Dark's spirits sank a little. He understood at once: with no more than the strength of the Moon Goddess's lingering soul, she could only draw out "Lust" rated eighty or above.
The lower a Major Sin's index, the harder it was to alter.
But if that was true, didn't it also mean the "Flower Cards" could only draw "Lust" rated eighty or above?
Then again, thinking it over, a baseline of eighty was acceptable enough.
So with a shift of thought he turned straight back to the armament Forging.
The hunger for "Lust" pouring out of the "Mental Furnace" was no illusion. More than ten points of Dark's own "Lust" had failed to satisfy it, which meant this "Moon God Armament," forged on the template of the "Warrior Spirit," had a staggering ceiling.
That was good news, of course.
Dark had been eyeing the Valkyrie's golden Sacred Armament with envy for a long time now. That was exactly why he had thrown himself so eagerly into Forging an armament of his own.
If he could sate the "Moon God Armament's" hunger, the finished product ought to be something fine.
But with his own "Lust" already impossible to draw from, how was he supposed to feed it?
At that thought, Dark's gaze snapped to the test tubes and the Thought Bottle on the table.
The "Lust" stored in those vessels had come from the Moon God statue in the first place, so nothing could suit the Moon God's lingering soul better. The one drawback was that it might send the Moon God Armament out of control the way it had the Magic Guide Spirits.
But just as he had reasoned earlier, with his own "Lust" acting as a weight to hold it down, that loss of control could very likely be suppressed.
Going by the fact that a single "Pride I" could hold down a single "Lust III - Moon," one point of Dark's own "Pride" was enough to suppress thirty points of the Moon God version of "Lust."
A quick conversion: thirteen points of Dark's own "Lust" should be able to suppress three hundred and ninety points of the Moon God version.
In other words, even if he poured in every last drop of the Moon God "Lust" he currently possessed, there was no danger of it running wild.
With the math settled, Dark picked up a test tube brimming with the Moon God version of "Lust" and dripped all ten points of it into the "Mental Furnace."
Sure enough, those ten points vanished into absorption in an instant.
He reached for a second full test tube, emptied it in as well, then took up the Thought Bottle holding thirty points of Moon God "Lust" and tipped that into the "Mental Furnace" too.
A full fifty points of Moon God "Lust" went in, and at last the ravenous ache echoing back from the "Moon God Armament" dropped by more than half.
Yet it clearly still wasn't full.
"Gatomon."
At Dark's quiet call, Gatomon, who had been standing by all along, appeared at his side in an instant.
"Use the magic-brain dropper to extract the 'Lust' inside the statue, then load it into the Thought Bottle."
"Wait."
Gatomon snatched up the magic-brain dropper and the Thought Bottle and shot straight to the foot of the Moon Goddess statue, siphoning "Lust" with the dropper.
Stripped of the Moon God's lingering soul, the Moon Goddess statue could no longer hold "Lust" properly. Thin wisps of pink mist kept leaking out of the idol.
Gatomon worked fast. In moments she had drawn out thirty points of the Moon God version of "Lust."
Rather than carry it back herself, she handed the Thought Bottle straight to Leomon.
Leomon ran to Dark cradling the bottle with exaggerated care, as though terrified of crushing the little thing in his fist.
Drifblim, meanwhile, had already pressed an empty test tube into Gatomon's paws.
Gatomon filled that one too in no time and passed it to the returning Leomon...
Back and forth they went, and Dark kept pouring Moon God "Lust" into the "Mental Furnace."
When he emptied the Thought Bottle into it for the third time, the hunger radiating from within finally went quiet.
"Thirteen points of 'Lust' and one hundred and twenty points of the Moon God version absorbed in total!"
Dark let out a long breath and threw himself body and soul into the final smelting.
...
Elsewhere, the amount of "Lust" stored inside the Moon Goddess statue turned out to be a good deal larger than Dark had imagined.
Gatomon didn't stop until she had refilled the Thought Bottle and all three test tubes.
By then the interior of the goddess statue was hollow and bare, wrung dry to the last drop.
...
