"This time, I'll burn you so thoroughly that not even a trace of your soul will remain!!"

In the sky, Caster Regalia Tamamo-no-Mae focused the light of her mirror, reflecting a brilliance like the sun—no, even brighter. A radiance born from the combined might of two sun gods, surpassing the original itself.

"Caster Regalia Tamamo-no-Mae's Effect—Pay any amount of Life Points; Tamamo's ATK increases by double the amount paid!"

"The gods shall be reborn on Earth, their resurrection fueled by the life of the summoner! When divine and mortal unite, their enemies shall be reduced to ashes upon the battlefield!"

As Yugi chanted the incantation, he and Hoshino locked eyes, then poured their very souls together into the radiant heavens above.

The mirror in Tamamo's hand captured that light like a mirage, doubling the absorbed power, and transforming it into a divine flame that transcended all limits.

"This is our ultimate combo—Hoshino and Yugi's joint finishing blow! A divine flame charged with four times the soul! No need to send us a thank-you card, Bakura!!"

Soaring high, Tamamo hurled the mirror infused with divine fire straight toward the barrier below at full force.

"—Ring upon ring, stacked eightfold—this is the ninth layer! This is Amaterasu!"

The roaring fire seemed to scorch a hole through the sky. From that breach poured a terrifying, all-consuming energy, swallowing Bakura whole—his arms still impaled with icy spikes.

"AAAAAARGH!! DAMN IT! To lose twice—impossible… this is all YOUR fault, Hoshino!"

Writhing in the dual agony of fire, Bakura howled in pain, his gaze burning with murderous hatred as it locked onto the smirking Hoshino above.

"In this ultimate Shadow Game—in this world of memories—you're the anomaly, Hoshino. A bug that shouldn't exist. And for the game to function properly, that bug must be deleted!"

Hoshino crossed her arms, leaned down, and mocked him.

"Still yapping? Last time, I don't know how you survived Nero's attack, but this time—you're not getting out alive!"

A suppression barrier nullified abilities. Four High Priests blocked every escape route. And now, she and Yugi had unleashed the mightiest divine flame through Tamamo. Not just a King of Thieves—even the Pirate King wouldn't survive this.

"I admit I underestimated you, Hoshino… I didn't think I'd have to use a second GM item this soon."

"GM item? What did you just say?!"

Hoshino's eyes narrowed. The term that had slipped from Bakura's lips set off immediate alarms.

"GM Item #2—The Hourglass of Reversal! Right now, time—flow backward!"

And in that instant—everything stopped.

The moment Bakura shouted, it was as if time itself had slammed to a halt. The drifting clouds, the flowing rivers, the sunlight washing over the world… all froze in place. Utter and complete stasis.

Then came the shift in consciousness.

Even though the world was frozen, Hoshino felt her awareness pull away from her body, drifting upward. Her soul was drawn toward a towering structure that pierced the heavens—a massive inverted pyramid suspended in the sky.

"What did you do!?"

Regaining her senses, Hoshino sprang to her feet and demanded an answer.

But she was no longer in the palace. Before her stood a square table—or at least, something that appeared to be one. The objects on it were obscured by a mysterious force, unreadable to the eye.

And across from her sat a familiar face—Bakura, but not the Thief King. This was Dark Bakura: the pale, coldly beautiful teenage version.

"Bakura… where are we?"

"Hahahahahaha! So, your consciousness has finally left that world. The bug has been purged~"

Dark Bakura burst into laughter, his boyish features twisting into a manic grin.

"Welcome to the true stage of the Ultimate Shadow Game, Hoshino. What you see before you is the sandbox of this game—the hidden truth of this world!"

With a sharp snap of his fingers, the shroud over the table vanished. Like clouds parting, the scene revealed itself—and Hoshino's eyes widened in shock.

"This… this is Egypt?!"

