“Hey hey hey, this is ya boy DJ Big Shoeeeee!!!! Listeners, I cannot quite beeelieve my ears! Yes. Listeners, remember that asshole I mentioned was heading through St. Louey? He’s in New York City now~. The city that rocks! The city that never sleeps! Word says he’s drowning quite a few sorrows on a bar near Tenth and Broadway. Seems to be quite the shithole, so I don’t think anyone would care what happens there yonder.”
Big Shoe adjusted his feet, which were splayed on top of his table in the sort of cocksure manner he was known for. The blue glow of his wall-to-wall monitors still filled the room, but it hardly bothered him anymore.
“Hey hey now. I’d say anyone who brings in that wanker’s head to me gets their favorite song put on my daily playlist for a month – no, a year! Go get ‘em listeners, and try to record it. We need something fun to play on those fancy new plasma screen TVs Principal MacKenzie put in the student union. I’m getting’ sick and tired of those Rawhide reruns!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ninja Nan turned off the tiny battery-powered radio at her side with a muffled ‘click’. Already mere minutes after Big Shoe’s announcement, there was a man with a duel disk on his arm walking towards the door of the bar her target had disappeared into with a jaunty whistling tune sliding from his lips.
This would be the interesting part. Was the boy simply putting on an act, waiting like a spider to see if any flies fell into his web? Or was he so overcome with grief and drink that cannon fodder sent in by Big Shoe could kill him?
The interesting part indeed. Nan pulled a cozy flannel blanket around her shoulders to ward off the slight chill of the summer evening as she sat back to listen in on the show. Either way, the speedy arrival of the cannon fodder was proving her decision to contact Big Shoe with the address to be quite fruitful.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Up until the minute the door to the dingy bar opened and a well-dressed man with a long, droopy walrus mustache and a duel disk strapped to his left arm walked in, Lumina was actually having a fairly quiet night. At least, compared to the rest of the week. She wasn’t crouched in a half-full coal car making mental notes to send her dress to the dry cleaners ASAP. She wasn’t on board a jet listening to Phil gradually going insane from boredom. Nor was she watching Phil duel his way through a continent.
Sure, she already had to knock a biker unconscious when the thug had tried to stab Phil for his roll of quarters, but again, relatively tame. It wasn’t like this was the first time she had seen combat. Lumina had cut her teeth in the corporate wars back in the spirit world. She’d managed to avoid the trenches, of course, but those Dark World bastards had tried to raid the Lightsworn offices more than a few times, and in those instances, it was either blast the pikemen with magic before they cleared the minefield in the lobby, or die horribly.
Lumina was fonder of the ‘blast with magic’ option herself, even if most of those raids had happened during her lunch break and therefore it was technically illegal for her employer to request her involvement.
Anyway, Lumina was having a pretty decent time, all things considered. Then cue the guy with the walrus mustache and the duel disk walking through the door. The duel disk itself instantly set off alarm bells in her head. Phil was the only other person in the entire building that had one. Lumina glanced at Phil, who was staggering around the bar singing with some of the other patrons about some sort of place called the Green Dragon and how its beer was way better than the stuff this establishment had.
One look was enough to convince Lumina, along with memories of how Phil had fared the last time he dueled while extremely intoxicated. Not well, was the answer.
“Ugh. Phil, you owe me for this.” Lumina decided and grumbled to herself. A simple pulse of her light magic was enough to form a duel disk attached to her own wrist, along with the company-standard deck within. She’d never used it before, but there was little choice. The walrus-mustache guy had a duel disk, so that meant Lumina was bound by the rules that stated she couldn’t simply take the easy route and fry the man. Not until the penalty game, at least.
Another pulse of her magic lifted her passive invisibility. Most of the patrons in the bar were too inebriated to notice her, and the rest simply chalked her sudden appearance up to the fact they were pretty close to being so drunk that the hallucinations were starting up.
The guy with the mustache, however, held a hand over his heart in response to her sudden appearance. His chubby face turned red, and for a moment Lumina off-handedly began to wonder if her opponent was having a heart attack. She kind of hoped he was. It would be mighty convenient for sure.
Unfortunately, the man recovered right when his face was beginning to turn purple.
“Shame.” Lumina shrugged and activated her duel disk.
