Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 84

Chapter 84: The Holy Dragon Heart

“Look, the battle on Shangguan Wan’er’s side has ended. As expected, she took the win.”

Just as the Dark Magician Girl delivered the finishing blow to the Blazing Centaur, the fierce three-way clash between the girls reached its inevitable conclusion. In the spectator area, the eliminated contestants exchanged knowing glances.

“The gap between Liu Yanran, Su Xueyi, and Shangguan Wan’er is just too massive.”

When Shangguan Wan’er had crashed their duel, Liu Yanran and Su Xueyi hadn’t even bothered fighting each other. The suffocating pressure radiating from the Cang Capital genius forced the two girls into a desperate, temporary alliance. Yet, even fighting a two-on-one battle, Shangguan Wan’er mirrored Luke’s earlier performance—she strolled through the chaos with absolute, terrifying ease.

The flawless cooperation between her Silver Crown Mandala Queen and Eternal Crystal Orchid put the true might of the Cang Capital General Association’s apex contestant on full display.

“I’m actually getting hyped to see what happens when Luke and Shangguan Wan’er finally collide,” one of the eliminated students muttered. The spectator hall buzzed with anticipation, with a few bold souls already placing wagers on the ultimate victor.

Nobody had predicted this matchup at the start of the Youth Training Competition. Cangling City had always been a middle-of-the-pack branch. Then Luke arrived—a dark horse who shattered every expectation. They had initially dismissed his calm demeanor as arrogance, only for him to carve a brutal path straight to the finals, delivering a stinging slap to the face of every doubter.

“Simple and brutal. I like it.”

After burning through ten Magic Card vouchers to bypass the Mist Relic’s core authentication, Luke led the Dark Magician Girl through the thinning fog. The dense, oppressive mist finally gave way, revealing the absolute center of the dimensional plane.

His gaze locked onto the final reward resting on a stone pedestal, completely devoid of defensive barriers. Luke’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Through the live broadcast, the entire Cang Capital General Association mirrored his reaction.

“Are they insane? Leaving that out in the open?”

“What kind of beast did that heart belong to? Is it really appropriate to drop something this valuable into the second phase of a youth tournament?”

“That’s no ordinary monster core. Notice how there isn’t a single trace of mist in the core area? That heart is purifying the air itself.”

“It has to be a high-level material!”

[Holy Dragon Heart]

[Description: The sole remnant left behind after the fall of a Holy Dragon that commanded the power of light. Legends state it houses the accumulated radiant energy of the creature’s entire lifespan. If refined properly, the user can awaken the dormant holy power sealed within.]

Even Luke felt a flicker of genuine shock. He hadn’t expected the final objective to be a Dragon-type organ—and a light-attribute Holy Dragon, no less!

“They weren’t kidding when they said the winner’s reward wouldn’t disappoint. This is a massive windfall.” In a fraction of a second, Luke’s mind raced, already mapping out synthesis formulas and calculating which of his future Magic Card Elves would benefit most from the Holy Dragon Heart.

“Though, it looks like walking out of here with this top-tier material won’t be a walk in the park,” he murmured.

His gaze shifted from the pedestal to the edge of the clearing. Shangguan Wan’er stepped out of the lingering mist, her tall, elegant figure coming into sharp focus.

“I had a feeling it would come down to this,” Luke said, his voice calm. “I just didn’t expect you to be the one waiting at the finish line.”

Shangguan Wan’er met his gaze, but her attention was immediately hijacked by the radiant glow of the Holy Dragon Heart. A flash of raw astonishment broke through her usually composed expression.

Clearly, despite having two heavyweights like Shangguan Hong and Shangguan Pu backing her, she had been kept in the dark about the exact nature of the final prize. The Shangguan family was playing a generous hand—or, more likely, they were so absolutely certain that the Cang Capital General Association would claim the victory that they didn’t mind flaunting a priceless treasure.

Her beautiful eyes snapped back to Luke, now blazing with intense, obvious battle intent. She wasn’t about to let the Holy Dragon Heart slip through her fingers.

So what if her grandfather had praised this boy as a genius? She was the pride of the Shangguan family, carrying the direct bloodline of an Immortal Realm powerhouse. In status, resources, and raw talent, she stood at the absolute pinnacle.