And Dark, after downing a Mana Recovery Potion he had prepared in advance, at last completed the final "Mental Smelting."
Feeling the inside of the "Mental Furnace" settle into total stillness, he set the Mana Pen against the top and pressed down, flattening the spherical Forging array bit by bit until it contracted into an extremely thick sheet of light lying over the card face.
In the end even that sheet of light snapped inward and disappeared into the card.
The whole "armament Forging" process was finished at last.
Dark blew out a hard breath and looked down at the face of the Magic Guide Card.
As the white glow drew in, the image of an armament surfaced slowly on the card.
In overall outline it differed little from the Living Metal he had carved into the Moon God's likeness.
But look closely and you noticed at once that the humanoid surface now carried a great many fine lines, giving it a far more mechanical texture, like a machine-figure assembled out of metal components that could be taken apart.
Silver was its base color, and this mechanical figure resembled nothing among the "Warrior Spirits" in Dark's memory.
He had guessed his "Moon God Armament" would come out as a Dark-attribute "Warrior Spirit." It hadn't.
Studying the "Moon God Armament" on the card, Dark found himself wondering: "Can it grant evolution to a human or a Digimon the way a 'Warrior Spirit' does?"
As he saw it, what set the "Warrior Spirit" apart from a traditional armament was that it turned a human into a Digimon, instead of simply strapping armor onto a body the way ordinary armaments did.
The "Warrior Spirit" also came in three types, "Human," "Beast," and "Fusion," corresponding to the Champion, Ultimate, and Mega levels of a Digimon.
That was potential made visible, beyond any doubt.
If the "Moon God Armament" lacked that quality, it would be a real letdown.
So Dark poured in mana at once to look deeper into the armament card's information.
[Card Name: Moon God Spirit I]
[Type: Item Card]
[Effect 1: Godhood Armament - Moon God.]
[Effect 2: Major Sin Armament - Lust.]
[Effect 3: Moon God (1%)]
"Godhood Armament!"
"Major Sin Armament!"
Not one word of extra description, and yet the effect was immensely reassuring.
Excitement lit Dark's eyes. He took up the "Moon God Spirit" Magic Guide Card and summoned it with a Normal Summon.
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon!"
Mana surged into the card like a flood tide, and a pure, unblemished radiance burst from its face.
An instant later Moonlight seemed to spill down from above, and a silver-white mechanical figure took shape bathed in that glow.
It was an armament shaped in the very likeness of the Moon Goddess.
Long silver hair hung straight and keen as a blade's edge; her face was snow-white and shone with the luster of jade, two thin grooves running down along its margins. The silk gown of the original had become an armored skirt, and in her hand she held a strange weapon shaped like a war hammer, while behind her head a silver mirror floated round as a full moon.
That silver mirror was unmistakably the transformed bronze mirror the Moon Goddess statue had cradled in its palm. But where had the war hammer come from?
Dark looked closer.
And noticed that the Moon God Armament's closed eyes were slowly opening, a spiritual light flickering within them.
"Am I... alive again?"
The voice from her mouth was clear and pleasant, like the chiming of a bell, and bright with delighted surprise.
Dark punctured the lingering soul's fantasy without mercy. "No."
The "Moon God Spirit" shut her mouth at once, then silently flexed her hands and feet.
Unlike a "Warrior Spirit," which was nothing more than a figurine until activated, this "Moon God Spirit" was like an ordinary mechanical girl. Apart from a body made of metal she was no different from a human being, and she could move entirely as she pleased.
In that respect she closely resembled the legendary "Mystic Puppets" made of Living Metal.
More surprising still, she seemed to possess enough mana-recovery capacity to support ordinary activity on her own.
Small wonder she had mistaken herself for "revived."
After looking her over from head to foot, Dark asked, "How do you feel?"
The Moon God Spirit answered, "Better than I have ever felt!"
Though Dark had shattered her illusion in a single word, her mood seemed fine all the same.
"I have a feeling," the Moon God Spirit said, brimming with excitement. "I think I've caught hold of a road back to life!"
...
"A road back to life?"
