Itagaki’s lackeys had collectively decided that something was seriously wrong with their boss, and after watching him kick one of them down twice, nobody dared question him again.
Fujishiro Yukine stood off to the side with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.
Before this Duel, she could never have imagined things developing this way.
“By the way,” Yusuke asked, “why did the protection fee suddenly double?
If you’re collecting this much every month, how is anyone around here supposed to survive?” It almost sounded as though the Fang Gang was trying to squeeze everyone for as much money as possible before packing up and disappearing.
Itagaki let out a heavy breath.
“Because the Fang Gang probably won’t be able to stay in this area much longer.” Yukine looked startled.
“What happened?” “It’s the Scythe Gang from the eastern district.
For some reason, they’re starting to move into this area.” Itagakis expression darkened.
“I heard their leader used to be a duelist from the city.
He got convicted for taking part in illegal private Duels and was eventually sent to Satellite.” “A duelist from the city?” Yukine repeated in surprise.
For people born in Satellite, those words alone carried weight.
A duelist raised in New Domino City had access to better cards, proper Dueling education, and far stronger opponents to practice against.
In almost every respect, the environment available to someone from the city was beyond anything an ordinary Satellite resident could hope for.
So whenever people in Satellite heard that someone had come from the city, they instinctively assumed that person was strong.
Itagaki’s lackeys were even more alarmed.
This was supposed to be one of the Fang Gang’s most closely guarded secrets.
Why was their boss casually telling outsiders about it?
The more they watched him, the more convinced they became that Itagaki was acting completely unlike himself today.
His declaration that he was retiring from Dueling suddenly didn’t sound like a joke anymore.
At this rate, he might quit the gang and disappear after tonight.
Itagaki said nothing further.
He merely waved a hand, gathered his men, and left.
Yusuke returned inside and happily began sorting through his latest haul.
Yukine, meanwhile, still hadn’t recovered from everything she had just witnessed.
She spent quite a while staring at her brother before finally asking the question that had been bothering her.
“Brother…
how did you suddenly get so good at Dueling?” Yusuke looked up and answered with a perfectly serious expression.
“Last night, I dreamed about a guy with starfish-shaped hair.
He said he was a Pharaoh from three thousand years ago and personally teach me.
When I woke up, Dueling suddenly become very easy to me.” Yukine’s eyes lit up.
“Really?!
Could it have been the spirit that supposedly followed Yugi Muto, the original King of Games?
I thought those stories were made up…” Yusuke stared at her.
“…You actually believe me?” Yukine nodded earnestly.
“You suddenly went from being a complete street-level beginner to someone who can beat one of the Fang Gang’s best duelists!
I can’t think of a more reasonable explanation.” Yusuke fell silent for a moment.
When she put it like that…
Somehow, her explanation didn’t sound entirely unreasonable.
“Oh, right,” Yukine continued.
“Where did you get all those cards I’ve never seen before?
Did you find them at the general store?” “The general store?” “You know, Rud’s General Store on the corner of Old Factory Street.
That’s pretty much the only place around here that sells cards.
Where else would you get them?” “Oh, that place…” Yusuke finally dug the relevant information out of his fragmented memories.
“No.
When would I have spare money to buy cards there?
I found these.” Technically, that was completely true.
The original owners had died after their sacrificial ritual failed, which meant the cards had become ownerless.
All Yusuke had done was give those poor abandoned Decks a loving new home.
What was wrong with that?
“You actually found cards that good…” Yukine’s cheeks flushed with excitement.
“Maybe your luck is finally turning around, Brother.” Yusuke almost laughed.
‘This is nothing.’ He happened to know of one man in Satellite who could scavenge discarded machinery and somehow jury-rig advanced technology out of it, while also building a Junk Doppel Deck from cards recovered out of literal garbage—a Deck strong enough that its real-world equivalent had once been competitive at the highest level.
If Yusei Fudo’s scavenging ability ranked at level ten, Yusuke figured his own performance today barely deserved a one or two.
Come to think of it, Satellite was enormous, its transportation was terrible, and information traveled slowly.
Yusuke had no idea which part of the district Yusei was currently living in, or whether he was anywhere nearby.
Otherwise, tagging along with the protagonist might not be a bad idea.
He could borrow some of Yusei’s ridiculous protagonist luck, follow him whenever he went scavenging, and perhaps dig up enough useful cards to assemble a competitive Deck of his own.
