen the ending—then giving them the ending they never expected."
Yuya glared back at him.
Jack's gaze sharpened.
"I activate Red Dragon's Fang's effect from my Graveyard! By banishing it, I Special Summon one Tuner monster from my Graveyard!" A pulse of heat rippled off the wreckage. "Rise again, Blaze Resonator!"
In a crimson-darkness, a trap card was dissolved.
[FIRE / Fiend / Tuner / Effect / Level 3 / ATK: 1300 / DEF: 300]
The monster returned wreathed in fierce flame.
"And Blaze Resonator's effect brings back a Synchro Monster from my Graveyard! Once more, Red Emperor Arch-demon!"
Blaze Resonator made a chim on air, a big burning circle igniting. The dragon came out from there, roaring.
[FIRE / Dragon / Synchro / Effect / Level 7 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 2000]
"Blaze Resonator restores my Life Points equal to the Level of the Synchro Monster it summons, times one hundred!"
Jack LP: 200 → 900
"He didn't just bring his monsters back but also recovered his life points!" Mellissa boomed. "That is king for you!"
"He'll finish it next turn!" Someone shouted from the stands, and the chant caught fast. "The King wins in three turns, just like he said!"
"Don't be so sure!" Yuya's voice cut through it. "My turn isn't over!"
He slammed down a fresh card, eyes narrowing.
"I activate the Spell Card, Pendulum Reforge! From my deck, I replace my Pendulum monsters in Scales by same or in between their scales!" Timegazer and Stargazer dissolved into light, replaced instantly by two new shapes. "Scale 8, Xiangsheng Magician! Scale 3, Xiangke Magician!"
"What is he doing?" Melissa started.
"Xiangke's effect turns an Xyz Monster's Rank into Level, until the end of the turn! Dark Rebellion, Rank 4, becomes Level 4! And Xiangsheng's effect changes its Level to match a monster on my field! Dark Rebellion becomes Level 7, the same as Odd-Eyes!"
Both magician shot arrow on Dark Rebellion.
[Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon: Rank 4 → treated as Level 7]
"A Rank monster?!" Melissa's voice cracked, somewhere between disbelief and delight. "It wasn't a Level monster! Is that even legal?! This is just like the masked duelist in the park against the Heavy Samurai!"
Yuya thought of Dennis and Gongenzaka, of every friend who had carried him this far. The thought lingered a heartbeat, then left him as the crowd's roar became louder.
"I overlay Level 7, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Level 7, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"
Both dragons dissolved in a brilliant galaxy, and a black pillar erupted skyward.
"Two souls, duel colored eyes, banish all enemies who oppose with those fangs! Become the storm that rewrites the sky with wrath!
"Xyz Summon! Rank 7! Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon!"
[DARK / Dragon / Xyz / Pendulum / Effect / Rank 7 / OU: 2 / ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500]
The dragon that rose carried Odd-Eyes' spiraling oddity and Dark Rebellion's jagged violence and looks, and for one breathless second looked like neither and both at once.
The crowd's confusion turned in a single breath into raw excitement.
"Its effect, all Level 7 or lower monsters my opponent controls are destroyed, and he takes one thousand damage for each!"
Odd-eyes Rebellion dragon dashed on those two monsters, piercing the road with it's two blades on jaw, and crashed on them.
Nothing happened to those monsters.
Red Emperor Arch-demon still stood. So did Blaze Resonator.
"Blaze Resonator can't be destroyed the turn it's Special Summoned," Jack said, unmoved by piercing winds. "Neither can the Synchro Monster it summons."
Yuya's eyes widened, then hardened.
"I can't destroy them, but he can still take damage," he thought. "Odd-Eyes Rebellion can attack three times. I can win."
His expression hardened into something Yuzu had never seen on his face.
"I'm going to defeat you," he said, quiet and steady, no smile anywhere. "With my Entertainment Duel."
"Battle! Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, attack Blaze Resonator! Rebellion wrath of Spiral Strike Burst!"
Odd-eyes Rebellion dragon charged with flames and blue lightning.
Jack didn't flinch. "I activate Red Emperor Arch-demon's effect! If there is a Tuner monster on my field, I can use this monster as Synchro Material and Synchro summon!"
The dragon shattered into seven orbs, blinding column of light.
"Scorch the heavens, and let the throne burn with me!
"Synchro Summon! Level 10! Crimson Emperor!"
[FIRE / Dragon / Synchro / Effect / Level 10 / ATK: 3500 / DEF: 3000]
A raging dragon of living flame rose over the stadium, its shadow swallowing Jack and Yuya.
"When Crimson Emperor is Synchro Summoned, I destroy one monster my opponent controls! Burn, Meteor Cremation!"
A scorching meteor tore loose from the dragon's maw and slammed into Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon. The explosion swallowed it whole.
Yuya's D-Wheel skidded past the wreckage, and his hand shot out to snatch another glowing card off the wall. His eyes tightened when he saw it.
