This was not the first time Dark Demon had triggered the sacred trait of the "Honedge" at the Easter Dueling Festival.
For Tom Nixon, whose goal from the very start had been the final victory, it was only natural that he had carefully studied Dark's matches.
And it was precisely because he had studied them that Tom Nixon had been on guard, immediately using the "Corpse Rot Slime's" "Putrid Curse" to weaken it right away.
But as things stood now, the "Putrid Curse" had clearly been broken.
And that blade had already recovered to its full-power state.
The reason for this could perhaps be uncovered with careful investigation.
But Tom Nixon had no time for that now.
He only realized that between that Leomon and the Honedge there was likely some special combination technique, one capable of triggering a certain trait of the Honedge.
And it was precisely that trait which had broken the "Putrid Curse."
Moreover, the five-star Magic Guide Spirit "Leomon," wielding the "Honedge," likely already possessed the power to contend with his "Blood Moon Werewolf."
But whether that was truly so could only be known by testing it.
And if he really couldn't deal with it, then he would have no choice but to use that one move!
...
Tom Nixon had not, in fact, noticed the trace of pain on the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" face when that sacred light struck it.
But even had he noticed, he would not have changed his course of action.
"Blood Moon Werewolf, charge and kill!"
Upon receiving the command, the "Blood Moon Werewolf," positioned at the field's center line, drove down with its feet and burst forth in an instant!
And Leomon, seeing the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" movement, merely swung the "Honedge" downward and dashed straight up to meet it head-on.
The "Blood Moon Werewolf" had the "Wings of the Wicked Soul" to accelerate it, making it extremely fast.
Leomon was not slow either, but in the end it fell just a touch short.
The two collided violently at a spot leaning toward the red side's summoning zone.
Leomon raised its sword and slashed down with force, while the "Blood Moon Werewolf" suddenly beat its wings and soared high, actually evading the strike, its two steel-like wolf claws raking viciously toward the crown of Leomon's head!
"Roar!"
In that instant, Leomon let out a furious roar, and sacred light flowed from the blade of the "Honedge" into its body, erupting outward with sudden force!
The "Blood Moon Werewolf's" claws, illuminated by the light at extremely close range, instantly grew scalding hot, as though about to be melted, and its blade-like nails turned soft.
Its body, as a result, stalled in midair.
Leomon, however, did not pause in the slightest, sweeping its sword upward in a backhanded stroke and hacking fiercely toward the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" chest and belly.
But the "Blood Moon Werewolf," almost by instinct, slapped its wolf claw against the blade, and before the "Honedge" could exert its power, used the momentum to take flight, fleeing hastily into the air.
Leomon gave a soft snort, sheathing its sword and lifting its head, gazing with righteous solemnity at the "Blood Moon Werewolf" beating its wings swiftly in midair.
Had the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" response not been quick enough, it would already have been slain by a single stroke.
Leomon had a certain feeling.
This demon wolf, which at first glance seemed exceptionally powerful, very likely could not withstand a single one of its strikes.
The "Holy Sword," its sacred trait activated, could exert an utterly terrifying restraining power against a dark-attribute Demon Species like the "Blood Moon Werewolf."
Therefore, only one strike would be needed!
...
"What's going on?"
On the blue side's player platform, Tom Nixon's pupils contracted slightly, and a look of disbelief appeared on his face.
It was not Leomon's strength that shocked him, but the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" retreat that surprised him.
The "Blood Moon Werewolf's" transformation under the "Sky-Veiling Moon," though not enough to make it lose reason as it would when using "Blood Fury," would still rouse its ferocity, unleashing its bloodthirsty instincts.
Facing an enemy, it would surely fight to the death without retreating.
But just now, the "Blood Moon Werewolf" had genuinely been frightened into retreat, and now, flying in midair, it clearly seemed rather timid.
"Is it that blade? Or is there something wrong with that lion?"
Tom Nixon's gaze flickered, and in the instant he reached out to touch a card, he made his decision.
"Use Parasitic Demon Seed!"
...
