Location- Sky Blossom City, SSS-Rank Legend Grade Unparalleled Arena
'There is something odd about the whirlpools in lava summoned by the devil.' A thought put forth its doubts.
'Yes, the devil seems to be recovering its strength. And at a faster pace too.' Another thought pointed out.
'Aha! This tricky bastard. No wonder he is not attacking the girl and is stalling for time. Because with his ability, more time stalled means more power he gains.' The thought from earlier spoke upon sudden realization of what the devil Feastus was up to this whole time. He is trying to achieve the peak of strength he can accomplish in this world despite the world's suppression so that he doesn't need to be cautious when he finally decides to go all out in his fight with Anna.
The devil's current strength is enough to fight Anna and defend against her, but from experience in the battle against humans, especially this girl's bloodline, he knew that humans have all kinds of tricks saved up in that grimoire of theirs. One may never know what surprise they have hidden in them as a last resort. Therefore, he decided not to engage the human female unless he was sure that he could counter anything she threw at him. Until then, he will keep teasing her so that she doesn't realize what he is up to.
'That foolish girl is in a daze, is she distracted? What is she thinking amidst a battle of life and death?' One of the thoughts was furious, finding that floating Anna's presence of mind was somewhere else rather than focusing on the devil and figuring out what tricks he was up to.
'Nope she is not in a daze. She is invoking a card. This card must be something for it to have such a lengthy chant to activate.' Usually, the cards' name is chanted mentally or verbally to activate the cards, but there are special cards that have length incantations required to activate the card. For example, the 'Mother's Love' bestowal card presented to Anna by her mother. Which only triggered after chanting the set incantation as a password.
The need for placing length incantations on cards as requirements are to decrease the rank of the card. Placing restrictions on cards to reduce their card ranking is one of the oldest tricks used by many seasoned card creationists.
What is the need to decrease the rank of a card? Obviously, it is done so that lower realm card apprentices can wield the strength of the higher realm. For example, a card apprentice with a golden grade grimoire can only equip cards up to A-rank and rare grade. But if an AA-Rank myth grade card is suppressed to A-rank and rare grade by placing a restriction, suppose a lengthy incantation. Then a card apprentice with a golden grimoire can wield the power of myth grade with a negligible price to pay. The higher the restriction placed on the card, the higher the card rank drops.
'Incantation? Isn't that brat holding a diamond-grade grimoire? She can equip all grades of cards, so why does she have a card with incantation? Don't tell me, our junior's found a card above the legend realm… when even the founder couldn't.' One of the thoughts asked with a revolutionary assumption.
'No, I think she received this card when she was younger. Back then, she must not be strong enough to equip the card, so the restriction on the card must have been placed back then. Now she must have no choice but to use the card despite the restriction.' One of the thoughts put forth its opinion killing the revolutionary assumption at its bud.
'Whoa! Then that card must be one hell of a card for her to have kept it equipped despite its restriction.' The thought was not wrong to assume that. After all, why would a person still keep a card with limitations when they have other alternatives unless that card is irreplaceable in terms of strength rather than some lousy sentimental value.
'Whatever she is up to, she better hasten it. Those whirlpools of lava are restoring the devil's strength to peak at a terrifying speed.' A younger thought reminded others.
'It is up to the girl to save herself. We cannot offer her strength as we are mere spectators and nothing more.' Sighed an ancient thought. He wanted to rush to his descendant's aid, but he had let go of worldly affairs to achieve a true one with the world. Now no amount of regrets can change the fact that he can only helplessly watch as his brave descendant fights something out of her league in terms of realm and experience.
'Ancestor, how are the lava whirlpools able to restore the devil's strength so fast? There is nothing for it to devour in this field card. How are they doing that?' One of the younger thoughts asked in doubt, unable to figure out the fuel used by the lava whirlpools to restore the devil's strength to the peak.
'The soul energy in the air!' The Ancient thought replied solemnly.
'I see, due to the presence of the world's will and its rules, the soul energy in the air has increased drastically. Even the soul energy in the air of the SSS-rank dungeon will fall shy when compared to the soul energy in the air within this arena.
That bastard devil knows this and is using it to his advantage. He is using the suction of the lava whirlpool to suck in the air with a high concentration of soul energy, and once the air is in contact with the lava, it will devour all the soul energy in the air and pass it to the devil. Those lava whirlpools are working as air soul energy conversation engines for him. Since all this process is done using rule power, energy loss is kept to a minimum, maintaining high efficiency. This meant that the devil was getting ten times or even more energy than it spent on summoning the lava and maintaining the whirlpools within it. Hence its strength was recovering at a frightening pace. Showcasing the difference between the slumber and awaken form of the devil.