"According to the map Granny gave us, this should be the Dragon God's Domain, right?" Yugi unrolled the parchment and surveyed the surroundings. "With the giant cactus in the desert as the centerline, the crescent moon rock on the left, and the starlight rock on the right, the area ahead should undoubtedly be the location of the Dragon's Domain."
"Yugi, are you sure you're not joking?" Jounouchi shaded his eyes and looked ahead with a confused expression. "All I see is endless desert. Where's the slightest hint of a Dragon's Domain?"
"Strange, this should be the place…" Yugi flipped the map over a few times, furrowing his brow.
"Could it be that some kind of illusion spell is hiding it from us?" Hoshino wondered. "That's pretty common in RPGs."
"Well, we're close enough. Let's just go check it out," Mokuba suggested, not dismissing the idea.
Even after stepping into the area marked as the Dragon's Domain on the map, the surroundings looked like a regular desert.
"That old hag wasn't playing a trick on us, was she?" Jounouchi angrily snatched the map from Yugi's hands and tossed it to the ground.
Suddenly, Yugi's expression turned serious. "Jounouchi, something's moving underground!"
"Don't tell me we're about to encounter monsters," Hoshino grumbled, as her panicking camel nearly threw her off. "The closer you get to the final boss, the stronger the monsters. And whatever's coming sounds tough."
"It's here!"
In an instant, a violent windstorm erupted, turning the calm desert into a swirling tornado of sand, reducing visibility to almost nothing.
"What kind of monster is this?!"
A figure with a snake-like human upper body riding a tornado emerged from the ground, glaring fiercely at them.
[Desert Twister ★★★★★★ (6-star)][Wind][Fiend/Effect][ATK 2300/DEF 2000]
"Did slamming the map on the ground attract this thing?!" Hoshino quickly blamed Jounouchi.
"What? How could that little slam attract a monster like this?" Jounouchi protested, drawing two cards from his Duel Disk.
"Activate the Spell Card [Ancient Rules] to Special Summon a Level 5 or higher Normal Monster!" Struggling against the fierce wind, Jounouchi raised his cards high. "Come forth, [Red-Eyes Black Dragon]!"
Amid the storm, a furious inferno of dark flames cut through the sandstorm as *Red-Eyes Black Dragon* roared, tearing apart the dust.
[Red-Eyes Black Dragon ★★★★★★★ (7-star)][Dark][Dragon][ATK 2400/DEF 2000]
"Nice, Jounouchi. You added [Ancient Rules] to your deck?" Hoshino asked, surprised. She didn't remember him having that card before.
"Of course! I've been growing stronger!" Jounouchi, pleased with the compliment, waved his hand forward. "Go, [Red-Eyes Black Dragon]! Take out that ugly monster!"
"Black Flame Bomb!"
The Black Dragon gathered its dark flames and opened its jaws, releasing a black core that hit the Desert Twister directly.
"Yes! Easily defeated!" Jounouchi struck a celebratory pose, clenching his fist. "That monster was just for show."
"Wait... if the wind has stopped, why is it still so dark?" Hoshino asked, looking around in confusion.
It was still hours before sunset, and the sun had been shining brightly before the Desert Twister appeared.
Yugi suddenly tensed and looked up. "Everyone, look at the sky!"
A colossal structure was suspended high above them, unnaturally blocking out the sun and casting darkness below.
"That thing wasn't there before…" Mokuba said, his voice filled with disbelief.
"It probably appeared after I defeated the gatekeeper," Jounouchi said confidently. "In RPGs, there's always a gatekeeper before the final boss, right?"
"So the map wasn't wrong—it just didn't account for the Z-axis," Yugi said, relieved they had found their destination.
"So this is the Dragon God's Domain…" Hoshino stared at the massive structure. "It looks impossible to reach on foot. We'll need a way to get up there."
"That's easy—we've got Duel Monsters, don't we? Red-Eyes!" Jounouchi called out, and the Black Dragon lowered its body, allowing him to climb on.
