Sergey Volkov

Sergey Volkov (セルゲイ・ヴォルコフ, Serugei Vorukofu) is a character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is an infamous criminal known as The Duelist Crusher who was re-purposed as one of Jean-Michel Roger's key enforcers in his takeover of the City.

Appearance
Sergey is a very tall and muscular individual, towering above most other characters. He wears a full-body riding suit with green and purple parts, which are separated by a red lines. There are spikes on the elbows, around his middle and on bracelets. The suits opening is very broad, exposing a lot of skin from his upper torso, showing the many criminal marks he has on his head, neck and upper torso. His left eye is technological in nature, being a high tech scanner which can also provide Roger with a live feed of Sergey's view. His right sleeve was torn open during his Duel with Zuzu Boyle and his arm was scarred, but his left arm appears to be completely mechanical and contains his Duel Disk, in a similar manner to Rex Goodwin. His legs were later shown to contain booster rockets, allowing him to accelerate explosively and fly. When merged with his Duel Runner, he comes out on top of the converted machine, riding single-wheeled with the former front wheels acting like extendable arms.

Etymology
Etymologically, Sergey's full name translates to "Protector of the Wolves." Given his connection to Jean-Michel Roger, his name references a Russian chess player of the same name.

Personality
Sergey is a sadomasochistic Duelist who Duels in a cruel manner, similar to Yami Marik and Kalin Kessler. He continually inflicts damage to himself without attempting to stop it in addition to reveling in his own pain. He revels in the suffering he causes towards his opponent, as seen in his Duel against Zuzu where he brutally defeated her and rammed her Duel Runner with his own and went to describe the carnage as beautiful. He enjoys giving his opponent a false hope of victory and then crushing them, being submissive for most of the Duel, then defeat them with overwhelming power. However, these personality traits are usually restrained by Jean-Michel Roger through the use of a mind-control device. When Sergey gets highly excited or surprised by illogical Dueling behaviour however, the mind control breaks partially, revealing his own hot-blooded nature, expressing his love for 'beautiful' duels. This obsessive desire is worth everything to him, refusing rescue from a fatal fall so as not to ruin the moment.

Abilities
Sergey's abilities are all primarily products of his cybernetic body, which Jean-Michel Roger describes as the "ultimate living Duel machine". He has incredible strength; he is able to effortlessly break through a solid wall with little acceleration and easily beat down multiple individuals with hand-to-hand combat training.

He can produce his Duel Disk directly from his cybernetic left arm, and he can boost across the ground at high speeds and fly with the rocket boosters built into his legs. Like the Three Pure Nobles, he can merge with his Duel Runner, although, unlike them, his body does not undergo any visible transformation. Due to his enhanced left eye, he can also scan cards on the field or ahead of him to further his strategies.

History
Sergey was a dangerous Dueling criminal who viciously assaulted several Duelists, earning him the moniker of the Duelist Crusher. He was wanted dead or alive for these crimes. He was only stopped after a massive force of thirty Security operatives managed to capture him. He was sent to the Facility as a result. However, even in the Facility, Sergey was just as brutal as in the outside, and single-handedly defeated all the other inmates in the prison. His viciousness was such that he had to be placed underground. While in the underground, he was met and welcomed by Gallager who explained the rules of the disposal center and how he could climb back to the surface if he defeated every Duelist around. Sergey did so, destroying fifty opponents by himself, a feat that shocked Gallager and prompted the promoter to contact Jean-Michel Roger and send Sergey to him. At some point, Roger had Sergey undergo mind-altering surgery and had had his body modified to be largely technological in nature, turning him into his agent.

Friendship Cup
Sergey was shown amongst the participants of the Friendship Cup. He later appeared standing behind Jean-Michel Roger, watching the tournament's matches.

When Celina was selected to Duel Tony Simmons rather than him, Roger informed him that his Duel with Celina would be for later, since he had to beat the favorite Duelists in the tournament, then defeat Jack Atlas so as to shock the City.

He was eventually called to Duel Damon Lopez, and the audience were shocked to learn that he was the legendary criminal. The Duel started and the young Commons resident seemingly dominated Sergey for most of the match, constantly forcing him on the defensive, leaving the audience and Damon unimpressed with the "Duelist Crusher". However, through unknown means, Sergey reverted the situation in one fell swoop and instantly defeated Damon, destroying his Duel Runner and leaving him injured, stunning the entire audience as to how exactly he had won.

