"Kaiba, are you messing with us on purpose? Aren't there clearly two jets here?"
Arriving at the rooftop helipad and seeing Mokuba sitting on another normal-looking jet, grinning at her, Hoshino felt slightly offended.
Opening the hatch and jumping into the plane, Kaiba said righteously, "There is indeed only one jet modeled after the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and only I can start it. You didn't ask about the others."
"You bastard, you actually schemed against me over something like this!" Hoshino gritted her teeth.
"But does that mean I don't have to squeeze into one seat with you, Hoshino?" Eve patted her chest and smiled in relief. "Not to brag, but even if you can't tell when I'm dressed, I've got quite a figure. It might be uncomfortable if we're crammed together."
["She's just bragging. Even my tablet has more curves than her."]
"Sorry, Eve, Hoshino," Yugi cut in. "I'll take this seat, so you two will still have to squeeze in."
"Hm? Yugi, you're coming too?" Hoshino didn't seem to approve. "If you leave as well, wouldn't Kaiba Corp be completely defenseless?"
After all, Kaiba Corp's central computer—which projects Duel Disks worldwide—and the overlay network that enables Xyz Summoning are absolutely critical to Duel Monsters at this stage. Otherwise, Hal, the King of the World, wouldn't have personally controlled Shadow to attack before.
"That's not something you need to worry about. The emergency defense system has already been fully activated."
Kaiba pulled out a remote device from his pocket and smiled confidently. "It took time to prepare, so we couldn't use it at first. But once it's activated, Kaiba Corp becomes completely impregnable."
As Kaiba pressed the ominous-looking red button, the sound of heavy steel plates slamming into the walls and floors echoed upward from the base of the building, gradually covering the entire Kaiba Corp.
"Th-This is…?" Standing at the edge of the rooftop and looking down, Hoshino opened her mouth in shock, unsure how to react.
In just a few seconds, the originally sleek and futuristic Kaiba Corp building was completely sealed by airtight steel plating, leaving no gaps at all.
From a distance, it would be even more astonishing—like dominoes flipping from the inside, instantly transforming the building's entire exterior.
"Hahahahaha! Be amazed, Hoshino!" Sitting in the cockpit of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet, Kaiba laughed triumphantly. "This is my invincible, immovable Iron Throne!"
["Kaiba's already a grown man—how is his chuunibyou still this bad?"]
"It's kind of pitiful. Let's just praise him a bit at a time like this."
"So cool! It can even transform!" Unlike Hoshino, Eve was genuinely dazzled, her eyes sparkling like stars.
"Yeah, yeah, it's really amazing, Kaiba~ (Hoshino-style monotone praise)"
"Hahahahaha! (Kaiba-style maniacal laughter)"
—Two hours later—
Leaving Kaiba Corp, they flew straight toward Alcatraz. Though the mood was a bit complicated, the supposedly single-person back seat somehow fit both Hoshino and Eve, and it wasn't even uncomfortable.
"Eve, can you feel it—the presence of the Star Relic?" Hoshino asked, squeezed beside her.
Closing her eyes, Eve's blue hair gently lifted with faint magical energy. At a range of about 100 kilometers, they should be close enough to detect something.
"It's faint, but the Star Relic should be on this island," Eve confirmed. "By the way, does this really count as an island? It's way too creepy… no wonder it's called Devil's Island."
Devil's Island—the place where Kaiba Seto built the Duel Tower atop the military ruins left by his adoptive father, Gozaburo Kaiba. It served as the final stage for the top four of Duelist Kingdom, and also as the turning point where Gozaburo's war ideology was buried.
The broken, chaotic remains of weapons and scrap metal contrasted sharply with the pristine Duel Tower built atop them, creating an indescribably eerie atmosphere.
After landing on top of the Duel Tower, Hoshino tossed Eve off the plane and jumped down after her.
"The area is much smaller than Domino City, so why is the signal so weak?"
Eve frowned as she tried to sense the Star Relic's location.
