With a thunderous rumble!
The roar of a building surging upward echoed through the hall.
Dark Demon's eyes blazed.
A giant Ferris wheel rose up behind him, in an instant punching through the ceiling of the hall.
A carousel hung with colored lights appeared beside Ryan Hacks; he swiftly snatched up the unconscious Tom Nixon and, with a single push of his foot, leapt rapidly away.
But where he landed, roller-coaster tracks surged up like a dragon, carrying the two of them into the sky.
A light melody played along with the spinning of the carousel horses.
A river channel descended from above; drifting boats floated up from the riverbed, kicking up great splashes of water.
Countless colored lights dropped suddenly from the ceiling.
A giant plaster statue of Pancham appeared nearby.
From a haunted-house door that opened in the wall came the wails of ghosts and phantoms.
Most of the hall, centered on Dark, was covered by "[Paradise]" in mere moments.
Though it was the first time he'd summoned such a large-scale "[Paradise]", Dark's attention wasn't drawn away in the slightest.
He fixed his focus on the hero of the Golden Generation—the Blood Princess—the second Magic Guide Card already flipping up onto his fingertips.
…
"This is… a variant of Claire's '[Zoo]'?"
Ophelia Brad perceived the essence of "[Paradise]" in an instant, her pupils shrinking, a trace of surprise rising within her.
She'd thought that after watching Dark's matches at the Dueling Festival, she'd gained a fairly thorough understanding of his strength.
She'd never imagined that was merely the tip of the iceberg!
"But this works too…"
At that thought, a blood-red Magic Guide Card slid into Ophelia Brad's palm.
With a flick of two fingers, blood-light flowed within that Magic Guide Card.
As a graduate of St. Marian's Academy, Ophelia Brad was naturally an excellent Magic Guide Master.
A Magic Guide Card fused with Blood Magic, once successfully summoned, became a drop of thick plasma that fell.
"Drip!"
After a crisp sound, the plasma seemed to melt into the ground, then seeped upward from below, abruptly spreading out.
"Whoosh—"
As great amounts of magic power poured in, the plasma suddenly swelled, turning into rolling tides that surged in all directions.
Half the hall, centered on Ophelia Brad, was in a flash washed over and covered by the surging blood tide.
The blood waves crashed against the walls and rolled back, creating whirlpools of churning blood.
Virt and Robert, standing in the middle of the hall, in just a moment of dazed distraction, suddenly found the environment around them had drastically changed.
Ahead, the blood tide surged toward them; behind, [Paradise] rose from the ground.
"Move!"
Robert yanked Virt's arm, hauling the still-dazed man forcefully into [Paradise].
The ground beneath their feet was already covered with smooth stone tiles, clumps of greenery drilling up from below, brilliant flowers bursting into bloom.
The moment the two retreated into [Paradise], the blood tide washed over the spot behind them.
A surge of energy burst forth, and the momentum of the surging blood tide was crushed by [Paradise]; losing its forward force, it poured onto the ground and flowed into the cracks between the stone tiles.
The entire enormous hall was thus split in two.
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon—'Magic Guide Scribe'!"
Dark began the next round of Magic Guide Summoning without hesitation.
Within "[Paradise]", every Magic Guide Spirit belonging to Paradise needed only two seconds to summon.
As that Magic Guide book appeared and unfolded in his hand, Dark began setting up the field at maximum speed.
Leomon and Gatomon stepped forward abruptly, guarding before him like faithful sentinels.
Dark's magic power poured out like a tide, not growing unstable in the slightest from the overly fast summoning.
His exceptional talent for magic power was on full display in this moment.
"Snap!"
Ophelia Brad, having completed the summoning of "Blood Source Realm", raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
An instant later, an extremely complex magic circle appeared beside her.
That magic circle floated above the blood water, causing the flow of the blood to suddenly change, gathering toward the circle at its center, gradually forming a giant whirlpool.
A pillar-shaped mass of congealed blood erupted from the center of that whirlpool!
"Glug glug—"
Blood bubbles emerged from the top of the pillar, endlessly multiplying, finally congealing into the head of a beast, snake-like and wolf-like.