"That's a great idea, Jounouchi. I'm glad you came with us this time," Mokuba said, growing more impressed with him.
"Come forth, [Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1]!"
"Summon, [Luster Dragon]!"
Yugi and Mokuba each summoned a flying monster and immediately mounted them.
But Hoshino…
"I-I don't have any flying monsters, QAQ!" Although her Servants were strong, none of them could fly. If only she had summoned a Servant like Altera the San(ta), she wouldn't have this problem.
"No way am I flying on Arash Airlines," Hoshino muttered, knowing it'd be a death sentence.
"Summon, [Baby Dragon]!" Jounouchi, sitting on Red-Eyes, tossed another card. "Hop on, Hoshino. After all, I'm the hero's right-hand man."
"Huh? Baby Dragon can fly?" The thought of riding the tiny dragon made Hoshino nervous. "Well, I don't have much of a choice…"
------
"I'm not too heavy, am I? Baby Dragon, it's not that I'm heavy, right?" Hoshino leaned in close, repeatedly asking as she noticed Baby Dragon gasping for breath halfway through the flight.
"We're almost there, the Dragon God's Domain!" Yugi called out to everyone as he looked up at the increasingly clearer structure while riding on the Winged Dragon.
"Just a little more, Baby Dragon, you're the best!" Hoshino kept encouraging Baby Dragon, who was starting to fall behind.
"Yugi, Hoshino, Jounouchi! This isn't right!" Mokuba exclaimed as he looked up at the Dragon's Domain, his eyes widening in alarm. "I feel like something is flying out from the building."
"It's not just a feeling—something is coming at us!" Jounouchi, flying in the lead on his Red-Eyes Black Dragon, was the first to spot the danger. "Monsters are flying out of the Dragon God's Domain! They don't want us to get any closer!"
[Blackland Fire Dragon ★★★★ (4-star)][Dark] [Dragon][ATK1500/DEF800]
[Gray Wing ★★★ (3-star)][Wind] [Dragon/Effect][ATK1300/DEF700]
"Get out of the way! You're just a bunch of small fry!" Perhaps due to riding his ace monster, Jounouchi was brimming with confidence. "Any dragon that stands in Jounouchi the Great's way is going to die!"
"Special Move: Double Black Flame Bomb!"
The massive black flames struck the Blackland Fire Dragon accurately, incinerating it to ashes. However, despite Jounouchi shouting for a double attack, only one shot had been fired.
"Jounouchi, we've entered turn-based combat now! Each monster can only attack once!" Yugi quickly explained the situation.
"Damn it! I let one escape!" Jounouchi cursed as he watched the Gray Wing speed past him.
"Why—why is it coming after me?!" The Gray Wing, having bypassed the others, zeroed in on Hoshino, sensing her as the weakest target. It was simple: of all their mounts, only Baby Dragon's attack power was lower than Gray Wing's.
"Hoshino, watch out!" Mokuba, realizing the Gray Wing's target, urged his Luster Dragon forward. "Go! Protect Hoshino!"
"Attack the Gray Wing—Luster Blast!"
Though Luster Dragon was only a 4-star monster, its attack power was 1900. Following Mokuba's command, the solidified energy from Luster Dragon's mouth struck the oncoming Gray Wing, destroying it.
"That was way too close!" Hoshino wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and patted the trembling Baby Dragon beneath her. "If Baby Dragon got knocked out at this height, I would've been done for."
"Hoshino, it seems like the danger isn't over yet…" Mokuba's eyes widened as he stared at the sky, now filled with a massive swarm of dragons.
"How many thousands are there? If we try to fight them all, it'll be dark before we're done." Jounouchi swallowed hard, realizing just how many enemies they were up against.
("A centennial calamity, the evil dragons run amok, and the sky is filled with dragons.")
Recalling the words of the old lady from the Desert Capital, Hoshino broke out into another cold sweat. "The dragon-filled sky is here so that just leaves…"
"The revival of the Five-Headed Dragon!" Yugi exclaimed, his voice heavy with worry.