Yukine, now in a considerably better mood, returned to the kitchen while humming and resumed washing the dishes.
“Rud’s General Store, huh…” Yusuke murmured.
Card shops were common throughout New Domino City, but Satellite had nothing of the sort.
Rud’s shop was the only place nearby where people could reliably buy and sell cards.
It was still fairly early, so Yusuke decided he might as well take a walk over there and let his dinner settle.
For one thing, he wanted to see whether the store had any useful cards he could pick up.
For another, although he had acquired quite a few cards today, anyone familiar with anime character Decks knew how these things worked.
Every character seemed determined to cram at least a handful of nearly useless cards into their Deck for reasons known only to themselves.
If Rud offered reasonable prices, Yusuke could sell some of the cards he had no intention of using and turn them into spending money.
The Fujishiro siblings were genuinely broke right now.
Besides, after spending what felt like an eternity trapped inside that temple, Yusuke considered improving their food budget an extremely important investment.
After letting Yukine know where he was going, Yusuke left the house and headed toward Rud’s General Store.
…
Several streets away, the cavern used by the cult for its sacrificial ritual had been sealed behind security tape bearing the stark emblem of Sector Security.
Uniformed officers moved back and forth through the ruins while dust hung in the stale air, mingling with the smell of decay.
The officer commanding the scene stood with his brows drawn tightly together.
One of his subordinates hurried over and lowered his voice.
“Sir, he’s here.” The team leader immediately straightened.
Sector Security’s headquarters were located in New Domino City proper.
Unless something serious had happened, high-ranking officials had little reason to personally visit the filthy, deteriorating wasteland of Satellite.
A man slowly entered the restricted area.
His skin was unnaturally pale, and his features were sharp yet restrained.
A perfectly tailored uniform covered his tall frame, while his distinctive white hair and piercing gaze gave the impression that very little could remain hidden from him for long.
The team leader quickly bowed.
“Director Goodwin.” “Deputy Director,” the man corrected calmly.
Had Yusuke been there to hear that exchange, he would immediately have found it strange.
Rex Goodwin was already the Director of Sector Security by the beginning of the Yu-Gi-Oh!
5D’s story that Yusuke remembered.
Yet here, Goodwin referred to himself only as the Deputy Director.
The team leader quickly corrected himself and began his report.
“Another underground cult performing human sacrifices.
This is the third case we’ve discovered in Satellite.
But what happened here this time…” He hesitated.
“I honestly don’t know how to describe it.” Goodwin’s expression remained unchanged.
“What happened?” “Everyone who attended the ritual is dead.
No exceptions.” The team leader swallowed, and even remembering the scene seemed to send a chill through him.
“The evidence inside the cavern is chaotic.
It’s difficult to reconstruct what actually happened.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say they summoned something evil during the ritual…
and whatever they brought here killed every last one of them.” By then, Goodwin had already entered the cavern.
His eyes lowered as his gaze swept across the wreckage.
“All of the bodies belong to cult members?” “Yes.
Every corpse was wearing the same ceremonial robes.” Goodwin stopped.
“A ritual like this should have included a sacrifice.
Where is the victim?” The team leader froze.
“The sacrifice…?” He turned and surveyed the cavern again.
Every corpse he could see belonged to one of the cultists.
His expression changed.
“Are you suggesting…
the intended sacrifice killed all of them?” He looked genuinely incredulous.
“Is that even possible?” Goodwin stood silently in the center of the ruined cavern for a long time.
The only sounds around him were the faint breathing and footsteps of the Sector Security officers.
Eventually, he spoke.
“Whatever killed them may not have been human.” A chill ran down the team leader’s spine.
He carefully lowered his voice.
“Sir…
are you saying some kind of supernatural anomaly appeared here?” Sector Security’s archives contained numerous classified records involving supernatural phenomena.
Domino City had never been a stranger to such incidents.
For many years, bizarre cases that defied ordinary explanation had repeatedly occurred throughout the city, and a disturbing number of them had eventually been traced back to Duel Monsters.
Goodwin didn’t answer the question.
“Suppress all information regarding this incident,” he ordered.
“A specialized team will take over from here.
Your unit is no longer responsible for the investigation.” He paused before adding one final instruction.
“When the time is right, the Chief Duelist may personally intervene.” The team leader drew in a sharp breath.
The Chief Duelist of New Domino City…
might personally come all the way to Satellite?