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"Dragon-grudge, and the auras of fierce beasts?" At Raidramon's report, a flicker of puzzlement crossed Luke's face.
Beast-aura was easy enough to understand. One look at this place said it was nowhere good, and the presence of fierce beasts would surprise no one; if anything, it felt like the natural order of things. But this dragon-grudge. What manner of thing was that?
"Dragon-grudge?" Elise had caught Raidramon's voice as well, and her face shifted by a faint shade. "That's the same sort of thing as beast-aura. Nothing good. If anything, it's even nastier to deal with."
"You know what dragon-grudge is?" Luke lowered his head, gazing at the lovely face so near his own, and asked.
"Mm." Warmth spread faintly through that fair little face, and Elise's cherry lips parted as she began to explain. "I read of it once in the old codices. Only in a place where dragon-kind were slain in vast numbers, and slain cruelly at that, might dragon-grudge possibly come into being. Once born, under certain conditions, the dragon-grudge will possess fierce beasts of every kind, and out of that forms a special breed: the dragon-grudge fierce beasts."
Dragon-grudge fierce beasts? Luke quietly committed it to memory.
"A dragon-grudge fierce beast inherits the full strength the beast originally held, and gains the boost of partial dragon-kind abilities on top of it. It becomes more savage and more aggressive both, and its destructive power likewise climbs by a full grade, which makes it a good deal more dangerous than any ordinary fierce beast."
"The thing is, dragon-kind were always existences of tremendous power. A place capable of cruelly slaughtering dragon-kind in numbers like that... in all my memory, there seems to be only one." Elise's gaze traveled slowly around them, dread and curiosity threaded together in the depths of her eyes.
"And what place would that be?" Watching Elise's expression, Luke arched a brow. She plainly knew something. And then, recalling the call from back when she'd invited him to travel to the Academy together, the sight of her framed on the screen by a veritable sea of books, Luke more or less understood.
Elise's stores of knowledge likely ran deeper than even he had guessed. Then again, of course they did. She was Edmund's granddaughter, after all, and having a walking library close at hand truly was a convenience.
"The Dark Purgatory!" As though seizing this rare chance to perform well in front of Luke, Elise delivered the name with her chin lifted, a thread of unmistakable smugness in her voice.
"That does not sound like anywhere good." Catching that proud little look on her face, Luke reached out and gave her round cheek a pinch.
"In the same old codex where I first read of dragon-grudge, I found material touching on the Dark Purgatory." Elise ground her small pearly teeth at him before continuing. "The Dark Purgatory's existence ties into the Dragon Renegades' Rebellion, and the Rebellion ties in turn into Dragon's Valley. Layer the long years over all of that, and even the codices held precious little record of it."
"The codex mentioned only this much: that the Dark Purgatory is the burial ground of Dragon's Valley's people. And if that holds true, then dragon-grudge arising in such a place explains itself perfectly."
"What I don't know is whether dragon-grudge fierce beasts truly still exist inside this Dark Purgatory. I've certainly never laid eyes on so peculiar a beast." With that, Elise had emptied out everything she knew.
WHOOOM!
Without the slightest warning, gust upon gust of ferocious dark wind tore in from every direction, dense and violent auras slamming against the very spot where the two of them stood.
Thunder Field!
Sensing the aggression riding within that dark wind, lightning flickered to life across Raidramon's body, weaving into a magnetic field that sealed Luke and Elise safely inside.
In the next moment, countless wisps of grudge came boiling up out of the pitch-black earth, gathering and condensing before the pair and their mount into a fierce beast shaped for all the world like an earth-dragon.
*「 Dragon-Grudge Fierce Beast 」*
Race: Dragon · Fierce Beast
Quality: Perfect
Level: ★★★★★★ (Six-Star)
Skills: Anti-Dragon Trait, Grudge Erosion, Mistform, Siphon
Description: Formed when the lingering grudges of Dragon's Valley clansmen tormented to death within the Dark Purgatory by the Dragon Renegades, together with the residual grudges of dragon-family card spirits that perished, attach themselves to fierce beasts. A peculiar breed of beast holding extreme resistance against all attacks originating from dragon-kind, and dealing amplified harm to dragon-kind in turn.
A dragon-grudge fierce beast! The information scrolled past Luke's eyes, and beneath the system's confirmation, he understood at last exactly where he and Elise had been delivered. This was the burial ground of Dragon's Valley's people. The Dark Purgatory. So this truly is no longer the Trial Road.
"Luke?" Seeing him go abruptly still, Elise's brows drew together, though she chose not to disturb him, summoning the Lethe Spider Lily instead.
The beast that had surged up out of nowhere pressed a faint edge of crisis against her senses, and beyond that, this was the first time Elise had ever laid eyes on a fierce beast this peculiar.
"It's nothing." Coming back to himself, Luke tipped his chin toward where the grudge-beast stood. "There. That would be the dragon-grudge fierce beast you were so eager to see."
"Hah?" Elise blinked at him, momentarily lost. When had she ever said she was eager to...
And then, catching the look in Luke's eyes, a rush of embarrassment flooded her, and she flung the command at the Lethe Spider Lily on the spot.
Lethe Netherwater!
One hand rose, and netherwater came pouring down out of the empty sky. It was nothing close to the complete river of the dead, merely the netherwater drawn from its flow, and yet the terrifying power of erosion it carried remained wholly intact. Even a grudge-beast standing at the full Six-Star Perfect grade managed to resist for no more than a breath before the netherwater submerged it and dissolved it away.
"So this truly is the Dark Purgatory you spoke of." Luke swept another glance around them. "And since the Dark Purgatory ties to Dragon's Valley, and to that Rebellion of the Dragon Renegades, then whoever made this move was most likely aiming at the new students out of Dragon's Valley. The two of us, in all probability, were simply unlucky enough to be caught in the sweep."
"By the look of it, we've been dragged into Dragon's Valley's own internal affairs this time. Which means that if we want to leave the Dark Purgatory, our best road runs through finding the Valley's own people in here."
Violet, he had already eliminated with his own hands, which meant that of those swept into the Dark Purgatory, the only one of the pair it could possibly be was the younger sister, Viola. And Viola was Dragon's Valley's own flesh and blood. She ought to understand the Dark Purgatory's situation a good deal better than either he or Elise did.
"So in the end, it still comes down to finding that sister pair from Dragon's Valley, if we want any real chance at a way out of here." Hearing Luke's reasoning, Elise rubbed at her own small face. This scoundrel had just pinched her cheek again.
"Only Viola can be found in here. Violet, I already eliminated myself." Luke corrected.
"Ah!" Elise's small hand froze mid-rub, and she silently summoned the Eternal Crystal Orchid as well, her gaze sweeping their surroundings with fresh wariness. "Though before we set out anywhere, there's no small amount of trouble to clear away first."
With her current reserves of mana, maintaining a Seven-Star and a Six-Star card spirit fielded at the same time already pressed close against her limit.
And even as the two of them spoke, more dragon-grudge fierce beasts came cresting up out of the black earth, and this time it was no lone beast, but dozens upon dozens of them, proof enough on its own that the Dark Purgatory was nowhere good at all.