That beast head, at the very moment of its forming, opened its bloody maw wide, a glowing blood-orb rapidly condensing within its mouth.
"Roar!"
A roar sounded, and the blood-red orb of light suddenly erupted.
A blinding blood-red pillar of light instantly crossed the space, shooting toward Dark.
"Beast King Fist!"
But the lion's roar carrying the move's name outpaced the blast of the light pillar's launch; a lion-shaped energy wave surged out, biting down on the incoming pillar of light.
"Boom!"
The two energies exploded in the air.
Though "Beast King Fist" devoured the light pillar, it too dissipated into nothing.
Leomon held its punching stance, its momentum awe-inspiring.
But immediately after, beside Ophelia Brad, magic circles emerged one after another, like flowers blooming.
Then pillars of congealed blood drilled up simultaneously from the centers of the magic circles, with grotesque beast heads condensing at the tops of the blood pillars.
The expressions of Leomon and Gatomon turned grave.
…
But in that brief span, Dark had already summoned a great number of Magic Guide Spirits.
With the assistance of "Magic Guide Scribe" and "[Paradise]"'s shortening of summoning time, he could complete two summons every two seconds, then after another two-second interval, complete two more.
The remaining six first-tier Magic Guide Spirits belonging to "[Paradise]" needed only 10 seconds!
The first Magic Guide Spirit he summoned was [Magic Beast (Ditto)]…
"Mang mang!"
The moment Ditto appeared, it drilled into the "haunted house", its body's outline constantly wriggling and shifting.
Then "Shuckle" materialized within "Magic Guide Scribe"'s summoning, sharp-eyed as it observed the battlefield.
Immediately after, Dark summoned in succession "Hawlucha", "[Magic Beast (Eevee)]", "Popplio", and "Trash Slime".
The moment Hawlucha appeared, it flew up onto the Ferris wheel.
Little Eevee moved its four short little legs, dashing toward the "haunted house" behind.
Popplio's summoning circle lit up directly within that river channel; the moment it appeared, it dove to the bottom of the water, protecting itself.
Likewise, Trash Slime, after being summoned, immediately drilled into Shuckle's shell.
As members of "[Paradise]", their strength might be insufficient to take part in a battle of this level, but as long as they protected themselves, that was the best Helping Hand they could give their companions.
The presence of each Magic Guide Spirit provided a full 100 points of magic attack and defense to the Magic Guide Spirits belonging to "[Paradise]"!
Though these magic attack and defense points weren't counted within the base values, they were still a huge boost for any Magic Guide Spirit.
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon—'[Curse Cage]'!"
Dark raised his hand again, sealing DemiDevimon behind the "[Curse Cage]", and then "Magic Guide Scribe" performed Normal Summoning, calling out [Curse Cage: DemiDevimon] just two seconds later.
In this way.
The entire "[Paradise]" now held a full eight Magic Guide Spirits, with only the four-star "Sylveon" and "Miltank" left unsummoned.
The presence of these eight Magic Guide Spirits boosted each one's magic power, attack, and defense by a full eight hundred points.
Gatomon, equipped with "Honedge", thus reached an attack power alone of [1900+500+4X300+800=4400] points.
[Card Name: Gatomon]
[Magic Power: 2800]
[Attack: 4400]
[Defense: 2200]
Looking at the panel data alone, Gatomon had strikingly reached the level of a third-tier Magic Guide Spirit.
Compared to the strongest ace in Dark's hand—"Bastemon"—it was hardly inferior.
"Gatomon!"
Dark looked up at the blood pillars beside Ophelia Brad and let out a sharp shout.
"Meow!"
Gatomon rose to the call, the power surging through its body gradually exciting it.
Its two feet pushed hard, and it shot out in an instant!
That shadow of a white cat radiating an intense holy aura passed by Virt Gold's side like light, crossing into the domain of "Blood Source Realm" in a flash.
The blood water with its inherent corrosive effect was instantly swept aside by the holy power, the ground briefly revealing the color of its stone tiles before being filled with blood again.
Gatomon raced through the blood water, "Honedge" held at its side—one hand gripping the sheath, one hand the hilt—blinding white light continuously shooting from the gap of the sheath's mouth.