Dark repeated the words, then looked again at Effect 3 on the "Moon God Spirit I" Magic Guide Card.
Effects 1 and 2 were fairly plain in their literal meaning. [Effect 3: Moon God] was different, and it put him in mind of "Honedge" and its [Effect: Holy Sword]...
By then the Moon God Spirit had already gone on: "I don't know why, but I can truly feel that I already hold a sliver of root divinity. With that sliver, possibility exists! As long as I use it as a foundation and absorb more root divinity, I can recast my godhood, take hold of divine authority, and become the Moon God!"
Wild joy blazed across her face, the "Lust" emblem surfacing faintly on her brow, her features shining with fervor.
Her explanation made the "1%" in [Effect 3: Moon God (1%)] clear to Dark at once.
"So as long as that one percent is raised to a hundred, she has the foundation to forge a godhood."
"But how is this Moon God root divinity obtained?"
"By finding the Ancient Temple of the Moon?"
Watching the Moon God Spirit lose herself in excitement, Dark had the distinct sense that leaving it to her alone would be extremely unreliable.
Besides, Dark himself had little interest in gods and godhood.
What did interest him was that "1%," which gave him the feeling of "accumulate experience and you level up."
As if, once the percentage climbed, the armament card itself would upgrade.
"Maybe it really can upgrade?"
Dark's eyes went back to Effects 1 and 2 of "Moon God Spirit I."
Those two, in truth, were what delighted him most.
[Effect 1: Godhood Armament - Moon God]
[Effect 2: Major Sin Armament - Lust]
Two armament forms in a single stroke: one founded on godhood, one founded on a Major Sin.
If both forms could level up further as the "Moon God" percentage rose...
If, like the "Warrior Spirit," they went from "Human" to "Beast" and then merged into one, the potential would be boundless.
"Maybe the ability to upgrade is a property of God Cards?"
Dark turned it over carefully.
All told, this "Moon God Spirit I" ought to be the first "God Card" he had ever obtained.
God Card here was no mere adjective, but the general name for a Magic Guide Card that possessed the "power of a god."
The thought drew his eyes back to the Moon God Spirit.
He was itching to try out those two armament forms, honestly, but seeing her so worked up, he felt awkward about interrupting.
"Moon God Spi- what should I call you, exactly?" Dark said.
Only then did the Moon God Spirit come down from her high. "Just call me Moon God," she said.
...
"Moon God it is!"
Even if she wasn't one yet.
"So, Moon God," Dark said, "may I use you now?"
Moon God Spirit: "??"
Dark had already brought two fingers together, pinching the "Moon God Spirit I" Magic Guide Card between them. His expression turned solemn and he intoned softly, "- 'Summon chant wanted here' -"
Light bloomed at the Moon God Spirit's chest, and the silver mirror behind her head swelled at furious speed, reflecting her whole figure.
Then a tremendous suction erupted from that mirror and drew her body inside in an instant.
Dark blinked, and the huge silver mirror that had swallowed the Moon God Spirit was already behind his back.
Inspiration struck him. He spread both arms wide and called out, "Armament, evolve!"
In that heartbeat, brilliance released from the silver mirror wrapped his entire body, and his frame changed violently inside that evolutionary light.
The height that had been a little short for his years stretched out in an instant, his features hardening to match, as though he had crossed a stretch of time and gone from twelve years old to eighteen. The whole air about him changed with it.
And all around him, the silver-white armor plates separated out of the Moon God Armament surfaced one by one, clinging tight to his skin, cool to the touch.
He had watched plenty of other people's suit-up scenes by now, but this was Dark's first proper suit-up of his own, and the experience... honestly, it was excellent.
The "Armament Evolution" wasn't even over yet and he could already feel his physical strength rising by an enormous margin. If he arm-wrestled Diana right now... he probably wouldn't lose, would he?
Not that this was anything to be especially pleased about.
In short, suiting up in the "Godhood Armament - Moon God" was clearly the same category of thing as the "Warrior Spirit's" "Armament Evolution."
It had evolved him from a human into a "Digimon"!
And when the evolution finished, he had been transformed into the tall, slender "Moon God"!
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