Wiping crystalline sweat from her brow, Aisha let out a long breath and smiled brightly after the fierce fight.
"Our DPS is really something, huh~"
The Seth brothers were left speechless. It was one thing for her to bring Mokey Mokey along as deadweight, but acting like she and Jack Ma had just split a hundred billion in assets? Wasn't that a bit much?
In Livorden's royal capital, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold according to Alice Carlos, the Duke Seth family's mansion stayed untouched by the bombardment that destroyed the noble manors.
Perhaps just as Reigun Seth had planned, the Seth family's appearance now would make them the saviors of the capital, surpassing even the Kaiser royalty.
"Hey, don't forget I'm still here!"
Arms crossed, Deion Kaiser swept the battlefield with the eternal evolutionary flames of his Cyber End Dragon.
But contrary to Reigun Seth's expectations, thanks to Aisha and Miles's interference, the Kaiser royal family still had strength left to fight.
"Aisha Carlos, why are you with the Kaiser?" Kaima asked.
"Obviously, to help. With half the city's forces wiped out, how could I run when I can still fight?"
"Supporting with Mokey Mokey?" Kevin muttered.
Meanwhile, the Austin siblings were working hard to rescue survivors from the blasted noble manors.
Fortunately, thanks to Absolute Zero's freezing, there was no fire spread or secondary collapses. With the aid of Elemental HERO Trinity, rescue efforts accelerated, and the nobles restored enough strength to rejoin the fight against the Empire. The battle lines gradually pushed skyward toward the residential districts.
"Still, there are just so many." Aisha looked up.
The dense points of light in the mist… each one a summoned enemy. Even if they were mass-produced monsters, sheer numbers made them difficult to handle.
And what unsettled Aisha and Miles most wasn't even the frontline.
It was the occasional terrifying roars from deeper in the mist, and the vague outlines of colossal monsters visible even through the haze.
They were far away, and it was impossible to know who was fighting them.
Yet, somehow, even blurred through the fog, the negative emotions carried in those beasts' roars struck Aisha's heart directly.
They were cries heavy with sorrow.
"Is Sis… really okay?"
She had asked Ilon, and though he had said Alice was fine, his tone had been strange, leaving no room for further questioning.
"If this keeps up, it'll just turn into a battle of attrition. That favors them," Deion said. "Aisha, this is where your intelligence comes in, isn't it?"
"Information, huh. Yeah, that's our only option."
"What information? From where? Can we trust it?"
Before Aisha could elaborate, Kaima's three rapid-fire questions cut in.
"From the hostage."
Aisha pointed upward.
"Even if we can't see it through the mist, the enemy's base—the supermassive sky palace, Concord of Bells—is right above the capital. It's commanded by Cameron Slint, the Empire's Supreme General."
Of course, this intelligence had come from Luca Slint, the so-called Millennium hostage.
They hadn't even needed to interrogate her—Luca had blurted everything out herself.
("Just wait, you're all dead! My dad's warship will bomb you into the ground!")
One line, and the ship and commander were fully exposed.
"And the hostage?" Kevin asked curiously.
"Hung up on a tree."
Deion gestured toward a pine tree looming in the mist. Luca dangled from a branch like a teru teru bozu, bound and suspended once again.
On a battlefield shrouded in fog and shellfire, the enemy general's daughter hung there like a charm for clear skies.
Of course, stray bullets or shells would make her the first casualty.
Not that Locke Slint seemed to care in the slightest about his granddaughter's safety. When they returned to the palace, the near-centenarian marshal was gone, unconcerned about Miles's group executing her.
"So that's it. The Empire's command ship is directly above."
With that one piece of intel, Kaima instantly understood.
"Take the commander first, and the army will fall. In any war, destroy the flagship and the tide turns."
And here, the Slint family had only one warship. If it was shot down, the battle would be decided.
"As expected of Kaima. Right on the mark." Deion said, "But Aisha and I already discussed this. To break through their encirclement, pierce the fog, and reach the ship above, we need overwhelming power… something no ordinary Duel Monster can do."
"A monster of absolute strength, then."
Kaima's lips curved into a confident smile as he drew cards from his Spirit Eyes Deck.
Blue-Eyes White Dragon!
Three of them!
And a Polymerization!
"The ultimate evolution of the strongest dragons—open the path to victory! Fusion Summon! Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!!"
The supreme form of the three Blue-Eyes, wings spread wide, its kingly roar shook the battlefield.
"Together, we'll bring down the general's flagship in a Duel!"
"We…?" Aisha tilted her head uneasily.
"You, Aisha Carlos!"
Kaima leapt onto the dragon's back and, without giving her a chance to refuse, pulled her up into her arms.
"Ah—wait—!"
So this was the style of a domineering CEO?
It was the first time Aisha had been so close to Kaima. The scent and softness of a "man's" body pressed against her, her heart racing. And "he" was… very broad.
"Hold on tight, Aisha!"
"W-wait, Kaima, I'm not ready—"
"No time to waste!"
Ignoring her protests, Kaima fixed her gaze skyward, seeking the breakthrough point amidst the war.
"Now! Soar, Blue-Eyes—!!"
With Kaima and the Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon roaring as one, its massive wings blasted a gale that carried it like a beam of light through the battlefield, ascending toward the Empire's supermassive warship.
...
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