After crossing the distance between the two sides, it abruptly raised its head, amber cat eyes gravely fixed upon the Blood Princess's face.
In real combat, the decapitation tactic was always the first choice against spellcaster classes.
As long as the Blood Princess was slain, everything would end.
Gatomon's mental force condensed to its peak, the holy light in its sword-hand growing ever more intense.
But facing this ferociously charging white cat, Ophelia Brad merely smiled faintly, not retreating half a step.
The blood water beneath Gatomon's feet instantly surged into waves, disrupting its balance.
Immediately after, those beast heads opened their mouths in unison, blasting out blood-red pillars of light.
Over a dozen beams shot in densely, in an instant striking the spot where Gatomon was.
"Boom!"
The sound of the blast echoed through the hall.
But a white figure suddenly flashed out; the abruptly-drawn "Holy Sword" slashed like wind toward Ophelia Brad's neck.
The holy light erupting from the "Holy Sword", as the long blade swept flat, was like a wind-blade of light.
Time suddenly slowed to a crawl.
That sword-light closed in on the Blood Princess's snow-white neck at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In just a moment, the sight of her head parting from her body seemed about to fill their eyes.
"No!"
Virt Gold, pulled by Robert into [Paradise], widened his eyes in this instant, his eyes nearly splitting.
The Holy Sword he'd held in his hand all along burst with intense light under the stimulation of psychic power.
But Gatomon's sword strike would not stop for this.
And Ophelia Brad could not possibly be slain by this single strike.
"Bind!"
The single word spat from her mouth was clear and pleasant.
That waterfall of blood-red long hair began to move before the word had even sounded.
Bursting out at a speed faster than Gatomon.
In a single blink, Gatomon's limbs and body were densely wrapped and bound by the blood-red hair.
Its charging impact, its violent sword swing—all completely offset.
That blood-red hair didn't touch the "Holy Sword" in the slightest; the two thickest strands wrapped firmly around Gatomon's wrists.
With the power contained in Gatomon's own 3200 points of attack, it couldn't break free in the slightest.
For a moment, disbelieving shock flashed across Gatomon's face.
This was the first time since its birth that it had encountered such a powerful opponent; it had not the slightest anticipation of this scene.
But as its master, Dark Demon would never underestimate a hero of the Golden Generation—even though this hero hadn't been active on the battlefield for long.
"Cat Eyes!"
The timely command from his master brought Gatomon back to its senses in an instant; its two eyes went wide, releasing beams of light like crimson wheels.
Ophelia Brad, meeting its gaze at extremely close range, was momentarily distracted after the "Cat Eyes" light shone into her eyes.
Although that was merely because of the light entering her eyes, and not "Cat Eyes" truly taking effect, it still bought Dark precious time.
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon—'Blink Spell'!"
The moment the spell completed, Gatomon's body abruptly vanished from within the wrapping blood-red hair.
It appeared behind Ophelia Brad in its sword-swinging stance; with a twist of its wrist, Honedge's sword-tip suddenly pointed backward, passing under her armpit, thrusting sharply back!
"Squelch!"
The sound of piercing flesh was especially distinct.
Honedge's sword-tip, as if entering tofu, stabbed into Ophelia Brad's body.
The holy power contained within the "Holy Sword" erupted like a bomb.
"Boom!"
The left side of Ophelia Brad's waist was blasted clean through.
The gazes of those around instantly gathered upon her wound.
Disbelief showed in Ryan Hacks's eyes.
He'd never imagined Dark Demon's Magic Guide Spirit could truly harm the Blood Princess.
And Virt Gold let out a scream because of it.
He flung off Robert's hand, no longer caring about demon race or not, wanting only to rush recklessly to his mother's side.
But the moment he stepped into "Blood Source Realm", his shoes and socks were corroded by the blood water, stinging pain shooting up from his soles.
This froze him for an instant.
And it was in this instant of freezing that he discovered no blood at all sprayed from that terrible wound in Ophelia Brad's waist.
Instead, blood soaked the surface of the wound, and that wound was growing fresh new flesh at an extremely fast speed.
Ophelia Brad's expression didn't change; she didn't even turn her head to look at Gatomon behind her.
