"Uh… this."
The muscle hired by the Industrial Illusion looked at one another. Their eyes seemed to hold a thousand words, yet all of them got stuck in their throats—desperate to complain, but unable to speak.
Is this the correct way to play "Cyber"?
This thing?
They wanted to roast it, to refute it, but there was nowhere to start. Because you really couldn't deny it: the core of that whole self-locking combo really was Cyber Dragon.
Yet probably not even the founder of the Cyber archetype could have imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that the Cyber Dragon he designed would one day be played in such a deathly, underworld fashion.
The Cyber Dragon you imagine: dashing aggression, extreme speed, winning by crushing the opponent with overwhelming power.
The Cyber Dragon in reality: ping-ponging back and forth, burning LP infinitely, looping into an endless cycle—no celestial immortal could save you.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes today, they'd never have believed it—this counts as Cyber?
Even Tenma, who thought he was already mentally prepared for the King's duels, opened his mouth and tried to speak for a long time, but in the end couldn't get a word out.
How to put it…
Although seeing even a card deck as pure and forceful as Cyber Dragon turned into something like this was jaw-dropping, this wasn't even the part that most drew Tenma's attention.
The key point was that Genex Ally was a deck not even fully developed yet. Kira should have only gotten a few half-finished prototypes from that in-development batch yesterday; in other words, he had at most one night to study every new card's effects and to spin up those bizarre brain circuits of his to consider deckbuilding and lines of play.
Brand-new cards the outside world had never even heard of—just got them last night, only one night.
And he already cooked up this kind of inhuman strategy?
That was what truly unsettled Tenma the most; the way he looked at Kira involuntarily grew more reverent.
Does this guy have a brain that pops out ten thousand self-lock lines the instant he lays eyes on any new card?
Of course, as for who was the most shocked, none could compare to the person involved: Battle Beast.
Battle Beast was not okay.
Cyber Dragon? Aggro deck? OTK?
Hahahaha—
Fake. All fake.
What damn Cyber Dragon—this is clearly the darkest, most evil force in the world!
No wonder the great and pure Light wants to purify this world; he now felt more than ever that this world desperately needed cleansing. Even something as "daylight" as Cyber Dragon had been corrupted into this wretched filth—just how underworldly this world had become was plain to see.
"All right, let's be blunt."
Kira retracted his Duel Disk and spoke calmly.
"Originally I wanted to ask which side you're on, who you work for—but after that duel, there's no need to ask."
He paused, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said:
"The Light of Destruction, right?"
Battle Beast's eyelids twitched; his expression shifted, and he said nothing for a moment.
But Tenma and the others all changed expression slightly upon hearing that, looking at the man in front of them in surprise.
The Industrial Illusion did have intel on the Light of Destruction. In the anime, the introduction to the arc's antagonist was delivered by President Pegasus during his meeting with Chancellor Kaiba. In fact, they were among the first to detect that evil, eroding force in the cosmos; they'd been aware of the Light of Destruction's existence for years.
"Did Sartorius send you?" Kira asked. "Where are the Gladiator Beasts? In Sartorius's hands?"
At that, Battle Beast finally raised his head, giving Kira a strange look for a moment before suddenly throwing his head back and bursting into inexplicable laughter.
After that bizarre bout of laughter, he stopped and sized Kira up and down.
"You know quite a bit, Duel King. But you seem to be mistaken about a few things."
Battle Beast spoke icily.
"Sartorius is just an old charlatan. He does not represent the holy and glorious Light."
Kira arched a brow.
He had already sensed it during the duel—that unmistakably light-like wavelength. He'd crossed paths with powers affiliated with the Light of Destruction more than once, and at the very least felt confident in recognizing it. So the other party belonging to the Light of Destruction's faction shouldn't be wrong.
But that tone of contempt when he mentioned Sartorius didn't sound fake either.
What did that mean?
That this person, while affiliated with the Light of Destruction, was not under Sartorius's camp?
So on Earth right now, there was another Light of Destruction faction besides Sartorius's?
That was major intel.
Kira's expression grew slightly more grave.
Of course Sartorius couldn't fully represent the Light of Destruction—that Kira already knew. In the original, the Sartorius arc was just a prelude, pointing to the largest force behind GX; it's just that even by the end of the anime, that thread was left hanging.
The Light of Destruction seeks to destroy the entire universe, purifying everything into a void of pure white—it is the most powerful evil force in the cosmos. What was shown in the anime was just the tip of the iceberg.
Years ago, a tiny fragment of Light came to Earth, first attaching itself to the card of the ultimate Destiny HERO, Plasma (Blood D), designed by Aster's father, triggering the tragedy of Aster's father being murdered and Plasma being stolen.
Then that fragment transferred to Sartorius, leading to the subsequent series of events in GX.
But that was only a stray fragment that arrived by accident.
Later, in the Yubel arc, it's further revealed that after Jaden sent Yubel into space, Yubel also encountered the Light of Destruction. Yubel's later evolutions into "Terror Incarnate" and "The Ultimate Nightmare" were likely influenced by the Light of Destruction, and Yubel's surge in power may also have something to do with it.
And that was still just the tip of the iceberg. The Light of Destruction's main force never appeared by the end of the anime, yet that was the enemy Jaden and his Neo-Spacians would fight for the rest of their lives, even across reincarnations. In flashbacks of the Other Dimension arc, it's mentioned that even in their previous lives before reincarnation, Jaden and Yubel's primary mission was to battle the Light of Destruction.
Sartorius's background can be gleaned from the anime. But if there are other forces related to the Light of Destruction beyond him, that's another story.
An unknown force—and Kira did not like the unknown.
"The power of the Gladiator Beasts—Lord Merlot has taken it. But he said there's no rush. Duel King, you will have your chance to fight him—sooner or later."
That was the last thing Battle Beast said.
As the words fell, he closed his eyes and collapsed into unconsciousness.
And then, as if in a single instant—
All the hair on his body turned immaculate, pure white.