4 a.m.
The city drowned in the night, with dark streets devoid of light, not a glimmer to be seen, only silhouettes wandering like the living dead.
Then the roar sounded.
The roar of motorcycle engines, exploding like thunder. Yugen and Iwao, one after the other, riding motorcycles underneath them, left deep marks on the pavement, screeching through districts, heading dustlessly towards the power station.
To be honest, Yugen also didn't initially expect that Iwao's so-called "plan" was to rev up the motorcycles, forcefully breaking into the power station.
This big guy even armed himself for the action, and handed Yugen a gun.
At that time, Yugen was surprised, wondering what a card player needed this for?
"Although zombies can't be taken down with bullets, they can delay them in emergencies."
That's what Iwao said.
So Yugen took it anyway, although he still didn't think it would do much.
The motorcycles sped through the streets, each acceleration leaving countless zombies' unintelligible screams behind. The two silhouettes raced like riding the wind through them.
"Hahaha, eat my exhaust fumes!"
Iwao laughed heartily.
"Seems like you're getting happy a bit too early." Yugen said.
"What?"
Iwao was stunned, but soon realized what he meant.
The third engine roar, closing in from behind, growing louder and nearer.
A blinding light shot out from the corner of the street behind them, cutting through the darkness like a sword. It was also a motorcycle, speeding through the zombie crowd, quickly catching up, almost riding alongside them.
"What the heck!?" Iwao shouted, "Darn times, zombies can ride bikes now!?"
What kind of high-quality, high-level zombies?
But Yugen only thought people are already playing cards, what's strange about riding a bike...
Though on a second look, it's hard to be sure this person is definitely a zombie. The person wore black tights, a helmet, obscured by black visor, completely unidentifiable.
Then that person seemed to speak.
"Do you think... you can get away?"
No, it didn't sound like speaking, more like the voice resonated directly in their minds. Deep, resonant voice, exploding like thunder in their ears.
Next, a rich darkness erupted from the rider's body.
Yes, pure darkness, yet seemed tangible, twisting in mid-air, taking the appearance of a demon-like grimacing face.
"What the hell is this!?"
Iwao exclaimed, one hand on the handlebars, ripping the throttle full speed, while with another hand pulling out a gun to shoot backward.
But it was completely useless. Bullets passed through the black chaos like plunging into water, not even stirring ripples.
The twisting claws of the dark ventured toward them swiftly.
"Silence."
As Yugen's words fell, a white magic array unfolded, and the black claws crashing into the array were instantly shattered.
Silent Magician flew out from the array, waving a magic staff, entangled with the black chaos.
"A duelist rides the elf."
The black-clad rider seemed surprised for a moment, but then laughed coldly in that resonant voice.
"Interesting... even reached this point, still coming across such rare prey, haha."
As he said this, the darkness in mid-air retracted, morphing into the shape of a duel disc on his arm.
"Since that's the case, let's settle it in a duelist's way... come on."
Iwao was more shocked: "Are we just going to duel while riding?"
"Interesting, fine."
Yugen also deployed a duel disc.
Riding and playing cards are a perfect match.
He could feel that the person chasing them possessed considerable dark powers, looking no less than a BOSS-level figure, and even if not the mastermind behind this city's zombie crisis, likely a related elite.
"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP 4000]
[Rider, LP 4000]
The three motorcycles tightly pursued each other, one after another performing a magnificent drift around the corner, sprinting down the main road of the town.
"Then I'll go first, draw."
The black-clad rider drew a card.
"Activate Continuous Magic 'Strongman's Suffering'."
The image of the magic card manifested beside his speeding motorcycle, advancing swiftly with the vehicle.
It's probably what they call early riding duels... though actually, it's just dueling while riding.
"Strongman's Suffering reduces the Attack Power of all monsters on the opponent's field by 100 points times the monster's Level."
The rider let out two low, peculiar hums.
"Strength comes with what the strong must bear, the mightier the power, the more liable to be weighed down."
Iwao sneered: "Tch, meaning the higher the summoned monster's Level, the more significant the drop in Attack Power..."
"Hmph."
The black-clad rider didn't say more, just pulled another card from his hand and slapped it onto the duel disc.
"I Normal Summon 'King Tiger'!"
The tiger with pure white fur materialized from the card image, massive robust body, sleek muscle lines, clad in white armor, sharp fangs.
[King Tiger, Attack Power 1700]
However, the summoned monster also had to run alongside the motorcycle, seemed quite strenuous.
"Set two cards, end the turn."
Two cover cards emerged on either side of his motorcycle, suspended only centimeters above the ground.
"My turn, draw."
Yugen glanced at his hand.
"Activate Magic Card 'Pot of Greed', draw two cards from the deck." Yugen said, "Then summon 'Sea Otter Tree Bear'."
[Sea Otter Tree Bear, Attack Power 1200]
"Heh, got you."
As soon as Yugen's monster landed, the black-clad rider laughed peculiarly.
"You've already fallen into my trap.
Look at your monster!"
King Tiger roared, and transparent soundwaves spread towards Yugen's field. The Sea Otter Tree Bear, just landed, couldn't bear the pressure and exploded into fragments.
"What?" Iwao was shocked, "Just summoned the monster, why...?"
"Haha, King Tiger's Monster Effect." The black-clad rider coldly laughed, "As long as this card is on the field, all summoned, Special Summoned monsters with Attack Power below 1400 are directly destroyed!"
"I see, Sea Otter Tree Bear's Attack Power was only 1200." Iwao understood, "Meaning in this duel, only monsters with Attack Power above 1400 can appear."
That's fine though. Monsters with Attack Power below 1400, unless possessing special abilities, aren't favored by mainstream duelists in today's environment, perhaps many people's card decks don't even have monsters with Attack Power so low.
Wait a minute, hold on...
Iwao's pupils contracted, his gaze quickly shifted to the Magic Card beside the rider's motorcycle.
Strongman's Suffering, all opponent's monsters must have their Attack Power lowered by their Star Level x100...
Iwao: "!"
Meaning theoretically, if Yugen wants to summon a 4-Star monster, its Attack Power would drop 400 points due to Strongman's Suffering, thus any monster with Attack Power below 1800 couldn't land.
The issue suddenly became very serious.