The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　At that moment, he raised the magic card in his hand high, and the dark aurora released from the card instantly filled the sky above the duel arena, covering the six-faced demonic face that "Abyssal Demon Fish" had transformed into.

　The entire sky darkened as a result, from which countless auroras shot out. These auroras were of various colors, but all were dark.

　Ryan Jeremiah's tentacle gem emitted a strong red light, pushing his abilities to their limits.

　He and

　I don’t want to drag this out with Sarah any longer—who knows what kind of magic cards that guy will pull out next!

　However, as he unleashed the "Dark Aurora Illusion," Sarah also activated the "Mystic Card"—the "Spirit Guardian Mystic Card"—without missing a beat!

　The "Spirit Guardian Ritual" is a ritual developed to prevent spirits from falling into depravity, and it has a remarkable effect on protecting the spiritual realm.

　In short, it's a magic card specifically designed to counter Ryan Jeremiah! Sarah had made multiple preparations to deal with Ryan's mental attacks, and coincidentally, she also paid great attention to this level of technology, possessing various counter cards.

　However, the effects of this type of magic card can usually only be known after actual comparison.

　Ryan Reynolds clearly has an advantage in this area.

　Sarah's request was not a counterattack, but rather to weaken the effect so that she could withstand it, thus achieving her goal.

　Provided that the illusion can be withstood, it remains to be seen whether the "Ancient Guardian" can deliver a heavy blow to Ryan as expected!

　White orbs of light rose from the four corners of the arena, and halos emanating from them spread outwards in concentric circles, clashing with the dark aurora shining down from the sky.

　Under the protection of the "Spirit Guardian Ritual," Sarah successfully maintained her conscious state.

　The "Ancient Gatekeeper" already has the blessing of the "Guardian Soul Spell," and with the addition of the "Elf Guardian Ritual," it is naturally even more resistant to illusion attacks.

　Ryan suddenly realized that neither the "Dark Aurora Illusion" nor the "Six-Faced Demon" of the "Abyss Ghost Fish" had any effect on Sarah and her magical spirit.

　This made him frown and look unpleasant.

　Even under these circumstances, he still did not rely on his physical strength to launch a surprise attack on Sara.

　In short, he certainly possessed the qualities of an "illusionist." However, when the "Ancient Gatekeeper" charged in with astonishing force, he had no choice but to act, leaping swiftly among the reefs to evade the "Ancient Gatekeeper's" attacks.

　The tide of the duel had finally turned.

　It turned into an "ancient gatekeeper" hunting down Ryan.

　In his hasty escape, Ryan was forced to deactivate the "Six-Faced Demon" of the "Abyss Demon Fish" and summon it to his side to assist in fighting the enemy. However, most of his magical spirits were primarily mental attackers, and the "Abyss Demon Fish" was no exception.

　Even though the "Abyssal Demon Fish" has decent stats, without a corresponding finishing move, it simply cannot unleash power commensurate with its numbers.

　After stabilizing the situation, Sara began to play a more cautious and methodical approach, relentlessly pursuing her opponent. The rounds continued to change.

　She summoned more and more magical spirits, and her defenses became increasingly tight. She even successfully drew the "Contract of House and Death".

　After that, she consciously manipulated the "cat that returned from the underworld" to endure the harm and bravely face death.

　The ghost cat is also gradually getting stronger.

　However, Ryan Jeremiah has hit a bottleneck.

　When his most prized mental attacks fail to work, his hidden flaws are exposed one by one.

　The sea creatures' research into magical technology is actually no better than that of humans on the continent, let alone comparable to that of St. Marian Academy.

　When his own abilities fail to take effect, his true level as a mage is revealed.

　Aside from the "Abyss Summoning Spell" developed with "Abyss" as its core, Ryan's actual skill level is below Sara's.

　However, the "Abyss Summoning Technique" did indeed elevate his abilities to a level that was difficult for the lower grades to reach.

　Sarah also found it very difficult to cope.

　Without targeted adjustments to the deck composition, it would have been impossible to reverse the situation.

　Many things can be analyzed from this duel. For example, the "Abyss Summoning Technique" has no limit on the number of times it can be summoned. Currently, it seems that the limitation of the "Abyss Summoning Technique" lies in its "existing resources".