Grabbing her wrist, Hoshino said, "Stop acting like a radar for a second. Come with me—I think I can guess where it is."
"Huh? You can guess the exact location?" Eve looked even more troubled. "How can that be? If even my job of detecting the Star Relic gets taken away, won't my presence be even lower?"
"This isn't the time to worry about that…" Hoshino sighed. "And even if you can't detect it, your presence is already very strong—in the 'useless shrine maiden' department."
"Hehe, is that so? That's kind of embarrassing." Scratching her blue hair, Eve laughed cheerfully.
The Duel Tower has three levels. The first floor was used for the four-way battle to determine semifinal matchups. The second and top floors were meant for the semifinals and finals of Duelist Kingdom.
However, because Hoshino obtained the three Egyptian God Cards and then traveled through time, the finals never took place, and the top floor was never used.
Hoshino's guess was that the Star Relic was located on the second floor—the semifinal arena.
"Here…" Kaiba frowned. For him, this place didn't hold particularly good memories.
In the semifinals, he narrowly lost to Yugi's fusion, and from that point on, he never officially dueled Yugi again.
"Hoshino, why do you think the Star Relic is here?" Yugi asked.
"The reason… well, a lot of it is intuition," Hoshino thought for a moment before answering. "But if I'm right, the Star Relic on this island should be here—where I fought Marik back then."
"That seems right, Hoshino!" Eve's ahoge twitched as she exclaimed in disbelief. "The signal really is much stronger!"
This Star Grail priestess really is like a radar—she even has a built-in antenna (that ahoge).
"But what is this feeling? It's like something is covering the Star Relic, interfering with its aura," Eve murmured as she tried to pinpoint the exact location. "That must be why it felt so weak before."
Even though Hoshino had been teasing Eve, at critical moments this Star Grail priestess was still indispensable. For example, even if Hoshino could guess the location, without Eve's sensing ability, they wouldn't be able to go any further.
Most importantly, only with the power of the Star Grail priestess could the Star Relic be fully materialized and summoned.
"This should be the spot. I'm going to start, Hoshino!" After confirming the location, Eve clasped her hands together, her waist-length blue hair gently rising with surging magical energy.
"So Eve really is a shrine maiden…" Yugi remarked in surprise, echoing the same awe Hoshino felt when she first saw Eve's sacred form at the harbor.
"—Power that connects to the Star Relic, please… bring salvation to this world!"
The magical power seeping out from beneath Eve's feet, along with the light swirling around the shrine maiden, traced soft, radiant arcs through the air, slowly gathering into a single point.
"It's just like in Domino City. Next, it should appear—the sacred Star Relic!" Mokuba said expectantly.
However, what happened next was not what Mokuba had hoped for. Although the Star Relic did appear, it was a pitch-black, eerie object with no discernible shape at all.
"This feeling!" Staring at the strange aura covering the Star Relic, Eve said alertly, "That's it—this is the aura that interfered with my sensing ability!"
"It does feel different from before…" Hoshino said cautiously.
The Star Relic—Star Chalice that appeared in Domino City had indeed released a shadowy aura upon contact, but at least when it first appeared, one could still feel a sacred presence from its starlight. That was why Hoshino had touched it without hesitation back then.
But the Star Relic before them now was completely shrouded in black, its appearance so bizarre that even if Hoshino were ten times braver, she wouldn't dare touch it directly.
"Did you summon the wrong thing? I mean, Eve, you always look pretty unreliable."
"∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ Guh…! N-No way! At the very least, I would never get this wrong—this is my pride as a shrine maiden!" Eve declared confidently, patting her completely nonexistent chest.
"So you didn't summon the wrong thing. That really is the Star Relic… O shrine maiden who receives the Star Chalice, and the girl chosen by it~"
A low female voice echoed through the spacious Duel Tower. It sounded unmistakably villainous—if Hoshino had to compare it, it was like the cunning voice of the Evil Queen from Snow White.
