A massive dimly lit temple, with weak flickering candlelight. Dartz stood alone in the center of the temple, standing on a giant hexagram array, muttering something, seemingly performing some kind of ritual.
He could sense that his Three Musketeers were no longer present.
His most elite subordinates had vanished, and the Doma organization branches around the world had suffered varying degrees of impact these days... but by now, none of that mattered.
Over millennia, his plan had long been completed. Even before Doma emerged, his plan had already entered its final stages. By now, losing all the pieces wouldn't affect anything.
After all, his ultimate goal was a complete purge, a worldwide, indiscriminate purge of all existing humans.
Anyway, the final result was total destruction, so his pieces had already lost their purpose.
After millennia of accumulation, the souls needed for the resurrection of the Evil God had already been almost entirely collected. Now the god was on the brink of revival, only needing one last gentle push.
For instance, Yugi and Kaiba, who were currently approaching under the cover of an aircraft carrier fleet, their souls were the perfect final nourishment.
Jonouchi... well, he'd do too.
At least he shouldn't be rejected by the Evil God...
Now, he was ready to stoke the final fire for the revival of the Evil God, to harvest a last large wave of souls.
Today would be the moment of resurrection that spanned millennia!
.....
Dark clouds, unnoticed, covered the sky.
The same scene occurred across various regions of the Earth. Thick clouds rolled in, like a dark curtain enveloping the entire planet.
Roaring sounds and explosions echoed through the streets. A car was lifted high into the air by the impact of an explosion, crashing back down with a loud bang, shattered into pieces. The tires, like high-speed frisbees, pierced the glass of street-side windows, metal debris scattering everywhere.
Terrified screams swept through the streets, and peaceful life was shattered in an instant by the sudden abnormality. Soldiers, appearing like zombies in decaying armor, stepped into the streets, armed with swords, their foreheads reflecting the Orichalcos mark, surged onto the streets like a tide.
The hexagram marks began to appear everywhere, rips tearing through space one after another. More types of monsters crawled out of each space, some with their jaws wide open, some spewing fire, indiscriminately destroying buildings and streets.
... as if it was the end of the world.
Holographic images?
This was the first thought that popped into people's minds.
But soon, the destroyed streets, the sensory impact from a distance, and the scorching windstorm reminded everyone that it was all real and happening in the reality they lived in.
People started fleeing in panic, trying to escape the demon assault. Those who moved slower were caught by the monsters, knocked to the ground, their souls extracted, with their bodies becoming unsupported shells.
In the chaos, a young girl fell to the ground.
In times of disaster, everyone fends for themselves; the girl's companions fled the scene without looking back, and passersby had no time to spare. Countless people ran past her, but none stopped for the stranger.
Finally, an Orichalcos puppet approached. The zombie-like warrior arrived before her, a shadow like a mountain covered her, and the Orichalcos mark was prominently reflected in its red eyes.
This was an extremely common scene in movies, used extensively by countless directors. According to the script, this was when the righteous hero should descend from the sky, instantly defeating the enemy and saving the world, yet reality was different.
The girl felt her legs numb, her brain desperately commanding her to retreat, but her body wouldn't listen. She knew she was about to die, the monster's grotesque face in front of her seemed like the grim reaper, the blade in its hand vaguely transformed into a scythe to reap souls...
Then she saw...
... light?
Blazing flames descended from the sky, instantly engulfing the Orichalcos warrior's body. The monster shrieked and staggered back, swinging its blade futilely twice, its body exploding in the intense heat into ash.
The girl sat on the ground, dumbfounded, lifting her head.
She saw under the gray sky, on the precarious rooftop of a building, a warrior with a green body stood on the edge of the rooftop, white single-piece wings protecting its body, flames spewing from the red dragon head in its hand...
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!
The girl was stunned, her mind not fully comprehending.
The Duelist wielding this Hero soon appeared. The girl turned her head to see a Duelist standing confidently on the deserted street, facing countless monsters alone, relying only on the Duel Disc on their hand.
She saw the person wave and shout: "Flame Wingman, Spark Burst!"
The Hero in mid-air took the command, diving from the high altitude, shrouded in flames, plummeting towards the monsters below like a cannonball!
Boom!!!
An impact like a volcanic eruption cracked the road open, and the fiery shockwave sent the Orichalcos monsters flying in all directions, their bodies exploding into fragments one after another.
The girl watched the duelist's back, blinked her clear eyes, and was momentarily entranced.
So... so cool!
The hero of justice... has truly appeared!
But at the same time, she couldn't help but worry about that person.
Because the number of enemies was really too many.
From the skies and the ground, flying and creeping, they just kept emerging from unknown corners. It seemed that suddenly, these things were everywhere.
But it didn't matter.
Because players... never fight alone!
"Roar!!!"
A roar echoed as a dragon surrounded by frost emerged at the end of the street, opened its mouth, and spewed a long frost beam, instantly freezing a large number of Orichalcos monsters into ice sculptures!
That is the "Frostosaurus"!
Then there was the "Curse of Dragon," "Super War-Lion," a whole bunch of Duel Monsters swarming out. Even the legendary warrior Battle Ox was storming into the monster crowd with an axe, fighting for kills.
Along with these monsters appeared a large group of excited duelists, bouncing and cheering as if it were a festival, running on the battle-engulfed streets.
Yes, they were the players who had joined Youyu's alliance.
Thanks to the myriad of Darkness Game envelopes provided by the Industrial Illusions Society — items that could temporarily lend the user Darkness Game energy, players were able to briefly manifest the monsters.
For the ordinary people of this world, this might be a disaster, but not for the players.
In the players' eyes, those flying and leaping on the ground, with bizarre shapes...
...were each a mobile experience pack!
Moreover, it should be known that during the ongoing faction war, slaying monsters also counted for contribution points.
As long as they earned enough contribution points, they could go back and exchange them for those exclusive rare headgear of the rich!
Thinking of this, the silly players were filled with energy!
A few players were pushing and shoving while slashing monsters.
"Hey, I saw that one first!"
"Can't you fight over there? There are a lot over there too!"
"Whose dragon just burned my monster? Stand up with some self-awareness!"
"@#%!&#" (cursing in progress)
The licking dog squad of four around Youyu was particularly brave among the players at this moment.
Look at those Orichalcos monsters, obviously mindless, with very low intelligence; they fearlessly charged toward a certain local PMW big spender, Nora Tatsu.
But before they got halfway, half of the monsters fell into a giant pitfall, while a small group crashed into a layer of light barrier, getting their heads smashed in.
Among the monsters, there was one slightly stronger, looking like a lord monster. After sacrificing almost all its charging comrades, it finally reached Nora Tatsu, roared, and raised a blade to attack Nora Tatsu's comical rabbit head, but suddenly a holy elder with a halo appeared, stretched out his hand, and with a single "No way," obliterated it with divine power...
On Xue Lang's side, the Five slots on his Duel Disc were filled with powerful Elemental Heroes. Flame Wingman, Thunder Giant, Blade Edge, Grandmaster Hero, the heroes rampaged through the monster crowd, unstoppable.
Just as they were happily slaying, his teammate, Miss Yue Hua, suddenly whispered, "Hey, there's an NPC girl by the side staring at you..."
"Huh? Really?"
Xue Lang was stunned, turned around in confusion. Sure enough, as she said, by the roadside sat a silly girl with "Affection +1+1+1" continuously appearing above her forehead...
Xue Lang: "?"
What's going on?