# Chapter 101: Overwhelm
A golden spear descended from the sky, landing on Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon and transforming into a golden shield of light, allowing it to pull free from a dimensional rift that had materialized in mid-air.
"A beautiful counter! But now, the ATK of Mr. Fugitive's ace monster can't compare to Goyo Guardian's! Will we have to wait for the next turn to decide the victor?" the Female Commentator said.
"Next turn? We don't have that much time to waste," Kaito said coldly as a card ejected from his Duel Disk's Extra Deck. "This card can also be Xyz Summoned by using another 'Galaxy-Eyes' Xyz Monster on my field as material! I overlay the Rank 8 Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
"Where the light of the galaxy guides, the gateway to a new world is about to open! Appear, new avatar of light! Armored Xyz Change! Descend, Rank 8! Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon!"
Beneath Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, a destructive vortex slowly formed. Piece by piece, jet-black heavy armor flew from the vortex, cladding Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon.
"Roar!" The fully armored dragon let out a deafening roar at its opponent.
Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon ATK: 4000
"I activate Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon's effect! Once per turn, by detaching one Xyz Material from this card, I can target one face-up card on the opponent's field and destroy it!"
Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon unleashed an explosive stream of draconic breath at Goyo Guardian, reducing the White-faced Constable to ash.
"What a powerful effect!" the Female Commentator exclaimed. "Is Mr. Fugitive going for a direct attack? If it connects, that's 4,000 points of battle damage, which will win him the duel! But our Security Officer seems quite calm... Could it be because of that set card?"
Kaito then took another card that had ejected from his Extra Deck. "This card can also be Xyz Summoned by using a Rank 8 'Galaxy-Eyes' Xyz Monster on my field as material! I overlay Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon!"
"O dragon of light, host to the vengeful fiend! With your bladed spear as your guide, return anew and sweep away all obstacles in my path! Rank-Up Xyz Change! Rank 9! Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon!"
Flashing with lightning, bladed spears and longswords flew from the swirling galaxy, merging with the claws and body of the airborne dragon. Moments later, Galaxy-Eyes descended in its new form.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon ATK: 3200
"Another Xyz Change?" the Female Commentator exclaimed in surprise.
"I activate Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon's effect! Once per turn, by detaching one Xyz Material, I can target and destroy one card on the field!"
A bolt of lightning surged from Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon's wings, shattering the Security Officer's last set card to pieces—it was a Magic Cylinder.
"Since I control a Cipher monster, I can Special Summon this card! Appear, Cipher Wing!"
Cipher Wing ATK: 1400
"Battle! Cipher Wing, attack directly!" Kaito commanded with a wave of his hand. The small satellite drone flying beside Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon fired a laser at the Security Officer's now-empty field.
Security Officer LP: 4000 → 2600
"It's over! Are you ready to repent? Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon, attack directly! Cipher Stream of Destruction!"
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon let out a mighty roar, raised its head, and unleashed a rainbow-hued dragon's breath crackling with black lightning, which exploded beside the Security Officer's D-Wheel.
Security Officer LP: 2600 → 0
"Splendid!" the Female Commentator cheered loudly. What did it matter if they were all fugitives? After all, these Security Officers weren't part of the same organization as her. As long as the duel was exciting enough to boost the TV Station's ratings, that's all that mattered. If the Security Officer lost, she could even go on a tirade against Security, calling them a bunch of useless bums for wasting taxpayers' money. This would help her establish a persona of someone who feared no authority and had compassion for the downtrodden, which would naturally cause her popularity to skyrocket.
"Now, let's take a look at the other two battlefields… Huh? They're already over?"
At the same time Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon finished off the Security Officer, Serena and Yūga Hōzumi had also concluded their battles.
Serena had simply executed a classic combo. She used Fire Formation - Tenki to search for a Lunalight Purple Butterfly, then activated Lunalight Fusion, sending Lunalight Crimson Fox from her deck to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Lunalight Cat Dancer. This triggered Crimson Fox's effect, reducing her opponent's monster's ATK to 0. The effect of a Lunalight Purple Butterfly, also sent to the Graveyard during the process, then allowed her to Special Summon Lunalight Kaleido Chick from her hand, which in turn sent a second Lunalight Crimson Fox to the Graveyard.
Next, she Normal Summoned Lunalight White Rabbit, which Special Summoned a Lunalight Crimson Fox from her Graveyard. Then, she used White Rabbit's other effect to return the three set cards in her opponent's backrow to their hand.
After that, Lunalight Cat Dancer's effect tributed Lunalight Crimson Fox, allowing it to deliver a vicious two-hit combo to the Goyo Guardian, whose ATK had already been reduced to 0.
In contrast to Serena's straightforward approach, Yūga Hōzumi treated the Synchro Dimension audience to a flashy display of his explosive, combo-heavy playstyle. The Xyz Summons of his Star River Vortex were relentless. He used a series of monster effects to bait and destroy his opponent's set cards, wiping the field clean before finishing them off with the classic combo of Hope and Double or Nothing!
The three Security Officers had just demonstrated with their D-Wheel crashes that losing a duel in this dimension had real consequences. With the duels over, the road returned to normal. With no further obstacles, the trio drove their D-Wheels away into the night.
"Well, that concludes today's duels!" the Blonde Female Commentator said from the helicopter. "But before the program ends, I'd like to ask Security a question: your recent pursuit operations have a 50% failure rate. With that kind of performance, how can you justify yourselves to the taxpayers?"
After her scathing critique, the TV station cut the live feed, and the broadcast helicopter slowly flew away from the elevated road.
…
The trio found a spot to get off the elevated road and entered the Satellite. A sense of disconnection welled up within them, as if they had stepped into another world.
The parks and resplendent skyscrapers they had just seen in The Top Echelons during their duel stood in stark contrast to their current surroundings. This place, barely any better than war-torn Heartland City, made it hard to believe they were even in the same city.
The three looked up in the direction they came from, still able to see the cloud-piercing spire twinkling like stardust in the night sky. Meanwhile, the streetlights beside them flickered, on the verge of dying from years of neglect.
Recalling their absurd encounter earlier, where they were pursued as criminals simply for accidentally entering The Tops, Kaito couldn't help but curse, "This truly is an utterly foolish place."
"What should we do next? We're undocumented here, and wanted ones at that. We probably can't even find a place to stay," Serena said.
"Let's try to contact Shun first. He seems to be doing quite well for himself here," Yūga Hōzumi said. "What did that female commentator say earlier? The Emperor of the Underground Duel Arena? The Lone Falcon?"
As the three conversed, a faint rustling sound came from an alley by the side of the road.
"Who's there?" Kaito immediately grew alert.
…
(end of chapter)