It wasn't an ordinary table. While it was square in shape, its true form was the base of an inverted pyramid. Projected onto its surface was a detailed sand-table model—a compressed map of all of Egypt.

The tip of the inverted pyramid pierced into the world below. Judging by its shape, the pointed end she and Yugi had seen in the sky must have been part of this same pyramid sandbox.

"That's right. The truth of this Ultimate Shadow Game is this: this isn't the real Egypt—it's a world born from the Pharaoh's memories. Everyone here is like an RPG character, each playing the role assigned to them."

Hoshino raised an eyebrow.

"So you're saying this is like an RPG, and each of us is controlling a character. Which would make you, Bakura, the one controlling the King of Thieves."

"Exactly. The characters a player controls are always connected to them—by fate, past lives, or history."

Dark Bakura's laughter stopped. His eyes turned cold, locking on Hoshino across the sand-table map.

"In other words, only those with a past-life identity within this memory world are qualified to enter and influence it. But you, Hoshino—your presence here was nothing but a fluke."

Originally, the Ultimate Shadow Game required all seven Millennium Items to be gathered at the stone tablets to begin. But the divine shockwaves from the final duel between Hoshino and Yugi had forcibly triggered it early.

To make matters worse, the Millennium Eye—one of the original seven—had been destroyed and replaced with a counterfeit: the Millennium Bracelet.

These unexpected variables had thrown the entire game off balance. What was supposed to be a one-on-one battle between Pharaoh Atem and Thief King Bakura had now become entangled with far too many unknown factors.

Tossing the coin in his hand toward Hoshino, Dark Bakura explained,

"GM Item No. 1: Resurrection Coin. When the Thief King was defeated and his body completely destroyed, he used this item to revive himself. Of course, it can only be used once."

Hoshino caught the coin and examined it in her palm. Clearly engraved on its surface was a "+1" symbol, which made her chuckle.

"Heh, when you get down to it, this thing is basically just a cheat item. And you went and gave it a fancy name like 'GM item'?"

"No, no, no, don't put it that way. I'm just one person fighting against the might of the entire Pharaoh's kingdom. As a way to balance the game, of course I—'a lowly thief'—should be given a corresponding advantage."

As he said this, Bakura tossed another object to Hoshino—an exquisitely crafted miniature hourglass—and continued his explanation.

"This is the second GM item I just used—The Hourglass of Reversal."

Recovering fragments of memory from when her consciousness had drifted, Hoshino vaguely recalled that after she'd driven Thief King Bakura to the brink, the entire world had suddenly frozen in place.

"The Hourglass of Reversal allows you to rewind time within the memory world, restoring everything to the way it was ten minutes ago."

Hoshino drew in a sharp breath. In a sense, this GM item was even more broken than the Resurrection Coin. In the situation Bakura had just been in—on the verge of death—even ten revives wouldn't have changed the outcome. But reversing time? That was a completely different story.

Ten minutes ago, Bakura had only just infiltrated the palace, and she had only just begun setting up the trap using Tamamo-no-Mae—a perfect ambush.

"Now that I've gone back, I won't fall for it a second time."

Sitting confidently at the edge of the sandbox, Bakura casually crossed his legs.

"I'll lure the Pharaoh out of the palace and take him down in one fell swoop. Then I'll claim the Millennium Puzzle."

Placing the Hourglass of Reversal down, Hoshino countered confidently,

"Even if you lure the Pharaoh outside the barrier, are you sure you can beat Tamamo-no-Mae?"

"No."

Bakura's answer was swift and absolute.

"That kind of absurd power… if I fought head-on, I'd stand no chance. But it doesn't matter, because you, Hoshino, can no longer participate in the game."

Hoshino frowned. "But if all you did was rewind time, why can't I keep playing?"

"Remember what I said—the Hourglass of Reversal resets everything in the memory world to ten minutes ago. And you, Hoshino, don't belong to that world at all…"

Bakura's lips curled into an eerie grin.

