Upon the Throne—
"Cough!"
Harr, who had been sitting on his throne with one hand supporting his head the entire time, suddenly trembled. His pitch-black body shook, and his expression became strained.
"What's wrong?"
From within the churning magma, King Naglfar of the Flame Realm glanced at the abnormal Harr. His mouth split open, revealing sharp fangs as he spoke in a low voice.
"With the power of the shadow you created, could it really be stopped by the level of such insignificant humans?"
"…It isn't humans."
Harr's voice sounded strained. His massive black body, which rarely left the throne, began pacing slowly as he fell deep in thought.
"In the current human world… there are beings capable of commanding gods."
Unlike Queen Mardel of the Light, who could observe the entirety of human history through spirit authority, Harr did not possess such power. The appearance of Obelisk the Tormentor had clearly shaken the strategy of the Roaring Realm's invasion of the human world.
"You said gods?"
Even Naglfar looked surprised.
"Didn't the Age of Gods for humanity end long ago? And yet gods still exist in this era?"
"I've been completely outplayed by him… Seto Kaiba!" Harr said with clear dissatisfaction.
According to Harr's original plan, Kaiba Entertainment Group should already have been occupied by the Shadows of the King. Once that happened, they could cut off the Kaiba Corporation satellite supercomputer that supported the Duel Disks, leaving humanity completely powerless to resist.
"Obelisk the Tormentor… You may have escaped this time through luck."
"But there will not be a second time!"
In Harr's hand, the massive staff—nearly as tall as his own body—erupted with shadow magic. The dark energy poured into the remaining Shadows of the King.
---
Kaiba Entertainment Group
"—God Hand Crusher: Shockwave!!"
Kaiba's roar echoed out.
With Obelisk the Tormentor's attack power raised to infinity, the crushing blow from the god's fists completely annihilated Quintet Magician, along with the shadow personally controlled by Harr—securing Kaiba's duel victory after five long years.
"Big Brother!"
Mokuba rushed forward immediately, supporting Kaiba as he was about to collapse.
"That was too reckless! If you duel like this, even your body won't be able to withstand it!"
"Hmph… is that all?"
Dropping to one knee, Kaiba's mind felt as if it were being torn apart by overlapping streams of consciousness. Yet the exhilaration of finally winning a duel after so long made him burst into laughter.
"This… is my evolved battle! Just wait, Hoshino… Yugi… I'll definitely catch up to you again!"
"Hahahaha! Unfortunately, Seto Kaiba… you no longer have that chance."
Multiple sinister laughs echoed out.
Standing before Kaiba were ten masked Shadows of the King, each unfolding their Duel Disks and locking onto their prey.
"We will not let you leave here alive. Today, the Kaiba Entertainment Group you're so proud of will fall beneath the king's rule."
Mokuba stared in disbelief.
"There are… still this many…?"
"Mokuba, get out of here first!"
Still kneeling on one knee, Kaiba shoved Mokuba away as the light of his AR Duel Disk activated once more.
"No! You can't duel with Duel Links anymore!" Mokuba hurriedly tried to stop him.
In Kaiba's current condition, it was obvious to everyone—even the Shadows—that he was completely at the end of his strength.
"In your current state, you still think you can resist the ten of us?"
Although these Shadows possessed their own consciousness and were not as overwhelmingly powerful as the one directly controlled by Harr, defeating a Kaiba who could barely stand was trivial with a ten-against-one advantage.
"Duel—! And welcome your end, Seto Kaiba!"
The duel was forcibly initiated.
All ten Shadows began their turns simultaneously. Summoning lights flashed continuously as they all performed Xyz Summons, bringing out the same monster used by Loptr in his duel against Hoshino the night before.
[Heroic Champion - Excalibur ATK 4000] ×10
"You guys are shameless! Ten people ganging up on one!" Mokuba shouted angrily.
The Shadows had no intention of letting Kaiba fight back. Using overwhelming numbers, they intended to eliminate the president of Kaiba Corporation here and now.
Supporting himself with one hand on the ground, Kaiba struggled to stand.
"Bastards… don't think this will defeat Seto Kaiba!"
"With that body of yours that could collapse at any second… what exactly can you still do?" the Shadows mocked without restraint.
...
"No… you've already done well enough, Kaiba!"
