Southern Region

"We're here, Seto."

Because Kaiba stubbornly refused to ride her in her transformed state, Kisara had followed along behind him on horseback, out of sheer spite.

"Yes… this should be the place."

Thanks to the elite training he had received since childhood, horseback riding was no trouble for Kaiba. In less than two hours, they had already reached the Valley of the Kings—exactly as Hoshino had instructed.

But the moment Kaiba looked down over the edge of the canyon, what he saw left him utterly stunned.

"These are… Diabound!?"

Though not even two hours had passed, thousands of Diabound had already multiplied and spread throughout the canyon. Pale, writhing bodies filled the valley like a grotesque sea of white, and the sight alone made Kaiba's scalp prickle.

Marlene, who had traveled with them, peeked down and muttered, "Oh my god… I thought Hoshino was just trying to scare us into moving faster… but this really wasn't an exaggeration at all."

"Yo, if it isn't President Kaiba himself. What a rare guest. Did you bring two cute girls here for a tour of my hometown?"

That mocking, familiar voice came from behind the stunned group. Without warning, Thief King Bakura appeared, a sly grin plastered across his face.

"Thief King Bakura—!"

Without hesitation, Marlene spun around, drew her dagger, and lashed out in a burst of fury. Her enemy—the one who had murdered her friend—was standing right in front of her, grinning as if nothing had happened. She had no intention of exchanging words.

Blade met golden Duel Disk with a sharp metallic clang. Bakura hadn't expected such a fierce attack from the girl and was caught slightly off guard.

"Now this is passionate! Did I forget some secret rendezvous we had?"

From his mocking tone, it was clear Bakura had long since forgotten who Marlene even was—if he ever considered her important at all.

"You monster… You killed Sid just yesterday and already act like it meant nothing. Do you have no conscience at all?"

Marlene continued her assault, every strike aimed to kill. But each slash was effortlessly blocked by the curved thief's blade in Bakura's other hand.

"Hahahaha! That's the funniest thing I've heard all week. Does a devil need a conscience? Should I mourn every ant I step on?"

Even though Marlene was fighting with everything she had, Bakura was treating the clash like a game. It was clear he wasn't taking her seriously.

But his amusement didn't last long.

"Since you've all come such a long way just to die, allow me to offer a warm welcome. Diabound—feast on them!"

At his command, several white Diabound surged up from the canyon, their twisted bodies charging toward Kaiba and the others.

"Seto—look out!"

Kisara's eyes flashed with resolve, and in the next instant, she transformed into a roaring Blue-Eyes White Dragon, tearing one of the Diabound apart with ease.

Kaiba swiped a card across his Duel Disk—now properly equipped with the right gear—so he didn't have to slam it into the ground like before.

"I won't let you fight alone, Kisara… No—Blue-Eyes White Dragon! I Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon—by the bond of the connected White Dragon souls!"

The roars of the two White Dragons shook the valley. Twin jets of blazing white light tore across the sky, vaporizing the attacking Diabound in an instant.

From the look of it, these multiplying Diabound didn't seem to retain the evolved abilities of their fused predecessors—they were more like derivatives or tokens. Otherwise, the dragons wouldn't have dispatched them so easily.

"Rrrow?"

Kisara—still in dragon form—glared at Kaiba's Alternative White Dragon and gave a low growl, as if to say: "You have other White Dragons besides me?"

Clang—!

With a flick of his curved blade, Bakura knocked aside Marlene's dagger and leapt back, putting some distance between them. Even if her attacks weren't dangerous, being hounded relentlessly was beginning to irritate him.

"You're not bad—definitely better than those two priest fodder I wasted earlier. But don't get cocky just because you took out a few Diabound. Right now, what they don't lack is numbers!"

And in the few minutes Kaiba's group had been clashing with Bakura, the Diabound had already undergone their 12th division—swelling to an overwhelming 4,000.

"What will you do when you're facing not 10, but 100 Diabound, Kaiba? And to me, that's just a drop in the bucket! Wahahahaha!"

Bakura's maniacal laughter echoed as Diabound swarmed up from the valley floor in such numbers that they blotted out the sky, surrounding Kaiba and the others on all sides.

"Even with the power of the Blue-Eyes, all that awaits you is the inevitable fate of destruction, Kaiba!"

"Fate? I, Seto Kaiba, have never believed in fate! — I activate the Spell Card: Burst Stream of Destruction!"

Using the spell in tandem with his dragon, Kaiba blasted open a narrow gap in the wave of Diabound overhead. Staring into the still-peaceful distant sky, he clenched a crucial card tightly in his hand.

"Hurry up, Hoshino. The only way to break through this deadlock… is with your power."

