Teacher Satou sat slumped in the corner, tilted his head back, and drew a deep breath.
He then looked up at the sky.
"So I still... lost."
He shook his head, regret on his face.
Kira stood silently before him for a moment, then walked over and sat down beside him.
"From the sound of it, you expected this outcome all along, didn't you?" he asked Satou.
Satou gave a bitter laugh. "You're the undefeated King of the Dueling World. Countless powerful duelists have fallen to you. As for me, I haven't set foot on a real battlefield in who knows how long. Was there ever any doubt about the result?"
Earlier, Kira had vaguely sensed the influence of dark ripples from Satou. He knew they were most likely Yubel's doing. But now, those ripples had vanished.
He could tell that Satou had returned to normal—at least, he had broken free of Dark Power's influence. As for whether his own mental state was normal, that was harder to say.
Noticing Kira's scrutinizing gaze, Satou waved a hand. "No need to look at me so suspiciously, Kira. I no longer have the strength to fight, nor can I... cough, cough... drag this broken body around and make trouble for you again."
As he spoke, he shook his head and looked at Kira with a trace of resentment.
"But Kira, you really are full of tricks. The Black Scorpion Thief Gang, then the Storm Summoner—those were both monsters you deliberately sent to me, weren't they?"
"You knew from the beginning what the Scabbed Knight could do. You knew about my Duel Mode. You deliberately chose these traitorous things for me, then turned around and used my monster's ability to help you complete a killing combo—"
Kira neither confirmed nor denied it.
"Haha,