"I Special Summon—The Winged Dragon of Ra!"
From the thunderous black sky above, blazing solar flames erupted and engulfed the battlefield. Following the descent of Obelisk, The Winged Dragon of Ra now appeared as well, its cry echoing across the heavens.
[The Winged Dragon of Ra ★★★★★★★★★★ (Level 10)][DIVINE][Divine-Beast/Effect][ATK ?/DEF ?]
"The Winged Dragon of Ra… Could it be—?!"
The familiar voice, along with the God Card that only one person in the world possessed, made Kaiba immediately turn toward the rooftop entrance.
This time, it was no illusion.
The two of them were truly standing there before him.
"Hoshino… Yugi!"
"Good thing we made it in time!"
Arriving at the last possible moment, Hoshino let out a sigh of relief.
"If we hadn't just seen Obelisk the Tormentor on the rooftop earlier, we wouldn't have known you were dueling here, Kaiba!"
"Let's deal with these Shadows first, Hoshino," Atem suggested.
"Fighting together again after Egypt… it's been a while!"
Standing side by side, Yugi—who had summoned Ra—held a card shining with the golden flames of the sun god.
"—Spirits sing, ancient power that governs all things! Its life, its soul, even its bones!"
"The effect of The Winged Dragon of Ra—I reduce my Life Points to 1, and Ra's attack power increases by the amount paid!"
[Yugi & Hoshino LP 8000 → 1]
[The Winged Dragon of Ra ATK 7999]
"Since the other side isn't following the rules, we can attack immediately this turn!" Hoshino concluded.
In a multiplayer duel, the rule should be that duelists take turns in sequence. However, the ten Shadows of the King had already gone through ten turns on their own, clearly intending from the start to leave Kaiba no chance to recover.
In other words, those ten Shadows treated themselves as acting within the same opening round. Therefore, as the second players, Hoshino and the Pharaoh could naturally proceed straight into the Battle Phase.
"Burn everything away with the fire of the gods—The Winged Dragon of Ra!"
Pointing toward the opposing field, Yugi declared the god's attack, blasting toward one of the ten Heroic Champion - Excalibur.
"Besides Obelisk, there's actually another god?!" the Shadows of the King cried out in shock.
"But this time, we won't let you destroy us so easily. I activate the effect of Construction Train Signal Red from my hand!"
[Construction Train Signal Red – Monster Effect:
Can be activated when an opponent's monster declares an attack. Special Summon this card from your hand; the attacking monster's target becomes this card for damage calculation. This card cannot be destroyed by that battle.]
"I summon Construction Train Signal Red in Defense Position! And redirect The Winged Dragon of Ra's attack!"
The taunting Red Signal leapt forward and stood in front of Heroic Champion - Excalibur, forcibly intercepting Ra's divine strike.
"The Special Summoned Construction Train Signal Red cannot be destroyed by that battle! What a pity—after paying all those Life Points to launch the god's attack, it ended up accomplishing nothing!"
Throwing out the golden card he had been holding since the beginning, the Pharaoh roared:
"Then take the wrath of the gods! I activate the Quick-Play Spell—Blaze Cannon!"
[Blaze Cannon – Quick-Play Spell Effect:
Target 1 "The Winged Dragon of Ra" you control. Until the end of the turn, that monster gains the following effect.]
With a thunderous beat of wings and an eruption of blazing flames, The Winged Dragon of Ra, in the form of the ultimate divine beast, gathered all its power into a blazing cannon that seemed to tear the sky apart.
"The effect gained by The Winged Dragon of Ra—after this card attacks and damage calculation is performed, send all monsters on your opponent's field to the Graveyard!"
"Take this—Divine Might Blaze Cannon!"
With the support of the Quick-Play Spell, Ra's attack not only struck its target but also triggered a massive area-of-effect that sent every monster to the Graveyard. Flames of divine wrath rained from the sky, sweeping across the field and incinerating everything.
[Heroic Champion - Excalibur] ×10, [Construction Train Signal Red] → Sent to the Graveyard.
"Your turn, Hoshino!"
"As expected of you, Yugi. Even with a hand trap on the opponent's side, you still wiped out all their monsters in an instant."
Looking at Ra, still blazing on the field, Hoshino inserted a Spell Card into her Duel Disk.
