Yugen followed that group of Fiend down into the underground section and entered a wide hall. At a glance, he spotted the huge arena standing in the center. Tall black stone pillars encircled the platform, and the faint firelight above made the whole place look like some sort of beast-fighting pit.
The moment he stepped inside, the escorting Fiend withdrew and headed back out. One of them even flashed him a malicious grin before locking the door from the outside with a loud click. Of course, if he wanted to smash it open by force, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning could do it with a single stroke of his sword.
Even so, Yugen calmly studied the surroundings. He turned and looked across the hall, only to see another group slowly emerging from the shadows.
"So this is the newcomer?"
"Heh, he really does look weak."
Yugen narrowed his eyes and looked them over. Most of those who stepped out resembled Fiend. Some had dark red skin and horns growing from their foreheads, some were enormous and packed with hard muscle, and others had savage faces filled with extra eyes or razor-sharp claws.
The one at the front was especially tall. He had four eyes, his arms were crossed over his chest, and black scales covered his body. In short, they were all Spirit he did not recognize.
"Welcome to the Bunker, the darkest place in your miserable life," the four-eyed leader said with a snort. "Every place has its own rules, and I am the boss here. I am the rule here. Got it?"
Yugen looked into all four of his eyes for several seconds. "You mean you're the warden?"
The four-eyed boss frowned immediately. "What? No. I mean there are rules inside the prison too."
One of the lackeys behind him instantly shouted, "Don't interrupt when Boss is talking!"
Another barked, "You looking for trouble?"
A third yelled, "Get him!"
One lackey quickly looked to the boss for approval. The four-eyed boss kept his arms crossed and gave a slight nod, so the lackey immediately stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. The Fiend bared his sharp fangs in a vicious grin.
"Come here, little brother. Let me check whether your body's healthy."
The other Fiend behind him started jeering as well, and laughter spread through the room. Then a bang rang out. The Fiend suddenly flew backward like a kite with its string cut and slammed into the wall more than ten meters away, sticking there in a spread-eagle shape so hard that it could not even peel itself off.
The laughter stopped instantly. The smiles on the Fiend faces froze as they looked from the one embedded in the wall back to Yugen, who still stood calmly in place as if he had done nothing at all. Their expressions slowly turned into fear.
None of them had seen clearly what had just happened, but all of them had felt it in that instant. That was the power of a Spirit. Even the four-eyed Fiend leader lost his relaxed attitude and waved for his men to fall back, though they were already so frightened that they scrambled behind him on their own.
The four-eyed boss stepped forward and spoke in a low voice. "Duelist?"
At that moment, the power Yugen had borrowed came from Silent Magician. But Silent Magician had not fully appeared. She had only used a simple magic circle for defense, and the rebounding force alone had blasted the attacking Fiend away.
The Fiend had sensed a trace of Arcane Pulse, but they had not seen the full form of the Spirit protecting Yugen. By instinct alone, they could tell her power was overwhelming, far beyond anything common underlings like them could afford to provoke.
"Interesting." The boss narrowed all four eyes and spoke in a deep voice. "You are the fifth Duelist to be locked up in this the Bunker. Everyone here gets a chance to claim their own territory, and to win the right to speak through strength."
As he spoke, he raised his left arm. The Fiend-like limb began to change, its muscle-like tissue squirming as it stretched outward bit by bit, until five slots formed and a Deck that seemed to grow straight from his body emerged with it.
"...through the way of a Duelist."
The Fiend curled his mouth into a cruel grin. "Well? Do you have the guts to try?" Even in prison, it seemed that the ones who played cards still made the rules.
Yugen looked at the Deck growing from the other's body and smiled faintly. The Duelist of this other world were truly enthusiastic. Since that was the case, he would start by taking this boss's Deck first.
"Duel!" x2
Chapter: Yugen noticed it soon after arriving. He had projected himself into this world through the power of Link System, and he could also bring in some of the equipment tied to his virtual character within Link System. The Duel Disk was one such example.
He raised an arm, and pale blue streams of data gathered around his left forearm. A moment later, they formed the Duel Disk he used while connected to Link System. None of the Spirit found it strange that he could produce duel gear out of thin air, though they were curious about the high-tech appearance of his Duel Disk. Maybe that was because their own Duel Disks usually appeared out of nowhere when it was time to duel anyway.
"Duel!" x2
Yugen, LP 4000
Four-Eyed Fiend, LP 4000
"Then I'll go first. Draw."
Yugen drew, then silently swept five cards into his hand in one smooth motion. "I set one Monster in Defense Position in the Front Row, set four cards in the Back Row, and end my turn." He opened with five set cards and passed almost without pause, so quickly that it nearly felt as if the other side had been made to go first.
If this had been among the students of Duel Academy, they would already be sweating by now. But these simple Fiends from another world clearly lacked that kind of awareness.
"Hmph, trying to build up your defense carefully? I'll show you soon enough that in a place like this, and in front of me, defense is useless!"
Yugen felt like he had heard lines like that many times since coming to this world. Still, once the cards were played, people with that kind of fixed mindset usually changed at least a little by the end of the duel.
"Let me warn you in advance. Inside the Bunker, the strong ruling the weak is an eternal truth," the four-eyed boss said. "Killing other prisoners is forbidden, but aside from that, conflicts are settled by the rules here."
He narrowed his eyes and let out a cold laugh. "And for us Duelists, victory and defeat do more than decide who makes the rules from now on. By the rules, the loser of a Duel must hand over any one card named by the winner. That is the rule. Understood?"
Yugen frowned when he heard that. Only one card per duel? How many duels would it take to win a whole Deck like that? His first thought was that their rules were badly designed, but that was fine. Once he won and became the one setting the rules, he could fix them.
"My Turn! Draw!"
The four-eyed boss glanced at his hand, and a smile quickly spread across his face. "Hmph, with an opening hand like this, I can launch my best attack rhythm right away. I activate..."
"Hold on. It's still the Standby Phase."