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"I'm telling you, old Voles pulls this every single time. Does the man not know how badly his name stinks inside Celestial?" Kellan was bearing up under the same weight as everyone else, and he said it out loud. For once, the others around him all nodded along.
Plainly, even inside the Student Council and the Discipline Committee, nobody had much patience for Warrick Voles.
"Speaking of which, word reached me that Byron Vale means to move on Luke inside the Sanctum." That came from Halden Faye at Zane's shoulder, another of the Council's heavy hitters. The Luke business had been making the rounds among them these past few days.
"That's Byron down to the bone. Scheming old snake." Kellan pulled a face.
...
Interesting. So this is the one who wrecked the Renegades' whole arrangement in the Dark Purgatory. This year's exam first really is something.
Voles' gaze swept the plaza and lingered on Luke a moment longer than anywhere else, careful not to show it, before he drew it back.
Talent like that, potential like that. A pity nobody knows what actually happened inside the Dark Purgatory.
Not that it matters. Talent isn't strength, however much of it a man has. If you want someone to blame, blame yourself for putting your hand in.
He would have liked nothing better than to move on Luke and the two dragon sisters right there. But this was Celestial. Strike now, and even a clean success would leave him no way out of the academy.
He'd thrown in with the Dragon Renegades to reach the Emperor realm, yes. That didn't mean he intended to lose his old life over it. The whole point of the bargain had been to stretch that life out longer, not spend it.
"A good many of you are freshmen, though by now you should all be aware that what comes next is the first monthly hunt of your enrollment." Voles' voice came out level and filled the whole space, and every new student's ears went up.
"The monthly hunt is one of the main ways to earn credits inside Celestial, and after these past few days you should understand well enough what they are worth here."
"This hunt takes place inside the dimensional plane of the Sanctum. The fierce beasts living there are chiefly light-attribute, and every kill earns credits according to its grade. In the core region, there are also eight-star angel-line beasts."
"If your strength isn't equal to it, my advice is that you don't push too deep toward that core. Celestial provides you an environment to grow in. That is not the same as guaranteeing your safety at every moment."
"I've said what needed saying. You have twelve hours inside the Sanctum. When the time is up, every one of you leaves, or every credit you earned in there will be wiped to nothing."
Voles opened the gate to the Sanctum with a sweep of his hand, and light spilled from it bright enough to sting the eyes.
The students traded glances, then began stepping through in silence, one after another. Luke went in with Elise and the girls, carried along in the flow.
"Light-attribute power, and thick with it. Dark-attribute card spirits are going to find themselves suppressed to some degree in here." Lily's brows drew together the moment she was through.
"It isn't much of a problem for us, but most of the cards in your hand are dark-attribute, Luke. It will cost you." Serena put in, and every one of the girls turned to look at him at the same moment.
"There's some suppression, but nothing serious." Luke caught the weight of their eyes, waved a hand, and summoned Raidramon. "Since the four of you are moving as a team, I'll head off first."
He said his goodbyes, patted Raidramon's head, and the two of them tore away into the distance.
"Luke isn't going with you?" Watching him go, Violet and Viola both had to ask. They'd been hoping for a chance to get to know him better.
"Nothing to be done about it. If Luke moved with us, we'd only be dragging on his heels." Elise glanced round at the others, and the helplessness showed through.
"Unless I've guessed wrong, the direction he took leads to the Sanctum's core region, Cloud City. Luke's joining this monthly hunt for the eight-star beast, I expect." Iris said it with one hand at her temple, as though it ached.
The sight of Angewomon X cutting down the Abyss Devourer in a single stroke inside the Dark Purgatory was still perfectly clear in her memory, and here the power of light lay thicker still. Calling this ground her home turf would not be an exaggeration.
The Commandment Angels of Cloud City might be eight-star light-attribute beasts themselves, but if it truly came to a fight, which way it fell was anybody's guess.
"We all came out of the same cohort. How is the gap already this wide?" Lily covered her face with both hands. "Keep going like this and forget catching up. We won't even see his taillights."
Violet and Viola had nothing they could usefully say to that either. Confident as the two sisters were, neither had ever entertained the notion of picking a fight with an eight-star beast. They didn't have the strength for it.
"Let's get moving as well. Passing Luke isn't realistic at this point, but we can't let the gap get any wider either." Once the griping had run its course, the girls set off too.
...
"Tamer, hold on tight." Mid-run, Raidramon's voice arrived in Luke's mind, and in the same instant its body carved a perfect arc through the air, sliding clear of an incoming attack by a hair's breadth.
Lightning Blade!
The bladed horn on Raidramon's head flickered with blue thunder, and it gathered into a stroke shaped like a bolt of lightning. At the beast's will the stroke turned and lashed back at the ambusher in an instant.
Kii!
The attacker had taken the Lightning Blade full-on, and the thunder-power paralyzed it, stripping the thing of control over its own body so that it dropped to the ground in front of Luke and Raidramon.
「 Glimmer Wisp 」 Race: Elemental Quality: Rare Level: ★★★★★ (Five-Star) Skills: Attack Return, Purifying Light, Searing Light, Immunity Description: A common pack-dwelling fierce beast within the Sanctum. Possessing the properties of a half-elemental body, it can immunize itself against physical attack to a degree.
"A beast on the outskirts and it's already five-star. That's a dimensional plane held by Celestial for you. A fair bit stronger than the Spirit Home or the Misty Ruins." Luke read it through and went back to the last line of it. "Pack-dwelling, though. Which means this one isn't alone."
He was still saying it when the stirring rose all around them, and Glimmer Wisps came up out of the light in numbers, ringing Luke and Raidramon in on every side.
"All yours, Mana." He raised a hand and called, and the Dark Magician Girl's figure took shape. She needed no further explanation from him. Her staff swung, and a string of dark magic flew out and swallowed the great mass of the Wisps whole.
The Sanctum's environment did press down on dark-attribute card spirits to a degree. But a Dark Magician Girl whose quality had climbed to Epic shrugged the suppression off as though it weren't there.
As for the Glimmer Wisps left standing, Raidramon wiped them out with Lightning Blade and Blue Thunder in alternation.
The ring of Wisps around them was gone in short order. Luke put out an arm and caught the Dark Magician Girl as she drifted down in front of him, gave Raidramon a pat, and set them off again. "Let's keep moving."
EXTRA CHAPTER FOR EVERY 500 POWERSTONES.