Clavis Barnes was a man of perfect routines worn to their end. His work coveralls once had reflective strips emblazoned across the shoulders; over time, they had peeled and been reglued so that they bit and bunched the fabric around them. His boots had been mended similarly, the sole held together with a triangle of duct tape from the toe through the arch to the back heel. This routine assembled itself on the body of Valz Lemora, reporter from the surface. His crimson hair disappeared beneath the hard hat. He sneezed as he pulled the fake beard tight to his face.

Yuu watched the transformation and stifled a laugh. Clavis's work clothes were grumpy all by themselves, but Valz was a little taller and skinnier, and his shoulders tautened the wrinkles like beauty injections. Valz had already had a fake beard on hand, claiming that it was an invaluable tool for collecting information covertly. It muffled his jaw as he spoke. "Do I look like him?"

"Sure," Yuu said. "You two could be brothers."

Valz grinned. "I actually feel like I'm gonna stretch this out."

"That suit's been through worse, trust me."

Yuu's amusement was underscored by wistfulness. Clavis had always prided himself on being able to work so much with so little. No one would blame him if all he amounted to was Heart Excavation's employee of the month. Somewhere deep down, Yuu wondered if he had been relying on that.

Clavis had stopped showing up to work. When he'd seen him last, the old man had seemed kinder and colder, as though he couldn't muster the energy to make his usual jabs at Yuu's demeanor. It was as though the gap in their ages had disappeared, and they were two old men at the end of the world, or two young men at the precipice of a new one. Yuu couldn't tell which one it was; all Clavis would tell him was that he was "working some things out." Rumors about his disappearance swirled around B Block; the popular theory was that he'd finally gone senile.

Yuu wasn't sure what to believe. He'd asked Clavis to borrow his work uniform hoping for an extreme reaction, or at least an interrogation of his motives. Instead, all he'd gotten was a hollow chuckle and a nod. It seemed like Clavis really didn't plan to come back anytime soon. Yuu didn't have time to check on him.

Ten days from now, the Atrium Royale would take over Leviathan Plaza. Inspector Fey had promised to provide Duel Disks for the registrants; nobody in the Atrium could resist such a spectacle. Yuu never got tired of seeing the monsters leap from the crystal lenses into semisolid beasts of light, and now many people would be seeing it for the first time. More than anything, he wanted them to love it as much as he did.

Rumors were also circulating about Otaro Yamatano, who'd appeared like his namesake mist, cold and overpowering. A champion from the surface fighting the champions of the deep. Zato would be salivating at the thought.

Yuu had been avoiding Zato at work, but the deputy chief's recent enthusiasm for the tournament indicated that he was involved somehow. Yuu couldn't stop Zato's machinations, but he hoped he could duel while staying relatively uninvolved.

In the meantime, Valz Lemora had taken up his days. Fascination spurred the hapless reporter into a chain of new experiences where he absolutely floundered. The two of them squatted beneath lamplight in artificial night, listening to the clink of dice in ceramic as Valz lost his last dollar to the old smokers. They chatted in Valz's hovel, where mice scampered across a single cracked rafter. They even took more trips to Badtown, where they entered at a stroll and left at a chase. Valz seemed to take his defeat in stride, as long a stride though it was. He magnetized trouble, and it hunted him down.

It fascinated Yuu, and he knew it would exhaust Clavis, but he still wanted them to all meet together. All his life, Yuu had wanted friends his own age, and now all he wanted to do was introduce Valz to his old friend. It was only now that his oldest friend was nowhere to be found.

To distract himself from everything, Yuu had concocted a scheme of his own: sneaking Valz into the B Block excavation. A field trip to the fetid crawlspace of the mines.

It was a relatively harmless plan. Sure, Heart Excavation didn't allow visitors on site as a general rule, but it wasn't as if miners were forbidden from talking about their work. Valz could easily interview enough of them to write an article; he just insisted on getting every scoop face-first, no matter what face he had to put on to do it.

Yuu coached Valz's behavior on the way to work. "Slouch a bit, but keep the shoulders solid. Clavis always wipes his nose back and forth, like this." He swished his wrist across his nose, scowling for effect. Every instructed move reincarnated his old friend - Valz, for his part, adopted the mannerisms effortlessly. If you squinted and then shut your eyes the rest of the way, you could mistake Valz for Clavis's son, if he'd ever had one. Yuu had never asked.

