Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Ah~ I’m Bursting!

Although Shangguan Hong was undeniably the strongest powerhouse in the arena, when it came to any degree of familiarity with Luke, Chairman Yu was the only logical candidate. After all, Luke was a contestant hailing directly from Cangling City. There was simply no reason for the local branch chairman to be ignorant of his own rising star.

How the hell would I know?!

Feeling the heavy, expectant gazes of the surrounding Sovereign Realm experts pinning him to his seat, Chairman Yu had to swallow the urge to curse Shangguan Hong aloud. This man was absolutely doing this on purpose. Hadn’t he just tried to keep his head down and hide a little? Was it really necessary for the superior officer to hold such a petty grudge?

However, weighing the reality that he couldn’t even scratch Shangguan Hong in a fight—and that the man was his direct superior—Chairman Yu swallowed his pride. Sometimes, playing the coward was the most effective survival strategy.

“I’m not entirely sure either,” Chairman Yu finally muttered, keeping his voice carefully neutral. “The association doesn’t mandate that Card Crafters report every Magic Card in their possession, and I have no authority to pry into such private matters.”

In truth, Chairman Yu was just as baffled as the rest of them. The raw, unadulterated power of an Eight-Star Legendary Dragon could have simply crushed the opponent flat. Was it truly necessary to make the execution this complicated?

Unfortunately, his honest defense earned absolutely zero sympathy. Song Yongzhang shot him a sideways glare that clearly screamed, Are you messing with me?

If it were Song Yongzhang, knowing a junior possessed such a terrifying Special Magic Card, he would have shamelessly pressed for answers until he got them, face be damned. In their eyes, Chairman Yu either thought they were fools, or he was a monumental fool himself.

Damn it all. Chairman Yu slumped slightly, suddenly feeling exhausted down to his bones. No matter how he tried to explain himself today, he was going to look guilty.

“Is that so?” A flicker of suspicion crossed Shangguan Hong’s sharp features, but he gave a faint nod and withdrew his oppressive gaze.

Seeing the matter dropped, Mo Yingtian and the others swallowed their burning questions. They weren’t Shangguan Hong; they were merely branch presidents of the same rank as Yu. Even if they demanded answers, Chairman Yu could simply ignore them.

Yet, this suspended state of ignorance left them itching with a maddening curiosity. For the first time in a long while, these Sovereign Realm experts felt exceptionally, terribly uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, inside the Mist Relic, the data of the newly fused Magic Card Spirit cascaded across Luke’s vision, granting him a complete, intuitive grasp of her capabilities.

[Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl]

Race: Spellcaster / Dragon

Quality: Legendary

Level: Seven-Star

Skills: Dark Magic Spiral Force, Charm Dragon, Black Dragon Burst Wave, Dragon Knight Continuation

[Dark Magic Spiral Force]: Selects herself or any friendly Magic Card Spirit on the field. The chosen target’s attack power is doubled for 30 minutes.

[Charm Dragon]: Activates the special power hidden within the Dragon Eyes, nullifying all negative statuses targeting herself and converting them into equivalent buff effects. (Can only convert negative statuses from sources no more than one major level higher than herself).

[Black Dragon Burst Wave]: Fuses Dark Magic and Dragon Power to maximize internal energy, capable of obliterating enemies up to one major level higher than herself. Enters a weakened state after release.

[Dragon Knight Continuation]: Upon death, Special Summons Dark Magician Girl to the field.

‘Seven-Star Legendary… Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl.’

Standing within the swirling mists, Luke reviewed the holographic text. A sharp glint of awe flashed through his eyes.

The Eye of Timaeus had originally been nothing more than a projection of the Legendary Dragon. Yet, through the Fusion with Dark Magician Girl, it had fully materialized, descending into the Magic Card Civilization in the flesh. While its current strength couldn’t match its peak normal state, it elevated Dark Magician Girl’s combat power to an entirely new dimension and bestowed incredibly practical skills.

Black Dragon Burst Wave was the ultimate trump card. It granted Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl the sheer destructive force required to clash with Eight-Star enemies. With the right timing, she could counterattack, inflict devastating damage, or outright execute an opponent a whole realm above her.

And even though using that finisher would leave her severely weakened, the safety net of Dragon Knight Continuation meant that even in death, the original Dark Magician Girl would simply return to the field.

She could advance flawlessly and retreat without consequence.

Withdrawing his focus from the interface, Luke shifted his gaze toward Shangguan Wan’er, who was currently maintaining a highly defensive posture in the distance. A slow, mischievous smile curved his lips.