She was going to use this battle to prove a fundamental truth: even among geniuses, there were impossible tiers.

Without a single word of warning, Shangguan Wan’er raised her hand.

Three distinct, overwhelming auras erupted into the clearing.

Six-Star Perfect-grade Silver Crown Mandala Queen!

Six-Star Perfect-grade Eternal Crystal Orchid!

And finally, the Six-Star Perfect-grade Dragon Girl!

The moment the three Plant-type Magic Card Elves materialized, the barren stone of the relic’s core was violently terraformed. A verdant kingdom exploded into existence. Thick vines, towering trees, and glowing flora swallowed the terrain, flooding the space with a suffocatingly dense wave of life energy.

The radiant light of the Holy Dragon Heart was instantly suppressed, drowned out by the sheer density of the encroaching forest. After all, it was merely the organ of a deceased beast, lacking the will to fight back.

In the blink of an eye, the arena had become a cage. Luke stood in the center like prey caught in a sprawling snare, while Shangguan Wan’er hovered above the canopy, a true Plant Queen commanding her emerald empire.

“The Plant Domain…” Liu Yanran rubbed her temples, watching the broadcast from the elimination lounge. “Wan’er is going all out from the very first second. She’s dead set on crushing him.”

Despite being knocked out by Wan’er, Liu Yanran held no grudges. This wasn’t a friendly spar; they were soldiers representing their respective Magic Card Associations.

She remembered the absolute despair of her recent skirmish. The combined might of her Silver Moon Fox and Su Xueyi’s Frost Archer had been effortlessly smothered by that endless sea of vines. And back then, Wan’er had only deployed an incomplete domain using the Mandala Queen and the Crystal Orchid.

Now, Luke was facing the perfected Plant Domain, reinforced by the Dragon Girl. The difficulty had just spiked into a hellish nightmare.

“He can’t win,” Su Xueyi muttered nearby, biting her lower lip. A trace of bitter frustration flashed across her cold, beautiful face.

The Eternal Crystal Orchid alone was a fortress. Renowned for its terrifying resilience and top-tier defensive traits, it was a nightmare to crack. Su Xueyi and Liu Yanran had burned through eighty percent of their magical reserves just to scratch its outer shields.

But the Dragon Girl was the true executioner.

While the Crystal Orchid specialized in absolute defense, the Dragon Girl was an engine of pure destruction. Though technically a Plant-type Magic Card Elf, her core synthesis material was genuine dragon blood. It didn’t hold the same astronomical value as a Dragon Eye or a reverse scale, but it infused the card with authentic Draconic Pressure. Her destructive output vastly eclipsed even the Silver Crown Mandala Queen.

Mandala for crowd control. Crystal Orchid for absolute defense. Dragon Girl for devastating offense.

It was a flawless, suffocating trinity. Su Xueyi couldn’t fathom a single tactical avenue to break it.

“Looks like the Youth Training Competition is wrapping up,” one of the branch presidents chuckled from the high rostrum, leaning back in his chair to enjoy the execution.

With Shangguan Wan’er acting as the final gatekeeper, the remaining hopefuls had zero chance. The gap wasn’t just in raw cultivation levels; it was the terrifying cooperation of her deck.

“Look on the bright side, Old Yu. There was nothing you could do,” Song Yongzhang said, patting Chairman Yu’s shoulder in mock comfort.

Even though Luke’s Dark Magician Girl possessed staggering combat power and might have stood a chance in a pure one-on-one duel, the math simply didn’t favor him.

Three against one. Three Six-Star Perfect-grade Elves forming a flawless tactical loop.

Luke hadn’t broken through to the Commander Realm yet. He was still a Battle General. In the lower echelons of Magic Card Masters, the sheer number of active summoning slots dictated the flow of battle. One extra slot meant an impossible wall of stats and utility.

Against a prodigy of Shangguan Wan’er’s caliber, armed with top-tier cards, a numbers disadvantage was a death sentence.

For Cangling City to reach the finals and shatter their historical records was already a miracle. Expecting them to take the crown was just greed.