Kurozaki couldn't have imagined this guy would actually do it.

In just one night, he steamrolled the three major clubs. All three bosses nodded and bowed, claiming it was an honor to join the Knights of Hanoi and vowing to give their all.

And that wasn't just flattery—they'd all lost to this man calling himself Revolver, and the loser of a dark duel loses the right to lie.

In one night, the Knights of Hanoi had their foundation. According to Doma's intel, the Shadow Riders could show up any day now—all he had to do was wait.

The next day, Kira had other things to do.

After the Battle City arc, as the new Duel King he'd become a hot topic, instantly famous everywhere. News of his final battle with the serpent god, summoning the long-lost Egyptian God, had already spread.

Naturally, the first to contact him was Franz, the card designer from the Industrial Illusions specializing in Egyptian God cards, with whom he'd already crossed paths.

Kira had just arrived when the expert rushed to meet him.

"The card!?" Franz shouted, lunging at Kira.

"What?"

"The Winged Dragon of Ra! You summoned it, right?" Franz was excited. "Do you have the card?"

"Calm down, it's not here anymore," Kira said. "The God only lent me its power for a moment. Now that the mission's over, the God card has vanished."

Franz let out a wail, clearly disappointed.

"But still, it's a moment worth remembering. Eight years! It's been eight years!" Franz sighed. "It's been eight years since the God cards left Yugi Muto's hands.

In all this time, no one has managed to summon them again. Even with copies, people are punished by the gods. Do you understand? You proved my theory—the God cards aren't impossible to control!"

He grew more and more excited.

"Pegasus was wrong!"

Kira thought to himself—actually, he wasn't the first in eight years. Years ago, after Atem left and the God cards vanished, one other person summoned a God.

That was Seto Kaiba's famous floor draw move.

But that was at Atem's tomb, using Kaiba's consciousness amplifier tech to extract data and summon Obelisk.

All a bit metaphysical. Kaiba's science and supernatural weren't always clearly separated.

But that duel wasn't public, just Kaiba dueling rules at Atem's tomb, and it didn't finish—the tomb collapsed and the duel was interrupted.

No one outside ever knew about that. So Franz believed Kira was the first since Atem to summon a God.

Franz and Kira chatted enthusiastically. Franz said watching Kira duel the Arbiter and summon Ra, then watching Lava Golem eat the serpent god, made his blood boil with excitement.

And combined with Kira's previous hints, Franz finally had a breakthrough—he thought of a new way to use Ra, a path his predecessors hadn't considered.

If the God could have Lava Golem's power, wouldn't it be invincible?

Summoning the Sun God by sacrificing monsters from the opponent's field—strong, stylish, and fun.

Kira patted his shoulder, approving of the designer's bold ideas, and was pleased to see Franz finally on the right track.

That's more like it. After all, why call Ra the most radiant God?

He further hinted that Marik used the Slime series with the God cards for a reason.

He suggested Franz develop that idea. While the Slime cards Marik used now seem weak, the series has hidden potential as God support.

Franz's eyes lit up, he hurriedly took notes, thanked him, and went back to research.

A pure, passionate researcher. Though such passion sometimes turns evil, he had real skill—otherwise, Pegasus wouldn't have trusted him with such a dangerous project.

There were just a few days left before the new term.

...

Jaden, meanwhile, was mostly in the hospital. After the Battle City arc, Koyo was transferred from the island directly to KaibaCorp's hospital, but was still unconscious.

This puzzled Kira.

Logically, after the Orichalcos snake was defeated, all souls it captured should have returned to their bodies, as in the original DM.

And according to KaibaCorp's investigations, people worldwide who'd been comatose in the Seal of Orichalcos had woken up. So the snake must have been defeated.

But Koyo was still unconscious.

Could he have been unlucky, and had his soul digested before the snake was destroyed?

Kira was puzzled, but visited the hospital with Jaden. With his dark powers now much stronger, he checked Koyo's body.

He couldn't identify the exact cause, but he felt this had nothing to do with the Orichalcos anymore.

Though Koyo's soul had not returned, Kira sensed another power lingering around his unconscious body—most likely the real culprit.

Kira guessed boldly: it was probably Tragoedia.

After all, Koyo lost to Tragoedia first, and the snake just hijacked things midway. Now that the snake's gone and Koyo's soul is out of the seal, Tragoedia must have seized the moment and grabbed his soul.

At this, Kira felt sorry for Koyo. A normal duelist with no cheats, relying only on talent and hard work, unlucky enough to run into two top-tier bosses at once...

Nothing more he could do. He'd just have to hope that if he could defeat Tragoedia someday, Koyo would recover.

With three days left until school, Kira's Knights of Hanoi finally received the message he'd been waiting for.

A man from "Shadow Riders" had come, asking to meet the leader of the Knights of Hanoi.

He called himself Nightshroud.

The fish had finally bitten.