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"A pity. Cards this extraordinary rest upon an original worldview, and that single point alone is enough to stop everyone else dead in their tracks." In the depths of his heart, Tobias finally failed to hold back a sigh. This feeling of pursuing what could never be obtained was, for a Card Master obsessed with cards, nothing short of a torment.
And then, of course, there was the most crucial point of all: standing behind Luke was Lilith of the Undying Realm. Against a peak powerhouse second only to The Supreme, anyone who tried to seize Luke's achievements by force would meet an end far uglier than mere torment.
But never mind Tobias. Even Aldric and Edmund, Immortals both, remained equally unaware that behind Luke stood not only Lilith, but the terrifying existence that was Celestine as well. Only Geoffrey Falk, through a chance encounter back then, had ever glimpsed Celestine a single time.
"It truly is so. Though this is also my first time seeing Sistermon Blanc evolve into Sistermon Ciel." Selene's eyes likewise flickered with a thread of surprise. This little junior brother's secrets really weren't few. "And that new card spirit. Don't tell me it's yet another dragon-family card?"
At this moment, Selene was watching Guilmon with lively interest. "Though no matter how I look at it, doesn't this new card spirit seem a bit adorably dopey?"
Guilmon outside its combat state was indeed dopey in the extreme, but Selene didn't dare underestimate it on that account. Sistermon Blanc was, after all, the living example. The card spirits this little junior brother of hers crafted could never be measured with an ordinary eye.
Goodness. If I weren't absolutely certain Luke was a Capital native of the Ancient Kingdom, I'd have half believed he came from Dragon's Valley's own people.
In that moment, exactly such a thought flashed through Selene's mind.
"This is my first time seeing a card this extraordinary. Evolution, is it?" Unlike Tobias and Selene, who held some understanding of Luke, Moira was witnessing the entire course of a Sistermon's evolution for the very first time.
Even though Luke was the exam champion, Moira had only ever known the result, that this cohort's number one was Luke. She had never gone back to review the exam itself. Then again, there had been no footage available for her to review in the first place.
But none of that hindered her interest in the Digimon cards, all the more so given Tobias's and Selene's reactions, which proved well enough on their own that Luke's card spirits were anything but simple.
It was only that her own deck's theme was the plant family, and so the pull Luke's Digimon cards exerted on her fell far short of what one might imagine.
Instead, Moira's gaze came to rest far more upon Elise, and the choices within the girl's plant-family deck drew from her a quiet, approving nod.
Amid the three's running commentary, the twenty minutes slipped past in a blink.
---
"Three-Star mimic fierce beasts to start, the same opening as the exam's second phase. But this is the Academy's entrance trial in the end. The beasts deployed later will only grow stronger and stronger, and on top of that, you have to make sure meeting each new wave doesn't drain you too badly. That makes this a genuine test of a Card Master's mana and tactical allocation."
The moment the twenty minutes elapsed, a clamor of chaotic sound rose from every direction, and then roughly ten-odd mimic fierce beasts emerged one after another, ringing Luke in on all sides, roaring and launching their attacks the instant they laid eyes on their target.
*「 Mimic Fierce Beast 」*
Quality: Rare
Level: ★★★ (Three-Star)
Skills: Omitted
Description: A product unique to the Trial Road, possessing destructive power and aggression akin to a fierce beast's. Its sole purpose of existence is to destroy everything before it. Slaying it yields no drops of any kind.
"So they're existences that merely resemble fierce beasts. No wonder they're called mimic fierce beasts." Taking in the scene, Luke quietly committed the point to memory. "Not that any of it matters. Guilmon, these mimic fierce beasts are all yours to handle."
Rather than deploying Mana, Luke handed the task of dealing with the mimic beasts entirely to Guilmon. The beasts surrounding him this round numbered past ten, but their individual strength still fell short of Guilmon's, which made them the perfect whetstone for a test.
"Roar!" At Luke's words, the aura of the once dopily adorable Guilmon transformed in an instant. The primal combat instinct woven into its very being left Guilmon without a shred of fear toward the mimic beasts before it. There was only the hunger to attack, and with a bellow, it struck first.
"Wah!" Watching the scene unfold, Mana gave an outright start. She'd never once imagined that Guilmon, dopey as it had always seemed, had been hiding a side this ferocious.
Pyro Sphere!
Flame rounds of astonishing heat sprayed forth, and every single one of Guilmon's attacks landed with pinpoint precision on a single enemy, each and every one a one-hit kill. Not one mimic fierce beast managed to survive a Pyro Sphere and remain standing.
"In the design, the attack strength of Guilmon's Pyro Sphere can rival a Champion-stage Digimon. Its destructive power goes far beyond just this." Under Luke's and Dark Magician Girl's gazes, the ten-odd mimic beasts had barely advanced a few steps before Guilmon cleared away the lot of them. "A pity. Three-Star mimic beasts' strength caps out where it does. For now, there's no way to test the upper limit of Pyro Sphere's attack."
The entire process took no more than a few dozen seconds, and consumption on that level was hardly worth mentioning to Guilmon.
Having resolved every last one of the incoming mimic beasts, Guilmon reverted to its dopily adorable look, scampering back before Luke and butting its big head against him without pause, plainly angling for its reward.
"Well done." Luke gave Guilmon's head an amused pat. "But the enemies from here on will only come stronger. Stay sharp when the time arrives."
As he spoke, Luke glanced toward the Trial Crystal at his side, where the points had climbed from the base one hundred to one hundred fourteen.
"A single Three-Star mimic fierce beast earns only one point? These points really aren't easy to come by."
"Master, why does this Trial Crystal feel icy-cold to the touch?" While Luke pondered, Dark Magician Girl had reached out in curiosity and prodded the Trial Crystal, and then her eyes went round. "Eh? You can even pick it up and carry it?"
The Trial Crystal settled into Mana's hand, and all she felt from it was thread after thread of glacial cool. Beside her, Guilmon, catching sight of this, crowded its big head over for a look as well, and upon concluding that the crystal was not, in fact, edible, promptly lost the greater part of its interest.
"The Trial Crystal can be moved?" Watching that scene, Luke's brows arched despite himself, a hidden gleam turning in his eyes as a thread of speculation rose in his heart. "Mana, when the second batch of mimic fierce beasts deploys, take the Trial Crystal and fly outward."
"Understood." Though she didn't know why Luke wanted it done, Dark Magician Girl complied without a second question.
Half an hour passed in unbroken calm. The first wave of deployed mimic beasts had posed no impact and no threat to a single new student, and soon enough, the second wave's deployment arrived.
Mana had already flown off ahead of schedule, the Trial Crystal in her keeping, which left only Guilmon at Luke's side.
Even so, the second wave of mimic fierce beasts posed Luke no threat whatsoever. Just as with the first, a few dozen seconds was all it took before Guilmon wiped them out once more.
"All right, Mana, you can come back now." Confirming that the second wave of mimic beasts had been fully resolved, Luke linked up Dark Magician Girl's circuit.