The man coughed and wheezed before activating his own. “I beg your pardon, ma’am. I was just mighty surprised by your, ah, sudden appearance. Allow me to introduce myself. Ah am called Buster Beacon. The DJ, a kind and gentle soul, di~rected me to your present location. As a gentleman, I would like to kindly request that you step ahside so I may reach my target. Afterward, I would also like to request the honor of knowing your name and buying you a drink, beautiful lady."
Lumina arched an eyebrow and stared at Buster Beacon until he became visibly uncomfortable. “The name’s Lumina, and I decline both of your other requests.”
Buster Beacon gently shrugged. “Tis the way the cards fall. I suppose we shall do this the old-fashioned way. Suits me just fine, seeing as I am an old-fashioned man.”
Lumina: 4000 Buster Beacon: 4000
“Ladies first.” Buster Beacon gestured towards her with one hand while the other stroked his droopy walrus mustache. “Wouldn’t be proper otherwise.”
Lumina rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever. I draw. I summon Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior (1850/1300) in attack position! Then I place two cards face down and end my turn!”
The burly, bear-like man clad in white and gold armor walked onto Lumina’s field with a grin and a wave as she ended her turn.
“Oh hey Lumina, what’s good?” Garoth cheerfully asked.
Lumina nodded at him. "Just dueling some freak who thinks the Wild West is still around."
Garoth sagely nodded. He stuck his gaudy halberd into the ground so it could stand by itself and crossed his arms. "Wow, what a freak. Hey dude! You're a freak!"
“Shut your damn mouth boy!” Buster Beacon shouted back with tearful eyes.
“Boy? What boy? I’m ten fucking thousand years old!” Garoth raged back. “I will shove my halberd up your ass!”
“Whatever! I draw! I summon Doomdog Octhros (800/800) to my field in defense position. Then I will also place two cards face down and end my turn.”
Altogether it was a simple start to the duel, Lumina noticed. In some ways she felt like she should be reading further into the moves of her opponent, but, well, that was Phil’s job. He was the duelist. She could only hope that the deck her company built and handed out to all their operatives was good and took zero skill to use. Otherwise, it might be the drunk version of Phil dueling next.
Lumina drew a card to start her turn. So far, so good. She had the monster with the highest attack points, so that meant she was in the lead, right? Right?
“And let’s keep it that way.” Lumina decided. “I summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (1800/1200).”
A white-haired woman walked onto the battlefield with confidence oozing through her white and gold armor. She waved towards Lumina, who waved back, and then turned to face Buster Beacon.
“Alright. Jain! Would you mind killing that weird black and red dog? The one without eyes?”
Jain nodded. “Sure thing Lumina. Say, do you want to get coffee later? I feel like it's been ages since you’ve stopped by the office.”
Lumina tilted her head to consider the offer while Jain swung her broadsword clean through the flesh of the demonic dog.
“And that activates Doomdog’s effect!” Buster Beacon excitedly announced. “I get to add one level eight fiend monster from my deck to my hand. Magical Musket Mastermind Zakiel, come to me!”
Lumina completely ignored the theatrics of her opponent. “You know what? Sure! Once my client has stopped being a moron and gives me some breathing room, I’ll request a vacation day and we can catch up!”
The muscles of the other warrior on Lumina’s field bulged as Garoth sent forward a mighty swing of his halberd, but Buster Beacon was faster.
"Not so fast! I activate my quick-play spell card, Fires of Doomsday! I get to special summon two Doomsday Tokens (0/0) in defense position!”
Lumina shrugged apathetically and redirected Garoth’s attack to one of the shadowy, one-eyed tokens, which died with a high-pitched scream.
“During my end phase, Jain will send the top two cards from my deck to my graveyard. Then, Garoth will send another two cards off the top of my deck in response to Jain’s effect. And since Garoth sent two Lightsworn monsters with his effect, that being Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, and Shire, Lightsworn Spirit, I get to draw two cards! Turn end!”
“Quite a turn, ma’am.” Buster Beacon admitted. “I draw and summon Magical Musketeer Starfire (1300/1700) in attack position.”
A very scantily clad woman dressed in colorful silk robes jauntily strolled onto Buster Beacon’s field, flashing Garoth a smile and batting her eyes at the muscular warrior. Garoth began to respond with a wave of his own, but Jain slapped his wrist down with an angry look.
“Don’t flirt with the enemy!” She yelled into Garoth’s ear to further reinforce the point.