They walked through the gates into the Heart Excavation yard. Miners from B Block came to welcome "Clavis" back, and once they got a full look at Valz's face, they began whispering to each other, lips hooking into smiles. Suddenly, Clavis was the most popular man in the mine, and everyone had a story about how far back they went with him.

"Clavis, how's the wife and mistress?"

"Clavis, remember that dice game you lost to me weeks ago? I need that money now."

"Clavis, I heard you took a vow against blinking? You're an inspiration to us all."

They crowded around in turn. Valz, his beard slipping, grunted out a rehearsed proverb. "There's a time and place, and yours ain't here or now."

The miners howled with delight.

Chief Oga arrived on the scene, sullen and firm. He still had a cast around his wrist, but he lifted with your hands, not his. He nodded to Yuu as he passed. Oga hadn't forgotten how Yuu had interceded with the Monji on behalf of him and his Jormungand Turtle, but he had a quota to meet and he couldn't have any of his employees slack off. So the nod was the signifier and total of all that had changed between them. Yuu wasn't sure whether to be comforted or miffed by the effect of his dueling. He certainly wasn't going to ask his boss to play Duel Monsters again.

Oga's gaze passed right over Valz as he addressed the group. "Alright!" he shouted passionlessly. "Management wants sixty kilos of duradine by the weekend! So none of you dare fall behind."

The crew dispatched from the main drill line, entering the rail tunnels in teams of two. Valz's eyes glimmered like spotlights as he watched Yuu hack the wall apart. When Yuu prized a crystal free, Valz polished it with his sleeve, angling the crystal in his headlamp and running his finger over the grooves at the top.

"It's Desperado Knight!" he exclaimed excitedly. "It's a rare from the latest collection."

"Rare?" Yuu pulled his goggles up and squinted at the card in Valz's hand. "Looks normal to me."

"It's not as flashy as a high-grade," Valz admitted. "But can you see the shiny divots here at the top? Normally that's an opaque cross-section, but with rare cards, there's some reflective luster! Otherwise, they're the same as normal cards."

Yuu pulled out his deck, leafing through the cards. Sure enough, cards like Mystic Tomato and Minefieldriller had a subtle sheen along the top, whereas cards like D2 Shield were murkier, the light stuffed out by chunky crystal planes.

"Of course, you've got your super rares, ultra rares, and then sometimes you'll get a secret rare! But even then, they might be rarer versions of the same card!" Valz was shouting now, a habit that most new miners got into once they realized how the tunnels distorted sound. Over time, he'd realize that the key was enunciation, not volume.

Yuu had only ever made the distinction between high-grade and low-grade, but every last card was unique. The hierarchy persisted at every level it could create. Yuu dimly realized that Chief Oga, handing out bonuses based on the rarity of the miners' finds, had never bothered to alert them to these distinctions. That cheapskate.

Yuu planted the handle of his pick and leaned on the head like an overlong cane. "So rare is actually the second lowest rarity? And what do you mean anyway, that it's from a collection?"

"That's how Heart labels them. I think they hold on to new cards until they have a big enough supply for a launch. The more time passes, the more time they have to dig up rare cards."

Yuu felt a shiver go down his spine. Crime of Prometheus might be unique as far as he knew, but there was no guarantee it'd be unique forever. The planet might conjure another at any moment.

Valz squatted like a child observing worms, shuffling through the day's haul. "You got a copy of Overdrive Gear here, that's good in Ancient Gear decks. Oh hey, Qliphort Genius! That's a real throwback."

"Be careful with them," Yuu advised. "Management docks our pay if we turn in damaged goods. Technically, even playing with them is a violation if we haven't bought them off."

Valz pouted. "Bummer. Busting open packs and drafting from fresh cards is one of Duel Monsters' purest joys. And here they are, purer than that! Oh, man."

His eyes sparkled in the lamplight. Yuu could understand the feeling - digging out a high-grade had felt like the sun dropping into his hands. But he'd never met someone who looked that way with every card they held. Maybe it was just because he mined out so many cards each day, but he could only admire the joy of another. He wondered if this was how Clavis felt watching him mine.

Always a happier fish, he supposed.

"Come on," Yuu said, shoveling waste rock into the minecart behind them. "It's nearly lunchtime."