She had a very clear understanding of both Gatomon's "Hero Aptitude" and the "Holy Sword" it held, knowing exactly what degree of harm the two combined would inflict upon her.
But that was all.
She was the "Blood Princess", the last inheritor of the Blood Clan, controller of the power of blood, a healer no less capable than the Holy Church's "Holy Maiden", a healing expert bestowed with the name of "Princess"!
The holy power with absolute restraint over the demon race was effortlessly stripped from the wound by her.
The wound as large as a soup bowl healed in mere seconds.
The newborn skin was tender and delicate, radiating a faint luster.
Gatomon, having landed behind her, was utterly stunned the moment it turned its head, so much so that its stance readying a finishing strike halted on the spot.
Dark Demon's gaze contracted, gaining more understanding of the Blood Princess's strength.
But he'd long since prepared for this.
Gatomon, wielding "Honedge", was his ace against the Blood Princess who had already transformed into the demon race.
But not the only ace.
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon—'Lust III: Moon'!"
The chanting from "Magic Guide Scribe" sounded beside his ear; the radiance of "Lust" lit up half the field.
"Ditto" abruptly drilled out of the "haunted house", its body swelling ceaselessly, bathed in "Lust"'s radiance.
And Dark had already begun chanting the next Magic Guide Card—"Pride I"!
Under the effect of these two Magic Guide Cards, "Ditto"'s star rank broke through the first tier, reaching the second tier.
With the "haunted house"'s bonus to "Transform", it could break through the star-rank limit, partially copying a third-tier Magic Guide Spirit.
At the same time, it could copy partial data even from individuals other than Magic Guide Spirits.
This meant it could at most copy the ability data of a third-tier individual at six-star rank.
And this time, the target Dark chose for Transform was the Blood Princess!
"Transform, Ditto!"
Under the blazing radiance, Ditto rapidly shot up and grew from its pale-purple jelly-like body, transforming into an individual with no difference in appearance from Ophelia Brad whatsoever!
Although Ditto now had only the state and strength of Ophelia Brad at six-star rank, and only partial data at that, under [Paradise]'s bonus it could still attain the combat strength of seven-star, or even an ordinary eight-star!
[Card Name: Magic Beast (Ditto)]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ????]
[Race: Demon Species]
[Attribute: Dark]
[Magic Power: 400+800+1000]
[Attack: ??+800]
[Defense: ??+800]
[Ultimate Move: Blood Magic (Fragment)]
The information fed back from this Magic Guide Card, [Magic Beast (Ditto)], settled Dark's resolve further.
Ditto's "Transform"'s greatest flaw was insufficient magic power.
But under [Paradise]'s bonus, its mere four hundred magic power increased by a full eight hundred points, and because it transformed into the Blood Princess it gained the field effect bonus of "Blood Source Realm", adding a full thousand points of magic power.
Now it strikingly held 2200 points of magic power!
Ditto had likely never felt this surging sensation of magic power; extraordinarily thrilled, it let out a joyful cry.
Only, hearing "mang mang" cries coming from the Blood Princess's appearance was rather strange indeed…
But apart from Robert, no one paid attention to this.
"Ultimate Move… Blood Magic? Though it's fragmentary, at least this part of the data was successfully copied."
Dark commanded rapidly: "Ditto, use 'Blood Magic' to interfere with Ophelia Brad!"
"Hiss!"
Ditto nodded slightly; this time what it squeezed out of its mouth was, with great effort, the word "Yes."
Clearly, it had taken a large step forward in "speaking human words" too.
…
The atmosphere at the scene changed abruptly.
The appearance of a second Blood Princess made the blood water of "Blood Source Realm" surge with enormous waves.
Virt Gold turned to look at that replica of his mother; his face, which had relaxed at Ophelia Brad's wound healing, took on a subtle look.
And this time Ophelia Brad couldn't hold back a look of shock.
Dark hadn't used "Ditto" at the Easter Dueling Festival, giving her a discrepancy in her grasp of "Ditto"'s information.
She'd thought this Magic Guide Spirit, however marvelous, was limited to transforming into same-tier Magic Guide Spirits, never imagining it could actually become her, a Magic Guide Master!
As she knit her brows, she immediately released her perception, sensing Ditto.
