"One useless pawn after another…"
Professor Viper shook his head and shut off the screen.
Stein was the best piece he'd found at this academy.
The man had harbored vast darkness in his heart for years, always desperately suppressing it. With that much built-up negativity, it only took a little guidance to turn him into a very convenient pawn.
More importantly, he was a former professional duelist—decent strength, plenty of experience. If even this guy couldn't force out the opponent's true power, then there probably weren't many people in the world who could.
"Fine. Looks like I'll have to take the field myself."
Viper snorted. He turned off the device in front of him and looked down at his right hand.
The monitor had gone dark, and the lights in the facility were all shut off. In the endless darkness, the only source of light was his right hand, glowing red, flickering on and off.
From that luminous outline, it didn't quite look like a human arm…
Viper stared at it, lost in thought. In his eyes, a boy wrapped in that radiance seemed to appear, beaming brilliantly at him.
"Just a little more. Just a little bit…"
"Soon, we can be together again. Forever."
The boy's childish voice said.
"Yes… just a little more."
Viper murmured.
Those painful memories, and that utter despair from back then, all surged up again at once.
His child. The child who used to be so bright and lively. Who loved dueling so much, who dreamed of growing up to become a duelist himself…
But he never got to grow up.
Viper's memories of his child were forever frozen at that one bloody, mangled instant, and the deck cards scattering through the air.
He closed his eyes and clenched his fist.
"Just a little more, and we can be together forever."
He'd only taken a few steps when his expression suddenly changed.
"Who's there?"
Someone had broken in.
Viper was inwardly shocked. Even though this research facility was just a temporary base, he had still set up layer upon layer of security. Even a mosquito shouldn't have been able to get in unnoticed.
The first person he thought of, naturally, was the Duel King—the greatest threat on this island.
But when he turned around, it seemed it wasn't.
"For a professor at Duel Academy, your senses are surprisingly sharp."
A man's amused voice sounded. Then a red-haired young man with glasses strolled out of the darkness and appeared before Viper.
"Adrian Gecko?"
Realizing it wasn't the Duel King, Viper's taut nerves relaxed a bit, and he let out a hearty laugh.
"How interesting."
"Oh?" Adrian raised an eyebrow.
"I've long heard the rumors: the Gecko Conglomerate has a shadow—their invisible hand, a super-spy who can infiltrate anywhere and accomplish any task. But who would have thought?"
Viper looked Adrian up and down with a playful expression.
"That he'd actually be the young master of the Gecko family himself."
Adrian smiled and pushed his glasses up. "I'm troubled too, you know. There's no one else in the world as qualified for the job as I am."
"You're certainly confident."
Viper narrowed his eyes.
"So that means you're not just here as a representative of Duel Academy's branch campus. I'm guessing the Gecko Conglomerate has its fingers in this as well?"
"You could put it that way." Adrian said coolly. "Since we've laid it all out, that makes things easier. I won't beat around the bush."
He reached a hand out toward Viper.
Viper frowned.
"The card," Adrian said bluntly. "That spirit. We want it."
"Oh?"
Viper clasped his hands behind his back and gave a cold smile.
"So you people know about 'her' existence."
"Don't underestimate the intel network of a top-tier conglomerate." Adrian smiled. "An extraterrestrial visitor—a fallen object from outer space. And within the wreckage, a spirit was found, evaluated as possessing power of the highest rank. It's said…"
He paused, his gaze turning colder.
"It's said she can even do something like bring the dead back to life. Isn't that right?"
Viper's smile vanished, and he met Adrian's eyes with a frosty stare.
After a while, he said, "That has nothing to do with you, Adrian Gecko."
"I figured it wouldn't be that easy."
Adrian said.
"Originally, since this was about taking a card, I thought I should resolve it in the proper way—a duel. But then I realized: you're the kind of man who'll stop at nothing to reach his goal, and you have that dangerous spirit's power. A duel would only put me at a disadvantage."
Viper: "So?"
Adrian had already started to strip his jacket off.
He took off his outer clothes, revealing a solid, well-defined musculature beneath that bookish exterior, and took a grappling stance.
"Don't be fooled by appearances," Adrian grinned. "I've got plenty of confidence in my physical strength."
Viper snorted, took off his own jacket, assumed a fighting pose, and crooking a finger at him in invitation.
And just like that, the two musclebound card players started throwing punches in the pitch-black underground.
With a shout, Adrian stepped in, swinging a punch at Viper's face. Viper focused, reaching out to grab it—but the punch was just a feint. His hand closed on empty air.
Adrian's right leg whipped up in a sudden kick that slammed into Viper's side.
Scoring the first hit, Adrian's face showed a flash of triumph. But before he could smile, he suddenly felt a powerful force surge out from the spot his leg had hit.
It was like a sideways gravity hammering into his torso—an invisible blow that seemed to shove his organs out of place, sending him flying backward to crash hard against the wall.
Adrian spat a mouthful of blood. When he tried to get up, he realized his arms and legs were pinned to the wall. His whole body wouldn't move.
"Wha…?"
Adrian looked up, stunned.
The intel had clearly said that the spirit in Viper's possession was in a dormant state, and that without a duel it would be difficult for him to draw out its power.
"Don't tell me this is how strong it is even while dormant…"
Adrian grit his teeth.
Then how powerful is that spirit, really?
"Fool."
Viper sneered.
"You knew I carried Her Excellency's power and you still dared to challenge me. How stupid can you be?"
Hands behind his back, he walked up to Adrian and looked him over—first his muscular torso, then his eyes.
Suddenly, he laughed.
"Young master of the Gecko Conglomerate. As a spy, a fighter, and a duelist, you're quite the talent. But it seems you've got a massive shadow in your heart as well."
"Get away from me." Adrian growled. But he couldn't resist at all.
"Don't fight it, it's alright." Viper said. "Her Excellency can see everything, and she can soothe any pain. Tell her your suffering. Speak your wish. And then everything will—"
Before he could finish, Adrian's fist shot out and smashed straight into his face. Viper took the punch full on, almost coughed up blood, and staggered back two steps.
He raised his head, staring at Adrian in disbelief. "Impossible. You were already bound by Her Excellency's power. How could you…?"
Then a lazy voice sounded behind him. "It's just the power of a half-crippled spirit. Breaking that much isn't difficult."
Viper turned. This time, he finally saw, with his own eyes, the one person on this island he considered his greatest obstacle.
Fujiki Kira.