Huh? Kaiba?

Several years ago, a black dragon fell into the underworld. Because the Red-Eyes it carried, symbolizing possibility, contained immense power, all sides began to stir.

And the one who ultimately emerged victorious from this struggle was the immortal king—the Necromancer King.

No one knew where it had come from. They only knew that when it swept through the underworld, it already possessed the crimson dragon eye that harbored the power of legends.

And so, the balance was broken.

The once-peaceful underworld became an arena of slaughter.

Some rejoiced and chose to join it. Others suffered under its tyranny and chose to rise up in resistance.

But those tiny ripples could not stop the Necromancer King's overwhelming power.

Over the long years, the united survivors had long since lost the strength to resist. They could only place their hopes in a legend that had begun circulating at some unknown time.

"One day, the Red-Eyes will return to this world. It will restore the balance between light and darkness, awaken the sleeping king, and bring peace back to the underworld."

"GRAAAH!!"

Yu Ming took a deep breath as he watched the roaring monster before him.

"Jera, Dark Blade, attack directly."

'Awooo, awooo, awooo!'

The savage demon and the warrior from the demon realm lunged forward.

One spewed corrosive fumes, while the other raised his twin blades and darted ahead at high speed.

LP: 1800 → 0

LP: 2800 → 0

Congratulations, Host, on defeating the duelists "Slaughtering Giant" and "Demon Soldier." This duel has awarded a total of 30 points. Your first victory of the day grants an additional 150 points.

In an instant, the demons blocking the way were stripped of everything before they could even scream.

Their bodies gradually turned into wisps of white smoke, while two cards fell from the piled bones and rotten flesh:

"Slaughtering Giant"

"Demon Soldier"

After picking up the two cards, Yu Ming's expression gradually turned strange.

"Sure enough, the more I think about it, the stranger this gets."

Was this really Yu-Gi-Oh!?

Looking at the endless miasma around him and listening to the howls that echoed without ever fading, Yu Ming felt as though he might have brought the wrong gear.

With this setting and such a bizarre opening, he felt like he should not have been using a Duel Disk and cards.

Maybe a straight sword and a shield would have fit the mood better.

Casually flipping through the Equipment Cards in his deck, Yu Ming could not help letting his imagination run wild.

Still, there was nothing he could do about it.

"We rested twice along the way. Going by how it felt, about two days have passed."

Putting away his Duel Disk and deck, Yu Ming looked at the other person traveling with him.

"When are we getting to the base you mentioned?"

This had been his final decision—to head for the so-called resistance base with Keith.

After all, he was not entirely familiar with this place. Having a temporary place to stay and a force he could rely on for a while was not a bad thing.

But still—

They had been walking through an unchanging landscape of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, dealing with rotting zombies that kept jumping out to remind them of their existence.

Two days. Forty-eight hours.

During that time, what Yu Ming felt most was not a sense of danger, but an irritation spreading from deep within his heart.

"Honestly, I'm sick of these colors and this scenery."

Fortunately, this ordeal was almost over.

"Mm, we're already here."

Under Yu Ming's gaze, Keith merely lit himself a cigarette and began puffing away.

"One of the entrances is here."

Still, although Keith said so, Yu Ming looked around and saw nothing particularly unusual.

Corpses, flesh, and blood were piled into little hills. Beside them flowed either rivers of blood or scorching lava, and the air was thick with the stench of decay.

"So where is it?"

"Wait a moment. There's something I need to confirm with you first."

"What?"

He looked at Keith, only to see him operating the mechanical wristband on his arm, the one that could be assembled together with a short gun into a Duel Disk.

Yet while manipulating it, Keith mentioned a name Yu Ming had not expected.

"Seto Kaiba..."

"What?"

"You have nothing to do with Seto Kaiba, right?"

"Huh?"

"Forget it. Whether you do or not has nothing to do with me. You're just someone I picked up along the road, and I happened to test your dueling skills. I don't know anything else about you."

"..."

Yu Ming did not speak. He vaguely realized something.

Amid the strange silence, only a mechanical voice echoed:

"Identity verified: Duelist Keith Howard."

"You have been away for 121 hours. Welcome back."

Rumble...

The dark earth piled high with bones began to shake.

Then, a neat, highly technological crack appeared in the cruel yet natural fantasy landscape.

Part of the ground slowly rose. Beneath its rocky shell, a metallic cylindrical structure appeared before them.

Yu Ming should have been very familiar with this thing, in theory. There was even a specific word for it:

"All right, the elevator's here."

Closing the device on his wristband, Keith spoke.

Yu Ming, however, stared at the elevator's nameplate for a long time. It was not because its design was particularly elaborate, but because it bore the simplest of symbols: KC.

In this world, there should have been only one organization that used such a mark:

"Kaiba Corporation."

As he spoke the name, Yu Ming suddenly found the situation absurd.

"Since when did Kaiba Corp expand its business into a hellhole like this?"

Sure, that guy had been obsessed with this sort of thing, but the timeline did not add up at all!

Come on, the Millennium Scale is still with me.

Don't tell me even Dark Side of Dimensions has already happened outside, and Shadi stole this thing out again?

"Surprised? I was shocked too when I first saw it."

Once Yu Ming reined in his agitated internal complaints, he saw Keith's unpleasant grin.

"Who would've thought that a famous arms company from Earth would have a base in a godforsaken place like this..."

"So why?"

Hearing Yu Ming's question, Keith instinctively opened his mouth.

But in the end, his expression became somewhat strange.

"Now that we're here, I don't think I need to explain much more, do I?"

At last, he stepped into the elevator.

"Seeing is believing. You can judge the rest for yourself."

Hearing Keith say that, Yu Ming unconsciously raised an eyebrow.

He followed him inside the elevator.

The metal doors slowly closed, shutting out the irritating mountains of corpses and seas of blood while bringing with them a pleasant sensation of descent.

Honestly, he had never missed the wonders of technology so much.

But...

"As the host, shouldn't you be a little more hospitable?"

He looked at Keith beside him, but Keith took two steps back.

"Let's skip that. I'm only getting paid to do a job."

He waved his hand, the gesture somewhat exaggerated.

"As long as you don't make the wrong call yourself and then dump the responsibility on me."

The words clearly sounded like an attempt to dodge responsibility, but thinking about it carefully, that was only natural.

After all, he and Keith were not particularly familiar with each other.

Still, it did not matter. Keith's unwillingness to speak did not mean Yu Ming could not draw his own conclusions.

"The underworld, Kaiba Corp, arms..."

To put it plainly, aside from the matter of opening a passage between the living world and the underworld, the only people who could be here were dead people connected to Kaiba Corp.

Was there someone like that in the original story?

There really was!

"Gozaburo."

Almost at the same moment, the name that matched his thoughts sounded beside his ear.

Looking up, he saw Keith take one long drag and finish the cigarette in his hand.

Then, he clenched the cigarette butt tightly in his fist.

"Gozaburo Kaiba. I believe that name should be more familiar to you."

"...It is."

"He's one of the resistance leaders now. Judge the rest for yourself."

So this place was some kind of resurrection tournament for dead people?