"Then I'll ride the momentum of this divine flame and go on a rampage! I activate the Quick-Play Spell—Phantasm Summon!"
Just as Hoshino had judged earlier, the ten Shadows had treated themselves as taking the first turn together. Therefore, she and Yugi would treat their counterattack as occurring within the same turn.
"I fuse Heroic Spirit – Tamamo-no-Mae in my hand with The Winged Dragon of Ra on the field!"
This was the same type of Fusion Summon Hoshino had once achieved in ancient Egypt during the ultimate Shadow Game using the Millennium Scales—a fusion that broke through the barrier between Heroic Spirits and gods.
Golden fur, a pale face, and nine flowing tails—
A divine spirit once regarded as the personification of the sun, an aspect of Amaterasu, the supreme deity of Japanese mythology.
The origin of Tamamo-no-Mae, a being that had existed since ancient times.
Naturally, a deity of such magnitude could never be summoned through ordinary means. By fusing with The Winged Dragon of Ra, Tamamo manifested in a unique form—like sunlight reflected upon water—displaying the supreme god's power in a special state.
"The overlapping sun god descends with ultimate hellfire! The myth returns—this is the Sun's Regalia! Heroic Spirit – Tamamo-no-Mae Regalia!"
[Heroic Spirit – Tamamo-no-Mae Regalia ★★★★★★★★★★★ (Level 1)][DIVINE][Divine-Beast/Fusion/Effect][ATK: ? / DEF: ?]
"Hehe… I never imagined the power of my tails could recover to this extent. It seems I'll have to give our little Master a reward later."
After merging with Ra, Tamamo returned to her nine-tailed form, her body becoming extraordinarily massive. A beautiful girl with such a striking figure combined with a gigantic scale created an impact even more overwhelming than that of a god.
Calling Hoshino "little Master" at this moment somehow felt perfectly natural.
"Effect of Regalia Tamamo-no-Mae! This card's original ATK and DEF increase by twice the amount of Life Points paid this turn!"
By combining with Ra's effect—which increased ATK through Life Point payments and wiped the field—the Mythological Regalia converts the Life Points already paid into double that value as attack power.
[Regalia Tamamo-no-Mae ATK: ? → 15998]
"It's over, Shadows of the King! Direct attack with Regalia!"
The sacred mirror held by Tamamo concentrated and reflected the light, forging a radiance like a second sun, driving away the thunderclouds and darkness in the sky.
Or rather—
The brilliance of two overlapping sun gods surpassed the sun itself.
"—Rings upon the Eightfold Ring, forming the Ninth—Amaterasu! Myth Reborn: Solar Surface Explosion!"
Following Hoshino's command, Tamamo hurled the blazing divine mirror in her hands—shining like a miniature sun—toward the ten Shadows below. The roaring flames seemed to burn a hole in the sky itself, unleashing terrifying energy that incinerated everything.
"So it's because of the gods again!
The gods who should have disappeared along with the Age of Gods keep interfering with the King's plans again and again!
Is this humanity's resistance?!"
With a direct attack reaching 15,000 ATK, the ten Shadows of the King were instantly incinerated—leaving not even a trace behind.
In the end, they were only puppets created from Harr's magic. Their strength at most reached an A+ level. While they could overwhelm most duelists in this world, before the combined power of the Pharaoh and Hoshino, they had absolutely no chance of resistance.
"What a beautiful one-turn kill, Hoshino!"
"You weren't bad yourself, Yugi~"
With an easy victory secured, Hoshino and Yugi exchanged a perfectly timed high-five.
"Yugi, Hoshino, why are you here?" Mokuba asked gratefully after surviving the desperate situation.
"Why else? Of course we came to save Kaiba Entertainment Group."
Hoshino placed her hands on her hips and explained:
"After seeing the news this morning, I realized it immediately. If the King's War wants to deal a real blow to Duel Monsters in this world, the most direct method is to invade Kaiba Entertainment."
After all, every Duel Disk used around the world is connected to the central supercomputer of Kaiba Entertainment. If this place were to fall and Duel Monsters could no longer be materialized, the remaining duelists would have no way to resist—they'd become fish on a chopping board for the King's War's invasion.
"So now," Hoshino said, turning toward Kaiba, "can you explain why you were fighting in such a suicidal way?"