Her overall strength was a bit lacking, but she was the only option left on the board. Shangguan Wan’er’s plant-based Magic Card combination would serve as an adequate testing dummy for his new Dragon Knight.

Besides, it was time to bring this Youth Training Competition to a close.

Sensing her master’s intent, Dark Magician Girl let out a sharp, energetic cry, urging the Legendary Dragon Timaeus forward.

The very second Luke’s gaze locked onto her, Shangguan Wan’er shivered. Watching the massive Dragon Knight initiate its charge, she felt a suffocating wave of malice crashing down from the heavens. She almost cursed aloud.

Biting her lip, she suppressed her rising panic and rapidly commanded her Magic Card Spirits to brace for impact.

She still didn’t fully comprehend the logic of using Timaeus as a mere mount for a Spellcaster, but the memory of that dragon effortlessly shattering the combined ultimate attack of Silver Crown Mandala Queen and Dragon Girl was burned into her mind.

Eternal Crystal Orchid reacted first. Serving as the mature, protective older sister of Wan’er’s trio, she instantly grasped her master’s desperation.

Crystal Cluster!

The elegant crystal umbrella in her hands spun into a blur. Countless silver-white orchids erupted from the earth, growing wildly as their petals hardened into a brilliant, crystalline silver. Layer upon layer of heavy crystal shields locked together, forming an absolute fortress over the Emerald Kingdom.

This was Eternal Crystal Orchid’s signature defense—a flawless barrier that simultaneously negated kinetic impact and reflected magical strikes. Among peers of the same level, its defensive rating was virtually unmatched. Even a coordinated assault from multiple enemies would struggle to crack it, and if they did, the shattered crystal shards would violently retaliate against the attackers.

This exact defense had completely stonewalled the combined efforts of Liu Yanran and Su Xueyi earlier. Now, pushed to her absolute limits by the approaching Dragon Knight, Eternal Crystal Orchid poured several times more energy into the Crystal Cluster than before.

Behind that glittering fortress lay the treacherous thorn traps woven by Silver Crown Mandala Queen, submerged in a highly toxic floral mist domain. And positioned at the very rear, Dragon Girl had finally shed her humanoid guise.

Infused with dragon blood during her creation, Dragon Girl’s true form was a terrifying, blazing beast. Vibrant crimson petals layered over her body like thick dragon scales. While she was significantly smaller than Timaeus—roughly the size of the Red-Eyes Meteor Dragon—the sheer heat radiating from her was suffocating.

Terrifying thermal energy condensed within her core, rapidly spiking the ambient temperature of the battlefield. The heat grew so intense that both the loli Queen and the mature Orchid had to physically step away from her.

Watching her ultimate formation take shape, Shangguan Wan’er finally let out a shaky breath.

Even if Luke’s Dragon-type Magic Card was an anomaly, her own lineup was elite. She refused to believe that Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl could casually tear through this layered defense. Once the initial clash settled into a war of attrition, her plant-based combination would bleed the opponent dry.

Dragon Slaying!

The thought suddenly flashed through Wan’er’s mind, making her heart race with sudden excitement. If she managed to crush Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl right here, wouldn’t she officially earn the title of a Dragon Slayer? It was just a Magic Card Spirit, sure, but it was still a genuine Dragon-type!

Before that triumphant thought could even fully form, the battlefield shattered.

Shangguan Wan’er felt the massive Crystal Cluster violently convulse. Eternal Crystal Orchid’s fair, mature face flushed a sickly crimson. A split second later, the defensive Spirit was forcibly reverted to her true form, withering into a husk before dying outright. The impenetrable crystal fortress guarding the frontline exploded into a million useless fragments.

My goodness!

The grand delusions of dragon slaying evaporated, leaving Wan’er staring in absolute horror.

Eternal Crystal Orchid’s entire existence was dedicated to defense. When operating at maximum capacity, she was supposed to hold her ground even against a standard Seven-Star enemy for a short duration. Her true form’s durability was supposed to be several times tougher than the shields themselves.

Shangguan Pu had personally assured her that no Magic Card Spirit of the same tier could instantly break Eternal Crystal Orchid. Up until this exact moment, that advice had been absolute truth.

Yet, against Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl, she hadn’t even survived a single exchange. The attack hadn’t just broken the shield; it had bypassed the defenses and instantly withered the Spirit’s true form.

If Wan’er hadn’t felt the psychic backlash of the card shattering, she would have assumed Luke was casting an illusion. Her entire worldview was fracturing.

