Yu Ming's Sandbox Battlefield

The war had begun.

With the Five-Headed Dragon's elemental roar as the starting point, the moment the path to the underground city was blasted open, a massive amount of Mecha armor surged out from the breach.

Mechanical soldiers and burly demons clashed, and as artillery fire intertwined with demonic flames, the battle line was instantly stretched, and the conflict spread to every corner.

"Lord Hades, we can't break through the defenses for now!"

"Lord Hades, our vanguard has fallen into the monsters' encirclement!"

"Lord Hades, the Mecha units from New Domino City are counterattacking!"

"Lord Hades, giant whales equipped with weapons have been spotted by the river on the left!"

"Lord Hades, some kind of curse has been detected on the right; our troops can't advance."

"Lord Hades, a large number of Hellfire Cannons have appeared behind us!"

"I suppose that's to be expected from you."

Amidst a series of shrill roars, the great demon opened its clouded eyes.

"Even without being on the front lines, the defenses are impenetrable… This reminds me of the days when I was your enemy."

Overlooking the seemingly endless battlefield, like a meat grinder, and listening to the constant wails, Hades couldn't help but let a smile creep onto his lips.

Even if those wails came from his own demons, it couldn't disturb his pleasure.

But soon, his enjoyment was interrupted.

There was no sudden explosion, no shifting situation—just an ordinary moment when the demon wizard sensed something.

Looking back, within the seemingly unyielding shadows, something seemed to be wriggling.

"Come out."

Following Hades's commanding tone, the wriggling shadow expanded outwards.

Then, a golden gleam emerged.

"It's you."

Dark Invader!

"What are you loitering here for? Don't you have your own mission?"

Facing Hades's less-than-friendly tone, the Invader slowly put its hands behind its back.

"A mission? Of course, I have one, but I hope Lord Hades doesn't forget that I am also a messenger."

"So, what instructions does Messenger have for me here?"

As if recalling something amusing, the goblin couldn't help but grin, revealing yellowed, maggot-infested, rotten teeth.

"Could it be that you've had a change of heart and are thinking of sending something to our enemies again?"

"There's no need to be so sarcastic, Hades."

Facing the taunts laced in every word, the Invader responded unhurriedly.

"I am merely here to deliver the Emperor's will."

In that instant, time itself seemed to freeze because of that sentence.

Beneath the wide cloak, a pair of withered hands clenched into fists, and a subtle hint of humiliation and anger appeared on Hades's already ashen face.

However, he ultimately did not erupt.

Or perhaps, he had no right to be angry.

"So, what instructions does the great King of the Dead have?"

"Nothing much, just that the Emperor hopes you can speed things up... Don't let your trivial, pointless malice delay important matters."

Staring at the seemingly smiling, dark-gold face beneath the other's black cloak, Hades finally lowered his head.

"...Then please report back to the great King of the Dead, Messenger. Tell him Hades will carry out his will."

"..."

"Did you hear me!"

After a brief silence, Hades couldn't help but look up, but he saw nothing.

The golden demon who should have been standing before him, even a head taller than him, seemed to have never appeared from beginning to end, as if it had all been his delusion.

"A hallucination..."

The corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up, but the smile twisted into a grimace.

The moment he clenched his jaw, squirming maggots even crawled out of his mouth.

"Damn it!"

"Lord Hades! Our defenses have been shattered!"

Suddenly, a sharp yell echoed, and a blue familiar rapidly approached.

"Lord Hades! Those steel behemoths are charging this way—those tanks, those robots, those..."

BOOM!

Before the panicked demon could even scream again, the exploding golden lightning bolt fried it to a crisp.

"Ha… Hades-sama."

The familiar seemed to want to say something more, but the demon had already stepped over its charred, reeking body.

Plop.

A maggot fell, landing beside him.

"Never mind. I was going to enjoy this beautiful scene a bit longer."

The former Pluto sighed.

His crimson eyes gazed straight ahead, reflecting a massive, modular machine.

Mecha Force: Armed Power!

With the cooperation of its cannon sniper and high-frequency vibrating machetes, this efficient killing machine easily tore through the demon's primitive flesh defenses, demonstrating the overwhelming power of military technology through raw violence.

But unfortunately, this was no sci-fi world.

"Lightning Break."

RUMBLE!

As lightning flashed, the Mecha Force, which had been wreaking havoc, collapsed like a pile of scrap metal.

But that wasn't the end. Then, as Hades waved his hand, a wailing roar echoed from the sky.

"ROAR!"

The next moment, the elemental power unleashed by the Evil Dragon descended from the heavens like a kinetic weapon, indiscriminately clearing everything from the battlefield.

Immediately after, a strange purple smoke instantly covered the entire area.

"Awaken once more."

Of course, he wasn't talking about the machines.

As Hades's command reverberated, the demons who had already fallen and were presumed dead shakily rose to their feet once more, launching their next assault.

And even the shattered, unidentifiable bones and flesh were forcibly reassembled by some strange power, gradually converging into a monster resembling the Evil Dragon.

At this moment, the previous slaughter and counterattack seemed like a joke, as if everything before had simply been a sandbox game.

Or rather… this was an encore for the Duelists.

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's only been a few minutes."

Witnessing this scene, the scrawny old demon couldn't help but sigh.

"Although I don't want to admit it, putting aside all the other nonsense, Hades is indeed a very powerful sorcerer."

"Then, Pluto-sama, will you intervene?"

"…"

Facing the question from what seemed like a loyal subordinate, the demon couldn't help but turn and slap him.

"Intervene? You idiot, don't you know what state I'm in? I have no power left! Right now, I can barely help carry bombs!"

In a loud roar, the old Pluto's face was almost red with anger.

And after finally calming down, he couldn't help but sigh again.

"For now, we can only place our hopes on those young kids… After all, Hades has never really paid any attention to me."

"Holy Knight, how long are you going to hide?"

On the battlefield, which seemed to have fallen silent, only the demon's hoarse roar echoed.

"If you don't come out soon…"

As the demon raised its hand, the Five-Headed Dragon in the sky once again began to gather elemental power.

"Noah-nii!"

In the control room, the children watching all this showed panicked expressions.

They couldn't help but look towards the center, where the boy in white simply rested his chin on his hands.

"Although it's a bit different from what I expected, it… at least bought us some time."

He looked at the main battlefield reflected on the screen.

"In fact, it's even better than expected."

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Hades's breathing hitched.

Sensing something, he looked up at the sky, only to see a shuttle already directly overhead.

"Hey, hey, hey, I can't believe that Five-Headed Dragon was blind and just didn't see it."

"Alright, kid, stop rambling. That guy's right below."

"So, is the plane not going down?"

"Can't you see there's nowhere to land? I used up all my Mecha cards here. Jump!"

BOOM!

Amidst a cacophony that seemed almost incomprehensible, a scarlet figure descended from the sky.

With the roar of the electric motor, the massive Machine Motor plummeted furiously, tearing through a series of undead zombies before landing in front of him.

Then, he saw a young man in black emerge from the crimson haze.

"Yo, what's up?"

Though they were complete strangers, he extended a hand in greeting.

And then...

"Wanna duel?"

After checking the rules, it seems this update isn't counted as an eighteenth chapter, but that's fine. Someone's bound to be burning the midnight oil reading, so consider it a triple update... that should be okay, right?

Also, I'm going out for dinner tomorrow, so the update will be a bit late.