Chapter 168: Dark Demon's Two-Fifths
[Phantom Beast: Eevee (Pride II)]
→ [Defense: (300+2200)÷2=1250]
It was Shuckle, using its psychic ability—[Defense Share] at a critical moment, adding its own 2200 Defense to Eevee's 300 Defense and then splitting the total, causing Eevee's Defense value to instantly surge from 300 to 1250 points!
With the Anubis Hound's 900 Attack, it was utterly impossible to penetrate Eevee's current Defense!
"Woof-howl!"
The Anubis Hound, failing its attack, immediately retreated.
It crouched low, letting out a growl.
A wisp of black mist overflowed from its eyes.
A faint white light, meanwhile, emanated from Eevee's body.
That was the manifestation of Shuckle's psychic ability!
This entire exchange of offense and defense happened in mere seconds.
Dark gave no commands; it was entirely Eevee and Shuckle's independent judgment.
Eevee abandoned defense, using [Round Gaze] to block the Bennu Bird's finishing blow.
Shuckle, in turn, gave it a "shield," fending off the Anubis Hound's sneak attack!
Everything transpired in a flash.
The audience hadn't even reacted, yet the two Magic Guide Spirits had already performed an incredibly brilliant coordinated attack.
To use a worn-out phrase, it was a textbook-worthy brilliant maneuver!
But it wasn't over yet.
Eevee seized the opening when the Anubis Hound retreated.
It didn't counterattack, but instead sharply turned and pounced on the Sphinx Cat!
Shuckle's skill duration was very short, and its cooldown was extremely long.
By the time Eevee's paw forced the Sphinx Cat back, the psychic glow on its body had already become very faint.
"Grr-woo!"
The Sphinx Cat let out an extremely unwilling roar.
But its magic power was actually already running low.
From using "Shadow Stomp" to lock down Shuckle until now, being forced back, two full rounds had passed.
"Damn it!"
Sara gritted her teeth, wishing she could devour Eevee-chan!
But she still grasped the situation on the field with extreme speed.
Both the Anubis Hound and Sphinx Cat's Finishing Moves were on cooldown.
Among them.
The Anubis Hound still had combat capability, but the Sphinx Cat was at the point of crumbling at a touch.
In contrast, the opponent's Magic Guide Spirits.
Shuckle had regained mobility.
Eevee was in peak condition.
The situation was clearly developing unfavorably for her.
But she still had hope.
The Bennu Bird in the sky was only emotionally affected by [Round Gaze]; once it recovered, the Magic Orb's Life Barrier, with only 13 Magic Power remaining, couldn't withstand its casual attack!
And neither Shuckle nor Eevee were Magic Guide Spirits capable of reaching high altitudes.
As long as she could hold out until that moment!
Sara somewhat calmed herself, immediately ordering the Anubis Hound to retreat to defense!
"Thinking from Dark's perspective, Shuckle's movement speed is extremely slow, and it doesn't possess long-range attack capabilities.
"Eevee won't be able to defeat the Anubis Hound in a short while.
"His only method now should be a Sacrifice Summon!
"But this Eevee is now a two-star Magic Guide Spirit.
"Two stars plus three stars equals five stars!
"Unless Dark still possesses a five-star Magic Guide Spirit card in his hand, I remain undefeated!"
The exclamations from outside the arena didn't affect Sara's train of thought.
She was gradually becoming calm.
"Meow-mrrrow!"
Sara suddenly looked up towards the opponent across thirty meters!
"Dark Demon, how will you break this deadlock?"
How to break the deadlock?
While Sara was thinking rapidly, Dark was also calculating.
His deck had a total of twelve cards.
Starting hand drew five cards in the Preparation Phase.
Drew two more cards in the second round.
That left five cards.
What was the probability of drawing [Lust III] in the third round?
The answer was…
Two-fifths!
"Two-fifths probability, that's already quite high!"
[30s]
Third round, draw!
Dark swiftly drew two new Magic Guide cards from the top of his deck and immediately checked them.
▼
[Magic Bullet Charm]
[Lust III]
▲
"Got it!"
A clear flicker of excitement crossed his face.
Dark sharply raised [Lust III]!
This Magic Guide card with a golden-pink face, after a summon activation of less than four seconds, suddenly released an extremely intense pink glow!
The Bennu Bird, flapping its wings in the air, had just begun to show signs of returning to normal when it was immediately captivated by this pink light.