At the table, Yuu took a deep bite of his sandwich, imagining that he was crunching through layers of earth. Mustard flowed like magma as he chewed the pearly lettuce, and primordial caloric sludge swirled in his mouth.

"This is way too cold," Valz said, his beard pulled down to make a slot for his own sandwich. "Is there even any meat in this?"

"Cold is good," Yuu countered. "Cools you from the inside out. And sometimes the turkey slides to the back of the sandwich while it's in the package, you kinda have to dig for it."

"Oh god," Valz said, his face aging in horror. "I think I just got to it. That's turkey?"

Yuu put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out chunks of his sandwich.

All around them, miners ate their lunch in low murmurs. Many played dice, though a few of them had pulled out their own cards, playing short games with 20-card decks. More and more clusters of people had taken an interest in dueling, though it was far from a community; they were all still coworkers, after all.

The fake Clavis's initial popularity had simmered somewhat since the morning. Nobody was really that interested in this newcomer, and Clavis was still gone. When Valz went over to chat about their mining process, he was frozen out with exhausted reticence. Clavis would still get the hours of pay, so the scheme wasn't a complete bust.

Frankly, Yuu had just been sick of coming to work alone. It was yet another way he'd been relying on the old man without realizing it.

He was startled from his thoughts by Chief Oga's voice, stuttering like a misfired engine. "I understand you cleared it with the manager - it's just that this is an active job site, and there's safety training needed-"

"Now, now, Abel." Davis Fey read the name off of the ID card in his hand. The lanky white-suited man gleamed like a puppet sun as he smugly addressed the chief. "Otaro will be able to handle himself. Did you think that a professional duelist would be unfamiliar with duradine safety?"

"There's different rules for a mineshaft," Oga protested, but the procession quickly breezed past him. Three stark figures appeared against the green shadows on the cave wall.

Yuu gestured with his finger for Valz to turn around slowly. The reporter looked back and yelped. He quickly shawled himself in the helmet and beard, hunching over the table, as Ori Yamatano looked their way.

Her jet-black hair had been braided and rested smartly over the shoulder of her violet jacket. Her eyes met Yuu's with flat recognition, and she stopped walking. Her expression betrayed nothing for five long seconds. Then Otaro Yamatano glared at Yuu, and it was as though the professional duelist had gathered up all of the tension and shot him with it.

Yuu ducked down. Valz was staring at him, wide-eyed.

"The Mist Fang is here!" he hissed.

"I know," Yuu said. "Here, stand up with me. Don't face them."

Valz did as he said, and the two of them huddled together. Yuu could still feel eyes on them as they walked off towards the changing stations. Just then, the bell rang for the end of lunch, and each worker lurched up from their seat, cleaned themselves off, and made to reenter the pit. Yuu and Valz disappeared into the crowd.

Oga stood aghast as Fey and his gaggle of pro duelists made to enter the mines. It was one thing to allow them access to the records of duradine production (which he'd had to stitch together from daily report slips from his locker), and another thing entirely to allow them in an active dig. The potential lawsuit made his head spin. Though they'd cleared it with the Atrium management, Oga knew it was always going to be his head on the chopping block.

"How did you even get a meeting with them?" he growled impotently.

"I believe that's where I came in." A voice spun like oiled gearteeth, ratcheting out a smile that shone crooked on Zato Sanada's face. "I simply brokered a franchising deal for the good of the company."

Oga spun around, trying to clothesline Zato in the head, but Zato leaned out of the way and walked around him. "I apologize for rushing the matter, sir; Inspector Fey made it clear that promoting the Atrium Royale took precedent."

Oga stomped his foot in frustration. "All of this is for your damn tournament?"

At this, Zato and Fey locked eyes as though they were battleships training cannons on a congruent response. "Yes," they answered simultaneously.

"Now, Inspector," Zato continued, "I can lead the way to our major drill line, and show you the main bulk of our operation."

"I'll be checking the branch shafts," Otaro said, his eyes tracking the dwindling procession to their destinations.

"Me too," Ori stuttered, only to be met with Otaro's glare again.

"Stay with Fey. This doesn't concern you." Otaro stalked off without waiting for an answer, silver cloak rippling behind him.

Ori stared after him for a moment, then at the ground, unable to meet the eyes of anyone else there. Her hand clenched, and she set off, following Otaro towards the mines.

Zato looked after the both of them and shrugged. "They'll be fine?"