"No fate, no identity, no memories, and no connection to that world. I told you before, your presence in the game was a complete accident. And with the game restarting, that 'bug'—you—has now been patched out."

[System Notification: Fixed a bug where player Chiyuki Hoshino was too strong, making it impossible for the opponent to play the game fairly.]

As expected, after the timeline reset, events unfolded exactly as Bakura had planned. To avoid the barriers Hoshino had set before disappearing from the memory world, Bakura lured Yugi out of the palace before beginning the battle with Spirit Monsters.

Betrayed by Aknadin and with the God Tablet destroyed, Yugi was no match for Diabound, which had absorbed the power of the Millennium Ring. Bakura seized the Millennium Puzzle and knocked Yugi into the canyon river—his whereabouts unknown.

For players inside the Shadow Game, their field of vision was limited to their character's perspective on the pyramid sandbox—much like a traditional RPG.

But Hoshino, having been removed from the game, now had a god's-eye view, able to observe the entire sandbox of Egypt. With a single glance, she could see anywhere she wanted. The entire game now resembled a massive grand strategy sim.

Still, no matter how powerful that god's-eye view might be—if she couldn't intervene in the world—Hoshino could only watch helplessly.

"Hahaha, the difficulty just dropped a whole tier~ Don't you think so too, Hoshino?"

Having seized the Millennium Puzzle and eliminated Yugi, Dark Bakura was in high spirits. He chatted casually with Hoshino, who could now only spectate.

"This kingdom's balance has been shattered. Without Yugi, Aknadin will no doubt try to make Seto king. The priesthood will fracture, and once that happens, it's only a matter of time before I take full control."

"Isn't it boring to play the game with cheats like this, Bakura?"

"Nope! For me, winning is all that matters!"

(***)

Meanwhile, from the town where Hoshino Alter and her group were staying, it would take nearly a full day to reach the capital—assuming they weren't on horseback.

Now that they'd confirmed the Millennium Items really did exist in this world, the group theorized they might hold a way to return to their original time. With that hope in mind, the Hoshino Alter Squad set off for the capital the moment they received word.

"Finally caught one! Heh, you're no match for me~"

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Hoshino Alter looked down at the wriggling river fish in her basket, smiling in satisfaction.

But… why was she catching fish in a river if she was supposed to be heading for the capital?

Gurgle—

As the saying goes, man is iron, rice is steel. Even though she'd sweet-talked the mayor into giving her a good meal that morning, by now her stomach was complaining again.

And more importantly, after tasting real food, Hoshino Alter had no intention of going back to chewing on hard, dry bread.

So, under the bewildered gazes of Kaiba and the others, Hoshino Alter rolled up her pant legs and stepped into the river—proceeding to wrestle with a fish for a solid ten minutes.

"She actually caught it… The power of hunger is terrifying."

Marlene chuckled as she watched Hoshino Alter flaunt her catch while still tending the fire. Ever since Sid had left the team, Marlene had been both the dad and the mom for this group of outdoorsy novices.

"Sorry, little guy, but for the sake of my stomach, I'm afraid you're going to have to make a noble sacrifice."

Chatting with the river fish in the basket, Hoshino Alter was already imagining how delicious it would taste grilled to crispy perfection.

But just as she was basking in her victory, the pyramid-shaped jewel hanging around her neck suddenly shook violently, emitting a bright white glow.

What followed was a shocking freeze in the environment. Everything around her came to a complete stop.

But it didn't end there.

The world began to rewind.

By the time Hoshino Alter's consciousness returned, time had gone back ten minutes—to when she had just stepped into the river to start her "battle."

Naturally, the one fish she had caught had also "escaped." Or rather, at this point in time, she hadn't even caught it yet.

"Wha—what the hell is going on?!"

She stared in horror at the fish swimming by her feet, unable to believe her eyes.

"You're not gonna believe this… but this fish just hit me with a freakin' Za Wārudo!"

(*****)

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