Even the Anubis Hound was momentarily frozen by it.
Students outside the arena gazed at the pink light, which wasn't actually dazzling.
The Magic House students instinctively felt an ominous premonition.
The Noble House students, however, saw it as a sign of a comeback!
Only Virt Gold suddenly clutched the [Forbidden Love] in his hand!
The way Dark commanded [Lust III].
was remarkably similar to how he commanded [Forbidden Love]!
Only [Lust III]'s light was much more intense than his pink mist, and its captivating effect was more domineering!
The difference was.
[Lust III] didn't primarily focus on enchantment, so after the light receded, the Magic Guide Spirits affected by it would quickly regain clarity.
After noticing the Anubis Hound's eyes rapidly returning to normal.
Virt couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"It's still different."
Of course, it was different!
The leap from one-star to two-star was already surprising enough.
But at this moment, [Phantom Beast: Eevee] was not just an increase in star level and rank; its card art—its form—also underwent drastic changes under the strong pink light!
"How is this possible?!"
Sara Swati slammed her palm onto the card table!
Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
The audience outside had already held their breath.
The area around Arena #1 instantly became quiet.
Professor Jones similarly looked on in astonishment at Eevee's form change.
Phantom Beasts, by nature, were amorphous mythical creatures.
They were ethereal and elusive.
Before being seen by someone, their forms were uncertain.
They could be cats, dogs, or even dragons!
Every person who saw a Phantom Beast might perceive it in a completely different form.
But after being refined into a Magic Guide Spirit.
During the process of [Phantom Beast] being created, the Magic Master would gain some cognition of it.
The moment it was seen by the Magic Master, its form would be permanently fixed to what the Magic Master perceived.
In Professor Jones's experience to date, he had never heard of a [Phantom Beast] with a fixed form being able to change again!
The more deeply one understood, the more incredible it seemed.
Dark Demon had undoubtedly broken this small piece of common sense and achieved unprecedented results in his research!
"He's only a first-year!"
Astonishment turned into admiration.
Professor Jones was immensely pleased that this Magic Guide genius hailed from his own academy.
And in the arena.
Under the illumination of [Lust III]'s light, the emblem of [Lust] appeared on Eevee's forehead.
A moonlight, tinged with a pink haze, emanated from its forehead.
Its small body rapidly transformed within the light.
From a mere 0.3 meters in height, it instantly grew to 1 meter tall.
Its originally brown, soft fur quickly took on a layer of deep black.
The ring-shaped patterns on its body emitted a pink glow.
It was a moon agent walking in the night, a captivating spirit symbolizing Lust!
The entire process seemed slow, but was actually extremely fast.
It lifted its head, and all residual light converged back into its forehead.
Umbreon, present!
Four seconds later.
Dark, without a moment to spare, drew [Pride I].
As the dark golden orb of light infused into Umbreon's body, this defiant one in the arena finally didn't run out of bounds.
"Shadow Ball!"
A pitch-black sphere emanating an evil aura instantly shattered the Bennu Bird's body.
Scattered feathers turned into fragmented specks of light amidst the intertwining gazes.
The Anubis Hound, protecting the blue Magic Orb, desperately tried to appear ferocious.
But from its constantly twitching hind legs, one could tell.
This was merely a show of bravado.
Sara, on the contestant stage, checked the six cards in her hand, her breathing unsteady.
Immediately after.
The Anubis Hound was torn apart by Umbreon, who had sprinted in like a gale!
The blue Magic Orb was left completely defenseless beneath its claws!
Sara Swati made no further futile struggles.
[1000→0]
"Battle end!"
"Winner: Dark Demon."
"Boom!"
Sound instantly returned.
The Noble House students outside the arena suddenly let out a cheer, rushing towards the red team's contestant stage as if greeting a hero. Despite some unclear elements, this duel was undoubtedly the most intense and spectacular duel of this competition!
They were like welcoming a champion!
[End Phase]
"Dark Demon!"
Sara's clear voice spread through the card table's amplification mechanism.
Dark flipped over the [Phantom Beast: Eevee] Magic Guide card to receive the light transformed from Umbreon.
He simultaneously looked up and responded.
Sara bit hard on her lower lip, suppressing the unwillingness in her heart, and wide-eyed, said, "It's not over yet!"
"Yes." Dark nodded slightly, "I'll wait for you in the finals."