Fey nodded. "One of them will be. Anyway, lead on." He dipped his head and swung his arm out towards the myriad cave entrances.

Chief Oga watched the two of them as they sank into the darkness, their smiles like fixed light.

From his readings on Heart Excavation's drilling procedure, Otaro had gleaned that duradine mining was a slow and frustrating process. Daily, the miners filed into tunnels in the different excavation sites. Most of them maintained the main drill line, which had been set up to tap the most recently discovered cluster of duradine. These 'packs,' as the manual called them, could be anywhere from a few kilograms to hundreds of tonnes; knowing this, the main drill had to be deployed frugally. Its titanic steel tube stretched down the tunnel, where diamond bore studs gnashed against the rock. The main drill line was flooded with light, the conveyor belt roaring as it bore up tons of waste rock, disassembled and sifted by the miners who hunched over the flowing scree. A few of them glanced up at Otaro for a moment as he entered, their hands never ceasing in their work.

Otaro stared back at the miners, deliberately thwarting their gazes. He never liked having an audience. Their screams of adulation were unbearable, and their silent expectation even more so. Somehow, his promoters had maneuvered his fury at fans into a sign of intensity, which only increased his popularity. He was forced to put up with it in the stadiums; this smaller audience, though, funneled his rage and were quickly intimidated away from perceiving him. Even so, he could feel the gravity of his presence among them, and it made his skin crawl.

Smaller tunnels branched off of the main, denoted by makeshift wooden supports. These tunnels were dug as feelers, scouting out pockets of duradine and excavating those that were insufficient to require the drill. Otaro had already picked out his target. He made for the second branch tunnel on the left and disappeared into the dim lantern light.

From the moment Clavis and his young friend had gotten up from the table, Otaro had kept them in the corner of his vision. The young man had made an impression on his sister and the old man. Just what kind, he'd have to observe for himself.

Everyone was beneath him, which meant it was his duty to understand them perfectly.

In a way, Fey's clumsy organization of a tournament simplified Otaro's thought processes greatly. It was as though he were still in the prize circuit, fighting every battle a thousand times, iterating onto each opponent a thousand feared outcomes. By overcoming that fear and those possibilities, he had become the champion.

Ori was no longer following him. Almost certainly, she'd doubled back to take the tour with Fey and Zato. He couldn't help but be a little disappointed at that fact. Not that she wasn't here, but the fact that she was so weak-willed as to declare a position only to retract it. Her deckbuilding was symptomatic of a deeper, more significant weakness, one that culminated in kicking around nobodies from a mining colony.

Light shone faintly from a bend in the tunnel. Yuu Tokari would be right around the corner.

Otaro pondered just how much he could learn from this encounter. He also considered the extent to which things could go wrong. Certainly, killing Yuu Tokari would be a negative outcome. But it would not hinder him greatly.

The young man was hunched over, working a rock pick at some dull mineral sheet near the ground. He was alone. This confrontation would be neat and utterly silent.

He reached for Yuu's shoulder.

"We need to talk, Clavis Barnes."

Ori Yamatano said this in the dim light of a separate branch tunnel, one where she'd tracked the stumbling old man who'd gotten up from the table. The same one who had kept rechallenging her with his cobbled deck of random cards; the same one who had appeared at Fey's door days ago, under the recommendation of Zato Sanada.

She felt foolish for getting involved. With Otaro here, her role in the operation had been reduced to the level of tourist. She hadn't known that he was the one ordering Fey to bring her along, but she'd suspected.

Otaro was always talking about how she needed to come into her own as a duelist, but even when she thought she was acting of her own accord and on her own merits, his shadow emerged above her always. It was an experience that made her all the more sympathetic to the old man she'd met a week ago, who had expressed a lone, simple desire: to be mighty.

Clavis squatted above minecart rails that vanished in the dark. His eyes sparked as he looked up at her.

"What do you mean?" he asked. The voice was wrong.

Ori stepped back, confused. The old man stood up and removed his helmet, revealing a shock of familiar cyan hair.

"I'm gonna ask you again, please," Yuu Tokari repeated, "What do you mean?"

"It really is you! The unbeatable Mist Fang!" Valz Lemora had his headlamp turned up to its brightest setting, bleaching out Otaro's furious scowl.

Otaro's calculations had flown out the window: he hadn't accounted for things going this wrong. "Turn that thing off!" he snapped.