"This is not the card that could save me. But it could still help!"
"Action Card: Decoy! When a monster I control is destroyed, I Special Summon one token monster in Defense Position, and add a Level 6 or lower monster from my deck to my hand!"
[LIGHT / Fairy / Token / Level 1 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0]
A small, glowing doll appeared into place in front D-Wheel.
"I activate a Quick-Play Spell: Pendulum Rebirth! From my hand! When a Pendulum Monster is destroyed, I Special Summon a level 7 or lower Pendulum Monster face-up from my Extra Deck! Return, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
The dragon uncoiled from the smoke and rose into the sky once more.
Jack's brow rose, a flicker of surprise at last.
"He must be wondering why Odd-Eyes was in his Extra Deck," I thought. "But he won't ask. The commentator will ask anyway."
# The Duel
"From the Extra Deck?!" Melissa's voice climbed over the crowd's murmur. "Is he cheating?!"
"No," Yuya explained. "The Pendulum Monster was attached as Overly units. When the Xyz Monster left the field, the material was sent to the Graveyard—but because it was a Pendulum Monster, and was destroyed by card effect, it returned face-up to the Extra Deck."
Whatever the crowd made of that, it didn't change the situation.
"From my hand, I Tribute the token to Normal Summon Performapal Mammoth Splash!"
The doll was replaced by a light, replaced by a baby mammoth that circled around Yuya.
[WATER / Beast / Effect / Level 6 / ATK: 1900 / DEF: 2300]
"And its effect lets me Fusion Summon using it, I use Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon as material!"
A vortex swirled above Yuyu, both monsters colliding in to center.
"Two beasts of a single instinct, tear the veil and bare your eyes!
"Fusion Summon! Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
[DARK / Dragon / Fusion / Effect / Level 8 / ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2000]
A monstrous, feral dragon burst from the fusion vortex, its twin-colored eyes shining with primal.
"I end my turn."
"He's building his defense for now, it's the right instinct, and it won't be enough. He would probably use Action Card to save Beast-eyes next turn and increase it's attack to Destroy Crimson Emperor and use it's effect deal Odd-eyes' attack damage."
"My turn. Draw!"
Jack rode straight up beside Yuya's D-Wheel.
Yuya glared at him. Jack didn't grin. He didn't even blink.
"You want to entertain people, but all you do is shout and act novice. If you still can't understand something so clear, you are doing just all these stupidity for self-satisfaction!"
He raised his hand.
"I activate Crimson Emperor's effect! I tribute it, and Special Summon lesser level than it, a Synchro Dragon from my Extra Deck!" Fire climbed the length of the dragon's body, consuming it.
"Emperor of all for one throne that ever burned! Rise as the flame that answers no successor!
"Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend!"
As Crimson Emperor's body burned, a new monster emerged.
[FIRE / Dragon / Synchro / Effect / Level 8 / ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2000]
"By the effect of Crimson Emperor Dragon, Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend's attack is doubled!"
Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend's ATK: 3000 → 6000
The crowd's roar cracked into something almost like fear. Yuya's breath caught. Yuzu screamed his name from the stands, and the roar drowned it out completely.
"Battle! Scarlight, attack Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
Yuya's D-Wheel wrenched sideways as he grabbed at another card. "Action Card: Evasion! I negate the attack!" The blast dissolved into sparks against his monster.
Jack's smile came at last, small and sharp. "Trap, activate. Absolute King's Verdict! When my opponent activates a card effect, the effect is negated, and one of my monsters may attack once more!"
There it is, as I thought. The card he set on his first turn. He wanted to buy an extra swing at end, the entire duel.
"And at the same time, I activate Scarlight's effect! All Special Summoned monsters with attack equal to or lower than Scarlight's are destroyed, and my opponent takes five hundred damage for each!"
A wave of crimson-dark fire swept across the track. Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon scorched in flames.
Yuya LP: 4000 → 3500
Yuya scanned the passing walls frantically for another glowing card, but there was nothing.
"Now, kneel," Jack commanded, almost hollering. "Kneel before King!
"Scarlight, direct attack!"
The dragon blasted ball of scorching fire.
The blast struck Yuya square on, throwing him clean off his crimson D-Wheel, flying off, and he crashed hard onto the road.
Yuya LP: 3500 → 0
The whole stadium rose as one, chanting King, King, King until it swallowed every other sound. A medical team was already sprinting across the field, and a stretcher followed close behind.
Yuzu was running before she had decided to, Yugo half a step behind her.
# Council Chamber
I watched the stretcher carry Yuya.
He never had a real chance. Not because he wasn't strong enough. Because Jack planned that trap card from his very first turn. Every comeback, every gasp from the crowd, every moment where it looked like the King might fall: all of it had been placed exactly where Jack wanted it, so the cheers would be louder when he took it all back.
"I suppose," the Chairman said, folding his hands, "this is the result of your Lancers' member."
Reiji, Riley, Tsukikage, and I turned our heads up together, toward whatever verdict was coming next.