"Oh no, are we too late?" Yugi muttered as he looked at the countless dragons filling the sky. He began to realize they had no chance of reaching the Dragon's Domain. "Is there no way to stop the revival of the Five-Headed Dragon?"
"Did even my brother fail?" Mokuba thought of his brother, who had triggered the path to the Dragon's Domain a day earlier and hung his head in despair.
"…"
"Isn't it a bit too early to give up now?" Suddenly, Hoshino stood up on Baby Dragon's back, trying to lift everyone's spirits.
"Sorry, Baby Dragon~" she whispered an apology to the struggling Baby Dragon beneath her, "Just hang in there a bit longer until I take care of those pests in the sky."
"Roar!" Despite panting heavily, Baby Dragon, encouraged by Hoshino, forced itself to let out a determined roar.
"But Hoshino, what can we even do in this situation?" With countless dragons filling the sky, breaking through seemed impossible.
"If we give up on the final boss before even facing it, how could I ever call myself the King of Duelists!"
Steadying herself, Hoshino crossed her arms in front of her chest. The aura emanating from her on the dragon's back was in no way weaker than that of the overwhelming dragon horde before her.
"Hoshino, you're so cool!"
"Yugi, summon Kuriboh!" Hoshino commanded decisively.
"Oh, right!" Yugi, with no choice but to trust his partner in this desperate situation, quickly summoned Kuriboh. "Go, Kuriboh!"
[Kuriboh ★ Dark] [Fiend/Effect][ATK300/DEF200]
The materialized Kuriboh flew from Yugi's side into Hoshino's arms.
"Haha, Kuriboh, you're so cute!" Hoshino exclaimed, happily rubbing Kuriboh's fluffy body. Satisfied, she quickly drew two cards from the deck hidden under her windblown skirt. "Kuriboh, I'll be borrowing your power now!"
"Using Kuriboh as a tribute, I perform a Phantasm Summon!"
"Install—Emiya!"
[Heroic Spirit - Emiya (Hoshino)★★★★★★ (6-star)][Fire] [Spellcaster/Effect][ATK2200/DEF2600]
In a flash of light, Hoshino's original outfit was replaced by a slightly revealing, red, sexy ensemble.
"Hoshino, what are you going to do?" Yugi, still puzzled, looked at Hoshino, who had completed the Phantasm Summon mid-air.
"Heh, no matter how many dragons there are, their numbers are still finite. I'll just face them with infinite swords!" A confident smile spread across Hoshino's face as she raised the remaining card in her hand high.
"Activate! Field Spell—[Unlimited Blade Works]!"
"…"
"I am the bone of my sword—Unlimited Blade Works!"
Though it didn't completely replace the surrounding environment like in a Duel Arena, the vast sea of swords suspended in mid-air behind Hoshino was real and no less intimidating than the horde of dragons before her.
[Heroic Spirit – Emiya] can attack all of your opponent's monsters once each.
"I'll carve out hope with these unlimited blades!" With a sweeping gesture, Hoshino directed the sea of swords behind her toward the dragon horde.
"Here I come—do you have enough dragons?"
The metallic wave of swords clashed with the endless dragon horde. Countless dragons fell in an instant, only to be replaced by more from behind.
"Jounouchi, use any Equip Card!" After a few minutes of the intense clash, Hoshino suddenly shouted to Jounouchi. "As long as there's an Equip Card on the field, [Unlimited Blade Works] can perform unlimited attacks!"
[After each attack, one Equip Card on [Heroic Spirit – Emiya] is randomly destroyed. If there are no Equip Cards on the field, this card is destroyed.]
"Oh! Leave it to me!" Finally seeing a glimmer of hope, Jounouchi was eager to contribute. "I activate the Equip Spell—[Dragon's Nails], equipping it to Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
"Now it's checkmate, evil dragons!" With the restrictions removed, Hoshino ramped up the density of the sword sea severalfold. The evenly matched clash between swords and dragons quickly turned into a one-sided massacre.
(*****)
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