"Crush! Obliterate! Roaring applause!"

"Destruction Burst Stream!"

Kaiba's shout and wild laughter echoed as his white dragon unleashed a torrent of light, another opponent screaming as he was finished off.

"Hahahaha—not enough! Nowhere near enough! Next!"

His laughter shook the room; everyone quaked in fear.

One robed man couldn't help glancing over. But a voice snapped him back:

"Still got time to worry about your teammates? You must be having an easy time," Kira said with a smile.

The man shivered, turning back to his own losing field.

"I flip-summon Morphing Jar. Both players discard their hands and draw the same number."

Kira casually discarded five cards, drawing five more, and smiled.

"Of course, I can draw, but you can't. Because with 'Protector of the Sanctuary' on my field, my opponent can't draw cards outside their draw phase.

So, toss your hand. I'll draw five."

The robed man: "…"

"Oh, and I activate the trap 'Time Seal'—skip your next draw phase." Kira gestured graciously. "Your turn.

Of course, you can't draw. Go ahead." Find the newest release on NoveI★Fire.net

The man looked at his empty hands, then at his locked deck, and let out a long breath.

So this was the new Duel King?

He was terrified.

He heard the white dragon roar as another teammate was blasted away. He felt no pity—just envy.

Envy that his teammate could leave so cleanly, so quickly that he barely felt any pain…

"…"

The duel was over. In the past week, Kira and Kaiba had teamed up several times, becoming a well-oiled machine. With KaibaCorp's intelligence, and the Arbiter gone, their raid on Doma's HQ had wiped out most of the organization in the region.

Of course, that was just the underground dueling side. Doma had also infiltrated business and government, and cleaning that up would be a headache for Kaiba.

But Kira had other questions.

He'd been eavesdropping before Kaiba kicked in the door. Aside from the fact that these guys were so desperate they worried about water and electricity, he'd caught something important.

So he left some alive—not killing them outright under dark duel rules—to interrogate them.

"I heard you mention this 'Shadow Riders'?" Kira asked. "An underground dark duelist group?"

The man, defeated and bound by dark energy, had no choice but to answer—he was already mentally broken anyway.

"Yes, a new group. We don't know much."

Kira frowned. "Didn't you guys say Doma knows everything?"

The man gave a bitter smile.

"We can't investigate every new group. But Shadow Riders looked promising. If…if things hadn't gone wrong, we'd have checked them out."

"Gone wrong?"

"Before Duel City, our whole group was searching for you, and that Sealing Device. Then you killed our ancestor, and threw us into total chaos…"

Kira laughed.

So it's my fault, huh?

Now Doma HQ had fallen, the remnants scattered, the organization basically back to the chaos after Dartz's death, before the Arbiter appeared.

But Kira didn't need to investigate further, because he knew what Shadow Riders was.

Shadow Riders was a group of seven elite dark duelists drawn from various fields…well, elite was a stretch.

Unlike other dark duelist clubs, this group was created for one purpose: to target Duel Academy.

To seize the three Sacred Beast cards.

It was said the Sacred Beasts were now the new pinnacle of duel monsters in a world without the Egyptian Gods, and supposedly could grant youth, immortality, and other miracles.

Immortality—just those words would drive anyone mad, in any era.

The true mastermind behind Shadow Riders was such a man: an old man at death's door, one of Duel Academy's founders—Chairman Kagemaru.

Kagemaru had once been a powerful dark duelist, but now was old and frail, barely kept alive by expensive machinery.

He had wealth, resources, and status, but he didn't want to die. Modern tech could only barely keep him alive, so he turned to the mystical.

Lyman had been his top find. He'd sponsored Lyman's research—without him, Lyman couldn't have developed the soul transfer alchemy.

Sadly, Lyman's bodies were unstable and quickly broke down. So Kagemaru rejected that, and sought other options.

The Sacred Beasts were his last hope.

It was said whoever held the three Sacred Beasts would instantly regain youth, eternal life, perfect health—always at their peak.

But the cards were sealed at the Academy by agreement of many factions, forbidden to all.

He wanted them, but the Academy, KaibaCorp, and even his own board would never allow it.

So he assembled Shadow Riders—a team of extraordinary dark duelists—to break the seal by force.

Kira thought about it. The Sacred Beast arc was the main plot of GX's second year, but the heroes had always been on the defensive, reacting to the villains' attacks, only to learn later they'd always been in Kagemaru's calculations.

But now, maybe things could go differently.

So he asked, "Where are the Shadow Riders?"

The man shook his head.

"They don't have a fixed base. The organization is just a council of a few leaders."

"Then how do you join?"

"You can't contact the bosses directly, but Shadow Riders is getting famous in the underground—they have several subordinate groups.

Go to any of those, start at the bottom. Do a few missions, stand out, and you'll get promoted.

If you're good enough, you might get noticed and become a Shadow Riders officer."

Kira shook his head.

"Too slow."

The man hesitated: "There is another way…"

"What?"

"Shadow Riders is preparing something big, recruiting allies everywhere. I noticed they're moving from north to south, focusing on cities with active underground dueling. They're looking for top killers.

If you follow the route, you could predict their next stop.

If you make a big enough name for yourself in the underground before they arrive…"

"The boss might come find me himself?" Kira's eyes lit up.

It was worth a try.

And it was a perfect chance to go into the underground and try his skills against all kinds of dark duelists.

PS: Bonus chapters at 3500 PS