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"You're the heartless one." Kellan shot Zane a glare, then turned to Luke. "Let me tell you something, Luke. The Student Council is a nest of scheming old snakes, and Zane here is a living example."
"The hell? Kellan, who exactly are you calling a scheming old snake?" Zane's eyes went wide, and it was all he could do not to slap the man across the face.
"All right, that's enough out of both of you, seniors." Luke looked from Kellan to Zane, his head starting to ache. "I really don't plan on joining any of them."
As he said it, he reached over and hooked an arm around Iris beside him, holding her up as a shield. "It's getting late, and I still need to see her home, so I'll be on my way."
Wait. What are you dragging me in as a shield for? I haven't finished eating! Iris, who'd been happily working through her meal and enjoying the show, was hauled off her chair before she could get a word out.
Watching Luke leave with Iris in tow, Zane was left gaping. He shot one hard, sidelong look at the thoroughly pleased Kellan, and very nearly flung a card at the man's head.
...
"Master, is everything sorted out?" Luke had barely set foot in the Eternal Land before Mana's bright voice reached his ear, and a heartbeat later the golden-haired girl came flying at him.
He'd left the dining hall without lingering outside, walked Iris to her dormitory door as he'd promised, and gone back to his own.
"All sorted." He put out an arm and caught Mana. "Good timing, actually. Let's give it a try."
As he spoke, the Loaded Cylinder Drum and the Chaos Ritual appeared in his hand.
Mana's green eyes lit with a flicker of anticipation, and she leaned in, sweet and coaxing. "Master, will you help me?"
"You little imp." He rubbed the top of her head, indulgent, and pressed the two special cards to the front of her body. They melted into her without the slightest resistance.
The instant they did, mana came pouring off her in a fierce tide, gathering into a storm over her skin, so violent that even Luke had to give ground a few paces to stay clear of it.
"Master, is Big Sister Mana going to be all right?" Blanc had come up beside him now, her small face tight with worry as she stared at the storm's heart, and one hand had closed on the hem of his clothes.
"She's fine. Mana's been through plenty like this before. It's just a little louder this time." He smoothed a hand over Blanc's head to settle her.
"I can feel Mana going through a transformation." Celestine had opened her eyes at the disturbance.
Where Blanc was frightened, though, Celestine stayed far calmer, and she could see plainly enough that the change bending through Mana was for the better.
「 The Dark Magician Girl, Mana, has fused with the Loaded Cylinder Drum and the Chaos Ritual. Quality raised to Epic. 」
Epic.
The Dark Magician Girl was the first card Luke had ever made. Her base level was still only six-star, but paired with every trick he'd bolted onto her over time, her combat strength had long since outgrown the number.
Add the two special cards she'd just taken in, and even Luke was curious how far Mana's strength would reach once she let it all loose.
"Master, thank you!" The storm had vanished, and Mana came flying at him again, planting a fierce kiss on his cheek, her small face flushed bright with excitement. With these new cards, she didn't have to worry about being left behind.
"All right. Go get a feel for the new power first. Tomorrow's your big day." He touched the spot where Mana had kissed him, and the last card he'd crafted, the Metalized Magic Reflection Armor, appeared in his hand as he called out to Red-Eyes.
Besides the Dark Magician Girl, Red-Eyes was due an upgrade too.
ROAR!
It came from far off, and a moment later the dragon dropped down in front of Luke and nudged its huge head into his chest.
"I called you over for something good this time." He patted the great dragon as it fawned against him and pressed the Metalized Magic Reflection Armor to the top of its head. Like the others, it sank into Red-Eyes without the least resistance.
In Luke's senses, Red-Eyes' strength climbed by a solid margin, though it didn't break past its original quality the way the Dark Magician Girl had.
ROAR!
Stronger now, and armed with the Metalized Magic Reflection Armor's ability besides, Red-Eyes shot up into the sky, thrilled, to get the feel of what it could do now.
Luke watched it and had to smile. A card spirit's heart was about as simple as a thing could be, and talking with one asked no masks of you at all.
Plenty of Card Masters spent the better part of their lives in the company of their card spirits.
...
"You're leaving?" Feeling him move beside her, Celestine opened her eyes, clear straight through, and yet with a stirring hint of allure at the very bottom of them.
The longer she spent at Luke's side, the more the dryad of the World Tree came to seem possessed of a person's spirit.
"Mm. Do you want to rest a while longer?" Luke reached out and touched her cheek.
The day before, once he'd fitted Red-Eyes with the armor and left both spirits to get comfortable with what they'd gained, he'd come out of the Eternal Land, and Celestine had followed.
"I've rested enough." A pale hand skimmed across the faintly warm skin of her stomach, and the Libra Saintess vestments rose over Celestine's frame. "I'll head back to the Eternal Land, then, and see how Mana and the others are settling in."
"That works. You'll recover better in there anyway." Luke nodded, then activated the Spirit-Value Aegis.
...
"You're here already?" Luke reached the meeting point at the appointed time, and it wasn't long before he spotted Elise and the other girls. With looks like theirs, the group of them together pulled half the eyes in the place.
The one small surprise was that the dragon sisters were there with Elise's group too.
"We only just got here ourselves." Elise and the others waved when they saw him, and then Violet and Viola both came over to stand in front of Luke.
"What is it?" Luke had spent nearly all of the past weeks up on Celestial's back mountain, which made this the first he'd seen of the two of them since the Dark Purgatory.
"Luke, if you have the time after this, we'd like you to come home with us." It was Viola who spoke, and no sooner had she than Luke felt Lily and the other girls turn to stare at him, wide with amazement.
"That's our Luke." Elise even reached over and clapped him on the shoulder, her whole face saying she'd seen through it all ages ago.
Seen through what, exactly!
"Nobody's going to take you for a mute if you keep quiet." Luke pinched Elise's round little face with both hands and shot the girl, forever cooking up trouble, an exasperated look