"Right! Sorry." Valz reached up and fiddled with his headlamp dial. Suddenly, it was flickering on and off, firing faulty sparks from the rim. Otaro found himself pummeled by light like paparazzi flashes. I didn't even really need to be here today, he thought dimly.

The blinking switched off, leaving them in the dull glow of the duradine vein. Valz was already fishing out a pen and notepad from his jumpsuit. "So, what brings you to the Atrium? Is it related to your recent performance in the major circuit, with the world championship so close? Are you taking part in the Atrium Royale?"

Otaro breathed deep through his nose to collect himself. "I really don't have time to for any-"

He paused. "My recent performance? What's that supposed to mean?"

The reporter smiled and went on matter-of-factly. "I was referring to your third-place finish at Demon Feast against Kij Marvell, and the exhibition match at the Heartworld Stadium inauguration. Any plans to make a comeback?"

A comeback! Otaro's nostrils flared with constraintive effort. His brow crumpled until it was an arrow pointed to his gritted teeth.

"The first of four things," he said icily. "The Heartworld Stadium inauguration match was an exhibition of the new Daybreak Challengers set as well as the stadium. Our deck lists were mandated to include the new cards.

"Second of four," he continued, "Demon Feast was a charity event, and won't be counted as a qualifier for the world championship. Third of four, Kij Marvell's decklist included a copy of Savantic Remedy, which he ran in the first game as a hard counter to my Xeno Arrows and Scarlet Charlatan combo, which he only knew about because of rags like yours running an article about my technique after the Sandgold Grand Prix!"

Otaro spat his last words with an echoing venom. Valz cowered beneath him, smiling weakly as his pen stopped. "And the fourth?"

With great effort, Otaro recollected himself. "The fourth is…that I really don't have time for this." He straightened his jacket and turned to walk away.

"Hold up a second," Valz said, stowing his notepad. When Otaro glanced back, he saw the reporter holding a coiled tube of metal, like a snail's shell with hooked teeth. In the hands of a skilled hunter, it could latch onto an opponent's duel disk and prevent their escape. In the hands of an amateur, it could still take out someone's knees.

Otaro stepped to the side and tilted his head back, letting cold malice spill from the sides of his eyes. "Hey, now. That's a Duel anchor. You know that's illegal."

"Letting the greatest scoop of my life get away would be even more illegal," Valz replied. "I can't truly understand you until I duel you."

"Is that right?" Otaro raised his gloved hand, and five lines of iridescent light followed the path of his fingers. He swiped his arm in an arc, and the trails coalesced onto the sleeve of his coat. It was a showy fabrication from his team's engineer, but a winning display nonetheless. The lights stuck to his sleeve lashed outwards like chained lightning, forming a bladed Duel Disk as they cooled. The field zones lit up beneath Otaro's face, heightening his shadowed scowl.

"It's going to be a very short understanding," he said.

"You disguised yourself as Clavis," Ori said, somewhat in awe. "That's clever. But how did Clavis disguise as you?"

"Clavis isn't here today," Yuu said flatly. "He hasn't been to work in weeks. And it sounds like you know why."

Ori bit her lip. Every mention of Fey's actions seemed to her like the critical point of their plan, as if divulging it could ruin the whole operation. "I don't know anything," she said, which might as well have been true.

Yuu stared at her, hard. Ori felt a strange pressure crowding her lungs. The miner's eyes were wild and dilated in the dark.

Eventually, Yuu sighed. "Alright. Sorry I freaked out on you." He looked to the ground, and in that moment a question died on Ori's lips.

If you're his friend, why hasn't he told you?

Yuu tilted his hard hat down over his eyes. Ori's chest constricted again. It wasn't as though someone loving you meant they trusted you. But that made it hard to trust that they loved you at all.

"My name's Ori," she said, just to break the silence.

"I know," Yuu said. "Your manager told me."

Manager? Right, Fey. "He's…a good manager." Ori resisted the urge to beat her head against the cave wall for being so plain.

Yuu nodded. "My name's Yuu."

"Is it short for anything?"

"Yeah, I guess to remember it easier."

Ori stifled a laugh. "Look, I'm sorry to bother you at your job. I'll tell the foreman I was down here so he'll let you off the hook."

"It's fine. Things are kind of awkward between us right now, I don't think he'll get on my case."

"Well, I'm…happy for you? It sounds like a good thing when you put it that way." Ori felt like she was speaking in off-beats. Yuu had a completely defusing aura about him.