　The "Abyss" magical spirit summoned by Ryan did not truly appear out of thin air.

　It may indeed exist, but not in the Magic Cards; rather, it exists in the "Abyss."

　"Abyss Summoning" appears to be a combination of the summoning spells of mages and beast tamers. It summons creatures existing in the "Abyss" in the form of "magical spirits" at the cost of offerings that meet specific requirements. This is similar to the technique of beast tamers summoning their tamed magical beasts from afar.

　Using this as a reference, we can understand the limitations of the "Abyss Summoning Technique".

　First of all, setting aside taming, duelists must establish some kind of contractual relationship with the magical spirits that exist in the "Abyss" in order to summon them.

　This should be the biggest limitation of "Abyss Summoning".

　Based on this reasoning, it can be found that this should also be the core point of the "Abyss Summoning Technique".

　Sarah, caught in the middle of the duel, had no time to think about these things. But the mages watching from the sidelines gleaned many insights from this duel.

　When the veil was lifted, the hidden mystery became clear. Many people then developed a strong interest in this technology. Darkdimon was no exception!

　up to now.

　The only special summoning spells Dark encountered, besides "Abyss Summoning Spell", were "Star Summoning Spell" and "Acceleration Summoning Spell".

　Among them, learning the "Star Summoning Spell" requires an extremely high level of astrological knowledge, and this summoning spell itself has a very high barrier to entry and is not convenient to use.

　"Accelerated Summoning" is a special summoning technique developed based on the racial characteristics of long-lived species, and it is not suitable for learning.

　Only this "Abyss Summoning Spell" has no requirements regarding knowledge or race, and it does not require a special environment to cast. The only limitation is that it requires a connection with the "Abyss".

　This is probably why many students in the lower grades of the Ocean Magic Academy are able to use "Abyss Summoning".

　However, almost none of the lower-grade students at the Sky Magic Academy could use (Speed ​​Summoning Spell).

　These two summoning spells are fundamentally different, and their learning requirements are also completely different.

　Learning "Abyss Summoning" should be the easiest skill to master.

　Its difficulty is mainly concentrated on the "external".

　Although this "external condition" is actually a threshold that outsiders cannot cross.

　But what mages excel at most is invention and creation.

　What they drew from this "Abyss Summoning Spell" was a way of thinking, a direction.

　Using the same technique, if you can summon magical spirits from the "Abyss," why can't I summon them from the "Shallow Abyss" or the "Middle Abyss"?

　Of course, ideas alone are far from enough.

　From initial ideas to final results, countless challenges need to be overcome. But since there are already precedents, moving towards this goal is always the right thing to do.

　Dac basically shared the same idea.

　Moreover, he immediately realized that he had a unique advantage in this regard.

　Unlike ordinary mages.

　Before he even grasped this line of thinking, he already possessed his own "abyss."

　—That is, "Magic Kingdom"!

　Once this idea came to mind, countless ideas followed, and it became unstoppable.

　If the competition hadn't been ongoing, he would have already plunged into the lab and started his research at lightning speed.

　The concept behind this "Abyss Summoning Technique" was practically tailor-made for him. The creature residing in the "Abyss" was not a magical spirit in its true form. It was only after being summoned by the "Abyss Summoning Technique" that it appeared as a "magical spirit" through "projection and manifestation."

　Dark's current research focuses on bringing magical spirits to life. If he could use the "Abyss Summoning Technique" as a template to develop his own "Heavenly Kingdom Summoning Technique," he could perfectly solve the core problem of how to summon the brought magical spirits from the "Magical Heaven" to fight the enemy.

　He had not thought about this issue before.

　Nowadays, the answer is found first, and then the question is raised, which can be said to be a complete reversal.

　Once a magical spirit comes to life, it will suffer from the inherent drawbacks of such a life form. And since it is life, it will die.

　It's impossible to transform them back into magical spirits in a "cursed cage" manner before summoning them to fight every battle.

　However, if the "Heavenly Summoning Technique" could be developed, this problem would be solved.

　Moreover, "Abyss Summoning" is indeed a very unique and convenient technique.