The duel entered the ninth round.
...
Under Tom Nixon's compulsory command, the "Blood Moon Werewolf" lunged at Leomon.
And Tom Nixon, who had already realized something was amiss, was in the midst of an emergency summon.
The card he drew in the ninth round made him feel all the more urgent within.
...
"Parasitic Demon Seed?"
The moment Dark heard the name of this Ultimate Move, he suddenly had an ominous premonition. Pressing his hand upon his deck, before even drawing a card, he immediately warned: "Leomon, be careful!"
But the "Blood Moon Werewolf" had already pounced down fiercely.
Leomon tilted its head back slightly, meeting the blood-red eyes of the "Blood Moon Werewolf" directly.
The "Blood Moon Werewolf's" earlier behavior had given Leomon the illusion that it, too, possessed a spirit of intelligence.
But as it now met the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" gaze and pierced to the depths of its eyes, what it saw was only instinctual madness and bloodlust, along with… just a trace of fear!
Leomon pondered briefly, and the "Honedge" in its hand moved as though an extension of its own arm, slashing fiercely toward the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" claw.
The "Blood Moon Werewolf," however, abruptly thrust out its left claw, this time finally showing its savagery, seizing the blade of the Honedge in the face of the sacred light's corrosion, and then its right claw shot out like lightning, grasping toward Leomon's face.
Leomon fixed its eyes intently, its feline lips pressed tight, and the right wrist holding the sword suddenly twisted, turning the blade of the Honedge to a new angle, then with another exertion of force actually split the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" left claw open from the palm, and, riding the momentum, slashed diagonally—
severing the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" right arm at the elbow while its claw was still a claw's length away from Leomon.
The offense and defense of both sides was extremely fast.
In this mere blink of an eye, the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" two claws had been utterly crippled by Leomon.
Leomon, its expression steady and composed, continued to slash toward the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" waist and belly.
A white light flashed and burst, and the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" body was instantly cut open from the waist down, without the slightest pause.
The "Blood Moon Werewolf," whose base stats matched those of a seven-star Magic Guide Spirit, had its life force utterly severed after this single horizontal slash.
But Leomon suddenly felt a chill on its left cheek, and reflexively raised its hand to grab at it—only to catch a smear of gore!
It spread its bloodstained left hand before its face and frowned hard: When had it been struck?
...
"So that is one of the Hero candidates—Leomon?"
First Prince Charles's expression grew gradually grave.
Leomon had just demonstrated on the spot the resonance between the "Hero" and the "Holy Sword," finally convincing him that such a thing truly existed.
Moreover, the temperament this Magic Guide Spirit displayed was indeed very much like that of a "Hero."
The only problem, most likely, was its attribute.
Leomon was Fighting-type, not Light-type.
This made the possibility of it becoming a true Hero infinitely lower.
And the First Prince simply could not fathom how a Magic Guide Spirit could gradually make up for its bloodline through the Holy Sword and become a true Hero.
When all was said and done, how could one even refine a Magic Guide Spirit possessing Hero Aptitude?
If the blond youth on the field were not the sole son of the Valkyrie, he would surely have gone to any lengths to investigate the reason.
But he happened to be the Valkyrie's son!
In that case, the means available to be used would be far fewer.
...
And on the other side.
The Eldest Princess's line of thinking regarding this matter was actually not much different from the First Prince's.
It was only that her manner of conduct differed, and thus the means she would employ would differ as well.
But whether soft methods or hard ones, they could not be brought to bear at all, owing to the existence of the Valkyrie as a wall.
From her standpoint, it was even less possible for her to do anything.
By comparison, First Prince Charles could perhaps still employ some "harmless" little tricks.
Eliza stared fixedly at Leomon on the field, her mind churning without pause.
...
In this moment, both royal heirs seemed to have forgotten that there was still a legitimate heir to the Hero within St. Marian's Academy.
...
However, beside Eliza, Alvit was at this moment gazing at that patch of blood on Leomon's face, her expression tense.
