Chapter 1156: Netherworld
"Bzzt...bzzt...bzzt..."
The Enforcer’s form trembled, the red lights in his eyes flickering.
Now, half of his outer shell was blown off, exposing scorched circuits and damaged innards.
"So he really was a android," muttered Kira, calm.
Not that it was any surprise. All three Iliaster emperors were androids, so it wasn’t strange for their Enforcers to be the same.
But this android seemed to possess unusual resilience. Even with half his body destroyed, critical circuits likely ruined, he stubbornly remained standing, as if his will wouldn’t allow him to collapse.
He staggered, taking a difficult step forward.
"It shouldn’t end like this!"
The Enforcer rasped in agony.
"I am Iliaster’s Enforcer. I fight for God’s will! I cannot, must not... For humanity’s future..."
He tilted his head back and cried out in anguish.
"Hope... ahhhhh!!"
With that, he finally dropped to his knees, the light in his eyes extinguished.
He was dead.
Or rather, perhaps "dead" wasn’t quite accurate for a android. More like his systems had shut down.
At this time, Clark, who had been twitching on the ground, had finally regained some strength. He shakily stood up, looking at Kira—no, at "Director Goodwin"—with nothing but fear.
He had defeated Iliaster’s Enforcer!
Even though Clark was a mere grunt in the organization, he knew the Enforcers specialized in eliminating traitors and obstacles, functioning as organizational enforcers. They were clearly powerful combatants.
Clark had never witnessed one in action before, but he’d heard rumors of Enforcers erasing powerful foes from various timelines.
But such a formidable Enforcer had been defeated so easily. And Clark had watched from the front lines, even feeling secondhand embarrassment.
A series of Scrap traps plus Temple of the Kings’s support meant attacks and destructions were useless. Now, even monster summons were restricted.
When that frustration reached its peak, the climactic direct attack from a bike kicked it into catharsis. For a brief moment, Clark suspected the Enforcer didn’t explode from the duel’s real damage, but from being literally "pissed off to death."
At that moment, the terrifying, white-haired demon who had finished off the Enforcer strode up in front of him.
Kira, expressionless: "Lead the way."
Clark hesitated for two seconds.
"Yes, sir!"
He answered immediately.
He knew there was no room to maneuver. He’d been defeated in the Shadow Game, and even if he wasn’t bound, he was out of options.
Since even the Enforcer had fallen so swiftly, there was no doubt that resisting would earn him the same fate.
Betraying the organization ordinarily meant execution—but at this point, so what? He couldn’t afford to care. If he didn’t betray, he’d be executed right now.
And with Iliaster’s reach everywhere, if an Enforcer was present, it meant the organization already knew about his betrayal. So he could only go all-in to save his skin—for now.
A minute later, Kira followed Clark into the heart of the Momentum Express.
There sat an astounding, wondrous machine.
It resembled a perpetual motion engine, but with many differences. Countless fine prisms were tightly arranged, each one crystal clear, refracting a beautiful, rainbow-colored spectrum under the light, as if weaving a living tapestry of flowing light.
Above the dazzling base circled brilliant rings, like softly glowing galaxies orbiting the machine.
This was the Time Machine—the very device that could cross time, rewrite history.
"This is the gateway to rewriting history," Clark said as he worked at the control panel. "I’ve already input the code to unlock the console for you. The main computer here stores all the secrets about Iliaster on this Express. If something isn’t here, then I can’t help you."
Kira stepped forward, quickly unlocking the computer and browsing through its contents.
Clark added cautiously, "You’re right—we can directly receive commands from the Three Pure Nobles through this, but most of the time they contact us, not the other way around. I just tried to make contact, but there was no response; nobody picked up."
He nervously glanced at Kira.
He knew "Goodwin" came to get in touch with the Three Pure Nobles, but as just a grunt, if the Three Pure Nobles didn’t respond, there was nothing he could do.
He feared this white-haired devil would casually send him to the same fate as the Enforcer if displeased.
Luckily, Kira didn’t press him and just said, "Alright."
Quickly browsing, Kira found an intriguing program.
A record—a timeline log—marked as "Recent Visit."
Kira’s heart skipped a beat.
Recent visit? Was this a record of the most recent timeline visited with this time machine?
He clicked into the file.
Even knowing the anime’s plot and witnessing much, Kira was still shocked.
The screen immediately flashed a chilling line:
[Subject: Yusei Fudo.
Status: Deceased.]
Yusei is dead?
What is this—alternate timelines?
Kira kept reading.
The record was very brief, outlining what had happened without details.
Just as in the original history, a battle between Crimson Dragon and the King of the Netherworld broke out, Dark Signers rose, and challenged the Signer camp.
Yusei Fudo led the Signers valiantly, but at the critical moment, the Dark Signers’ powers were boosted by a mysterious force from outside this dimension.
Despite their best efforts, the Signers lost.
That day, the gates of the Netherworld opened, darkness descended upon the earth, and the rules of the Netherworld overturned the world—servants of the dead ruled the living, Crimson Dragon fell, and all things ended.
Kira frowned as he turned to Clark. "What is this?"
But Clark didn’t dare look at the screen, shaking his head hard. "I don’t know. Really! I don’t know anything!"
He might hold the key to this place, but he was just the doorman and not authorized to read its data. He knew very well that the more you knew, the worse off you were—he avoided learning anything he didn’t have to.
Kira stopped asking and turned back to the monitor.
But before he could continue, the monitor flickered—then went to static, like a lost signal.
Next moment, the entire building began to tremble beneath their feet.
...
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