I:P Masquerena

Ki-sikil and Lil-la's base of operations—or rather, their home—was nothing more than an ordinary-looking apartment.

In this neon-lit metropolis, such apartment buildings were everywhere. Even the police would never suspect that the hideout of two infamous phantom thieves could be so mundane.

"This is our home. No one ever comes here, so you can talk freely."

Ki-sikil opened the apartment door, inviting Zuke inside before handing him a pair of spare slippers.

Zuke glanced at the shoe cabinet—there were only three pairs of slippers inside. One was peach-colored, another was blue. It was obvious these belonged to Ki-sikil and Lil-la.

The pair Ki-sikil handed him was purple, and from the slight signs of wear, it was clear they had been used before.

"These slippers belong to 'Transporter.' She drops by occasionally."

Lil-la, who had followed Zuke inside, noticed his gaze and explained.

"You know 'Transporter,' right?"

Zuke nodded. Before crossing into this world, he had read the Katu Stories setting—"Transporter" was an alias for an intelligence dealer named Lyna.

Her card had been quite popular in the Yu-Gi-Oh! metagame before his arrival. I:P Masquerena, a Link-2 monster, was frequently used as a stepping stone in combos.

It seemed that, apart from Lyna, no one else had ever been to Ki-sikil and Lil-la's home—Zuke might even be the first true "outsider" to set foot here.

Wearing Lyna's slippers, Zuke stepped inside and looked toward the living room. There were several game consoles and two computers, likely used for streaming.

On the internet, Ki-sikil and Lil-la were famous virtual idols known as the Live Twins. Their popularity was terrifyingly high, to the point that they had endorsements for multiple products—far beyond what real-world virtual idols could achieve.

Earlier, while following Ki-sikil and Lil-la home, Zuke had noticed a billboard on the street featuring their virtual personas in an advertisement for a lipstick brand.

Incidentally, in the corner of the room, a few scattered gemstones—clearly valuable—lay untouched, likely stolen goods they hadn't yet found the opportunity to fence.

…

"Here, this cola tastes pretty good."

After sitting down on the living room sofa, Ki-sikil took a can of cola from the fridge and handed it to Zuke with a smile.

The can featured Lil-la's virtual avatar, a clear sign of their endorsement deal—proving that their online personas were likely even more influential than he had imagined.

"So, Zuke, what did you want to talk to us about?"

Lil-la took a sip of her own cola and looked at Zuke seriously.

They had already exchanged names earlier, so Ki-sikil and Lil-la now knew this mysterious man was called Zuke. However, they still had no clue about his purpose here.

Zuke didn't answer immediately. Instead, he narrowed his eyes slightly—before him, an interface window invisible to Ki-sikil and Lil-la appeared.

Displayed on it was the special mission he had received upon entering this unique mission world.

[Current World: Yu-Gi-Oh! Katu Stories Chronicle]

[Special Mission: Disable Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS or Super Starslayer TY-PHON]

[Mission Time Remaining: 9 days, 23 hours, 51 minutes]

[Player Kobold's Power Synchronization: 0%]

[Please advance the main quest to unlock power synchronization.]

That's right—when he first arrived in this mission world and saw the urban setting, he had assumed there was no chance of encountering AA-ZEUS.

But after following Ki-sikil and Lil-la home, he had checked his special mission again—only to discover that it was directly linked to AA-ZEUS and TY-PHON.

Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS—humanity's ultimate anti-deity weapon, capable of piercing through celestial bodies, the final weapon created after countless civilizations.

Super Starslayer TY-PHONn—suspected to be a divine weapon and the primary combat adversary of AA-ZEUS.

Both were colossal war machines. Even without considering their planet-destroying power, their sheer magnificence made Zuke eager to add them to his own King's Treasury.

Since his special mission mentioned these two mechs by name, it meant they had to exist somewhere in this world.

Zuke's previous guess was likely correct—this mission world was called Card Stories Chronicle, meaning it wasn't just based on a single Card Stories series. Instead, it had merged numerous Card Stories into one unified mission world.

That made Zuke's next step clear.

He looked at Lil-la and Ki-sikil and calmly said, "I need you to help me contact the Security Police Force."

"Pffft—!"

Ki-sikil, who had just taken a sip of cola, immediately spat it out in shock, spraying it all over the coffee table.

But she didn't even care about her loss of composure. She stared at Zuke with wide eyes, then pointed at herself and Lil-la.

"Wait, do you even know who we are? We're phantom thieves! And you want us to contact the Security Police Force? Are you asking us to turn ourselves in?!"

While it was true that the Security Police Force usually dealt with more severe criminals—like the mad scientists researching psychic skeleton frames, time-traveling thief organizations, or the data thief "Transporter" who had stolen countless dark records…

If two phantom thieves willingly surrendered themselves, the Security Police Force probably wouldn't mind racking up an easy win.

Zuke's goal in contacting them, of course, wasn't to make things difficult for Ki-sikil and Lil-la. He had a deeper purpose.

The Security Police Force was a special organization tasked with maintaining order across multiple dimensions. Given that this world had likely fused various Card Stories settings together… their background became especially crucial.

Perhaps they knew something about AA-ZEUS and TY-PHON. Zuke needed intel from them.

Using Blackbird Requiem to forcibly manipulate fate and arrange a meeting with them was an option, but having an intermediary establish contact would make negotiations smoother.

"I'm not asking you to contact them directly."

Seeing how reluctant Ki-sikil and Lil-la were, Zuke continued,

"You know 'Transporter,' right? She seems to have a decent relationship with Sayomaru from the Security Police Force. You can contact her and ask for her help."

"…A decent relationship?"

Ki-sikil and Lil-la exchanged incredulous glances.

According to their information, Transporter Lyna was currently being hunted down by Sayomaru.

How could that possibly be considered a good relationship?

But since Zuke had said so, they had no choice but to agree—for now. They would reach out to Lyna and see if she was willing to help him.

To be continued…

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