“Doesn’t that mean… the strength of this Magic Card Spirit has already crossed into the Seven-Star realm?!” Wan’er gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Damn it all! Even with every possible buff stacked, and having successfully advanced to the Commander Realm, she could barely craft a Six-Star Magic Card. Yet Luke, sitting right across from her, had casually synthesized a Seven-Star entity?

A bitter complaint lodged in Wan’er’s throat: You’re so ridiculously overpowered, yet you come here to bully us newbies. Does your conscience not hurt at all?!

Unfortunately for her mental state, Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl had zero intention of pausing the slaughter.

The retaliatory damage from the shattered Crystal Cluster simply bounced off the thick scales of Legendary Dragon Timaeus, failing to leave even a scratch. Riding atop the dragon’s back, Dark Magician Girl looked entirely unbothered.

With the frontline defense annihilated, the Dragon Knight plunged directly into the lethal traps laid by Silver Crown Mandala Queen.

Thick, thorny vines whipped upward to entangle them, while a dense, poisonous fragrance flooded the air. Under the loli Queen’s precise control, the toxic mist aggressively sought to invade the Dragon Knight’s body, aiming to rot her strength from the inside out.

Charm Dragon!

The vertical, reptilian eyes of Timaeus flared with a blinding, icy light. The moment the lethal poison infiltrated their system, it was instantly purged—and then violently inverted. The debilitating toxins transformed into a massive surge of pure energy, actively amplifying Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl’s physical strength and magical output.

Watching the sequence unfold, Luke chuckled softly. Thanks for the buff.

As for Shangguan Wan’er, she just felt a deep, overwhelming exhaustion settling into her bones.

Counter!

She recognized this mechanic. She had seen Vice President Shangguan’s prized Magic Card Spirit use a similar terrifying ability—absorbing negative statuses and converting them into raw power.

But that was a Nine-Star Magic Card Spirit! What kind of sick joke was this?!

Fighting Luke was a rollercoaster of sheer terror, simply because there was no way to predict what kind of reality-breaking nonsense he would pull next.

With a graceful swing of her silver sword and a thunderous flap of Timaeus’s wings, Dark Magician Girl effortlessly shredded the surrounding thorn traps. Watching her carefully laid domain get casually dismantled, the loli Silver Crown Mandala Queen looked just as distraught as her master.

Mimicry Dragon Breath!

Boom!

Right at that moment of despair, Dragon Girl finally unleashed her payload. From the maw of her blazing, dragon-shaped floral body, a torrent of scorching, liquid fire erupted. It transformed into a devastating beam of crimson light, tearing across the battlefield straight toward the Dragon Knight.

Dragon Girl had sacrificed all her defensive capabilities for pure, unadulterated destructive power. She was the absolute polar opposite of Eternal Crystal Orchid. Even while suppressed by the overwhelming draconic aura of Timaeus, this fully charged breath attack was lethal. Dragon Girl was confident that, with the Queen’s lingering interference, this strike would at least breach the opponent’s defenses.

As long as they could draw blood, they still had a chance to win. If a two-on-one ultimate strike couldn’t even leave a scratch, they might as well surrender and go home.

Magic Cylinder!

Standing tall on the dragon’s back, Dark Magician Girl raised her silver sword with a sharp, commanding cry.

The air warped violently. A massive, glowing cylinder adorned with a golden question mark materialized out of thin air, perfectly intercepting the incoming beam of fire. The terrifying, long-charged Mimicry Dragon Breath plunged into the cylinder and was instantly swallowed without a sound.

Because she was a Fusion, Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl retained full access to her original spell and trap arsenal. Naturally, that included the iconic Magic Cylinder.

Shangguan Wan’er and Dragon Girl froze, staring in absolute, dumbfounded horror. The ultimate attack they had spent minutes charging had just vanished into a floating tube. Was there no logic left in this world?!

Even if Dragon Girl rooted herself deep into the earth to siphon the planet’s energy, she wouldn’t have the time to charge a second blast.

But the nightmare wasn’t over.

A second, identical Magic Cylinder materialized right beside the first. Under Dark Magician Girl’s cheerful command, the second cylinder rotated, locking its aim directly onto Silver Crown Mandala Queen.

A split second later, the exact same Mimicry Dragon Breath erupted from the second cylinder, roaring across the battlefield with all its original, devastating heat. Only this time, the target was Wan’er’s own Spirit.

The poison and the thorns hadn’t actually hurt Dark Magician Girl, but they were certainly annoying.

It was time for the Queen to leave the field.