Jumping off (Red-Eyes Black Dragon), Hayato warily observed his surroundings.
If they had followed the layout of the Castle of Darkness and entered through its main entrance, Hayato and the others would have had to climb the tower floor by floor, breaking through various stages to reach the altar where Kaiba was trapped.
However, because the Giant Bird Flying Machine had crashed midway and they had switched to (Red-Eyes Black Dragon), smashing directly into the castle by an unconventional route, they had arrived directly at an empty hall on the top floor of the castle.
In stark contrast to the meticulous defenses outside the castle, the hall was remarkably quiet and empty, completely unlike where a Final Boss would reside.
Joey waited until Yugi was the last to jump off (Red-Eyes Black Dragon), then put away the Card and looked behind them. There, the large hole they had created to break into the Castle of Darkness was slowly closing, as if the castle itself were alive.
The Monster army pursuing them hovered outside the hole but dared not enter, as if there was something inside the castle hall where Joey and the others stood that they greatly feared.
And just as the hole completely closed, a pitch-black opening abruptly appeared above Yugi and the others.
"What is that!" Joey instantly pulled out the (Red-Eyes Black Dragon) Card he had just put away, tensing up. If anything felt wrong, he would immediately Summon it and Attack.
Fortunately, he waited a moment, because the ones who emerged from the hole above them were the two brothers, Mokuba and Kaiba.
"Kaiba, Mokuba!" Yugi looked at the two at the entrance of the hole with some surprise. "Are you two alright?"
Leaping gracefully from the hole with Mokuba in his arms, Kaiba crouched slightly to absorb the impact. After letting Mokuba stand on his own, he straightened up and looked at Yugi and the others. "Yugi?! You actually came to this World too?"
"Thanks to Yugi, I was able to come to you, big brother." Mokuba stood beside Kaiba, smiling as he looked at Yugi and the others. Next to his brother, Mokuba finally dropped the facade of a strong little adult, probably because he once again had someone to rely on.
Though he had secretly acknowledged the debt he owed Yugi and the others, Kaiba, ever the tsundere, snorted coldly, refusing to soften his words. "Hmph, a completely unnecessary effort. I could have cleared this Game by myself without you."
"You're still as annoying as ever, Kaiba," Joey said, disgruntled. "We went through a lot of trouble to get here just to save you."
"A mere Normal Monster trying to save me? Hmph, you probably can't even save yourself. You were likely rescued by Yugi and Hayato several times along the way." Kaiba looked coldly at Joey, completely disregarding his presence.
Just then, several eerie laughs echoed from the depths of the hall behind them.
"Hmph hmph hmph hmph..."
"Heh heh heh..."
"Gah gah..."
Mai Valentine frowned. "Who's playing tricks there!"
"Hmph, that voice, it's The Big Five, isn't it!" Kaiba stared coldly into the darkness at the back of the hall. "How regrettable. Although you used all sorts of schemes and tricks, I still managed to retrieve my Deck. Your plan to use me as a Tribute has completely failed!"
"Tch, indeed, without a Tribute, the Final Boss of this Game, the legendary Monster—(Five-Headed Dragon)—cannot Revive," one voice said.
But another voice immediately cut in, "Did you really think we'd say that, Kaiba boy!"
"The Game is far from over! You, who foolishly believe you've escaped our Control, have merely stepped onto another stage!"
"This tedious Game ends here, Seto Kaiba. Let this Monster crush your arrogance and make you pay the Cost for your disdain!"
"The strongest Dragon-Type, (Five-Headed Dragon)!"
The Darkness shrouding the hall suddenly dissipated, revealing the true appearance of the place. Both above and below, the surfaces were covered in intricate patterns resembling circuits on a motherboard, and countless golden lights surged into the depths of the Darkness, from which several giant dragon heads emerged, approaching them.
"This is!" Yugi's eyes widened involuntarily. "(Five-Headed Dragon)!"
Upon its mountain-sized body, five distinct dragon heads stared down at the six individuals present: Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and DARK—the five-in-one Demonic Dragon, (Five-Headed Dragon)!
(Five-Headed Dragon) [ATK5000]
"Impossible, (Five-Headed Dragon) shouldn't have enough Tributes!" Kaiba's face also showed a grave expression. Even his strongest Monster, (Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon), Summoned through the Fusion of three (Blue-Eyes White Dragon)s, only had 4500 Attack Power. Yet, (Five-Headed Dragon)'s Attack Power was a terrifying 5000 points.
At this moment, the WIND Attribute dragon head of (Five-Headed Dragon), to everyone's astonishment, actually spoke: "No no no, Kaiba boy, who told you that (Five-Headed Dragon) had no Tributes?"
"That voice, it's you! Crump?!" Kaiba recognized it. That condescending voice definitely belonged to KaibaCorp's Head of Personnel—Crump!
"Using you as a Tribute for (Five-Headed Dragon) was part of the plan, but we had already prepared a backup plan before its implementation," came the voice of KaibaCorp's lawyer—Johnson—from the Earth Attribute dragon head.
The other dragon heads also spoke, one by one:
"With us as Tributes, the strongest Monster that cannot be Destroyed by Battle—(Five-Headed Dragon)—has been Revived!"
"If you cannot defeat him, you cannot leave this World, Seto Kaiba!"
"KaibaCorp is ours!"
Yugi scoffed lightly. "Though powerful, (Five-Headed Dragon) is by no means an invincible Duel Monster."
"Come forth, (Dark Magician)! Followed by (Thousand Knives)!"
The figure of (Dark Magician) appeared before Yugi. As he swung the Staff in his hand forward, countless small knives materialized out of thin air, rushing towards (Five-Headed Dragon). But to Yugi's surprise, when (Thousand Knives) struck (Five-Headed Dragon), they suddenly shattered into thin air!?
Even the (Dark Magician) Yugi had Summoned suddenly collapsed to its knees in pain, unable to move.
"What's going on?!" Joey was somewhat surprised. (Five-Headed Dragon) hadn't made any move, so why did (Dark Magician) just fall down on its own?
"Look at the ground! (Lord of D.) is drawn on the floor!" Hayato warned. "There's a Barrier here too!"
"As expected of the King of Duels, your observational skills are truly keen," (Five-Headed Dragon) said. "Within this Barrier, where Monsters cannot Leave the Field and Effects cannot be Negated, Dragon-Type Monsters are unaffected by other Card Effects, and only Dragon-Type Monsters can be on the Field!"
"In other words, the strongest Dragon-Type—(Five-Headed Dragon)—is the absolute God in this World! It cannot be defeated!"
Yugi returned (Dark Magician) to his Deck, his gaze fixed on (Five-Headed Dragon). "In Duel Monsters, there's absolutely no such thing as an undefeated Monster! Even if it's a God, we'll defeat it and show you!"
Yugi, Hayato, Kaiba, Mai Valentine, and Joey all declared in unison: "Duel!"
(Blue-Eyes White Dragon)
(Red-Eyes Black Dragon)
(Harpie Lady's Pet Dragon)
(Armed Dragon) LV10
(Curse of Dragon)
Five Dragon-Type Monsters stood on the Field, confronting the (Five-Headed Dragon) opposite them!
(end of chapter)