"What a weary life…"
The old man closed his eyes and gave up struggling.
Darkness flashed with scenes of his life.
In his youth he encountered the power of darkness, learning that there existed "Shadow Games," a supernatural reality.
That was before Duel Monsters was rediscovered in the modern age. He and Lyman had studied alchemy from early on, and through it crossed the threshold into the world of Shadow Games.
Shadow Games had in fact always existed in hidden corners of the world since ancient times, only not combined with dueling until Pegasus unearthed the Duel Monsters tablets. In the past, Shadow Games took many forms—cards, chess, all kinds of games, even video games, or simply ad hoc rules invented on the spot.
After Duel Monsters appeared, Shadow Games were basically displaced by duels.
Kagemaru's life was essentially that of a Shadow Game player.
Countless thoughts and memories flashed by. Every danger, every foe he defeated, every life he saved…
All gone.
Yes—gone. Sealed memories no longer felt like they belonged to him. Looking back felt like he was an onlooker watching someone else's life.
And that… was fine.
Ironically, as the Sacred Beast's blow struck him—Uria's flame engulfing him—Kagemaru felt a strange relief, as if a long, arduous road had finally reached its end.
At last, he could rest.
Soon, the remaining "Shadow Riders" members arrived at the top of the baby-products company building.
Disembarking, they made their way in virtually unopposed. Since Kira's dramatic arrival, the upper floors were in chaos.
These were all Kagemaru's subordinates and recognized the Shadow Riders executives—organization officers—so in the confusion no one tried to stop them.
By the time they reached the top floor, it was basically over.
The alloy door had been violently breached; the smell of char and a haze of black smoke drifted from within.
They paused briefly at the entry before Kira strode out.
"It's done."
The Shadow Riders executives, and the growing cluster of organization members in the building, fell silent.
So that was it?
Their mysterious boss—the founder of the Shadow Riders—just… finished?
But they soon saw for themselves.
The life pod lay toppled, its exterior glass crazed like after a hammer blow. A plume of fluid sprayed from a crack, pooling on the floor.
A withered, gaunt old man lay within, head slumped to the side, motionless—as if asleep.
Asleep forever.
Don Zaloog blurted in surprise, "That—could that be… that guy?"
"The Shadow Riders' Master. Yes," Kira said.
Not just Don Zaloog—the others looked shocked.
They'd imagined many possibilities for their mysterious leader, but none had pictured a feeble, dying old man.
No wonder he never appeared in person, even before cadres, and never showed his face. Most of the Shadow Riders had backgrounds and clout; if they'd known their leader was a sickly old man, Kagemaru would've had a much harder time commanding them.
The life readouts on the pod had flatlined.
Lyman stepped to the pod, peered at the old man within, and exhaled a long breath.
"Why did we have to come to this?" he murmured to himself.
"But for you, perhaps… this is better."
"Maybe… the only piece of luck that visited your twilight years."
The Shadow Riders became history.
With word of the mysterious founder's fall, the organization was delisted from the underworld and vanished.
Of course, the end of the Shadow Riders didn't mean its executives disappeared.
On the contrary, the surviving executives gained even more legend in the underworld…
They were now the elite under the meteoric, mysterious newcomer "Revolver."
How the Shadow Riders were dismantled remained a mystery. Just as no one had known their base or mastermind, no one knew what happened that night, or who toppled such a behemoth in one stroke.
But in the days that followed, underworld duelists noticed that the surviving Shadow Riders executives were still active—not under the Shadow Riders, but as high-level enforcers of the rising group "Knights of Hanoi."
It seemed the remnants, with most of their subordinates, had defected to Hanoi.
Thus spread a rumor: Hanoi launched a massive assault, uprooted the Shadow Riders overnight, killed their master, and even absorbed their forces.
Though unproven, the rumor sent shockwaves through the underworld. Everyone had to reassess Hanoi and its leader, Revolver.
No one was more baffled than Hanoi's original members.
Like Kurozaki, one of the first duelists Revolver had recruited.
Kurozaki would never forget:
Back then, the boss casually said he'd go have a word with the Shadow Riders.
Not long after, the boss returned—
—and the Shadow Riders were ours.
While Kira was busy ransacking the Shadow Riders' lair…
…
Elsewhere, a towering snowy mountain rose like a natural wall between earth and sky. Gales from the void howled with a killing chill, raging through a world of white.
Bundled in mountaineering gear, a man clawed his way up a steep, jagged path, wind and snow whipping as he reached the summit. Fine, feathery flakes danced like celestial down.
At the peak, he pulled back his hood and goggles.
It was Zane Truesdale.
Before him, atop the mountain, an ancient dojo stood stoic in the storm. Roof and walls lay under a thick white shroud, nearly blending into the world around it—impossible to find without memory as a guide.
This was where he trained in childhood—the home of "Cyber Style."
Now he had returned to reclaim what he once left behind.
Zane clenched his fist.
He would claim Cyber Style's ultimate secret art.