Buster Beacon patiently waited for Jain to finish chewing out Garoth before entering his battle phase. “Alrighty then. Starfire! Attack Garoth! And on mah declaration, I activate a quick play spell card from my hand, Magical Musket – Steady Hands! By targeting Starfire, I double her attack and defense points until the end of the turn. Then, since I made sure to activate my spell card in the same column as Starfire, I can activate her effect to special summon another Magical Musketeer monster from my deck in defense position.”
Magical Musketeer Starfire (1300/1700 -> 2600/3400).
Buster Beacon mimed shooting a pair of imaginary revolvers in his hands while he thought about which monster to summon.
“Ah! Of course, I shall summon Magical Musketeer Caspar (1200/2000) in defense position!”
Now that Starfire’s effect was resolved, Lumina leaped into action, ignoring the blond, red-cloaked gun-wielding man who had just popped onto the field. “You fool! You fell into my trap! I activate the continuous trap card Lightsworn Barrier. When one of my Lightsworn coworkers is targeted for an attack, I can fill out the paperwork to send the top two cards of my deck to my graveyard to negate that attack!”
Garoth pumped his fist in the air as he was surrounded by a barrier of papers that had such words typed on them as ‘medical insurance', 'workers comp', and ‘lawyer contact info’. The papers swirled to absorb the flashy yet deadly attack from Starfire in a mountain of paperwork the opposing monster would have to fill out before the company lawyers would allow the attack to go through.
“Ugh. Well played missy.” Buster Beacon grudgingly admitted and ended his turn.
“Good work Garoth, Jain!” Lumina shouted out in encouragement. “We’ve got this sucker on the ropes! Let’s press our advantage further! I activate Charge of the Light Brigade, which allows me to add one level four or lower Lightsworn monster from my deck to my hand in exchange for sending the top three cards from my deck to my graveyard. I choose to add Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress (1700/200), and I’ll also go ahead and summon her in attack position!”
A dark-haired woman in white and gold robes walked into the bar and nodded in greeting to her co-workers. “Evening, ladies, Garoth. Say, Lumina, it’s been a while. How do you feel about coffee after this? We can catch up. Do you know Ehren’s getting married?”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Lumina’s eyes widened in shock. “Seriously? I thought she’d be enjoying the single life for at least another millennium! What happened!”
“Oh you know, this and that.” Lyla waved her golden staff around for emphasis. “I’ll tell you more around coffee.”
“Well, we were planning to get some after this annoying mustache guy dies if Lumina’s vacation is approved with the big boss,” Jain offered.
Once Lumina, Jain, and Lyla had finished making plans for after their opponent was stone-cold dead on the floor, Lumina proceeded to activate the effect of her newly summoned coworker.
“Lyla! Time to do what you do best! Use your effect to switch to defense position and destroy that guy’s other face down card!”
Lyla grinned and nodded, pointing her staff toward Buster Beacon’s remaining face down card and destroying it with a blast of light to reveal the fading scraps of a Magic Cylinder.
Lumina wiped an imaginary bead of sweat off her brow. She knew from watching Phil duel that Magic Cylinder had the potential to be a powerful trap card when used correctly.
“Let’s go to battle! Jain! Use your attack boost to destroy Caspar! Garoth! Your target is Starfire!”
Just as Lumina ordered, Jain swung her sword at the defending Caspar. Right as her swing was in mid-air, the white glow of Jain’s armor strengthened as her effect activated to boost her attack points by 300 during the damage step.
Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (1800/1200 -> 2100/1200).
“Not so fast!” Buster Beacon frantically yelled. “Since all of my musketeers have the continuous effect that lets me activate Magical Musket spells and traps from my hand any time I want to, I activate the quick play spell Magical Musket – Cross Domination! I target your paladin, reducing her attack and defense points to zero and negating her effect until the end of the turn!”
Lumina shuddered as she took damage to her life points for the first time during the duel, but she gritted her teeth and held on. This was nothing compared to Goldd’s axe cleaving through her shoulder or getting frozen solid by the power of Mobius.
“And, since I made sure to activate Cross Domination in Caspar’s column, I get to activate his effect to add a Magical Musket card from my deck to my hand. I choose to add Magical Musketeer Calamity!”
As soon as Buster Beacon finished resolving Caspar’s effect, Garoth’s shining halberd slammed through Starfire’s side, cutting through her flesh like a hot knife through butter to cut her in half.
Lumina: 2000 Buster Beacon: 3450
Unlike the restraint Lumina was able to bring about in the face of her pain, Buster Beacon howled in agony as the tip of the halberd sliced through part of his classy suit to open a bloody gash on his chest.
