"What are these monsters?"
"A group of dragons modified using admin privileges, and they were wiped out?"
"With this group's strength, can they stop the Five-Headed Dragons if they're summoned?"
"No, in this world, the Five-Headed Dragons represent absolute power. No matter how skilled they are, they can't win."
"Now, with our souls as the sacrifice, proceed with the final summoning!"
---
"So this is what the true appearance of the Dragon God's Domain looks like!" Jounouchi exclaimed as he tilted his head back, turning his neck almost 180 degrees.
The light from Excalibur illuminated most of the space in the Dragon's Domain, which had previously been shrouded in darkness.
Weird dragon statues were densely attached to the walls, making the entire space uneven. The strong sense of incongruity made everyone feel very uncomfortable.
"If I had to rate the art team of this game, I'd give them negative points," Hoshino said, frowning and trying to suppress her discomfort.
"Couldn't they have made the dragons as cute as me?" Elizabeth chimed in.
"Right, right. If the walls were covered with sculptures of me, the whole space would be filled with a glamorous idol vibe," added Halloween Elizabeth.
"It'd be a fan's paradise," they both echoed in perfect sync.
"Ugh! What's that huge thing?!" Mokuba exclaimed, pointing ahead.
In the farthest part of the space, standing opposite the group, was a giant statue that stood out from the other dragon statues. Because of its enormous size, they could only see the solid body of the dragon, while everything above its head was completely obscured.
"What a huge body… If that's a dragon, just how big is it?" Jounouchi extended his hands to measure, but because of the distance, he couldn't accurately gauge its size. However, judging from the overwhelming presence they felt from so far away, it was undoubtedly larger than any dragon they had encountered before.
"Why don't we go take a look?" Hoshino suggested as she took off her blanket, preparing for a closer inspection.
"There doesn't seem to be any other target," Kaiba agreed, though his tone still made it sound like someone owed him eight million yen.
"Let's go."
---
Before entering the Dragon's Domain, Hoshino and the others had flown around its perimeter to observe. The enormous Dragon Domain, floating in the air, was still massive inside.
"At this pace, it would take all night to walk through it," Jounouchi complained.
After entering the Dragon's Domain, the group lost their sense of time. They knew it was likely nighttime outside, but exactly how much time had passed was unknown.
"But Jounouchi, look…" Hoshino pointed ahead. "Don't you feel like that giant dragon statue is a lot closer now?"
Thanks to the Phantasm Summon, Hoshino felt no fatigue at all and was even enjoying herself a little. After all, there was no way she could be this light on her feet in the real world.
"You're so sneaky, Hoshino, looking so relaxed," Jounouchi grumbled, refusing to lift his head. "Quit teasing me. It was still far away just a minute ago."
"No, Jounouchi, it's much closer," even Yugi (Yami) began to caution him, though his tone carried a hint of anxiety.
"What? Even Yugi is trying to trick me…" Jounouchi complained, still in denial.
"Dodge! That thing's charging at us!" Mokuba shouted, warning everyone as he took off running.
"Huh?" Realizing it wasn't a joke, Jounouchi hurriedly looked up.
"How is it just a little closer, Hoshino? It's right in front of our faces!!" Even in a situation like this, Jounouchi couldn't resist cracking a joke. Faced with the dragon statue charging at them at 500 mph, he used his extraordinary reflexes to leap to the side, narrowly dodging the statue's collision.
"With that kind of mass, charging at that speed, if it hits you, you'd be smashed to pieces!" Jounouchi said, grateful to have escaped death.
"But why did it charge on its own…" Hoshino wondered aloud, looking up at the statue and taking a deep breath.
Up close, the dragon statue was indeed enormous. But the reason they couldn't see the dragon's head from afar wasn't because it was too big or blocked from view—it was because the statue simply didn't have a head.
It was a bizarre statue of a dragon with only its body.
The thick body was even larger than the dragons from Western mythology. Its wide torso, combined with its headless design, exuded an inexplicable sense of oppression.
"Could this thing be the Five-Headed Dragon?" Although it had no head, the statue gave Hoshino the impression that it was the final boss.
"Hahaha, truly the King of Duelists, seeing through the Five-Headed Dragon's aura so easily!" To everyone's surprise, multiple deep male voices echoed from within the dragon statue.
"That voice? The Big Five!" For Kaiba, those voices were so familiar he could recognize them even if they were turned to ashes.
"Kaiba, I didn't expect you to survive this long and even gather companions to beat this game."
"Our always solitary Kaiba Corp president has even learned to utilize the power of others."
"Hmph, Big Five, no matter how you designed this game, I could clear it alone without any difficulty."
"Stubborn as always, Kaiba. Can you still say that after seeing our strongest Five-Headed Dragon?"
"Now, we five shall offer our souls to the strongest dragon!"
As the Big Five solemnly declared this, the massive dragon statue began to crack. Through the fissures, they could see the living dragon hidden within.
"For your selfish desires, you sold your souls to something that doesn't even exist, Big Five?" Kaiba's eyes gradually filled with disdain as he looked at the dragon coming back to life before him. "No matter what monster you summon, it will fall before me! I'll prove that your filthy souls are worthless!"
"Descend, mighty Dragon King, the Five-Headed Dragon that symbolizes absolute power and disaster!" As the statue's shell completely shattered, five differently shaped dragon heads emerged from the enormous dragon's body.
"Five-Headed Dragon, descend! And reveal the true appearance of the Dragon God's Domain!"
With the Five-Headed Dragon's earth-shattering roar, the surrounding scenery rapidly changed. The eerie dragon domain had transformed into a dense matrix of code.
"Big Five, you did cheat!" Kaiba, as sharp as ever, instantly recognized the game data modification. This scene had entered a space that shouldn't exist in the game at all.
It was a BUG space.
(*****)
If you'd like to read 25 chapters ahead, please consider joining my Patreon: patreon.com/ANeet. Your support means a lot. Thank you!