The recovered Gatomon struck with its sword again, but Ophelia Brad's hair seemed to have eyes; without any command it swept back automatically, wrapping toward its limbs once more.
Its expression changed sharply; with a leap it swiftly distanced itself, watching Ophelia Brad warily.
Ophelia Brad's expression eased slightly, clearly having discovered that the "Blood Princess" copied by Ditto still had a gap from her true strength.
But Ditto's Transform still put pressure on her.
"It's time to be a bit more serious."
Under everyone's gaze, Ophelia Brad drew a second Magic Guide Card.
This one, different from "Blood Source Realm", radiated an aura of "balance and harmony".
The appearance of this aura was very abrupt coming from Ophelia Brad's hands.
But in fact, most of Ophelia Brad's Magic Guide Cards were like this.
Though not light-attribute, they lacked that dark, gloomy feeling.
"Come out, Blood Child."
A summoning of just three seconds, and a round-ball-shaped Magic Guide Spirit rapidly took form.
This Magic Guide Spirit's body was small, floating in the air like a balloon, with a cat-like head and stubby limbs.
And its star rank was only one star!
[Card Name: Magic Beast (Blood Child)]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ?]
[Race: Fairy Species]
[Attribute: Fairy-type]
[Magic Power: 100+1000]
[Attack: 100]
[Defense: 100]
[Ultimate Move: Spring of Blood, Blood Covet]
The aura unique to Magic Beasts made this "Blood Child"'s appearance immediately draw Dark's attention.
"Glug glug—"
Blood Child patted its belly, spitting out bubbles one after another.
Ophelia Brad flicked her fingers, and the blood water beneath "Blood Child"'s feet rapidly outlined the shape of a magic circle; a Blood Magic Circle appeared.
Then great amounts of blood water, using this Blood Magic Circle as a barrier, poured into "Blood Child"'s body.
This ball-sized Magic Guide Spirit began to swell and grow at a terrifying speed.
In a single blink, it had grown larger than Ophelia Brad's body, and was still swelling!
Dark's gaze contracted, realizing this Magic Beast's rarity was surely no less than his own Eevee and Ditto.
He seized the chance to glance at the Magic Guide Cards in his hand, choosing between "Lust III" and "Pride III".
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon—'Lust III'!"
DemiDevimon immediately drilled into the light of "Lust III", completing the evolution from "DemiDevimon" to "Black Gatomon".
"Black Gatomon" was inferior to "Devimon" in both strength and function, but Dark had already begun preparing to Fusion Summon "Bastemon".
"Gatomon, use 'Swords Dance'!"
Gatomon immediately held "Honedge" before itself, gazing at the blade, fully focused.
The face reflected within the blade carried thick fighting intent.
Its momentum surged abruptly!
The surging airflow spread in all directions, dispersing the blood water that came surging in again and again.
…
Dark Demon's high-speed summoning and Ophelia Brad's slow-paced summoning formed a stark contrast.
This was a difference formed both by tactical style and by the two sides' differing understandings of Magic Guide dueling.
In other words, the difference between the dueling faction and the practical-combat faction.
Duelists skilled at dueling matches usually liked to summon more cards at the fastest possible speed, thereby winning through overwhelming force.
But Magic Guide Masters of battlefield origin leaned more toward winning with the fewest Magic Guide Cards and the least magic power.
They wouldn't rush to exhaust their hand, because their opponents were never just one.
Of course, this didn't mean practical-combat-faction Magic Guide Masters couldn't summon at high speed.
It was just that sometimes, they didn't want to.
…
After summoning [Magic Beast (Blood Child)], Ophelia Brad merely used Blood Magic to assist it.
"Blood Child" had in the blink of an eye swelled into a giant sphere five or six meters in diameter, and its three stats of magic power, attack, and defense also kept rising with its increasing size, reaching some extremely terrifying realm.
Its already stubby limbs had now completely retracted into the giant sphere.
Ophelia Brad stroked the Magic Beast that had followed her for many years, then gave it a light pat.
This "Blood Child" abruptly began to Rollout!
At the same time.
The beast heads atop those dozen-plus blood pillars also opened their mouths once more.