"I saw your duel with Clavis," Yuu said, which they both already knew. Ori felt a flicker of awkwardness in his voice too. "You play Dustons? That's cool."

Ori chuckled. "Yeah, I was." She was used to this type of conversation about her deck. Awed disbelief, a chuckle of pity when she invariably lost. Encouragement, and an insistence that she represented the fun parts of Duel Monsters. Iconic, legendary, but never champion. And how iconic could you really be if you didn't also win?

With dismay, Ori realized she hadn't said anything for several seconds. Yuu was glancing around the scenery of a completely dark mining tunnel, obviously noting the silence as well. She scrambled internally for something to say.

"Sorry." Yuu shook his head and reached for his belt, pulling out a sunstone.

Ori stuttered, "What? Don't be. I mean, why?"

"To tell you the truth, I've been kind of off all day," Yuu said, tying the sunstone to his arm. "I'd like to talk more, but would you mind if we dueled too?"

Ori felt relieved. "Not at all."

She jumped as Yuu laughed, his voice rising in pitch. "Alright! A duel with a real pro."

Ori felt squeezed of breath. "Yeah. A real pro."

Yuu hopped up and down, shaking his arms out like a boxer. His energy had almost completely flipped from before. "If you're the Dust Lord, what does that make me? The Dust Buster?"

Ori smiled. "It makes you my next victim." For her mission, she needed to play her part, but now she found herself wanting to. The metal nodes on her arm decompacted, distending into a spindly Duel Disk with golden trim.

The sunstone on Yuu's arm lit up, bright as a diamond. "Are you gonna say it, or should I?"

Ori felt the knot in her chest loosen and blow away. "Together, on three."

The duradine cavern sparkled above them and danced their shadows down into the dark.

"Let's Duel!"

Valz - 4000 LP

Otaro - 4000 LP

"I'm up first!" Valz shouted. "For my first move, I'm bringing out Tour Guide from the Underworld!"

A cheerful woman adjusted a beskulled hat atop her head as she materialized from the Duel Disk projection. Clutching her microphone, she waved across the Duel Field to Otaro.

Tour Guide from the Underworld / Level 3 / DARK / Fiend / ATK 1000 / DEF 1000

And she's about to guide you through a world of hurt! Valz thought this entire sentence to himself. When she's summoned, Tour Guide lets me bring out another Fiend monster from my deck! And I'll make sure it counts with Level 3 Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss!

Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss / Level 3 / DARK / Fiend / ATK 1000 / DEF 1500

Once my demons get schemin', you'll think you're dreamin'! Again, Valz hadn't said any of this out loud yet. Because once I summon Graff, I'll be able to Xyz Summon a Rank 3 monster! Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss!

Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss / Rank 3 / LIGHT / Warrior / ATK 1000 / DEF 2500

And this is one tourist who's not leaving empty-handed! Because I can detach an Xyz Material from Dante to send the top 3 cards of my deck to the graveyard! If I send any Burning Abyss monsters, Dante will gain ATK points, and I'll be able to use their effects!

Valz giggled. And the best part is, when I detach Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss as Xyz Material, I'll be able to use its graveyard effect, guaranteed! Which will let me get another Malebranche from my deck, and then, I'll be able to…well, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The bottom line is, once my Tour Guide uses its effect, the Mist Fang is taking a trip straight to the end of this duel! Valz threw his hand out in a showy motion. "I activate Tour Guide's special ability!"

"Ash Blossom."

Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring / Level 3 / Tuner / FIRE / ATK 0 / DEF 1800

Valz looked bewildered as cherry blossoms gusted around Tour Guide, drowning out her voice and ripping the microphone from her hands. Error sparks flew from Valz's Duel Disk, deep azure. While red sparks noted an illegal play, these blue ones indicated that an effect had been negated by the opponent. The Tour Guide and Valz fumed and stamped their feet.

"Come on, man! Your first turn hasn't even begun yet! Don't you have any patience?" Valz's prepared lines turned into an ineloquent screed, hurled headlong at the Mist Fang.

Otaro folded his arms. "I'm just dueling you like you wanted," he said. "And since I've stopped you from summoning more monsters, I feel that I won't need much more patience until my turn begins."

"Why don't you feel this monster card?" Valz retorted. "I'm activating the effect of Gallis the Star Beast!"

