Yes, if things followed the original work, Kira remembered that the Dark Signer arc shouldn't have ended here.
Everyone originally thought that defeating Rudger, the boss of the Dark Signers, would bring everything to an end. Yet even after all the Dark Signers were defeated, the old Perpetual Motion Engine site still erupted with astonishing energy; the door to the Netherworld remained open.
The last boss of the animation arc was Goodwin. Yusei, Crow, and Jack fought him three-on-one, barely managing to defeat him at the cost of losing two members, finally repelling the King of the Netherworld.
And only after that did the Dark Signers who had died come back to life as ordinary people.
But now Goodwin had been replaced by Kira himself. He originally thought that after defeating Rudger, the door to the Netherworld would open next, just like in the original, and the King of the Netherworld would attempt to devour the entire world. But unexpectedly—nothing happened.
Nothing at all.
It was as if the defeat of the Dark Signer group really wrapped everything up, as if the world had truly been saved.
Yet, those Dark Signers who had died remained dead—they didn't come back to life as in the anime.
Kira couldn't help but frown.
Does this mean, compared to the original, history has truly been changed?
But Kira had a strong premonition that this arc was not truly over. Although the Dark Signers had been eliminated on the surface, the gate to the Netherworld might still be opened. The King of the Netherworld didn't show up directly as in the anime, possibly just lurking, biding his time.
This isn't over.
So what should be done next?
If this followed the original story, the final showdown should have been the trio—Yusei and friends—against Goodwin. But the real Goodwin is dead now. So does that mean he should take Goodwin's place, become the ultimate god, summon the Lord of the Netherworld, and then let Yusei defeat him?
Forget it.
The aftermath of the Dark Signer incident was going nowhere, so Kira decided to set it aside for now. Instead, he would stick to his original plan: trying to make contact with Iliaster and see if he could gather some intelligence from them.
Iliaster was an organization that had lurked throughout human history, transcending time itself. Usually, ordinary people weren't even qualified to know of its existence, much less make contact. However, the Sector Security was, to some extent, a pawn set up by Iliaster to facilitate control over New Domino City, so there was still a chance.
Through the intelligence network of the Sector Security, Kira tracked down an organization that had confirmed connections to Iliaster.
Moment Express, one of New Domino's largest perpetual motion engine R&D institutions.
Today, perpetual motion engines are at the core of all human technology. As an R&D institution, Moment Express is naturally a research-oriented institute focusing on cutting-edge technology.
Because perpetual motion engines are closely tied to dueling—especially Synchro Summon—it is also closely linked with the card printing business and Duel Runner development companies.
According to intelligence obtained via the Security, this public-facing perpetual motion engine company is probably the only place in New Domino City with closer cooperation with Iliaster than the Sector Security itself.
Reading up to here, Kira suddenly recalled from a distant memory that—for the anime—there really were a few episodes involving Moment Express.
Indeed, Moment Express was one of the organizations most closely related to Iliaster. The reason was simple: this supposed perpetual motion R&D institute was, in fact, a rewriting institution embedded by Iliaster to modify history.
The facilities hidden at its center included not only the perpetual motion engines, but a time machine capable of traversing time and space. It was through this machine that members of Iliaster from the current timeline rewrote the past and manipulated history.
As the authority managing this time machine, the Moment Express organization had direct access to Iliaster's Three Pure Nobles. This was a privilege not even Goodwin had—let alone Kira, whose 'Goodwin' identity had apparently already been seen through by the Three Pure Nobles themselves.
Therefore, approaching Moment Express might be the most direct way for Kira to reach Iliaster.
…
And so, that afternoon, Kira—or rather, Director Goodwin—personally visited Moment Express.
"Director Goodwin."
A blond, middle-aged man with glasses entered the lounge, politely extending his hand to Kira.
But Kira didn't shake his hand, or even stand up, remaining seated on the sofa with an inscrutable smile.
The blond man was unfazed, smoothly withdrawing his hand and sitting on the couch opposite, smiling as he said, "I'm the person in charge here. My name is Clark."
Clark.
The name, and those rectangular glasses, instantly made Kira think of a certain world-saving red-underwear superhero. If only this man had black curly hair instead of blond, he'd be a dead ringer.
Unaware of his inner ridicule, Clark politely continued, "I've heard about the recent events. The war between the Signers and the Dark Signers must have given the Sector Security a lot of trouble lately—especially you, Director, who must be handling endless affairs?"
Shaking his head, he smiled, "A Director like you can't possibly have time for small talk. So, what brings you here?"
"The wind, you ask? If I had to say, it's the light."
"Oh?"
"The beautiful, magnificent light from the dream machine known as the perpetual motion engine." Kira said mildly, "It represents infinite possibilities for mankind—a milestone that rewrote human history."
Clark paused, then chuckled, "Yes. Exploring the secrets of perpetual motion and creating a better future for humanity—that's always been a researcher's aim and dream."
"To an ordinary person, 'creating a better future' probably sounds cliché—but if taken literally, the implications might surprise them." Kira laughed softly.
Clark's smile subtly stiffened.
He gazed at Kira thoughtfully for two seconds.
Goodwin…this guy, does he even know this?
Iliaster's use of some forbidden facility inside Moment Express to interfere with human history should have been an internal secret, known only to inner members.
Although Director Goodwin wielded enormous power in New Domino, this was something even he wasn't supposed to know, right?
Thinking thus, Clark put on a smile, "I'm afraid I don't understand what you're referring to, Director."
"Don't want to say? That's fine."
Kira let his smile widen, suddenly changing the topic.
"Why don't we play a simple little game?"
….