Friendship Cup Finals
In the second round, he was set to Duel Zuzu Boyle, and ordered to bring her to Jean-Michel Roger as she was one of the pieces that he required to build his kingdom. The news caused Sergey to smile. He Dueled Zuzu as the first match in the second round of the Friendship Cup, and appeared to be at a disadvantage for most of the Duel despite the strong effects of his "Thorn Prisoner" monsters. Sergey set up Thorn Counters that continually damaged him, and a fragment of pavement tore open his sleeve and scarred his arm, causing him to call it beautiful. He was amused when Zuzu displayed concern for him and believed that she had the Duel won after reducing his LP, and called it beautiful, far better than his Duel with Damon. Breaking from the control of his limiter, he Fusion Summoned "Thorn Over Server - Van Darli Zuma" on his next turn and madly declared that he had endured the pain until he got what he wanted. "Van Darli Zuma" defeated Zuzu's "Bloom Prima the Melodious Choir" and when Zuzu attempted to get an Action Card, he crashed his Duel Runner into hers, flinging her through a building. He returned to the Duel Palace in a giggling daze, and didn't seem to register Security taking him into custody.

Sergey was sent to his doctor so that he could begin "reprogramming" him. Jean-Michel Roger later insisted that the doctor hurry the process along so that the same could be done to Yuya Sakaki. After his "reprogramming", Roger sent him to the Council Building to help recapture the Executive Council. While waiting, Roger had Sergey intercept the Obelisk Force instead after they started to invade the City. Sergey engaged the Obelisk Force outside the Capital Building and continually defeated their members.

Roger then sent Sergey to retrieve Zuzu and Celina from both the Lancers and Duel Academy forces. Sergey joined Yuya and Barrett's Duel, taking the intrusion penalty, then trapping Zuzu with his Field Spell "Earthbound Prison". He simultaneously Fusion and Synchro Summoned "Earthbound Servant Geo Griffon" and "Earthbound Servant Geo Kraken" and finished off Barrett in an OTK. He was however, unable to stop Barrett from carrying Celina back to the Fusion Dimension at the last moment. An enraged Roger instructed Sergey to ensure Zuzu's capture. Although Yuya, now free of Barrett's "Chains", Summoned "Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon", Sergey destroyed it with "Geo Griffon" and then defeated the defenseless Yuya. Knocking down Moon Shadow, "Twilight Ninja Shingetsu" and Sora with his rocket boosters, he grabbed Zuzu, broke through the ceiling and flew off with Zuzu, successful in his mission.

The next day Sergey Dueled against Jack Atlas for the second semi-final, who accepted the challenge due to Yugo's absence. During the Duel Sergey used the effects of his "Earthbound" cards to Synchro and Fusion Summon simultaneously. He tried to destroy Jack's "Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend", but Jack managed to protect his ace monster and destroy both of Sergey's "Earthbound Servants". After using "Earthbound Plain" to deal burn damage to Jack, Sergey's program started to drive him mad and combined him with own Duel Runner to become the ultimate Duel Machine.

As the Duel intensified, Sergey's heartbeat rose. He attempted to slow Jack down by tearing up the track with his Runner's arms, and Synchro and Fusion Summoned "Earthbound Servant Geo Gremlin" and "Earthbound Servant Geo Gremlina", then he forced Jack to choose whether to destroy "Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend". Jack refused to destroy the pride of his soul and kept his ace monster out and continued to protect it. When Sergey began to fall off the track due to the damage that he'd caused to the track destroying the bridge, Jack saved him from falling using "Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend". This corrupted Sergey's program and unleashed Sergey's sadomasochistic nature, breaking himself from the control of Roger. It finally came down to them no longer using Action Cards, and despite Sergey summoning his ultimate "Earthbound", "Earthbound Servant Geo Glasya-Labolas", Jack was still able to hold on and win the Duel. When Sergey was thrown off the course, Jack attempted to save him once more, but Sergey rejected it this time, knocking away "Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend" with one of the arms of the Duel Machine. He requested that Jack honor his beautiful defeat before falling to his presumed doom. His current fate is unknown.

Thorn Prisoner
Sergey initially runs a "Thorn Prisoner" Deck. His Deck focuses on the reduction of his own LP at a calculated rate through the effects of his monsters and through Thorn Counters. To facilitate this, his monsters all have 0 ATK and DEF. Sergey can use both Synchro Summoning and Fusion Summoning to bring out his key monsters to capitalize on his low LP and inflict large amounts of damage.

Earthbound
Sergey later switches to an "Earthbound" Deck that he debuts in his Duel with Barrett and Yuya Sakaki. Like his previous Deck, it focuses on Fusion and Synchro Summoning. The main strategy of this Deck is to simultaneously Summon Fusion and Synchro Monsters, by using the same materials for both Summons with the effect of "Underworld Resonance - Synchro Fusion". Some of his cards also gain effects when the Field Zone is occupied.