　Its core competitive advantage lies in its ability to summon magical spirits that are not present in the deck.

　This means that as long as there are enough contracted creatures in the "Abyss", they can deal with any unexpected situation encountered in a duel.

　Although it seems that neither Leander before nor Ryan now could achieve this.

　However, Dark strongly suspects that this is simply because their abilities are insufficient, and the number and types of abyssal creatures they can contract are extremely limited.

　If you have enough power and enough contracted abyssal creatures, you can definitely summon even more types of abyssal creatures.

　Characters like Leander and Ryan seem to be able to summon only six-star abyssal creatures that match their own abilities.

　Although this six-star abyssal creature already possesses the strength of the third tier, it stops there.

　However, we can extrapolate from this.

　The sea creatures, who are more powerful than them, should be able to summon higher-star abyssal creatures through "Abyssal Summoning," perhaps even reaching the strength of the fourth tier.

　If it were a sea creature capable of summoning two nine-star magical spirits, and that were used as material for an "Abyss Summon"... then that would probably be beyond the level of a student.

　Thinking about it that way, the senior students at the Ocean Magic Academy must be incredibly strong!

　Dark was getting restless.

　"I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to experience the power of the abyss's call more closely."

　He couldn't help but think.

　And in the dueling arena.

　The outcome of the duel between Sarah and Ryan is gradually becoming clear. Sarah possesses a wide variety of magical techniques, but she remains remarkably composed when facing opponents stronger than herself.

　Under these circumstances, once she gains the upper hand, she is unlikely to be overturned easily.

　She was still resentful about the defeat she suffered against the Holy Mystic Academy that morning.

　Of course, she didn't want to be washed away like a maggot in the afternoon's duel against the Ocean Magic Academy, just like Vitt.

　She gave Ryan Jeremiah no chance to turn the tide. Finally, as the "Cat Returned from the Underworld" grew powerful enough, she steadily defeated all the magical spirits Ryan had summoned, cornering him and delivering the fatal blow!

　"Wow—"

　The whistle sounded.

　The referee announced the end of the battle.

　Sarah's nerves, which had been taut to the limit, suddenly relaxed, and she was drenched in sweat, her limbs felt weak, and her whole body ached. All the pain and discomfort swept over her.

　She collapsed to the ground with a thud, hearing the referee announce her victory. A surge of power flowed into her body, beginning to help her heal her injuries.

　The healing of her injuries eased her pain, but the exhaustion wouldn't disappear. She sat on the ground for a while before supporting herself on her knees to stand up. Without even looking at her opponent emerging from the "graveyard," she simply raised her right hand toward the audience.

　Human vision is limited; we can only see what's in front of us.

　"Damn, damn!"

　Ryan Jeremiah pounded his thighs violently. But the self-torture couldn't change the outcome of the duel.

　The cheers that resounded throughout the stadium sounded like sharp thorns to his ears, piercing his brain with pain.

　It's hard to imagine what kind of treatment he would receive after returning to the contestant's stand following his defeat.

　How would Rayleigh and Leander, whom he mocked and despised, view him?

　But the dueling arena needs repairs, and he can't stay here forever. Leaving the arena now would make him a shameful deserter.

　It was just a defeat; there's no need to brand him a "deserter."

　Besides, he had won one of the duels that morning.

　Unlike Rayleigh and Leander, they didn't win a single game.

　He was just unlucky and happened to lose a match. He's not in the same league as Rayleigh and Leander!

　Ryan Reynolds muttered to himself until Sarah was led onto the stage by Judy, then he gritted his teeth and walked towards the rising platform. Sarah, being interviewed on the stage, was full of vigor, as if she hadn't been the one struggling just moments before.

　But victors should behave like victors. They can't win and then act like they've lost.

　Sarah answered Judy's questions with a sweet smile, making no attempt to hide her joy at her resounding victory.

　How could I not be happy?

　After this victory, St. Mary's Academy has already secured three match points, guaranteeing a tiebreaker and putting them on match point for the next two games. And their captain hasn't even made a move yet!

　If Dark wins another match in the upcoming duel, they can represent St. Mary's Academy and win their first championship in the Academy Championship!

　have nothing to say.