Earl had watched up close as his teammate was thoroughly executed. He sat in silence for a while.
Then, quietly, he retreated to a corner of his cell and hugged his knees.
Ever since being brought into this bunker, since being locked in this cage, he'd never stopped thinking about breaking free one day and getting revenge on these minions of the evil gods—making them regret ever crossing him.
But now, for the first time in his life, he suddenly felt this cage wasn't so bad.
Not that it was comfortable, but at least compared to the outside, it gave him a sense of security.
The outside world was just too terrifying.
After finishing off the archbishop who'd come to bust him out, Kira dusted off his hands and turned to look at Earl in his cell.
"Not coming out?" he asked.
Earl shook his head desperately.
"No, no, I'm good right here..."
He tried hard to force a smile, but with his decaying zombie face, it only looked more frightening—and a bit goofy.
"Are you sure you don't want out?" Kira coaxed. "Think carefully—your buddies risked their lives to break you out. If you miss today, there won't be another chance."
Earl kept shaking his head: "No way I'm going out. I'm fine here, love it. Super comfy, I swear."
"Oh, is that so?"
Kira nodded.
Then he bent down, picked up the fallen archbishop's deck, and grabbed the keys he'd dropped.
The key slid into the lock with a click.
Earl's eyes widened as he watched—the door that had imprisoned him for who-knows-how-long, now ironically became his last shield against the demon… and it was being unlocked.
The door slowly swung open, and the demon with that sunny smile strode in, whispering coldly, "If you won't come out, then I'll come in."
Earl trembled all over.
No, please, don't come in!
Recalling his teammate's tragic end—managing to shave only 200 LP off his opponent before falling to an inescapable chain of traps—Earl realized one thing from that short duel: this was not someone he could afford to mess with.
If he dared to duel this guy, he'd die a horrible death for sure.
Then, a more horrifying realization dawned on him.
"You—" he stared at the strange mechanical Duel Disk the other held, "How are you able to use card powers here?"
Kira was puzzled: "Why wouldn't I?"
"Every cell is supposed to have a barrier," Earl said, looking increasingly alarmed. "You shouldn't be able to use card powers in here… Just what are you?"
"Hmm?" Kira began to understand.
So, in these cells, spirits' powers are sealed and they can't summon Duel Disks?
But Kira wasn't a spirit, and his Duel Disk wasn't powered by any spirit magic.
It was Kaiba Corp tech!
He immediately got it.
Ah, so you can't duel in here, huh.
Even better—he wouldn't even have to go through the motions. Without another word, he summoned Jinzo and Earl in the face with a psychic shockwave.
"Uwaaah!"
With his powers sealed, Earl didn't stand a chance. The psychic wave blasted a hole in his chest, and soon after, his body glowed gold and dissipated into light.
As expected, after fading, he dropped a deck—including his card: the vanilla, Level 5 "The Earl of Demise."
Kira was quite pleased, scooped up the deck, and pocketed it.
By now, the commotion outside had died down. Soon, a squad of guards rushed in through the hole in the bunker wall, quickly spotting the open cell.
"You there! Stop!"
The guards surrounded the open cell, weapons raised.
"Relax."
Kira strolled out, facing a ring of swords, spears, and halberds.
"Don't be nervous."
He slowly pulled out a small green crystal.
The guards first looked wary, but as they recognized the crystal, their faces shifted from caution to confusion, then to shock and awe.
A fragment of Orichalcos. Only territory leaders or higher in the spirit world were allowed to carry such a fragment—a symbol of status.
"Y-you… you are…?"
The guards unconsciously lowered their weapons, trembling. Some even felt their knees going weak.
"On your side," Kira smiled, then pocketed the fragment.
Unexpectedly, one guard suddenly knelt and shouted, "Messenger! Welcome, great Divine Messenger!"
Kira: "?"
Huh?
Messenger? What Messenger?
…
Meanwhile, in the same conference room, the same higher-ups.
"This invasion was completely unexpected."
A demon executive spoke with lingering fear.
"It's been ages since our bunker faced a jailbreak, and this time their organization and strength were on another level. If not for the Warden personally holding the line, it could've been bad."
The Warden said gravely: "That vampire lord was truly formidable—even I could only fight him to a standstill. And he was so cunning and ruthless—once he saw things going south, he ditched his comrades in the bunker without hesitation and escaped."
Among spirits, duels could inflict real injury but weren't Shadow Games. Running away mid-duel was possible.
The Warden, worried about the bunker, focused on driving off the invaders rather than chasing them down. So the vampire lord simply slipped away mid-duel.
"I never thought such a strong resistance force had gathered nearby," another executive said coldly. "Time to show those foolish vampires what happens to those who defy the true god!"
"We can deal with that later. More importantly—"
The Warden leaned forward, eyes narrowing, lips curling.
"This prison break might not be all bad."
"How so?" a demon asked in confusion.
"Before the meeting was interrupted, we were talking about the Divine Messenger sent from above. The Messenger could be anyone—we don't know who or where, so we must always be cautious.
But thanks to this blasphemous riot, the Divine Messenger stepped forward, and we've now learned their true identity."
The room stirred with excitement.
"The Messenger is here!?"
PS: 3 bonus chapters at 3000 PS.