Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Can It Be Played Like This?

While Luke stood back, turning over the newly unlocked Digimon lore in his mind, Sistermon Noir had already engaged the two Devouring Gold Demon Rats. She wielded her signature twin handguns, Anthony, with lethal grace.

It remained entirely unclear if the distinct animal designs adorning the sisters’ nun habits held any deeper, mystical significance, but Sistermon Noir’s battlefield performance was undeniably on par with her younger sibling’s.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The deafening roar of bullets leaving the chambers echoed through the enclosed space, accompanied by brilliant flashes of muzzle flare. Facing the desperate, frenzied lunges of two Five-Star Devouring Gold Demon Rats, Sistermon Noir maintained absolute spatial control. She danced just outside their reach. No matter how viciously the massive rodents snapped and clawed, they simply could not close the distance to breach her effective firing range.

‘She’s just playing with them,’ Luke thought, watching the one-sided slaughter unfold. It was the classic image of a cat batting around a pair of cornered mice.

However, considering her established background lore—the fact that she and Sistermon Blanc had once rigorously trained the legendary Hackmon—this overwhelming display of dominance made perfect sense. Even one of the entities who would later join the exalted ranks of the Royal Knights had suffered under the Sistermon sisters’ brutal training regimen. To Noir, these two Devouring Gold Demon Rats were nothing more than a momentary amusement.

“Mickey Bullet!”

Sistermon Noir pivoted sharply on her heel, dodging a desperate lunge with a fluid sidestep. The twin handguns in her grasp erupted into a continuous, deafening roar. In a fraction of a second, dozens of high-caliber rounds tore through the air. The bullets ricocheted off the surrounding environment at impossible, physics-defying angles, weaving a deadly net of crossfire that instantly reduced the two Devouring Gold Demon Rats to bloody sieves.

With the threat neutralized, Sistermon Noir smoothly twirled the smoking barrels of Anthony around her fingers and slotted them back into the dark holsters strapped to her thighs.

‘That skill is incredible,’ Luke mused, raising an eyebrow at the sheer technical precision of the attack. If Sistermon Blanc’s combat philosophy was centered around simple, direct, one-hit obliteration, then Sistermon Noir’s style was a dazzling exhibition of flawless technique and overwhelming agility.

Yet, this elegant approach did not sacrifice an ounce of destructive power. Every single bullet she had just fired carried a kinetic impact surpassing Sistermon Blanc’s Divine Pierce after Awakening. Each individual shot struck with the full, unmitigated force of a Five-Star Magic Card Spirit.

Forget the Devouring Gold Demon Rats; even a heavily armored Five-Star fierce beast renowned for its defensive capabilities would have been shredded by that barrage.

“Tamer Lord, the targets have been thoroughly annihilated.” Sistermon Noir did not simply assume victory. She deliberately walked over to the mangled corpses of the two beasts, nudging them with her boot to confirm their absolute demise before turning to report. Compared to her younger sister, she was ruthlessly careful.

“Excellent work, Sistermon Noir.” Luke gave her a bright thumbs-up. What else was there to say when his newly evolved Spirit had just executed a flawless sweep?

“You can play like that?”

Back in the grand hall reserved for eliminated examinees, a heavy silence had fallen over the crowd. Ma Jiaxin, Kun Hao, and the rest of the contestants who had been knocked out by Luke stared at the massive broadcast screens, their jaws practically hitting the floor. They had watched Sistermon Blanc evolve into Sistermon Noir and subsequently dismantle two Five-Star beasts with terrifying ease.

When they had seen Sistermon Blanc drop out of her Awakened state earlier, the general consensus was that Luke had finally exhausted his trump cards. None of them expected him to pull an entirely new, overpowered evolution out of thin air.

They had all witnessed Luke’s strange card-swiping gesture. At the time, they merely thought it was a flashy, stylish pose. The sudden, upbeat background music had been catchy, but they assumed it was just a theatrical illusion meant to set the mood.

Now, Sistermon Noir’s overwhelming strength proved it was far more than just a light show.

‘Should I be thanking the heavens that he held back against us?’ The same chilling thought echoed through the minds of every eliminated contestant in the room.

Meanwhile, inside the Cangling City Lord’s Mansion, the atmosphere was thick with disbelief. Cang Fenghua, Chairman Yu, and the rest of the city’s elite sat in stunned silence. Sistermon Blanc’s sudden evolution had completely shattered their understanding of Magic Card mechanics.

