Instinct

Beneath the gloomy sky, an ominous blood-red glow spread through the air.

Upon the deathly still earth, which seemed never to have changed, some ancient ritual was in motion.

Amid the wails and cries of countless souls, a demon opened his eyes.

Beneath his ornate cloak, a pair of scarlet eyes stared directly at the five-colored radiance at the center of the ritual.

Once the light faded, five different figures appeared.

Tall, short, fat, thin—even their species differed—but here, they shared the same designation:

"Humans."

The demon spoke in a low voice.

"You failed. You did not even bring back a single sacrifice."

He narrowed his eyes, and a trace of cruelty seeped from those scarlet slits.

"It seems you have disappointed His Majesty."

"No, that is not it. Please listen to our explanation."

Panicked voices came from within the light.

"We should have succeeded, but something unexpected happened."

"Oh? Something unexpected?"

The demon raised his voice slightly, carrying a nearly curious malice.

"Yes. We had already gathered all the information and designed different tactics and counter decks for those duelists, but..."

"Enough. I have no interest in hearing your secondhand account."

The demon slowly raised a hand, and the five elites who had once dominated the business world instantly froze in place like puppets on strings.

Under their terrified gazes, viscous streams of light flowed out of their bodies and gradually merged into the demon's mind.

"Mako Tsunami, Bandit Keith... Hmph, and that useless old fool."

When the frail figure of a certain three-eyed demon surfaced before him, the demon sneered.

"I never expected him to still be clinging to life..."

But before he could criticize this old acquaintance any further, that flash of white caught his attention.

"So why the hell didn't you use the Evil Dragon?"

At that very moment, he sensed an instinctive feeling of wrongness.

"This is that new 'human'?"

It was not that there was anything strange about the white-haired, black-clothed appearance. The sense of discord lay more in some profound and intangible thing that could neither be seen nor touched.

Ordinary people generally called such a thing this.

"The atmosphere of the duel is completely different."

"So, where is your dragon?"

"Do you have any other moves?

That shriveled face, dried out by evaporated blood, was utterly calm, and there was not the slightest tremor in those sunken eye sockets.

"The game isn't over yet, is it?"

"This guy... he isn't afraid at all?"

The demon frowned deeply as he watched that unfamiliar figure.

"Even badly injured, he does not care in the slightest. He even treats this sacred battle entirely as a game..."

"So you see, this guy is simply not normal."

As the demon sank into thought, he heard a trembling voice.

Looking straight ahead, the weakened faces of the Big Five, including Ogorou Daimon, who had once existed as humans, all bore a hint of ingratiating flattery.

"My lord, I truly never expected to encounter someone like this. He could even freely use other people's cards. I really..."

But faced with that unchanged malice, he immediately changed his wording.

"But I never considered retreating. I wanted to fight him to the death, but..."

Ogorou Daimon spoke faster and faster, appearing increasingly agitated.

"I mean, that Evil Dragon... the Five-Headed Dragon simply would not give me a chance. I do not know what happened at the final moment, but it directly brought us back here."

"Mm, I saw."

"It even released the sacrifice it had already obtained."

"Mm..."

Seeing the demon nod, the corners of the Big Five's mouths could not help but rise. At that moment, even the originally frigid atmosphere seemed far more relaxed.

But before the joy of surviving the calamity could spread, the demon spoke.

"But precisely because of that, it is hungry."

The moment those words fell, the smiles vanished from the Big Five's faces.

"My lord, you must be joking..."

Ogorou Daimon could not help swallowing.

"You... you should not be lacking sacrifices. Did you not just breach the Defense Zone? There... there should have been other defenders there besides the machines."

"That is right. There were indeed..."

"Then you should not be lacking sacrifices."

"Theoretically, that is true."

"Then why..."

"Because I did not receive their souls."

"What..."

In the eerie silence, the demon could not help sighing.

"Though I do not know why, when we breached the Defense Zone, there was nothing there. The souls were neither absorbed by the bone tower nor scattered and wandering."

Hearing the demon's answer, Ogorou Daimon wanted to say something, but immense pressure weighed down his tongue and rendered him unable to speak.

Within that eerie silence, only the demon's seemingly regretful sigh remained.

"You were actually subordinates I found very convenient to use, but..."

The Big Five slowly raised their heads and saw the same unchanged cunning.

"What a pity."

Shadows gradually enveloped them, and the Evil Dragon's figure emerged behind the demon.

Five heads, ten eyes, all blossoming with the bloodthirsty gleam of hunger.

"No... Don't!"

The next moment, overlapping wails echoed out.

"Ahhh!"

The Big Five, Kaiba Corporation's senior figures who had once dominated the business world through every conceivable means, were devoured without any resistance.

Perhaps they truly had legendary pasts, but the brilliance condensed by those years ultimately gathered in the demon's rough palm.

Gradually, a blue card appeared.

"FGD Five-Headed Dragon (lv12)"

"Attribute/Dark"

"Type/Dragon"

"ATK/5000 DEF/5000"

"So that is how it is. You were afraid, so you submitted to your instincts and chose to flee."

Beneath the Evil Dragon's cry, the demon gently stroked the trembling card.

"Though it is merely an empty shell temporarily revived through my magical ritual, to make an ancient Evil Dragon feel instinctive fear, and to command as easily as one's own arm the subordinate Graffer conquered through violence... I never expected there to still be a human wizard proficient in 'Red Magic'..."

"Lord Hades! Lord Hades!"

Accompanied by shrill cries, an ugly familiar flew over.

"We will reach our destination in one hour!"

But before it could fully approach, before its piercing shriek could even fully fade, a burst of golden lightning suddenly engulfed it.

Within the flashing electricity, the familiar's body fell helplessly to the ground, giving off the stench of burnt flesh.

The demon showed it no mercy. He merely lifted his foot and stepped over its body.

"Further increase the marching speed. The Necromancer King awaits those powerful souls!"

Rumble.

Lightning roared, and the brief flash illuminated Hades's ruined, corpse-like face.

Beneath his hood, those scarlet eyes gazed into the distance. Across the mountains of corpses and seas of blood that had become as ordinary as daily meals, all manner of twisted figures spread outward.

Skeletons, evil spirits, demons—the brutal army covering the mountains and plains advanced with unstoppable force.

"So then, how exactly will you, who have been hiding and running, face me?"

"Achoo."

After sneezing, Yu Ming could not help rubbing his nose.

"I did not expect to sneeze even in a place like the underworld."

Once the fleeting itch subsided, he felt the gazes from around him.

"Uh... you do not need to mind me. My nose was just a little itchy."

At that, Noah, who was still seated at the center, could not help sighing.

"With a powerful enemy before us, could you be a little more serious?"

"Is there any chance that I am actually being quite serious?"