“Now with my battle phase over, I place one card face down move to my end phase. Jain and Lyla will send a combined five cards off the top of my deck to the graveyard, which will cause Garoth to send another four cards. Three of those cards sent by Garoth were Lightsworn monsters, so I get to draw three cards.” Lumina finished.
“M…my turn.” Buster Beacon gasped out. Lumina, Jain, and Lyla all looked at him with disdain for quailing under what seemed to be nothing but a small flesh wound.
“Fine. I was going to take things a bit easier, since I am a gentleman, after all, but you ladies forced my hand.” Buster Beacon growled. “I sacrifice Caspar to tribute summon the level eight Magical Musket Mastermind Zakiel (2500/2500). I can do this with one monster since I am tributing a Magical Musket monster. Then, I equip Zakiel with the equip spell Dark Energy, which boosts his attack and defense by 300 points each.”
Magical Musket Mastermind Zakiel (2500/2500 -> 2800/2800).
“Next up partner, I activate the trap card Magical Musket – Desperado, from my hand, using its effect to destroy your face up Lightsworn Barrier!”
Lumina grimaced as the masked, grey-skinned demon fluttered its orange wings with a wicked grin before pulling out a cannon to blow up her trap. Even she knew that was bad. Lightsworn Barrier was her best form of defense. Lumina risked a glance over to Phil, but he was too busy drunkenly arguing with the bartender about dancing on the tables to be of help to her. In all honesty, even if he wasn’t just about to start throwing hands with the bartender, the guy was obviously still far too drunk to give her good advice.
Buster Beacon stroked his mustache and grinned. “Zakiel! Kill that damn Jain for me, would you kindly?”
Jain sent a sad little wave towards Lumina as her body was pierced by a rapid-fire volley of shadowy bullets from the grinning fiend.
Lumina: 1000 Buster Beacon: 3450
“I draw!” Lumina shouted defiantly and wiped a string of blood oozing out of her mouth. There was no doubt about it. The damage was adding up, gradually getting to the point where Lumina was finding it difficult to power through. Then again… she shot another glance towards Phil. She would be buggered before she would let some wackjob with a walrus mustache and a groovy suit mess with her friend before she could punch him for getting wasted. Plus, if Phil died it might knock her down a few points in the next quarter’s performance review, and that would mean getting lowered a pay grade. Screw. That.
Well, at least the card she just drew was familiar, one that she had seen Phil use countless times by now.
“Here we go.” Lumina grunted to herself. “I summon myself! Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner (1000/1000) in attack position!”
Lumina walked a few steps forward to take her place on the field. Her white dress, previously stained black with coal dust, shone brightly as it vaporized every single bit of grime off the cloth. Lumina swept her short blond hair back behind her ears absentmindedly and then felt her fists fill with thrumming light magic just begging to be used for violence.
“I activate my effect! By discarding one card from my hand, I resurrect Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon (2000/1600) from my graveyard in attack position, which I sent from my deck a few turns ago! While my senior is on the field, he is able to use his connections at the company to gain 300 attack and defense for each Lightsworn with a different name in the graveyard. With that being a total of six different names, he’ll gain 1800 attack points!”
Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon (2000/1600 -> 3800/3400).
“Next up I activate the equip spell Lightsworn Sabre, equipping it to myself to increase my attack points by 700. I place one card face down and go to my battle phase!”
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner (1700/1000).
One by one Lumina’s coworkers tore apart Buster Beacon’s field unopposed. Gragonith shot out a blast of white fire to incinerate Zakiel, turning the intimidating boss monster into nothing but a large scorch mark on the wooden floor. Lumina swung her blue saber through the shadowy flesh of the last Doomsday Token. Garoth’s halberd tore through Buster Beacon’s flesh once more to paint his immediate surroundings with a thin layer of blood.
Lumina: 1000 Buster Beacon: 600
Buster Beacon fell to one knee with a keening groan while Lumina posed dramatically next to her coworkers. Garoth flexed his muscles so hard that it looked like his muscles had muscles of his own, while Gragonith flipped his blond mane of hair and Lumina swooshed her sabre through the air so it would make more cool humming noises. Then, while her opponent was recovering, Lumina entered her end phase, sent a total of 16 cards from the top of her deck to her graveyard, and ended her turn.