Gallis the Star Beast / Level 3 / EARTH / Beast / ATK 800 / DEF 800

"Here's how it works," Valz said. "I-"

"I know how it works," Otaro said. His voice hadn't risen, but it had a skeleton now, solid and grimly impatient.

"R-right," Valz said, moving his hand to the top of his deck. He paused for a moment.

Otaro raised an eyebrow. "I'm not negating your effect. What are you waiting for?"

"I just, um, thought you were about to explain it."

"Why would I do that? We both know what the card does."

Valz blushed and flipped the top card of his deck over, ready to send it to the graveyard. If it was a Spell or Trap card, Gallis would be sent to his graveyard, and his turn would be over. But if it was a Monster card, Otaro would get hit with 200 points of damage for every level that monster had, not to mention that he'd be able to bring out Gallis directly from his hand. Once he had Gallis alongside his Tour Guide, he could Xyz Summon Dante with two Level 3 monsters like he'd originally planned.

Then I'll be in business, Valz thought to himself as he glanced at the card. And the card is…

Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss / Trap Card

Valz removed Gallis from my hand and slipped it into the graveyard slot of his Duel Disk. "I whiffed," he groaned.

Otaro just nodded. Valz couldn't confirm it, but he had a hunch that his effect would have gone differently if he'd been allowed to explain it out loud. He kept this thought to himself, though.

"I set three facedown cards and end my turn," Valz said. "My turn might be over, but the Duel's just getting started!"

Otaro's hand froze on top of his deck. "Utang vs. Terrine, World Prix VII."

Valz cocked his head. "Hm?"

"The line you just threw out. That's something Seigo Utang said after his first turn in the Loser's Finals at the seventh Heart World Prix."

"It is?" Valz marveled, taken aback. "I genuinely didn't know. I thought it was just something cool to say."

"Well, it is." Otaro broke from his dueling stance, waving his arms symmetrically as though unloading bundles of information from his mouth. "At first, people made fun of him, since he ended up losing the game, but there was a later reappraisal of Utang as a showman and pillar of the Duel Monsters culture. People started saying it as a motto, until eventually, it was brought back to tournaments ironically."

Otaro closed his eyes as though envisioning the stadium lights of the World Prix. "But these days, it's so well-known that it gives the audience something to say along with the Duelist, so it gets the crowd amped up and on your side. Some people even call it the true 'first turn advantage.'"

"That's incredible," Valz said sincerely. "I had no idea it went that deep."

"Yeah, well." Otaro's eyes turned steely again. "You're entirely incompetent as a Duel journalist if you didn't even know that."

He's mad at me again! Valz shut his eyes in despair and frustration.

"It's my turn," Otaro said, drawing the card from his deck in a brief, austere motion. Immediately he held it forward.

"I'm summoning Denko Sekka in attack mode."

Denko Sekka / Level 4 / LIGHT / Thunder / ATK 1700 / DEF 1000

"Hold it right there!" Valz exclaimed. "I'm activating my facedown!"

"You're not activating anything," Otaro explained as Denko Sekka raised her sword high, bringing it down with a strange twanging sound. The blade seemed to liquefy as it met the ground, and three streams of globulous electricity covered Valz's facedown cards.

"For as long as I control no set Spells or Traps, Denko Sekka prevents any Spells and Traps from being set, and those that are already set, cannot be activated."

"Now that your facedowns are out of the way, I'll activate the equip spell Sunder Cloth from my hand." A bolt of violet cloth, warping at its torn edges, draped across the back of Denko Sekka.

Otaro put both arms forward as he explained, "Sunder Cloth lets me send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard, and deal 500 points of damage for every equip spell I send."

He removed the top three cards of his deck, viewing them before quickly slotting them into his graveyard. "I've sent Living Fossil and Axe of Despair, so you'll take 1000 points of damage."

The cloth tore open like a curtain, the blades hidden within shooting out to pierce Valz. Valz didn't even have time to scream before he was impaled by twin spars of light, and by the time he'd realized he'd been killed, he'd also remembered that these were all just projected light constructs and none of it was real. His life, instead of flashing before his eyes, played like some B-roll footage in the back of his head.

Valz - 4000 LP 3000 LP

"Two out of three hits. But it's really the third card you have to worry about," Otaro said as his graveyard shone with ultraviolet light. "I use the graveyard effect of the Level 4 Desperado Knight. When it's sent from the deck straight to the graveyard, it special summons itself to the field. Now come, Desperado Knight. Give up everything to fight at my side!"

