"Revolver..."
Rex Raptor's surprise lasted a heartbeat before it hardened into fighting spirit.
"Heh. Interesting. We were warned: coming to this city now means we have to watch out for you. Something about the Knights of Hanoi ruling the underworld with an iron fist, and a new underground overlord named Revolver..."
"Oh? And despite hearing that, you chose to come closer to me?"
Kira planted his hands on his hips and chuckled.
For some reason, it just felt right to say.
The floating big eye blinked twice. Hearing Rex name "Revolver," the eye lit up, then shot straight into Kira's hands and settled there.
Kira instinctively pinched, finding a card had condensed in his hand.
"So that's it—a spirit?"
Kira understood and glanced up at Rex.
"You're chasing a spirit? That's novel."
"They're from a group calling itself the Advent Church. A bunch of very, very bad people!"
The big eye reappeared on the card art in Kira's hand, trying to look furious but still coming off a little adorable.
"You look like a wise and mighty duelist—please don't let me fall into their hands!"
Advent Church?
So Rex Raptor found himself an organization?
Kira found it odd. Then again, Rex had done similar things before—he'd been tempted into Doma by Orichalcos, same as Weevil.
These two relics of a bygone meta, discarded as the game evolved—willing to do anything to keep up and reclaim past glory. For power, anything goes.
Kira glanced at the card in hand, frowning slightly.
"But as a spirit... what on earth are you?"
It was the strangest card he'd ever seen.
From the card color, it was a monster card. That was about all he could tell.
No name. No ATK/DEF. The background color said Effect Monster, yet the text box was completely blank.
No Level, Attribute, or Type either.
Even the card art seemed to have appeared just now. It had been blank until the eye spoke, then the big eye filled the center of the art.
Asked that, the eye instantly deflated.
"I wish I knew the answer..." it said weakly.
"?"
Kira stared at the card art for a few seconds, baffled.
"You don't even know who you are?"
"Yeah. For some reason, I can't remember..."
"Then why are they chasing you?"
"That I don't really remember either. I just know I absolutely mustn't be caught by them..."
The eye seemed embarrassed, but quickly looked up again, trying to project confidence.
"But I think it's probably because I'm a really powerful monster!"
Then, doubting itself, it added meekly, "P-probably..."
Kira turned his questioning gaze to Rex, the pursuer.
Rex only smirked dismissively. "I don't know why they want it. I don't care. This is my mission. With it, I can prove myself. With it, I can get stronger."
Rex activated his duel disk and chuckled.
"The church has given me power. And they say this Revolver is different. Let me see just how different."
"If you insist."
Kira activated his duel disk as well.
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Rex, LP 4000]
"I'll take the first turn. Draw," Kira said.
This was their second duel. But Rex seemed to have joined some church Kira had never heard of. There was a definite dark energy pulsing from him, and just now he'd clearly manifested a solid monster—something the old Rex couldn't do.
Kira had never heard of this Advent Church. Well, it was Rex—no matter the buff, how strong could he get?
"I set one monster in face-down Defense Position."
Kira set a monster.
"Then I set one back row and end my turn."
In this guise, Rex didn't recognize him, nor did he know they had a personal grudge.
"My turn. Draw!"
Rex flashed two cards from his hand.
"I Special Summon two 'Gilasaurus'!"
Two raptors appeared on Rex's field, clawing and snapping in tandem, kicking up dust as they sprinted.
[Gilasaurus, ATK 1400] x2
"Gilasaurus can Special Summon itself from the hand. But if your opponent has monsters in the Graveyard, they can also Special Summon one monster from their Graveyard."
Rex snickered.
"First turn—you don't have anything in your Graveyard. So that drawback doesn't matter."
Kira: "Oh."
Same old Rex. Nothing new.
"Then I Tribute one 'Gilasaurus' to Tribute Summon!"
Rex raised his hand and called out:
"Level 6—Dark Driceratops!"
The raptor vanished, becoming a great black vortex. A beam of shadow slashed the void; a dragon cloaked in pitch-black scales slowly rose within the maelstrom. Its roar made the earth itself seem to grovel and tremble.
[Dark Driceratops, ATK 2400]
The spirit eye hovered beside Kira, squeaking, "He summoned something that strong on the first turn... Is that okay, Lord Revolver?"
Kira shot the eye a sidelong glance.
For a spirit, it was quite lively.
"Hahaha, yeah, you should listen to that eye. Time to worry."
Rex grinned.
"Because if you slip up, my lovely dinos will tear you apart!
Go, Dark Driceratops—attack that set monster!"
The dinosaur tore through the air. The gust flipped Kira's set monster, revealing a devilish scout in red armor.
[Scarr, Scout of Dark World, DEF 500]
"A pretty puny monster, but don't think Defense Position makes you safe!"
Rex shouted:
"Dark Driceratops's effect! When this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage!"
"Eh—eh—eh!?"
The spirit eye panicked. "This is getting worse, Lord Revolver—do something!"
"Activate set card," Kira said impassively. "Trap Card—Power Wall.
When your opponent's attack would make you take battle damage, for every 100 damage, send 1 card from your Deck to the Graveyard. (Anime Effect)
This battle goes through, and I would take 1900 piercing damage. So from my Deck..."
Kira paused, hand reaching to his deck, a slightly unnerving smile on his face.
"...I'll send nineteen cards to the Graveyard!"