“I…ugh…” Buster Beacon groaned as he tried to stand but stumbled midway through the motion. “I draw. I summon Magical Musketeer Calamity (1500/1300) in attack position. Then, I activate Magical Musket – Desperado once more to destroy your dragon. Since… since I activated a trap card in Calamity’s column, I get to resurrect Caspar from my graveyard in defense position.” Buster Beacon moved his head up to stare at Lumina straight in the eyes as his monster, which looked more like a punk rock girl holding an oversized plasma cannon, brought the grim, red-cloaked Caspar back to life. “I guess this ain’t all that gentlemanly of me, but I activate a continuous trap card from my hand, Magical Musket – Fiendish Deal! While it remains on the field, my musketeers cannot be destroyed by card effects, but that is hardly what I care about.”
Buster Beacon stroked his walrus mustache with a trembling, bloody hand. “I activate the effect of Magical Musketeer Caspar! Since a trap was activated in his column, I get to add one Magical Musket card from my deck to my hand. I choose to add Magical Musket – Cross Domination! You know what’s next! I enter my battle phase.”
Lumina grimaced. She knew exactly what was next.
“Calamity! Attack Lumina! On the declaration, I activate the quick play spell Magical Musket – Cross Domination! Put Lumina square in your sights! And! Fire!”
“Predictable!” Lumina yelled in response, loud enough that several of the drunken patrons behind her dropped their drinks on the floor in surprise. “I activate Magic Cylinder!”
Buster Beacon’s eyes widened in shock. “But… that means…”
Lumina dramatically pointed at the annoying man. “Yes! You take 1500 points of effect damage, meaning that you lose!”
“I… lose.” Buster Beacon repeated before the volley of gunshots from Magical Musketeer Calamity were redirected into his own chest by a red cup covered in question marks, reducing his life points to zero.
Lumina quickly blasted the guy into ashes with her light magic and turned to her coworkers, who were fading back into thin air once the magic of the shadow game was no longer around to sustain them.
"Thanks, guys! Lyla, we’re still on for coffee after this! Make sure to tell Jain and the rest, okay? Oh, and Garoth. Can I get a favor?”
The muscular warrior cautiously nodded. “Sure, as long as it’s something I can actually do.”
“Great.” Lumina’s voice became solemn as she explained. “I need you to check the reincarnation logs for a kid named Dimitri. No idea what his last name is. Recently deceased. Could you fax me his info? Where he got sent, what his fate has been decided as, all that jazz?”
Garoth nodded again before disappearing into thin air with the rest of the duel spirits.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- The next day, early in the morning -
It had been many years since Phil had woken up in a dumpster without a clue of where he was. Not since college, he realized after thinking about it a bit more. Mainly since after college, Phil hadn’t drunk a single drop of liquor until he died. It was the best way to ward off bad decisions, and also to ward off another intervention by his dad and his friends back on Earth. Of course, this was a different set of circumstances, Phil reminded himself. He was already beginning to mentally sort out his to-do list, with number one being to never drink again, and number two being icing Tragoedia in an attempt to feel better. Not like it would help, but it was nice to delude himself that it would.
Phil blinked as the harsh morning sunlight from the sky invaded his eyes and assaulted his hungover mind. For some reason… his head felt wet? And cold. Then, he finally noticed the other parties present.
Lumina, of course, was a given. She gave him a small little wave with a hint of pity in her eyes, along with a glint that promised a smack in the future. Phil didn’t blame her. Getting blackout drunk in enemy territory while on a time crunch? Stupid.
The other person was far more surprising to see.
Anastasia Capet stood over him with a still-dripping metal bucket in her hands and a look of utter disgust on her face. Like she was looking at living, breathing garbage.
“Oh. You’re alive after all.” Anastasia announced. The way she said it made Phil wonder if she would have preferred him to be dead. She dropped the bucket on his head (which did little to help with Phil’s hangover) and turned around to face what he assumed was the nearby street.
“Gecko! The idiot’s alive!”
Another somewhat familiar voice answered back, in a tone that sounded like he was observing something mildly interesting instead of wondering if Phil was alive or dead.
“Oh really? Fantastic.”
Soon after Anastasia stepped away, another familiar face to go along with that somewhat familiar voice poked over the edge of the dumpster. Brown hair, glasses, a weird-ass necklace, and an impressive set of muscles.
“You’re Phillip Jenson, aren’t you? From the Duel Academy team in Seto Kaiba’s tournament?”
Phil stared at Adrian Gecko. Adrian Gecko stared back.