"Ahh!" Startled, Eve followed the source of the voice and shouted, "That voice—it's the Queen of the Underworld, Hela! Even if I were burned to ashes, I'd still recognize it!"
Hoshino waved her hand and retorted, "No, no, usually in that kind of situation, you're the one burning the other person to ashes. Why would you burn yourself?"
"But she's the Queen of the Underworld—an existence that governs life and death. How could she possibly be burned to ashes?" Eve explained seriously.
Appearing alongside a swirl of black mist, a pale-skinned woman dressed in black stepped forward, holding a skull-topped staff, standing beside the ominous Star Relic.
[Queen of the Underworld, Hela]
With a ghostly smile, Hela said, "So you managed to find this place. I thought you, Eve—the shrine maiden of the Star Chalice—were just useless. But it seems you're somewhat capable after all."
"That's true," Hoshino nodded in agreement. "Without the guidance of the Star Relic—Star Chalice, this useless shrine maiden definitely wouldn't have found this place."
"Hoshino, why are you agreeing with the enemy?! At times like this, you should at least pretend I'm amazing!" Eve complained indignantly, then pointed at Hela. "You despicable old woman—what did you do to the Star Relic?!"
"O-Old woman?!" As if Eve had hit a nerve, a vein briefly bulged on Hela's pale forehead. "Hmph, little girl, you'll only be able to act tough for so long."
["Ruler of the land of the dead… old woman… Why does this character setup feel oddly familiar?"]
"Shh, my other self. Don't go any deeper—it's dangerous."
As Hoshino's gaze passed over the Star Relic shrouded in that eerie aura, she finally noticed that Hela's arms were not merely pale like bones—they were literally skeletal.
"Though you rushed here with great effort, I was still one step ahead. I combined the Star Relic with the resentful dark souls sealed within this space, turning it into a tool of vengeance."
"Resentful souls… sealed in this space?"
A bad feeling suddenly welled up inside Hoshino.
"Witness it—the souls devoured and imprisoned by darkness, and the hatred they have accumulated over the years!"
With her skeletal fingers, Hela tore apart the eerie aura as if ripping through space itself, dragging out a miserable human figure from the depths of darkness.
"This is…?!"
Hoshino, Yugi, Kaiba, and Mokuba all froze in shock.
The figure dragged out from the darkness—this was someone they would recognize even if reduced to ashes.
"Marik—you shouldn't be…?!"
Seven years ago, during the semifinal duel between Hoshino and Marik, under the rules of the Shadow Game Marik initiated, parts of one's body would be consumed by darkness as Life Points decreased.
Marik, who paid his Life Points down to just 1, and even displayed his signature eerie expressions, was ultimately defeated by Hoshino—and his entire body disappeared.
"Hahaha… hahahahaha! Hoshino Chiyuki, long time no see!"
Even after seven years, Marik's laughter—and that bone-chilling expression—remained just as vivid.
"I've missed you so much, Hoshino Chiyuki! In the endless darkness of hell, not a moment passed when I wasn't thinking of you!!"
Hoshino's body trembled slightly. Though Marik's words sounded almost like those of a deranged admirer, what she felt from them was an abyssal hatred.
If someone told you that a person had spent seven years constantly hating you—hating you to the core—most people would instinctively shudder.
"The Queen of the Underworld, Hela, has the power to awaken the dead. Don't let her scare you, Hoshino," Eve whispered, quietly taking Hoshino's hand.
"Though he is already dead, that accumulated hatred is very real," Hela said, her skeletal arm transforming into a Duel Disk as she provoked them. "Come—don't you want the Star Relic? Then defeat me, and the souls I command, through a duel!"
"Don't worry, Eve. Something like this won't scare me," Hoshino replied firmly, activating her Duel Disk. "No matter how many times it takes, I'll bury you with my own hands again, Marik!"
"But since it's a Tag Duel… let's fight side by side once more, Hoshino!"
The Millennium Puzzle shone, and Atem—having switched places with Yugi—activated his Duel Disk as well, standing beside Hoshino.