Chapter 1189: The World-Ending Ritual

When the incident occurred, Akiza was still asleep.

In her dream, she saw Yusei—a man who had stood before her in the Fortune Cup arena, telling her to learn to love herself and think for herself.

Then she saw Goodwin. He had given her a second chance at life, helping her shed her cursed past and embrace a new future.

Yet, compared to Yusei—who had also helped change her life—she felt that Goodwin had too many secrets. Sometimes she suspected she'd never truly known this silver-haired authority figure.

Perhaps this was why she had such a terrifying dream.

She dreamed that, behind Goodwin's gentle surface, there lurked something monstrous—like a Dark Signer, or an Earthbound Immortal—something utterly beyond her comprehension, with desires too vast to imagine.

"Mm…ah!"

Akiza jolted awake, discovering that even her bedsheets were drenched—soaked in sweat.

She sat up, clutching her chest, gasping for air.

Why did she have such a wild and nonsensical dream?

"Ow!"

She suddenly realized what woke her: a sharp pain. Instinctively hugging her arm, she saw the red shine of her Dragon Mark flickering erratically.

"The Dragon Mark?" Akiza was puzzled.

After the Dark Signers were defeated, the mark had remained silent. She'd thought their duty was done and the Dragon Marks would never glow again.

Why now…?

Looking out her window, Akiza's pupils suddenly shrank.

She was witnessing a world-altering phenomenon.

In the heart of bustling New Domino City, the neon lights painted haze in the damp night air before the rain, and in this shimmer, the sky looked as if torn by some unseen force. Lightning and thunder collided overhead, creating a thunderous celestial spectacle—every flash like the heavens ablaze in anger.

A swirling dimensional vortex quietly unfurled within the dense clouds, emitting a chilling, deep blue gleam, as if bridging reality and the unknown. Natural forces were being twisted in unimaginable ways: massive Nasca Lines seemed to materialize in the sky, depicting the figure of a soaring condor.

Just like the Nasca Condor geoglyph—but now, the previously abstract lines appeared startlingly lifelike. Broad wings, piercing eyes—its presence between sky and earth felt as though it might break free at any moment.

At that same moment, in the Satellite District across the city, the abandoned perpetual motion engine suddenly seemed to roar back to life.

Once the crystallization of human ingenuity, now a forgotten ruin, the perpetual engine shot a dazzling column of rainbow-colored light into the clouds. The colors interwove and spun, forcefully tearing a rift in the very air.

"What's happening?" Akiza was stunned, clutching her arm.

The Dark Signer war was over, so why was the Dragon Mark flaring up again? Could it be—

And that Nasca condor's direction—it looked like…the Sector Security?

"Goodwin!"

Without a moment's delay, Akiza leapt out of bed and rushed straight toward the Security.

By the time she reached the site depicted by the condor lines, her surprise only deepened.

She saw the altar.

A towering altar, its tiers rising skyward, right beneath the vast Nasca Condor.

Getting closer, she realized Yusei, Jack, Crow, the little girl Luna—also a Dragon Mark holder—and her brother Leo were already gathered there.

"Everyone?" Akiza asked, "Were you all summoned here by your Dragon Marks too? What's going on?"

Yusei replied, "Not sure. The marks suddenly reacted, and then…this happened outside..."

Before he finished, Crow shouted, "Hey! Look up there!"

Everyone looked: a figure had appeared atop the altar.

Silver hair, handsome face, fit build, white suit, hands behind his back—an image of total control.

"Goodwin?" Yusei called out.

"What's happening?"

Standing atop the altar, "Goodwin" smiled, "What's happening? Exactly what it looks like.

The powers of the Wicked Gods are resonating with the old perpetual motion engine in Satellite—the Door to the Netherworld is about to open."

Everyone's faces paled.

"If the Door opens, is the world doomed?!" Yusei demanded.

"Goodwin" replied calmly, "Precisely."

Yusei gritted his teeth. "But why? Didn't we win? The Dark Signers have already been defeated. Why now…?"

Jack barked, "Goodwin! Did you do something behind the scenes? I've always suspected you had a hidden agenda!"

"Goodwin" laughed, "The intuition of the former King is sharp as always. By the way, have you ever wondered where the final Signer is?

Why, after all the Dark Signer battles, your last teammate has never appeared?"

The revelation startled everyone.

Akiza was the first to speak. "Weren't you the final Signer, Goodwin?"

"Goodwin" snorted with a cold smile, "I never claimed that. That was just your assumption. Now, let me show you the truth..."

He suddenly pulled out a glass cylinder from behind, filled with a nutrient solution and a swarm of rising bubbles.

In that moment, everyone saw it: floating in the liquid, unmistakable—a severed hand! Cleanly cut at the elbow, bearing the same Dragon Mark as the four of them.

This hand belonged to the last Signer!

Akiza gasped aloud.

How could this be?

The last Signer—the one bearing the Dragon's Head Mark—wasn't Goodwin?

And the arm was already cut off, held in Goodwin's hand—what had he done to the owner?

Memories of her nightmare flashed through Akiza's mind again.

Rex Goodwin—could such a soft-spoken man really be hiding a devil none had noticed?

"I used this last Dragon Mark to summon you all to this place,"

"Goodwin" declared calmly.

"Because only then could the final ritual begin."

Yusei asked in a low voice, "What ritual?"

The "Goodwin"'s reply was an ominous smile. "Naturally—a ritual to summon the King of the Netherworld and end the world."

…