"A moving continent is the King itself?!"
The explosive revelation dropped by the Dwarf King hit everyone present like a nuclear bomb, leaving them completely stunned.
Looking at the world map projected from the Dwarf King's smart terminal, Hoshino spread her arms and gestured across it.
The landmass was nearly comparable in size to the entire Eurasian continent.
If what the Dwarf King said was true, and the entire thing was the body of King Utgarda, then its very existence was incomprehensible.
"Hold on a second."
Hoshino immediately identified the biggest problem.
"If the real body of King Utgarda is actually that huge, then on a conceptual level, we can't even fight it."
With a mass that enormous, even if it merely continued slowly advancing as shown on the map, any casual movement could generate enough force to crush Duel Academy Island outright.
Compared to it, destroying the island would be even easier than an elephant stepping on an ant.
"So just sitting here and waiting is suicide."
Kaiba crossed his arms and stared at the slowly shifting continent.
"If that thing reaches us, destruction is the only possible outcome."
Then he turned toward the Dwarf King.
"How long before the King becomes visible from Duel Academy Island?"
After performing a quick calculation on her terminal, she answered:
"Thirty-six hours."
"In other words, by midnight tomorrow, you'll be able to see the edge of King Utgarda's body appearing on the horizon."
"A King that big…"
Minazuki tried to imagine it.
"I honestly can't picture what it would even look like."
After all, human understanding of "large" eventually reaches its limits.
Beyond a certain point, the brain simply stops being able to comprehend scale.
A landmass the size of Eurasia couldn't even fit within a person's field of vision.
At most, the human brain would process it as:
'A really, really huge piece of land.'
"More importantly," Hoshino pointed out, "if it's really that huge, we can't even have a proper duel with it."
Even if both sides wanted to duel, you couldn't exactly challenge a speck of dust on your body to a card game.
By comparison, Hoshino and the others were no different from dust particles standing before King Utgarda.
On the other hand…
If that thing somehow pulled out a Duel Disk, it would be equivalent to a raid boss revealing its HP bar.
And once the HP bar appeared, Hoshino was absolutely confident she could find a way to bring it down.
"Exactly."
The Dwarf King nodded.
"In your current state, you may not even qualify to duel King Utgarda."
"You'd simply be crushed like ants on the roadside."
"Mamma mia!"
Crowler immediately panicked.
"Then what are we waiting for? We still have thirty-six hours! One and a half days! We should start evacuating the students immediately, no ne!"
"Evacuate?"
Hoshino shot him a look.
"And where exactly are you planning to run?"
Duel Academy Island was completely surrounded by three kingdoms.
"Are you planning to lead everyone on a retreat across an entire continent, Professor?"
"M-Mamma mia…"
Rendered speechless, Crowler quietly retreated back into his corner.
"Which is exactly why I said I'd help you."
The Dwarf King looked around the room.
"Everyone gathered here is a powerful individual who has, in one way or another, confronted and defeated a King."
Scratching his head, Minazuki laughed awkwardly.
"Hahaha… Powerful, huh? Being called one of the world's strongest fighters all of a sudden is kind of embarrassing~"
Akasha immediately cut him down.
"Minazuki, didn't you barely beat a King because you rode on Hoshino-nee's coattails? You're the least qualified person in this room."
"Nonsense!"
Minazuki instantly objected.
"If we're talking about the least qualified person here, it should be Professor Crowler!"
"Wasn't he slaughtered by a Shadow of a King?"
Crowler bit down hard on his handkerchief.
"To be mocked by a Slifer Red student with no comeback… This is the greatest humiliation of my life, no ne!"
"Anyway…"
Hoshino turned back toward the Dwarf King.
"Calling you 'Dwarf King' feels kind of awkward."
"Do you have another name?"
Addressing such an adorable little girl by a title like Dwarf King felt deeply strange to her.
"Sure."
The girl nodded.
"You can also call me Dad."
"Okay, Dad —"
Hoshino paused.
"(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ The hell I will! Why would I call you Dad?!"
"It's just a codename."
The Dwarf King looked puzzled.
"What's there to get worked up about?"
"You humans may have advanced technology and intelligence, but you're oddly particular about the strangest things."
"Or if you care that much, just make up another nickname."
Hoshino narrowed her eyes as though deep in thought.
"King and Dad, huh?"
"Alright then."
"From now on, I'll call you Wangba." (TL: Is an insult in Chinese)
"Wangba?"
The girl pursed her lips and thought for a moment.
"That's fine."
"It rolls off the tongue pretty well."
"Hoshino-nee…"
Akasha poked Hoshino's elbow while trying to hold back a laugh.
"Wangba sounds even less like a girl's name than Dwarf King does."
"That's so mean~"
Meanwhile, Kaiba, Yugi, and everyone else unanimously chose the wise strategy of not commenting on the matter at all.
"Anyway, Wangba."
Hoshino returned to the subject.
"Did you gather us here because you have a strategy specifically for dealing with King Utgarda?"
Even Hoshino couldn't think of a way to fight something the size of Eurasia.
The Dwarf King nodded.
"No matter how massive King Utgarda is, if we can somehow drag it into a duel…"
Her eyes locked onto Hoshino.
"Hoshino Chiyuki."
"Can you defeat it?"
"Of course."
Hoshino grinned confidently.
"As long as it reveals its HP bar!"
Heroic Spirit cards weren't particularly effective against Rock-type opponents.
But compared to physically fighting an entire continent, forcing King Utgarda into a duel would increase their odds of victory exponentially.
"Good."
The Dwarf King smiled.
"That's all I needed to hear."
"Then let's proceed with the operation."
She dramatically raised a hand.
"Operation Name —"
"Gurren Lagann Breakthrough!"
"Gurren Lagann Breakthrough?"
Hoshino's eyes lit up.
"That already sounds incredibly awesome. So what exactly are we doing?"
"Since we're currently as insignificant as insects in King Utgarda's eyes…"
"We'll use the power of machinery to become large enough that even a king comparable to a continent cannot ignore us."
"The power of machinery!"
Akasha suddenly understood.
"Wait — don't tell me we're going to use the giant mech you piloted before, the Iron King's giant robot, to duel it?"
"The general idea is correct."
The Dwarf King grinned.
"But that mech is still far too small compared to King Utgarda."
A fierce dwarven fighting spirit radiated from the adorable little girl's small frame.
The spirit of an engineer facing an impossible mechanical challenge.
"It needs to be ten times larger."
"No — one hundred times larger!"
"A machine built with the full national power of the Dwarf Kingdom!"
"A machine that will shake continents and pierce the heavens!"
"The anti-King decisive battle mech!"
The Ultimate Giant Mecha Built to Fight King Utgarda!