"Saiou Takuma was originally a divination master. Abandoned by his parents for being different since childhood, he relied on his sister Mizuchi."
Fujino began to introduce the information they had gathered.
"There is reliable evidence that he possesses supernatural powers to a certain extent, enabling him to predict the future—a rare talent."
"You mean superpowers?" Mokuba asked.
"You could say that," Fujino nodded, continuing, "but something might have happened to him thereafter. He disappeared for a while, with no clues to trace him during that time, as if he vanished into thin air.
His name only recently resurfaced in our view and is suspected to be the leader of the newly emerging 'Light Society.'"
Kaiba, who had been silent, started speaking coldly: "Do you know the whereabouts of this guy Saiou?"
"We... have clues," Fujino carefully chose his words, "but the investigation is a process, and the other party is very cunning. We still know very little about this 'Light Society'..."
It was evident this was his euphemistic expression for "unable to find."
Kaiba showed a disdainful expression, his face practically saying "Is that all?"
Youyu shrugged, "Don't be too hard on them, President. Government departments, you know. Sometimes they can't even find their own people."
Fujino sensed the blunt sarcasm, feeling embarrassed, and his face became stern: "That's nonsense. I am fully aware of where every one of my agents is and what they're doing!"
Youyu quirked an eyebrow skeptically: "Really?"
"...Most of them." With Youyu's gaze, Fujino seemed less confident, "They have always been responsive to my inquiries."
"What about the rest?"
Fujino contemplated briefly: "I don't usually ask them what they're doing."
"..."
Youyu had long realized that this man was technically the head of the D Department, but really not precise.
Officer Fujino was more a figurehead than a leader. His work leaned more towards maintaining appearances, running errands, coordinating between departments and businesses.
For instance, coming to negotiate with Kaiba Company.
In other words, he was in charge of face projects, influencing general policies and actions within the department, but not much of the actual operation.
Thus, he wasn't always clear on where his people were and what they were doing.
"However, we have new progress, and that's one of the topics I'm here to discuss."
Fujino pulled up a new image on the projection screen.
It seemed to be a video clip set in polar regions, featuring blurry glaciers and ice sheets.
Even after post-production processing, the video's image was poorly defined, reminiscent of Japanese adult films' hazy images from years ago...
The video started playing, the progress bar slowly moving. First, there was an unbearable noise, then a roar of something, a thunderous explosion swirling within the clouds beyond.
Something moved in the blurry image.
At first, Youyu thought it was part of the glacier until it started twisting its body drastically, distinguishing between them.
It was a body larger than the frozen mountains, dancing amidst a storm surrounded by ice and snow. Golden lightning encircled its side, twisting three long and flexible necks, each head emitting lightning that penetrated the sky.
The video was short, only around a minute, and the progress bar quickly reached its end.
After viewing it, Youyu felt that the Monster's silhouette looked...
...so familiar?
"This was footage captured in Antarctica. Although just a brief moment, we can confirm it's an extremely terrifying existence, an apocalyptic entity... another apocalyptic entity."
Possibly due to realizing there had been too many apocalyptic encounters since joining, Fujino added "another."
Youyu mused for a moment: "What's its codename? Let me guess, wouldn't it conveniently be 'Ghidorah'?"
"What? What's that?" Fujino looked confused, "No, definitely not. Why would you think so? My experts prefer to call it...
...'Monster Zero'."
Youyu: "..."
Alright, it sounds similar, evidently referring to the same thing.
He was now sure that the big guy in the video was undoubtedly a member of the "Kaiju" series, the highest echelon of the top-tier Kings.
In a parallel world, it has a more renowned and fearsome title—
—King Ghidorah!
Ghidorah, the most recognized villainous monster in Toho's Godzilla series, set as the series' first extraterrestrial being, has the title "Strongest Series Antagonist."
It possesses three dragon heads, bat-like wings, breathes lightning, with golden-scaled armor.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh world, Ghidorah also has three dragon heads, bat-like wings, breathes lightning, looking almost identical, except its scales are silver-white instead of gold.
Here, it's called "Thunder King, the Lightningstrike Kaiju."
"Our experts believe Monster Zero is extraterrestrial, a cosmic species. It came to Earth in ancient times and has never left," Fujino continued, "It's frozen in Antarctica for unimaginable ages.
Now it's awakened and could bring disaster at any time."
Mokuba stared at the vague silhouette in the video for a while: "Is it strong?"
"My people have had brief encounters with it... Let's just say, its strength exceeds our conventional understanding of Duel Monsters.
We have reasons to believe this entity qualifies as a 'god' level threat, mishandling it may impact the entire human civilization!"
Youyu knew that the "god" level mentioned was a governmental assessment for Duel Monsters threat levels. Generally, this level is the ceiling of disasters, implying apocalypse risk.
"Therefore, we haven't abandoned tracing Monster Zero's whereabouts, perhaps it still lurks somewhere in Antarctica." Fujino said, "And during recent investigations, our two clues overlapped—
—It appears that the Light Society is also searching Monster Zero, seemingly wanting to know its location."
This caught Youyu's attention.
Could there be a connection between the Light of Destruction and Ghidorah?
"This is one of the main reasons I'm here," Fujino looked earnestly at President Haima, "We plan to act in Antarctica soon. Though unwilling to admit, this level of opponent might exceed our department's capabilities.
So we hope President Haima can join us, with a powerful, unparalleled Duelist like you among us..."
"I refuse," Kaiba replied without hesitation.
Fujino swallowed the latter part of his sentence but didn't give up: "Think carefully, President. This isn't just about you and me; it concerns world safety!"
"None of my business," Kaiba scoffed, "I have no interest in cooperating with deceitful military and government institutions. No one in the entire system is trustworthy."
"But... but President, you have me," Fujino tried to justify, "See, I've never lied to you, have I?"
Kaiba looked at him coldly: "You wanted me to believe you were the actual department head."
Fujino was momentarily speechless.
"That... it's not called deception on our side."
"What do you call it then?"
The officer looked elsewhere under President Haima's aggressive gaze.
"It's just a specific interpretation of existing facts from certain angles..."
Youyu understood: "Don't you mean bragging?"
"..."
"Anyway, I have a lot to deal with," Kaiba said indifferently, "Not available to meddle in your 'world safety' matters."
He paused before changing his tone, "However, Youyu can go with you."
Youyu: "???"
How did it suddenly involve me?
"Him?" Fujino looked at Youyu disdainfully.
"Why? You doubt my people's ability?"
"No... not..."
Youyu asked, "But President, originally, wasn't I supposed to duel the KC champion?"
"Plans can't keep up with changes."
Kaiba snorted, eyes fierce, raising the Duel Disc in his hand.
"I'll take your place."
Youyu: "..."
Good grief, President, are you plotting to steal my cards for the duel?