“Since we have absolutely no way to scan the data of that Magic Card Spirit, we can only rely on educated guesses,” Chairman Yu said, breaking the silence after a long moment of contemplation. “The base form of Sistermon Blanc was clearly a Three-Star Magic Card. By activating that unique Awakening state, her combat parameters surged to the Four-Star realm.”

“A temporary one-level power spike is rare but understandable,” Chairman Yu continued. “After all, Luke’s Red-Eyes Black Meteor Dragon possesses a similar mechanic, gaining a level of power after its resurrection.”

“But did you see how easily she slaughtered those Devouring Gold Demon Rats?” Zhao Chengyuan leaned forward, his voice tight with urgency. “Even though those rats are of ordinary bloodline quality, their raw energy output was undoubtedly at the Five-Star level. And that new form, Sistermon Noir, butchered them without breaking a sweat.”

“Which means Sistermon Noir’s baseline strength has reached the Five-Star realm!” Da Baiman gripped her hair, looking as though she were trying to keep her head from exploding. “A direct two-level jump! Aside from these impossible cards Luke keeps pulling out, has anyone here ever heard of a Magic Card possessing a stable, two-level enhancement ability?”

A two-level jump defied every established law of Magic Card theory. The elites of Cangling City felt like novices learning the basics all over again.

Even to City Lord Cang Fenghua, the legendary New Moon Blessing—a supreme technique known for granting level increases—paled in comparison to this. Luke had somehow replicated, and perhaps exceeded, the effects of the New Moon Blessing through an entirely different mechanism.

‘Did that brat overhear me talking about the New Moon Blessing and decide to just invent his own version?’Cang Fenghua thought, his eyelids twitching violently.’If that’s the truth, then this kid is an absolute monster.’

Every time he thought he had finally pinned down the upper limits of Luke’s genius, the boy casually shattered the ceiling again.

“I suspect this anomaly is directly tied to that strange item Luke is holding,” Principal Gu finally spoke up, carefully choosing his words to describe the Digivice. “Take note of the sequence of events. Sistermon Noir only appeared after Luke performed that highly specific card-swiping motion through the device.”

“It is just a shame that this is our first time witnessing this specific type of Special Magic Card in action. I cannot begin to decipher the underlying logic connecting the item to the Spirit.”

Evolution. The very concept left Principal Gu entirely baffled. The mechanics behind it were shrouded in absolute mystery.

“I share your confusion, old friend, but I believe we are overthinking this,” Cang Fenghua said, taking a slow, deep breath to compose himself. He leaned back in his chair, a smug smile spreading across his face. “The only thing we truly need to remember is that Luke is a citizen of Cangling City. That alone is enough.”

The other leaders in the room stared at him deadpan. If that was all that mattered, why had he spent the last ten minutes interrogating them for theories? Every single person present mentally flipped the City Lord off as a sign of their deep respect.

Far away in the Cang Capital Magic Card Branch, a similar scene of bewilderment was playing out. Shangguan Hong and Shangguan Pu exchanged heavy glances, the deep confusion evident in their eyes.

“A continuous two-level increase… the catalyst has to be that initial swiping action Luke performed. But what exactly was the nature of that energy transfer?” Shangguan Hong muttered.

This was their first time witnessing a Spirit jump two entire realms of power, but having already survived the psychological shock of seeing Dark Magician the Dragon Knight, they managed to keep their composure from completely shattering. Unfortunately, lacking any foundational knowledge regarding the creation of Special Magic Cards, their intense brainstorming yielded zero answers.

“So, this is the true potential of a Special Magic Card?”

Deep within the inner sanctums of Cang Capital, Meng Ningdie stared at the glowing broadcast screen, her beautiful eyes clouded with awe. The three supreme figures gathered in the room had instantly recognized the terrifying implications of Sistermon’s evolution.

“A stable, continuous two-level increase in combat strength…” Cang Ao muttered, the slight disappointment he had felt earlier vanishing like smoke in the wind. He replayed the exact sequence of the evolution in his mind, his sharp gaze locking onto the image of Luke swiping the card through the device. “If a power multiplier of this magnitude could be successfully applied to high-tier Magic Cards, the resulting shockwave would permanently alter the landscape of our entire Magic Card Civilization.”

The strategic value of Special Magic Cards skyrocketed in the Capital Lord’s mind. Yet, a heavy sigh soon escaped his lips.

Thanks to the Night Queen’s previous explanations, he knew exactly how absurdly difficult it was to forge a Special Magic Card. It was not a mass-producible science; it was an art form bordering on miracles. And it was precisely this impossible difficulty that made a creator like Luke so unimaginably valuable.