Clearly, they had completed a new round of charging; the second round of beams was about to spray forth.
"Rumble!"
"Blood Child" rolled with astonishing momentum, rolling toward the domain of "[Paradise]" in a crushing manner.
In the midst of rolling, its size was still explosively growing!
The tall, massive Leomon became relatively tiny before it.
But Leomon had no fear.
"Hah!"
After a violent shout, Leomon thrust out both palms, forcibly halting "Blood Child"'s rolling momentum.
Then the evolution-completed "Black Gatomon" charged up swiftly, striking "Blood Child" with a skyward-launching "Cat Punch"!
"Riiip!"
The sharp cat claws tore an extremely long claw mark across "Blood Child"'s hide.
But "Blood Child", not caring in the slightest, opened its mouth and inhaled; more and more blood water poured into its body, until the surrounding blood water was actually sucked completely dry.
Then, it neither used "Self-Destruct" like some terrifying monsters of its kind, nor grew any strange tentacles; it merely pointed its mouth backward and abruptly exhaled!
The energy stored within its body erupted in an instant, like a rocket thruster, granting itself a thrust of terrifying force.
Leomon's expression shifted instantly; unable to hold on any longer, it was knocked over by "Blood Child" in a flash, slammed flying to one side.
Seeing that the "Blood Child" which had knocked Leomon flying was unstoppable, with the momentum to crush all of Paradise's buildings and smash all life to death.
Dark Demon merely called out: "Shuckle."
"Mang mang!"
Shuckle's gaze suddenly sharpened, the white light representing its psychic power erupting in an instant.
Ultimate Move—"Power Split"!
"Blood Child"'s power was instantly halved.
But its rolling momentum didn't disappear.
Shuckle's weight class made it hard to block this "Blood Child"'s rolling as well.
But Shuckle still stood squarely before Dark, swinging its tiny fist at this giant "Blood Child".
"Bang!"
The attack power split over from "Blood Child" was put on display, at least slowing "Blood Child"'s rolling speed.
But the shift of the force point immediately pressed Shuckle beneath "Blood Child", which then rolled over it.
Though Shuckle didn't take much damage, it had already been rolled past.
Still, with its obstruction, Dark had successfully shifted position.
Dark's focus wasn't on this "Blood Child" either.
Gatomon, having completed the "Swords Dance" charge, had once again raised the "Holy Sword" high, racing toward Ophelia Brad.
The blood water along its path split apart instantly under Ditto's control, giving it far greater grip while running.
The sword-wind wrapped around its body could also effectively sever Ophelia Brad's long hair.
This momentum reached its peak—a single strike that pushed "Swords Dance" to the extreme, irresistible, slaying all monsters!
…
Ophelia Brad turned her eyes to the once-again-charging Gatomon, an imperceptible trace of yearning flashing in her eyes.
She was so familiar with the aura of the "Holy Sword".
Yet the woman she was now, upon touching the aura of the "Holy Sword", could only feel stinging pain.
The coldness between Ophelia Brad's brows finally couldn't hold.
Her demeanor gradually returned to the way she'd been when Dark first met her in the Goblin Antique Bookstore.
"But it's still not enough…"
A soft sigh.
Ophelia Brad felt the fluctuations of the Ritual and closed her eyes.
The Holy Sword was irresistible.
But the person wielding the Holy Sword was not.
In real combat, no one would let a blade reach their body.
All the blood pillars turned their beast heads in this instant, thick blood-red beams shooting out again, striking Gatomon's body.
Gatomon's forward momentum was immediately checked; it had to weave left and right, dodging the light pillars.
And Ophelia Brad had already begun summoning her third Magic Guide Card.
The blood water around her stirred restlessly in this moment, but under the pressure of her magic power, it still didn't successfully burst up.
The gap between Ditto and her was still far, far too great.
The moment the summoning succeeded, the blood water throughout the entire hall suddenly surged up, madly gathering toward that Magic Guide Card raised high in her hand.
Even those dozen-plus blood pillars turned back into magic power.
"Blood Source Realm" instantly ran dry.
A humanoid Magic Guide Spirit appeared beside Ophelia Brad.
The fluctuations of the Ritual sharply intensified!
____
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