Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!

4 AM.

The city drowned in the darkness of night. The pitch-black streets had no lights, not a single gleam, only a few figures wandering about like the walking dead.

Then, a roar thundered.

It was the roar of motorcycle engines, exploding like thunder. Kira and Iwao, one after the other, riding their bikes, tires leaving deep marks on the pavement, shrieking as they tore through the streets toward the power station.

To be honest, Kira hadn't expected at first that Iwao's so-called plan was simply to go full throttle on their motorcycles and force their way straight into the power station.

This big guy even brought guns for the operation, handing one to Kira.

Kira was surprised then, thinking, "Why does someone with a Duelist's License need something like this?"

"Sure, you can't take down zombies with bullets, but in an emergency, you can use it to buy time,"

Iwao had said.

So Kira brought it along, even though he still didn't see what good it would do.

Their motorcycles sped down the street, each burst of speed leaving the indistinct roars of countless zombies behind. The two figures darted between them as if riding the wind.

"Hahaha, eat my dust!"

Iwao laughed heartily.

"Looks like you're getting excited a bit too early," Kira said.

"What?"

Iwao was stunned for a second, but soon realized what he meant.

A third engine roared from behind, drawing closer and louder.

Blinding headlights shot around the corner behind them, slicing through the darkness like a blade. Another motorcycle burst through the zombie horde and quickly caught up, almost riding side by side with them.

"What the hell?!" Iwao yelled at the top of his lungs,

"Zombies can ride motorcycles now?!"

High-level, high-IQ zombies?

But Kira thought, "They can play Duel Monsters, so why would riding a bike be weird?"

But looking back, he couldn't be sure if it was a zombie. The figure wore a black bodysuit, a helmet, and a pitch-black visor that hid the face entirely—no way to confirm who they were.

Then, the rider seemed to speak.

"Do you really think you can get away?"

No, it didn't sound like speech—it was more like the voice rang directly in their minds. Deep and resonant, booming in their ears like thunder.

Then, a burst of thick, ink-black darkness erupted from the rider's body.

Yes, pure darkness, but it seemed almost tangible, twisting and writhing in the air. That mass of darkness even seemed to morph into a devilish, grinning face.

"What the hell is that?!"

Iwao shouted in shock, one hand gripping the handlebars, gunning the throttle, while the other drew his gun to fire behind them.

Completely useless. The bullets went straight through the black chaos, like shooting into water—except not even a splash.

The darkness morphed into twisted claws, reaching for them at speed.

"Silent."

As Kira spoke, a white magic circle appeared, the black claws smashing into it and instantly shredding into pieces.

Silent Magician flew out from the circle, staff in hand, clashing with the mass of darkness.

"A Duelist who commands spirits..."

The black-clad rider seemed surprised, but then let out a cold laugh with that powerful voice.

"Interesting. To think I'd find such a rare prey at this stage."

The darkness in the air withdrew, morphing over his arm into the shape of a Duel Disk.

"In that case, let's settle this as Duelists. Come!"

Iwao was even more shocked:

"We're really dueling while riding motorcycles?!"

"Sounds fun. I'm in."

Kira activated his Duel Disk as well.

Riding bikes and playing Duel Monsters was a perfect match.

He could sense that the person catching up had considerable dark power, definitely a boss-level figure. Even if he wasn't the root cause of the town's zombie crisis, he was clearly a top-level player.

"Duel!" x2

[Kira, LP 4000]

[Rider, LP 4000]

Three bikes raced close together, drifting elegantly around corners, speeding down the town's main road.

"I'll go first. Draw!"

The black-clad rider drew a card.

"I activate the Continuous Spell 'Burden of the Mighty.'"

The spell card's image floated beside his speeding motorcycle.

So this was the so-called early version of Riding Duels. Truth be told, it was just dueling while riding motorcycles.

"'Burden of the Mighty' reduces the ATK of all monsters on your field by 100 times their Level."

The Rider let out a strange, low chuckle.

"The strong must bear the burdens of strength. The greater the power, the heavier the weight."

Iwao curled his lip:

"Tch, so the higher the monster's Level, the greater the ATK drop, huh?"

The black rider said no more, slapping another card on his Duel Disk.

"I Normal Summon 'King Tiger!'"

A white-furred tiger appeared from the card, its muscular body and white armor gleaming, fangs bared.

[King Tiger Wanghu, ATK 1700]

But the summoned monster had to run alongside the motorcycles at full speed, which looked rather exhausting.

"Set two cards. Turn end."

Two set cards hovered a few centimeters above the ground, one on each side of his bike.

"My turn. Draw!"

Kira glanced at his hand.

"I activate the Spell Card 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards."

"Then I summon 'Tree Otter.'"

[Tree Otter, ATK 1200]

"Heh, got you."

Just as Kira's monster landed, the Black Rider let out a strange laugh.

"You've fallen into my trap.

Look at your monster!"

King Tiger roared, and transparent sound waves spread toward Kira's field. Tree Otter, just summoned, couldn't withstand the pressure and exploded into fragments.

"NANI?!" Iwao was stunned,

"Why did the monster just summoned get destroyed...?"

"King Tiger Wanghu's monster effect."

"As long as this card is on the field, any monster with less than 1400 ATK summoned or Special Summoned by either player is immediately destroyed!"

"I see, Tree Otter only has 1200 ATK," Iwao nodded.

"So, in this duel, only monsters with 1400 ATK or more can stay on the field."

That's not too bad. Low-ATK monsters aren't favored by top duelists anyway. Most decks probably don't even have monsters with less than 1400 ATK.

Wait, not right...

Iwao's pupils shrank. He quickly looked at the Spell Card floating next to the Rider's motorcycle.

Burden of the Mighty—every monster on the opponent's field loses ATK equal to its Level x100.

If Kira summons a 4-star monster, its ATK drops by 400, so unless it has over 1800 ATK, it can't survive.

The problem just got serious.

PS: Bonus chapter at 500 PS