“Do you want a hand getting out of that dumpster? No offense, but you look like you could use a shower. And a meal. And a week’s worth of sleep. Perhaps some bandages? Those are some nasty cuts.”
“More like a blasting by a fire hose and a drowning in soap.” Anastasia’s irritated voice sounded out from behind Adrian.
Adrian shrugged in amicable agreement. “Maybe.” He offered a hand to Phil, who shrugged and took it after deciding that his week probably couldn’t get any worse than it already had.
“Sooo….” Adrian dragged out the word as he took in Phil’s hobo-like appearance. “What a coincidence, meeting here in New York City. Do you have any plans? Want me to get you some food? Coffee?"
Phil shrugged noncommittedly. “Thanks, but I’ll have to pass. I’m on a bit of a time crunch and I’ve already fucked myself over on that bit.”
Adrian nodded cautiously. “I see. Funny you should say that. We’re on a bit of a time crunch, too. Do you remember our third teammate at the tournament?”
Phil looked at him blankly, so Adrian elaborated. “Samui Kori. He played Ice Barriers. Anyways, he’s gone missing for a few months. Seeing as how he’s our teammate, Anastasia and I took our summer vacation to search for him. The trail led us to New York City, but it’s gone cold. Which is ironic in a depressing way, seeing as how Samui uses a deck themed around ice.” Adrian shrugged. He remained remarkably calm about the whole thing, but the longer Phil looked into his eyes, the more certain he was that Adrian was covering up his own panic with an easygoing attitude.
“I’ll keep a lookout.” Phil eventually replied to the unspoken question, but Adrian continued to talk before he could stagger away.
“Our last lead was someone in the American Duel Academy.” Phil paused and turned back to Adrian. Each word of his fell like a hammer blow on Phil’s ears. He was beginning to get an idea of where this was going. “The problem is that he went silent a few days before we arrived.”
Phil stared at Adrian in consideration. A plan began to form, but there was one more thing to confirm before he could voice his thoughts.
“Did the source give you their name?”
Adrian rubbed his chin in thought. “Hmm.. I think he said his name was… David? Yes. I believe it was a ‘David’. He never gave a last name. I only spoke to him over email once or twice, but David gave enough details to make this lead worth investigating.”
“David Rabb.” Phil finished the name and nodded toward Adrian. “Gecko, let’s get that coffee and talk. This involves us both after all.”
“Fantastic.” Adrian smiled and beckoned Phil out into the street, while Anastasia pointedly ignored him.
Phil glanced discreetly around the street, eyeing each pedestrian and driver with suspicion. His new companions weren’t excluded from his suspicion, either. He was fairly sure they could be trusted, but if they couldn’t…
Then they would join Tragoedia when Phil got his hands on the creature.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Deathly silence filled Kaiba’s office as Roland’s report came to an end.
“You’ve confirmed?” Kaiba eventually said. His hands were empty, and the scattered porcelain shards of a coffee cup littered his desk.
Roland sighed. “Yes, Mr. Kaiba. I also sent men to confirm the status of the agent we had watching Phillip. We only found a single hand, but the fingerprints confirmed its owner. I’ve already sent out the usual compensation package to his family.”
“I see.”
Those two words from Kaiba were enough to make Roland’s heart leap into his mouth out of fear. He’d been held at gunpoint. Knocked out. He’d fought for his life more times than he’d care to count. Heck, he’d watched literal magic performed in Battle City.
But the look in Seto Kaiba’s eyes?
It was like peering into the pits of hell. For a moment, Roland could even see the hints of the old Seto Kaiba. The man his employer used to be before that kid Yugi Muto straightened him out. The man who had built Death-T, a theme park purposely designed to literally kill his enemies.
Kaiba abruptly shot out of his seat. He turned around to face the wall of the office and punched straight through a glass display case hanging on the wall with his bare hands.
There was only one object in that case. One object that was worthy of being displayed there, in Kaiba’s inner sanctum.
Kaiba’s hands withdrew with a duel disk with a deck already slotted in place. It snapped onto his arm with a smooth ‘click’, as smooth as the day it was first made.
“Call Mokuba.” Kaiba ordered in clipped, abrupt tones. “Tell him to bring his best.”
Roland shakily nodded in affirmation. “And… sir, should I inform Principal MacKenzie to prepare for your arrival?”
A crushing silence filled the office as one of the strongest duelists in the world considered his words. Pressure seemed to build on Roland’s shoulders. Like Kaiba’s mere presence was falling down on him with the weight and might of a mountain.
“No.”