Years of battle experience let her perceive the danger within it at a single glance, which made her unable to help but worry for her own darling.
...
That patch of blood on Leomon's face had in fact spurted from the palm of the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" right claw only after it had been severed.
At that time, Leomon could never have imagined the "Blood Moon Werewolf" had this move up its sleeve, and even though Dark had warned it, it still fell victim.
On the blue side's player platform, Tom Nixon, amid his summoning, could not help but sneer coldly.
"It fell for it after all!"
Once the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" Parasitic Demon Seed was planted, it could burrow into the target's body, causing it to demonize and lose control.
Had the "Blood Moon Werewolf" still been alive, it could even have controlled the target to a certain degree.
A pity the "Blood Moon Werewolf" still couldn't survive Leomon's waist-severing strike, otherwise…
But successfully planting the demon seed was itself a kind of victory.
Tom Nixon's only worry was that Leomon might once again trigger the sacred power of that blade and force out the dark-attribute "Parasitic Demon Seed."
But for now, it seemed there was no such hidden trouble?
This set his heart greatly at ease after he completed the summon.
...
Up in the sky, the dark-red canopy dispersed swiftly, and that round "Sky-Veiling Moon" had already faded in color after the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" death, the field once more returning to light.
But the incarnation of justice—Leomon—had developed a problem.
Its left eye, at a speed visible to the naked eye, turned crimson, as though blood were seeping from the depths of the eye, staining the entire eye red.
Around the corner of its eye, veins bulged conspicuously, and its face suddenly turned ferocious.
"Clang!"
The Honedge suddenly gave off a soft cry.
But without a "Hero's" mind in concert, it could not activate its sacred trait while in weapon form.
"Leomon?" Dark noticed Leomon's abnormal state and reflexively called out in a low voice.
But the ferocity on Leomon's face only grew heavier and heavier. It suddenly let out a roar, pressing hard on its left eye, its body out of control, dropping to one knee, able only to prop itself up with the Honedge planted on the ground, barely holding on.
From the planting of the "Parasitic Demon Seed" to the onset of its effect, less than ten seconds had passed in all.
But the madness revealed on its face was even more severe than Tom Nixon had expected!
"Roar!"
Another roar.
From beneath the palm covering its left eye, roots suddenly sprouted, boring deep beneath the skin around the left eye, then spreading wildly, crawling across the area of its face.
In the blink of an eye, its face was already packed densely with roots, and a surge of bloody aura rose up, wrapping it round and round.
"It's taking effect!"
Tom Nixon, abruptly witnessing this scene, could not help but let out a sound.
Dark shot him a glance, then quickly said: "Black Gatomon, help out."
So Black Gatomon swiftly stepped forward.
In the earlier battle between Leomon and the "Blood Moon Werewolf," it had had no way to lend a hand at all.
But now that the "Blood Moon Werewolf" had been dealt with, its thoughts grew lively once more.
"Meow."
Black Gatomon, having walked to Leomon's side, reached out a cat's paw and poked Leomon's head.
But Leomon was clearly struggling against the "demonization" of the "Parasitic Demon Seed" and had no time at all to pay it any mind.
"Meow?"
Black Gatomon poked Leomon's head again.
Seeing that Leomon still gave no reaction, it lifted its head, spread its arms toward Dark, and shrugged: Sorry.
Dark watched, veins forming at his temple. He placed this round's two Magic Guide Cards into his hand and forced himself to make mental preparations to temporarily "abandon" Leomon.
Were it not for the rule in Magic Guide Dueling that one cannot recall one's own Magic Guide Spirit into its card during a duel, he would most likely have chosen at this moment to swiftly recall it.
Because Leomon's state was clearly wrong.
He guessed it had been hit by some Ultimate Move of the "Blood Moon Werewolf," but did not know the details.
He could only discern from Leomon's current state that it should be a kind of Ultimate Move capable of making an opponent go mad, similar to "Blood Fury," "Berserk," and the like.
And this guess again stirred the worry that had always lingered in his heart.
