Who Let Him Play Yugioh? (Re-Upload)

When Kira arrived at the Satellite Zone on his Duel Runner, he saw the massive altar at the center of the abandoned factory. Flames still roared in the braziers, but the area around the altar was completely deserted.

Yes, Kira had also gotten himself a Duel Runner. In this world, any duelist without a cool ride would always be seen as second-rate. Of course, this new vehicle was acquired through Goodwin’s authority. The Duel Runner he’d used to travel through time—Paradox’s Duel Runner—was still in hiding for now.

”An altar?”

Kira glanced at the enormous altar still blazing with fire. He couldn’t help but frown slightly.

Was something like this in the original story?

As he drew closer, the flames atop the altar grew even more striking. On top of the altar a figure appeared: a person sitting atop a horse in full armor, cape fluttering behind him. He wore a mask resembling a skull. The horse beneath him was wrapped entirely in bandages like a mummy; its exposed head was just bone, giving off a chilling appearance.

Kira’s gaze sharpened.

Is this guy the Skeleton Knight?

The Skeleton Knight was an antagonist from the ”Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s” manga—a mysterious duelist, spoken of in the Satellite Zone like an urban legend. In the manga, he appeared out of nowhere and challenged Yusei Fudo to a riding duel with their lives on the line.

Kira’s memory of the 5D’s manga plot was a bit fuzzy, but he still recalled that the Skeleton Knight’s true identity was Roman Goodwin, the parallel universe counterpart from the manga, who was also the chief of the Dark Signer group in the anime.

Though the manga and anime are separate parallel worlds, and though there are no Dark Signers in the manga, the Goodwin brothers still served as the ”double boss” antagonists in that world.

But unlike the anime, the Goodwin brothers in the manga had both survived for five thousand years—ancient immortals, cursed to live on.

High atop the altar, the Skeleton Knight looked down and met Kira’s eyes. Suddenly, he pulled hard on his reins. His D-Horse leapt into the air like it was flying, then landed a short distance in front of Kira.

The Skeleton Knight’s gaze locked on Kira.

”At last, the warrior from another world has arrived.” The Skeleton Knight’s voice was deep, booming, but a bit muffled.

Kira knew that ”warrior” was how ancient people referred to duelists. He still narrowed his brow slightly.

Another world, huh?

Does that mean he’s seen through that I’m from another world? Or, is the Skeleton Knight himself from another world?

Kira asked, ”Let me guess—you’re Roman Goodwin?”

If we go by the manga, that should be the real identity of the Skeleton Knight. But when he heard the name, the Skeleton Knight neither accepted nor denied it, nor did he show any surprise. He simply let out a cold, sinister laugh.

”So what if I am? So what if I’m not? You’ve entered the sacred altar’s racetrack. All who enter this forbidden ground await but one fate—”

He spurred his horse, leaping into the natural racetrack encircling the altar.

”Race around the altar! Engage in a life-or-death riding duel, wagering your very soul!”

”Lose, and your soul is devoured. Refuse to fight, and your soul will still be scattered at this altar! Such is the fate of a knight!” the Skeleton Knight declared loudly.

Though his words were different, Kira knew full well that he had already been pulled into the realm of a Shadow Duel. He’d been through this sort of thing many times before, so it wasn’t a big surprise—just that this time, it was a riding duel, betting on their lives while riding instead of standing still.

Correction: he was riding a Duel Runner, while the opponent was on horseback.

Yes, the Skeleton Knight would ride a horse for the duel, since five thousand years ago there obviously weren’t any Duel Runners.

Naturally, there was also no ”Speed World” field spell exclusive to riding duels five thousand years ago.

In the 5D’s anime, riding duels had to be conducted in the special ”Speed World” field. In Speed World, you couldn’t use normal, continuous, or quick-play Spell cards; only exclusive original spell cards for riding duels known as ”Speed Spells.”

But in the manga, there was no such restriction: no Speed World, no Speed Spells. Riding duels in the manga followed essentially the regular rules.

In the manga, the main advantage of the Duel Runner was to convert the impact of 3D hologram images into real shock sensations scaled to the current speed. If you couldn’t endure the impact at top speed during a duel, you might crash early—and a crash meant defeat, even if you had Life Points left.

Standing or riding, as long as you’re in a Shadow Duel, your life’s on the line. Once inside the field, you have no choice but to fight.

Kira revved his Duel Runner and rode up alongside the Skeleton Knight’s steed.

Well, since I’m already here, might as well get a firsthand taste of a riding duel—though it seems to use manga rules.

”Duel!” x2

[Kira, LP 4000]

[Skeleton Knight, LP 4000]

Duel Runner roared to life, darting forward like an arrow from a bow. The Skeleton Knight urged his D-Horse onward, and its explosive power seemed no less than a modern Duel Runner.

Oh well, supernatural horse—nothing strange here.

Kira floored the throttle, and his Duel Runner ran neck and neck with the knight’s horse for a few seconds. Suddenly, he pulled off a sharp drift around a corner, edging out the horse by barely half a length as he rounded the bend ahead.

”Riding duel rules: the one who makes it through the first turn gets first move.”

Kira smiled as he shot a glance back at the knight.

”Guess I’ll take the lead, then.”

The Skeleton Knight gave a low, somber snort but said nothing.

”I’ll go first. Draw.”

Kira announced, ”First, I activate this card:

’Take Over 5’—a Spell Card!

Send the top five cards of my deck to the graveyard!”

He swiftly sent five cards from his deck to the grave.

”Next, I summon ’Poison Draw Frog’ in Defense Position.”

A small, unimpressive blue frog appeared on Kira’s field. This was how Defense Position monsters looked in the 5D’s holographic system.

[Poison Draw Frog, DEF 100]

”Finally, I set a card face-down. Turn end.”

The Skeleton Knight announced, ”My turn. Draw!”

The moment he drew his card, a wind of invisible black energy swirled around his horse. Waves of killing intent seemed to gather and condense into a giant black skeleton, imposing on Kira like an invisible mountain.

He was deliberately exuding this oppressive dark pressure—an ordinary duelist might tremble and falter just from being subjected to it.

In a regular standing duel, this could easily break one’s fighting spirit and ruin their performance. In a riding duel, it was even more lethal—one could literally crash from fear.

Yet as he unleashed his aura, he felt it shatter into dust the moment it left him. An equally overwhelming force immediately struck back, making the Skeleton Knight’s heart pound nearly out of control.

The Skeleton Knight’s entire body trembled, and he looked at Kira in astonishment.

Something...is wrong with this guy.

…