(***)

"This is the ultimate formation of the Great Tactician—Unreturning Formation. Break it if you can! Unreturning Formation: Stone Sentinel Maze!"

This famed strategy, celebrated across the land, was devised by the great tactician during the inevitable retreat of his own army. It was said that any who entered the giant stone labyrinth would become hopelessly lost, eventually lured to their deaths.

As a Noble Phantasm, it forcibly transformed the opponent's battlefield into the domain of the Stone Sentinel Maze—a grand-scale magical technique.

With the Mirror of Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams in hand, Waver summoned forth the Irreversible Formation, enveloping the entire battlefield. Every undead soldier and Orichalcos monster on the Ksois front was dragged into the Stone Sentinel Maze without exception.

Trapped inside the labyrinth, the massive enemy forces were confused and lured toward a designated point.

Having played his final trump card, Stone Sentinel Maze, Waver leaned wearily against the city wall, entrusting the rest to another.

"The next part is yours, Nitocris. You'll only have one chance at this!"

At the end of the maze's path stood Nitocris, gripping her staff tightly as she unleashed the full extent of her magical power.

"As the incarnation of Horus, God of the Sky, as Pharaoh—this is the height I never achieved in life! But now, I am no longer the inexperienced ruler I once was!"

This was Nitocris's Noble Phantasm. She had long believed her mirror reflected the realm of the dead—or some dark otherworld—but what it truly revealed was the hidden strength within her own spirit.

"Bear witness to me, Lord Ozymandias! In this moment, I, Nitocris, stake everything—all that I am, all my Pharaoh's pride—to protect this nation of ours!!"

Only by confronting her own soul with the resolve of a true Pharaoh could she awaken the mirror's hidden power.

"—Anpu Neb Ta Djeser!"

Burning every ounce of her mana, she manifested a colossal dual mirror spanning the heavens. At the maze's terminus, it opened wide—absorbing everything touched by its radiant light.

[Anpu Neb Ta Djeser | Quick-Play Spell Effect: If you control "Heroic Spirit – Nitocris", or it is in your GY: Banish all monsters on the field until the End Phase.]

Silence fell.

As the retreating soldiers regained awareness, they realized that the undead legions and Orichalcos monsters that had once flooded the Ksois battlefield had vanished without a trace—leaving behind only scorched, smoke-filled earth.

Her mana exhausted, Nitocris's body began to fade, her skin becoming translucent. Yet her face was filled with relief and pride.

"I did it… Lord Ozymandias… Master… I have succeeded!!"

"Yes, I saw it, Nitocris! In this moment—you are the greatest Pharaoh under heaven and earth!"

Through the strategic map, Hoshino witnessed the instant Nitocris banished the entire swarm of undead and Orichalcos monsters from the Ksois front in a single sweeping strike.

But the banishment would only last a short while. Using her chibi form within the Shadow Game world, Hoshino quickly relayed the intel to her counterpart.

"My other self—it's time. Use a Command Seal to signal the Lion King!"

"Got it, Aibo!"

Pressing her fingers together in a prayer-like gesture, Hoshino Alter closed her eyes. From the Command Seals on the back of her hand—used to summon the Seven Servants—she transmitted the order to Lion King Artoria on the distant battlefield.

"Please, Lion King Artoria. Deliver this signal of victory across the nation!"

Receiving Hakusei's prayer, the normally expressionless Lion King allowed a faint smile to form. She raised her holy lance high into the sky.

"Such a bold move… but it proves the will of humanity! Then allow me to assist you—let the radiance at the world's end tear through the heavens and deliver your signal!"

A blinding pillar of sacred light burst forth, piercing the skies and spanning the length of Egypt. The victorious signal's brilliance spread from the northern capital to the southern Valley of the Kings.

.

..

...

"You made it just in time, Hoshino!"

As Kaiba continued to struggle under the relentless onslaught of Diabound, the instant he saw the Lion King's holy light pierce the heavens, his tension finally eased.

"Hoshino?"

Hearing Kaiba utter Hoshino's name so suddenly, Dark Bakura froze. He had assumed Hoshino had been eliminated from the Shadow Game and could no longer interfere. Suspicion and dread crept across his face as he glared at the mysterious girl.

"What have you done, Hoshino?"

"I told you you'd wet your pants when the time came!"

Clenching her fists with excitement, Hoshino fixed her eyes on the southernmost point of the strategy map—Kaiba's position.

"Go, Kaiba! Play that final card—checkmate!!"

With a powerful motion, Kaiba slammed down his last key card. The distorted dimensions around him began to collapse, shattering the fabric of ancient Egypt from 3,000 years ago.

"—Spell Card: Dimension Fusion!!"