This "Leomon" had, after all, been refined from the special "Fruit of Pride," and within that "Fruit of Pride" cultivated by relying on Lion Grass, there was every likelihood that the madness factor of the Lion Grass lay hidden.
This might make "Leomon" rather weak in resistance against this sort of madness-inducing ability.
Otherwise, relying on the "Heart of Justice," Leomon ought to have resistance to this type of ability effect surpassing that of an ordinary being.
This situation was extremely thorny for Dark.
He had no means in hand capable of dispelling this abnormal state. Even if he summoned Gatomon at this moment or spiritualized the Honedge, the Holy Sword's sacred trait would only have a decent dispelling effect on its own abnormal states.
That sacred light, after all, was not a complete Ultimate Move.
And the other method of response—sacrificing Leomon as an offering to summon a five-star or higher Magic Guide Spirit—regrettably could not be done either.
Because Leomon was already the highest star-ranked Magic Guide Spirit Card in his hand.
"Let's settle this quickly!"
Dark looked toward his hand cards, a sharp light flickering in his eyes.
[Gatomon]
[Drifloon]
In the ninth round, he had finally drawn another "Hero"—"Gatomon"!
And the appearance of "Drifloon" also gave him more room to maneuver in the coming rounds.
Even if "Gatomon" were targeted and restricted,
he could still pin his hopes on the "Lust III·Moon" of later rounds.
But at this moment, only a few seconds remained until the end of the ninth round.
Dark had spent too much attention on Leomon, such that he had failed to carry out his next move in time.
And Tom Nixon had already summoned a new Magic Guide Spirit upon that "Blood Platform."
It was another Magic Guide Spirit extremely similar to the "Corpse Rot Slime" that had appeared before—the "Scavenging Slime."
[Card Name: Scavenging Slime]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ???]
[Race: Undead Species]
[Attribute: Ghost-type/Poison-type]
[Magic: 1200]
[Attack: 1600]
[Defense: 800]
[Ultimate Moves: Ghoul, Feign Death]
This "Scavenging Slime," differing by just one word in its name, had a level, race, attribute, and magic all completely identical to the "Corpse Rot Slime."
But its attack and defense values were swapped, and apart from the same Ultimate Move "Feign Death," the original "Putrid Curse" had become "Ghoul."
This "Scavenging Slime," possessing the "Ghoul" Ultimate Move, could feed on an opponent's corpse to restore and strengthen itself.
Placed within a Magic Guide Duel, this meant absorbing the residual magic left after a Magic Guide Spirit's death.
Though this effect seemed unremarkable, it could cut off all sorts of revival-type magical effects—even "Feign Death" and "Zombification" could not withstand it, making it truly the absolute bane of that category of Magic Guide Cards.
But beyond that, that was about all it amounted to.
This "Scavenging Slime's" "Ghoul" effect could absorb and convert magic equal to the dead Magic Guide Spirit's star rating ×10, while increasing attack by star rating ×10, and there was an upper limit—it could store at most the effect of 100 stars at once.
That is, it could raise attack by at most 1,000 points and magic by 1,000 points, and it had to absorb a great many corpses.
One could say the effect was quite poor.
Tom Nixon likewise did not regard it as a core Magic Guide Spirit; his purpose in summoning it was merely to use it as a sacrifice.
But viewed as a three-star Magic Guide Spirit, the "Scavenging Slime's" stats were actually already very strong.
After absorbing the residual magic left by the "Blood Moon Werewolf's" death, its stats also saw a slight increase.
After that, Tom Nixon activated his next Secret Ritual Card—"Predator's Gift."
Though this Secret Ritual Card did not have an overly powerful effect, its trigger condition was very ordinary, and its synergy with Tom Nixon's deck was extremely good.
In a certain sense, it even counted as a semi-core Magic Guide Card.
Because its trigger condition was successfully preying during battle!
And so-called "preying" took very diverse forms.
Including "blood-sucking," "scavenging," "magic-devouring"…
Any act of "killing and consuming prey" counted as triggering the ritual and could produce an effect.
