When the Fortune Cup ended, everyone was in a daze.
Of course. Who would have expected the mere act of dueling cards would trigger such a world-altering phenomenon? A gigantic Crimson Dragon appeared above the arena mid-duel. Then suddenly, both the track and the riders vanished, a hurricane whipped up, and all was chaos.
If it was just that, it would be fine. The critical thing was—the official holographic projection in the arena also crashed. Now, everyone was truly blind; nobody had any idea how the duel was going.
Finally, the winds died down, vision returned, and the projection on the main screen reappeared. The scoreboard showed: King Jack Atlas's Life Points were at zero.
Yusei Fudo had won.
The city's symbol, the invincible King Jack Atlas, had lost to a challenger from Satellite. His undefeated legend broken, the King knocked from his throne.
And the critical, historic moment? It was a black screen—no one even saw what happened!
Naturally, the crowd erupted in boos. Some shouted, "Refund!" Others yelled, "What a fix! Total scam!" and accused the organizers of rigging it for Yusei.
Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence? The system crashed right at that moment—then the invincible king lost!
Even the spiky-haired MC was sweating buckets, wiping his brow with a handkerchief, stammering: "Uh, this, ah, um…"
Until the director's projection appeared before him, calmly asking: "What's wrong? Aren't you going to announce the winner? The duel is already over, isn't it?"
"Oh—oh!"
With the director's nod, the MC immediately recovered.
"The winner is… Yusei Fudo!"
"The legend has fallen; a new King is born! His name is—Yusei Fudo!"
"..."
Naturally, the audience and citizens were still dissatisfied, but it didn't matter. Later, Security would upload the full duel footage to the Fortune Cup website.
But from the start, who won or lost was never the point. The Signers had awoken. The Dark Signers were ready.
The 5,000-year-old grudge between Signers and Dark Signers was about to ignite again.
…
Akiza Izinski returned to the Arcadia Movement's tower.
Standing once again at the base, she looked up at the tall building, her heart a whirl of emotions. For years, she'd thought of this place as her only home. But today, for the first time, standing below, she didn't feel she was home at all.
Was it because Sayer was dead?
Or because something in her own heart had changed?
As soon as she entered, there was a member of the Movement waiting for her at the door.
"We've been waiting a long time for you, Miss Izinski,"
Akiza frowned slightly. She didn't know this person well: they were part of the same group, but had never spoken.
"Director Goodwin asked me to wait for you here," he said.
Akiza was startled. "You're one of Goodwin's men?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"Since when?"
"From the very start."
He said this nonchalantly, gesturing for her to follow.
"Come this way. Director Goodwin asked me—he wants you to see something."
Akiza nodded, asking no more and followed.
So Goodwin had planted spies in their organization all along.
(Actually, it wasn't planned by Kira, but rather, something Goodwin did himself. Not surprising: Goodwin held leverage over the Arcadia Movement. Even if he couldn't move openly against them, a man like him would always take precautions.)
The man led Akiza down a familiar path, to Sayer's room.
But as he operated a hidden switch and opened a secret door, Akiza's expression changed.
She had never known Sayer kept such a secret room in his quarters.
He stopped at the door, saying calmly: "Director Goodwin said, after you've seen everything here, whatever you do from now on is up to you."
Akiza stood outside for a minute.
For some reason, before she stepped in, she already had a sense of what she'd find—a truth that would shatter every belief she'd built over the years.
A voice deep inside told her not to go in, not to face the truth. That way, she could continue to stay; this Arcadia Movement shelter for her psychic kin could remain a paradise. If she kept pretending nothing was wrong, she could still be with these "family" members in the group…
But in the end, she stepped forward.
Were this yesterday, she might not have had the courage to face the truth. Arcadia Movement had been her whole life; if they—if Sayer—betrayed her, where could she go from here?
But now… things had changed.
At last, Akiza entered, to confront the cruel truth, to see the ideal paradise that was, in reality, built on lies and pain.
…
Somewhere unknown in New Domino City.
A blue void, where three figures sat suspended in the air as if from nowhere.
"Heeheehee! That Goodwin fellow, he's got some skill,"
A sharp, childlike voice said.
"He's repelled the abnormalities time and again, and even with all that interference, managed to pull off the Fortune Cup without a hitch.
And the Signers are all awakened. Next up: war with the Dark Signers, eh?"
He giggled again.
"With the Crimson Dragon's power and the Earthbound Immortals, even with all those 'Abnormalities' interfering, fate will still drive them to war. I can't wait to see what happens, heeheehee…"
An old voice replied: "There's nothing to be happy about, Lester.
And that person isn't really Goodwin, as you know."
"Yeah, I know," said the kid called Lester with a shrug. "But it's not like we even know who he really is. He popped out of nowhere. Anyway, he looks like Goodwin now, so we call him that.
What else could we do, call him 'that weird guy who replaced Goodwin' forever?"
The old voice said darkly: "The war between Signers and Dark Signers, all these 'Abnormalities' appearing… and now someone's replaced Goodwin and is beating the Abnormalities.
Things are getting more chaotic. Well, we'll have to see if that guy can be used for our purposes—or if he, too, is an Abnormality and must be eliminated."
Now the third, a young man, spoke up.
"Hmph. Only one way to find out. Try and see."
He stood, speaking coldly.
"Who cares who he is? Let's remove him first and see what happens."