As he walked off the contestant stage, Dark was surrounded by his classmates.
"Ohh!"
"Dark, you did it!"
"As expected of the Crimson Star recipient, you're just unlike a certain hero."
"At first I thought you were going to lose. Is this truly the charm of dueling?"
"You're amazing!"
There were both simple praises and meaningless backhanded compliments.
The Noble House students freely expressed their emotions.
Dark, surrounded in the center, faced his classmates' enthusiasm and merely demurred:
"No, I was just lucky. It was all a two-fifths decision."
By the time the students calmed down, this round of four matches had already concluded.
The eight contestants were divided into a winner's bracket and a loser's bracket.
Winner's Bracket: #1, #2, #5, #8
Loser's Bracket: #3, #6, #10, #7
Diana successfully defeated the Electrical Academy student.
Emma also achieved victory in her duel against a male student from the Magic House.
However, another Knight House student lost to the #4 contestant from the Electrical Academy.
The upcoming matches will be elimination rounds for the loser's bracket, from which two out of four will be selected.
The winner's bracket will continue to compete, also selecting two out of four.
The two from the winner's bracket who fall into the loser's bracket will duel the two survivors from the loser's bracket, and two more will be determined.
And so on.
During the match interval.
Dark sat on a side bench, organizing his cards.
In fact, his deck had significant flaws.
The most fatal among them was actually the extremely long cooldowns of the Sin series cards.
[Pride I]'s cooldown was 59 minutes.
[Pride II]'s cooldown was an exaggerated 180 minutes!
[Lust III]'s cooldown was better, at 120 minutes.
Although there will be a half-hour interval between each match in the winner's bracket for the upcoming matches.
From the eight-to-four stage to the grand finals, there are only 4 intervals, totaling 120 minutes.
This meant that [Pride II] would no longer be able to enter the field.
[Pride I] could enter the field after two intervals.
[Lust III] could only appear in the finals.
Therefore, he had to make some adjustments to his deck.
This duel with Sara Swati also served as a significant warning to him.
Among the first-years, he wasn't the only one making great strides.
Others were also advancing rapidly.
Before the next round of matches began.
Dark finally completed his deck adjustments.
Firstly, all six existing Magic Guide Spirit cards were definitely staying.
Secondly, some useless cards were swapped out for auxiliary cards.
The final result was:
▼
[Phantom Beast: Eevee],[Trash Slime],[Shuckle]
[Gatomon],[Miltank],[Sylveon]
[Push Spell],[Barrier Charm],[Barrier III]
[Magic Bullet Charm],[Fade Charm],[Blink Spell]
▲
Still twelve Magic Guide cards.
The ratio of Magic Guide Spirits to other Magic Guide card types was 1:1.
Although this deck didn't look entirely reliable, it was the best adjustment Dark could make.
He put his adjusted deck away, then stood up and walked towards the bulletin board where the schedule for the next stage was posted.
Students were quietly discussing around the bulletin board.
Upon seeing an eight-strong contestant approach, they all very conscientiously moved aside to make way.
Dark exchanged greetings with two enthusiastic classmates, then came up behind Diana, who was looking up with a troubled expression.
"What's wrong?" Dark casually asked.
Rose was the first to turn and wink at him.
Then Diana suddenly turned her head, aggrieved, "Unhappy, going to lose."
Dark looked up at the schedule: "Didn't they just announce the schedule? Why are you going to lose… (Oh) Uh…"
He saw that the first line of the winner's bracket read: #1 vs #2!
Winner's Bracket:
Arena #1: #1 vs #2
Arena #2: #5 vs #8
Loser's Bracket:
Arena #3: #9 vs #10
Arena #4: #7 vs #6
"So my next opponent is you?"
Dark led Diana out of the crowd's encirclement.
Diana wrinkled her small face, whispering, "I thought I'd at least get to duel you in the semifinals."
Dark comforted her, "It's not good to underestimate yourself. You have to believe in your Magic Guide cards. Even I don't have full confidence that I can win."
Diana: "But I don't even have a single second-tier Magic Guide Spirit card!"
Dark: "Magic Guide duels aren't about who has higher-star Magic Guide Spirits. My previous duel with Sara Swati was almost a loss to her. Your deck is very powerful; you're a formidable opponent to be wary of!"
Diana: "Formidable opponent? Hehehehehe. Then I'll give it my all!"
Dark: "Okay, formidable opponent."
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