Desperado Knight / Level 4 / DARK / Warrior / ATK 1400 / DEF 1200

Wait a second. "Sunder Cloth, Desperado Knight," Valz rattled off. "You're using the Dark Challengers set?"

"The Dark Challengers cards were given to me after I promoted them with the exhibition match. My normal cards outclass them, but they still outclass you." Otaro reached for his graveyard. "Here's how: When Desperado Knight is special summoned, I can banish up to five spells from my graveyard and deal 400 damage for each one. I banish Living Fossil and Axe of Despair, so that's 800."

Desperado Knight dove into its holster, its hand blurring as two impact pulses appeared on Valz's chest, knocking spittle from his mouth. Through blurry eyes, he could see the gun smoking in the knight's hand.

Valz - 3000 2200

Valz blinked hard; the shape known as Otaro resolved into hard lines, threw forth its hand. "Now, Denko Sekka attacks Tour Guide from the Underworld."

Denko Sekka - 1700 ATK

Tour Guide from the Underworld - 1000 ATK

The swordswoman advanced at a standing gallop, delivering a swift blow to the tour guide's head. Clutching the swelling bump, the tour guide broke down in tears and vanished from the field.

Valz - 2200 LP 1500 LP

Desperado Knight hadn't moved from the spot where it had been summoned, but Valz could feel the pressure mounting behind its stare. Otaro didn't say a word. Valz flinched, and the gunshots rang down the tunnel.

Desperado Knight - 1400 ATK

Valz - 1500 LP 100 LP

Valz stumbled as the attack connected, and he braced himself against the tunnel wall. The champion brought an air of reality to their game, even without an audience. Or maybe it was because they lacked an audience that everything felt so real. All around them, the low ebb of duradine. Valz couldn't shake the feeling that he was fighting for his life.

"Well, now I know why you're Heart's king of games."" he said, panting deeply. He flashed a grin at the champion. "You're sure you can't tell me what you're doing down here?"

Otaro laughed hollowly. "If this was all for that scoop, you've wasted both of our time."

"Maybe." Valz's hand still found its way to the top of his deck. "Well, there's always this turn."

"Gorman vs. Gutierrez, Spell Carnival Invitational."

"Oh, I'm sure." Valz drew without looking. Was the tunnel getting smaller? Otaro Yamatano seemed to be at the end of a long pipe, one that Valz had pressed to his eye like a grimy spyglass. Everything was vanishing into a distant, high-grade light.

"Some duels end as a mercy," Otaro coolly observed. "In this case, you were star-crossed from the moment this duel began."

Valz's eyes shot back into focus, his pupils rattling. He adjusted his glasses and drew himself to his full height. The words floated off of his lips.

"World Prix III, First Round."

"What was that?" Otaro leaned forward to hear better. He blinked as Valz's attention honed in on him, the reporter's limbs moving with ghostly determination.

"Star-crossed, huh?" Valz said, activating his spell card. Twin howls materialized in front of him, ectoplasm warping over itself in agony. Two tokens appeared on his field.

Denizens of the Burning Abyss / Normal Spell Card

Valz tapped his chin. "It's funny, nobody really says it like that. They'll say, 'star-crossed lovers,' but that's more of an ideal, Romeo and Juliet. When you say it, it sounds like a curse."

Otaro raised an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?"

"Just a sec," Valz said. "With two Level 3 monsters, I've fulfilled the conditions to travel the circuit. Link Summon!"

The two Burning Abyss Soul Tokens screamed as they warped into beads of red light, striking neatly into the diagonal markers that appeared on Valz's field.

"A two-bit journalist like me doesn't know much about player culture," Valz admitted. "But I can remember words, same as you. And remember where I got them."

"There's only one other player I've seen who talked about being star-crossed, all on her lonesome. Weird, too. She never placed in a World Prix. Barely placed at all. What I'm saying is, it's a super deep cut. And this two-bit journalist can't help but see a connection. By the way, I now Link Summon Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss!"

Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss / Link 2 / DARK / ATK 500

Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss hovered next to Valz, its three heads whispering mad rumors. Valz's glasses shone in the dark. "Mister Mist Fang, I think you might have my scoop after all. So, what can you tell me about Gilti Lemora?"