But behind the mask, it was actually Eve, psyching herself up for the final round.
Eve had been in the Card Guild meditating together with her cards, sipping barley tea, and she had raised her level all the way up to One Star Great Demon Spirit. Then Burs came in and called her by her fancy new name. The only question she had on seeing her father was, what about the Sword Saint Guild?
Burs gave her the news in equal parts bad and hopeful. The Dark Guild's inventory is sorted out. But the drama in the Sword Saint Guild was much more than had been expected. It did not feel thrilling. He needed the guild's help in order to develop, and to boost the Card Guild. But the barrels were empty and he could not get it.
He threw down a pouch of fancy spoils taken from the great apostles. And the real good news, that the Sword Saint Guild would let her join the competition final.
Burs wanted her to compete and win. Eve doubted it. Stronger contestants would crush her. Burs reminded her that they are no longer weaklings. He promised that Liping's treasure deck would give her the power-ups.
So our hero was back in the competition, and she showed up with the cards. She knew she could use only six at a time. The deck was weak on balance, but the duplicates could not be removed. Liping's reputation depended on this. She opened with a card slash and moved forward to take care of things.
Ching had seen real power in the whole of that fight, and he was not impressed. He said quitting is not worth his time. The guild's favour is on you. That is why I am giving you a warning.
She was in no mood to give up. She fired a magic attack, which barely missed. Brian's attention was caught by it. Then the cards started swinging like swords. Ching blocked all of them like child's play.
He figured it out. She was trying to distract him. She charged. For a second she panicked, but she did not stop. She jumped into the air. She made distance by stepping on the cards. She launched another card slash from above. Ching countered it easily with a leap.
The fight continued to heat up. This was the card lock. It started weakening Ching's magic sword. For a second she felt it was under control. But Ching had a power backup. It was not done yet.
He found out that all her weak-looking attacks were only meant to stall for time. And then she played the trump card. The Dragon of Spades, a massive, terrifying creature. The entire arena buzzed. Tagore wanted to document it. Brian was more interested in the genius who had made the cards.
Our hero was amazed. Seeing Eve's skills, he shared it all with Elizabeth.
Ching faced the Dragon of Spades. He took out a massive sword. A blue sword attack, summoned to bring the dragon down. The situation was not great for her. She was feeling a huge power gap. Replica cards were of no use. She knew this. The only hope was the treasure deck.
But right now she could not get proper control over it. There was no time to make a plan. Ching was already on her. He attacked with such force that she fell flat on the ground.
She accepted defeat. It was a little bit all right too. To have come this far was enough. Everyone was thinking the fight was over.
Then something happened.
A monkey energy appeared from behind Ching and went straight through his head. No warning, no build up. Just a raw, overwhelming force. Ching could not even react. His body was taken over. He looked at it with disbelief. His whole vibe changed. The Great Apostle had possessed him through his head.
Gob, the commentator who spends his days hyping up matches, suddenly lost his cool. Energetic play by play turned into nervous rambling. When the apostle's power broke the arena's protective barrier, the crowd went nuts. Screaming, panicking, running in every direction as if their lives were at stake. Which actually they were. Ana, Luna and Tagore watched the chaos like a bad episode of reality television.
Liping turned to Elizabeth. Step in. Elizabeth told him to stop. The unpredictable future ruler has to learn to deal with situations.
Burs was sweating buckets. Looking suspiciously at our boy and Elizabeth, he reached the wrong conclusion. As usual, they must have known about the invasion. It is all a weird test, and now he has to impress them too.
Elder Bali was quietly rejoicing. After this embarrassment, Burs would have to come back to the guild.
On the battlefield, the Great Apostle, controlling Ching's body, was showing off his dark power. Eve had seen someone from the Dark Guild. Now there was no time left to hold back. She drew the treasure deck.
The apostle noticed her strength. He tried to take her out immediately. Powers clashed. Explosion, smoke.
She was standing there. Behind her, a glowing illusion of a knight with a holy shield appeared. Protected. The battlefield was a chaotic mess. But to Liping it all felt strangely familiar. Brian admitted it too. The power of these new cards was unreal.
Tagore noticed that these phantom warriors she was summoning looked like the legendary thirteen holy warriors of the ancient stories. Elder Bali wondered whether this was the strategy Burs had used against the six pillar demons. Burs answered, I used nine cards then. She is only using five.
She was already in action on the ground. She picked two cards from the deck. One red ace, one black ace. She demanded that the Great Apostle leave Ching's body. The explosion that followed momentarily stunned him. For a second he even felt impressed. But then realization hit. He has a target. He was not able to understand how her cards have so much power. He decided he would not stick around here.
He made a plan to escape with Ching's body for further study. But bad luck arrived on the way, in the shape of an illusion warrior with a shield. The shield passed from one warrior to another, and to a third, and effectively trapped him.
The Great Apostle was completely thrown. He was not ready for so much absurdity. He had been freshly born, and had no plan to die so soon. Desperately, he unleashed his most powerful move, the fierce sword spell. But before that, the illusion warriors had already trapped him in a glowing box.
She gave the orders to the warriors. Press in. The shields moved. Slowly the box got tighter and the tightness kept increasing. The Great Apostle panicked and fell into begging and defiance. A few moments later, the shields compressed completely. His body was set inside the box.
Ching fell to the ground, finally free, although his swollen face was making him look like a pufferfish.
Eve's mask slipped. She realized she had become a little careless.
As the fight approached its end, Burs finally relaxed and convinced himself. Elizabeth and Liping will be satisfied.
But our boy was just not satisfied.