And the effect of "Predator's Gift" was to extract half of the preyed-upon matter and then convert it into a "Gift."
That was a Magic Guide Spirit named "Gift."
Its star rating was 1, its magic was N, its attack was 0, its defense was 0, and it had no Ultimate Move.
The number of "Gifts" was based on the prey's star rating.
...
Tom Nixon had actually long had this "Predator's Gift" in his hand, but those Magic Guide Spirits of his that possessed the "Bloodthirst" ability had not been able to kill even a single prey, which meant he had never been able to activate this Secret Ritual Card.
Even this current "Scavenging Slime" had used a "cheap-shot" method, exploiting the act of "capturing and consuming from a corpse" to barely meet the ritual's conditions.
This barely-met condition also greatly diminished the Secret Ritual Card's effect.
A ritual that could originally convert six "Gifts" ultimately converted only three.
Three one-star "Gifts" and one three-star "Scavenging Slime"—the materials to summon a six-star were fully assembled.
And Tom Nixon had more than one six-star Magic Guide Spirit Card in his hand!
The fact that he had chosen the "Blood Moon Demon Wolf" in his earlier Sacrificial Summoning did not mean he had had only one six-star Magic Guide Spirit Card at the time.
Therefore, for him, the duel was far from over.
...
Under such circumstances, the ninth round passed in the blink of an eye.
"Tick-tock."
The tenth round began.
Both sides drew cards at the same time.
Tom Nixon looked at the newly obtained six-star Magic Guide Spirit Card in hand and instantly changed his mind.
And on the red side's player platform.
Dark's hand had also gained two more cards.
[Fusion]
[Lust III·Moon]
Because there was simply too much information to process all at once.
He was stunned for two seconds in that brief span of time.
And then he immediately issued new commands to the Magic Guide Spirits below.
"Black Gatomon…"
"Meow?"
Before Dark could issue his command, Black Gatomon—which had already drawn that "Honedge" from the hand of the madness-suppressing Leomon—looked up in puzzlement, its face all innocence.
Dark's brow twitched, and he issued a different command: "Miltank, Milk Drink! Espeon, Confusion attack!"
And then he swiftly drew "Gatomon" and performed the Sacrificial Summoning technique.
The pieces of the victory puzzle were in hand; from here on, he need only improvise freely.
Upon hearing Dark's command, Miltank immediately released "Defense Curl" and began kneading milk with its empty hands.
It understood Dark's brief command with great thoroughness.
Having it use "Milk Drink" was equivalent to canceling the command to protect the Magic Sphere.
This meant its task was already complete, and the next step was to become a sacrifice.
But before that, it could still add a bit more contribution for the team.
For instance, Black Gatomon's magic had actually been considerably depleted in the earlier battle, and this bottle of milk capable of restoring half its magic was extremely crucial.
Of course, the milk could also be saved for the Magic Guide Spirit that would take the field next.
Miltank's expression was gentle.
...
And Espeon, upon receiving the command, also immediately sprang into action.
The disappearance of the "dark-red canopy" caused its Confusion to strengthen once more, especially greatly increasing its attackable range.
Dark's purpose in having it use Confusion was to let it disrupt Tom Nixon's summoning as much as possible.
Both sides likewise needed to perform the Sacrificial Summoning technique.
Dark was already a beat behind, and moreover his casting speed for the Sacrificial Summoning technique was inferior as well.
If Espeon could cause Tom Nixon's summoning to lose focus, he would not lose the initiative.
...
Dark's idea was undoubtedly correct.
A pity he was still a beat too slow.
Tom Nixon was simply too decisive at this juncture.
The "Scavenging Slime" used its own body to wrap around the three "Gifts," leaving Espeon's Confusion with nowhere to attack.
As a result, Espeon could only attack the blue side's Magic Sphere.
But Tom Nixon paid it no heed at all.
[Magic (Blue): 4521-3444]
Only once the Sacrificial Summoning technique was complete did he abruptly point, maneuvering the blue side's Magic Sphere to dodge Espeon's further pull.
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