Twenty minutes ago.
"Waaaaaagh—"
Amidst screams, a short, stout yellow demon wearing samurai-like armor was slammed heavily onto the ground by a pure white dragon, the force so great that the ground beneath him cracked inch by inch.
Cana pumped her fist excitedly, "Well done! Blue-Eyes!"
The proud white dragon let out a low roar in response.
Looking at the fallen demon, Lucy, who had the taurus taurus guarding her, felt a sense of unreality.
While they were searching for Mavis's grave, this great demon who claimed to be one of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros—"The Armored" Franmarth—suddenly appeared.
The two of them could tell at a glance that the other was not human.
Once Franmarth admitted to being an enemy, the battle broke out as expected.
But the life-and-death struggle they had imagined didn't happen; Cana's Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the taurus Celestial Spirit summoned by Lucy defeated Franmarth quite easily.
A great demon on the level of Deliora was actually gone just like that?
Could there be a problem?
Cana shook the Card in her hand, "Don't worry, the two of us summoners working together are very powerful. If there's a problem, it's just that we haven't called enough people yet."
With Celestial Spirit Keys and monster Cards, the two of them could instantly create a situation where they outnumbered the enemy, and the quality of the companions they summoned was quite promising.
Lucy kicked the lecherous Taurus back into the gate, still feeling a bit uneasy, "Even so, that guy is a great demon after all. Who knows if he was defeated by us on purpose just to activate some kind of Curse..."
Before she could finish, Lucy's words became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A powerful suction suddenly erupted, dragging the massive figure of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon into Franmarth's round, stout body in an instant.
In the next second, small pure white dragon wings and a mini dragon tail grew from Franmarth's back, "Yee-hahaha—you've fallen for my trap! I'll be taking the power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Franmarth's Curse is 'Absorption'.
This Curse can absorb any living being, magic, or even souls. After absorption, it changes his appearance to some extent and allows him to use the opponent's abilities.
Feeling the power swelling within his body, Franmarth felt he could shatter a small hill with one punch, "What a truly powerful Card monster. How much is it worth? How much?"
Seeing her Blue-Eyes White Dragon absorbed by the demon's Curse, Cana tried to use a Card to unsummon it, but there was no response.
"Yee-hee-hee, it's useless."
Franmarth smirked, "Unless I spit it out myself, no one can take anything from my stomach!"
The demon opened his mouth, gathering a powerful sphere of bluish-white magical energy in front of it. It was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's skill, Burst Stream of Destruction.
A white light flashed by; it all happened too suddenly.
By the time Cana reacted, the danger was already upon her. The moment her hand touched her Card pouch, the forest was blown sky-high by the intense white light.
"Yee-hee-hee, humans are so gullible and fragile."
Having gained a good harvest, Franmarth turned around in satisfaction. Just as he was about to leave, a flat and stiff male Voice came from the smoke and dust behind him.
"Hey, Lucy, you're squishing me."
"It's only this big, I can't help it..."
"That's what they said."
Franmarth snapped his head back. At the center of the previous attack, an ancient pendulum clock with a face, arms, and legs had appeared at some point.
Inside the sealed space where the pendulum swung, Cana and Lucy, who should have been wiped out, were huddled together.
The Clock Celestial Spirit, Horologium.
As a Silver Celestial Spirit without any offensive capabilities, he possessed terrifying defensive power, immunity to negative effects, and a certain degree of healing ability.
Horologium is one of the very few long-lived Celestial Spirits in the Spirit World. His defensive power has grown continuously over his long life, and now there are very few beings who can break through his defense.
The moment the Burst Stream of Destruction fell, Horologium, sensing Lucy's peril, automatically leaped out from the Spirit World passage to take the blow for them.
The sealed space isolated the attack while also blocking the transmission of sound. Horologium has a habit of relaying the words of the person he is protecting. The Voice Franmarth heard earlier was the synchronized relay of Lucy and Cana's words.
Seeing a Celestial Spirit with such incredible defense, Franmarth's eyes lit up immediately, and he instantly used his 'Absorption Curse' on the Clock Celestial Spirit.
But just as he raised his hand, Horologium vanished with a bang. The price for that near-invincible defense was a very short stay in the Human World.
Cana and Lucy fell onto their backsides.
However, they immediately entered a combat state again.
Cana summoned the Red-Eyes Black Dragon to scuffle with the white-dragon-formed Franmarth. However, the attack power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was the strongest among all of Cana's monster Cards, and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon was quickly overwhelmed.
"Hee-hee-hee! It looks like I'll have a new collection!"
He grabbed the claws of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and the powerful suction appeared again. The black dragon was dragged into the demon's body just like the white dragon.
Black flames immediately flickered on the surface of Franmarth's body. A black flame bomb blasted back the Cancer and scorpio Celestial Spirits summoned by Lucy, while he used the opening to activate his Curse and absorb them.
In just a few dozen seconds, Franmarth had absorbed the power of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon and two more Celestial Spirits, his aura surging greatly.
"Time's almost up. Humans, you shall die!"
"Yee-hee-hee—!"
White light, black flames, starlight, and Curse Power erupted simultaneously, merging into a brilliant magical radiance in his hands that made it almost impossible to keep one's eyes open.
Franmarth pushed his hands forward violently, and a powerful attack composed of five layers of power bore down on Cana and Lucy like a mountain-toppling wave.
The Clock Celestial Spirit Horologium had a limit on the number of times he could be summoned and could not come out to take the hit for them again.
Watching the lethal attack draw closer, Cana revealed a smile that said everything was going according to plan. "Is this the strength of a Tartaros officer? So strong, truly too strong..."
"I activate 'Magic Cylinder'!"
A red Card flipped over instantly in Cana's hand.
Two cylinders with question marks on their surfaces appeared in front of her. One of them absorbed the incoming attack almost instantly, while the other was aimed at Franmarth.
In the next moment, the powerful energy that had been absorbed was ejected as a more direct attack, blasting the demon with the exact same force.
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