Keith genuinely hadn't expected Azrael to possess such an extraordinary capability.
His two summoned cards began tentatively testing their weapons with experintal swings, adjusting to the sudden change in their equipnt's visual properties.
"Brother Keith, you should let them familiarize themselves with the modification," Azrael suggested thoughtfully.
After all, it was inevitable that anyone would need ti to adapt when suddenly confronted with invisible weapons, no matter how skilled they might be.
Upon hearing Azrael's reminder, Keith couldn't help but grin widely. "Don't worry about it. My cards are all weapon masters. This kind of change is barely worth ntioning to them."
From Azrael's perspective, Keith's cards were already becoming accustod to the invisible yet tangible weapons now resting in their hands.
What Keith didn't ntion was that after Azrael's card had appeared, he'd clearly sensed that his two summoned beings had received a subtle but noticeable enhancent.
He'd originally assud that the long-range support ability Azrael had ntioned referred to traditional spell-casting from a distance. Instead, it turned out to be card enhancent brought about by inherent characteristics.
This realization prompted him to ask, "How many people can your card enhancent ability cover, Azrael?"
Azrael paused montarily before imdiately understanding that Keith was referring to Artoria's [Charisma] trait.
"The cards covering our small group should be manageable," Azrael answered honestly.
After all, Artoria was currently only a silver-level Knight Princess, not an erald-level Knight King.
If she had reached Knight King status, Azrael felt confident she could cover all the cards present without difficulty.
Keith clicked his tongue with mild disappointnt.
Having witnessed Azrael demonstrate his role effectively, Keith turned his attention toward Hisham, who appeared visibly shaken.
Hisham's shock was entirely understandable. After all, it hadn't been long since the inter-university battle between Southeast University and Pixar University, yet here was Azrael with another silver-level card already at his disposal.
"Truly worthy of being a genius who joined the battle club during his freshman year," Hisham thought to himself with grudging admiration.
"Hisham, what about yours?" Keith's voice cut through his contemplation, startling him from his reverie.
"What?" Hisham responded, montarily disoriented.
Keith regarded Hisham with patient silence. Both were relative newcors, but the performance gap between Azrael and Hisham was becoming increasingly apparent.
Fortunately, Keith wouldn't bla his teammate for such minor lapses. It was better to address these issues before reaching the battlefield than to have them manifest during actual combat.
"Don't let yourself beco distracted like this when the fighting begins," he advised firmly.
Hisham flushed with embarrassnt and nodded quickly, then hurriedly directed his knight-like card to demonstrate its defensive capabilities.
As the massive tower shield phantom materialized on the ground, Azrael suddenly recalled sothing important. "By the way, Hisham, you should focus your protection on Brother Keith and yourself during the battle. I should be able to handle myself."
As he spoke, Azrael activated his transformation into Pride.
The originally handso young man vanished instantly, replaced by an imposing black and red figure standing three ters tall.
"Another card I've never seen before!" Hisham stared at Azrael's current appearance with wide, astonished eyes.
This was entirely expected, since Azrael hadn't participated personally in the previous battle, leaving Southeast University's students unaware of Pride's existence.
"I should still possess adequate self-protection capabilities," ca a hoarse, deep voice from the transford figure.
Not only Hisham, but Keith was equally stunned by this developnt.
The strength Azrael was displaying now far exceeded what would be considered normal for a silver-level Lore Cardian.
"Damn, whose young master is this? What kind of connections does he have to nurture such a genius?" Keith couldn't help but wonder silently.
However, he disagreed with Azrael's proposal. "No, Hisham, stick to what we originally agreed upon. We treat everyone equally."
Seeing this response, Azrael chose not to argue aloud. He'd made the suggestion; since Keith had declined, there was no point in pressing the matter.
"In that case, perhaps Fubuki has additional options available."
Large-scale army battles demanded a survival-first ntality. After considering the situation for a mont, Azrael spoke up again.
He'd suddenly thought of this possibility after witnessing the Wind King's Barrier and considering their current circumstances.
"Fubuki, can you extend the Wind King's Barrier to cover all of us?"
Azrael looked down at Fubuki, who stood gracefully beside him.
Fubuki frowned slightly in concentration. As her slender fingers began to dance through the air, a gentle breeze seed to flow around the three n. "I'll do my best to maintain it."
Monts later, the figures of Azrael and his two companions, along with their summoned cards, vanished completely from sight.
The sudden disappearance startled the other Lore Cardians in the vicinity.
However, when they extended their ntal energy to investigate, they confird that Azrael's group remained in the sa location; they had simply beco invisible to normal sight.
The gathered silver-level Lore Cardians displayed unmistakable envy in their expressions.
Having such a capability could dramatically increase survival rates on the battlefield, they all realized.
Setting aside whether demons possessed the sa convenient perception abilities as Lore Cardians, in large-scale army conflicts, enemies would naturally prioritize attacking targets they could actually see.
Even the captain of their formation, a gold-level Lore Cardian, cast a curious, appraising glance in their direction.
Keith found himself completely confused by the sudden turn of events. He'd been waiting for Azrael's card ability to take effect when everyone around him suddenly disappeared.
"Where did everyone go?!" Keith's heart skipped a beat, his first thought being that the demons had already launched their attack.
Then Azrael's amused voice reached his ears, "Brother Keith, look at yourself."
"What do you an, look at myself?" Keith muttered, glancing down at his own body, only to see nothing there.
It was as if he had ceased to exist entirely.
"Can your ability from before be applied directly to all of us?!" he asked in amazent.
"Yes, though it's not quite as useful as I'd hoped. After all, area-of-effect attacks make this kind of invisibility aningless."
This represented one of the Wind King's Barrier's limitations, it proved insufficient against wide-range attacks.
Moreover, when facing opponents with enhanced perception abilities, the difference between invisible and visible beca negligible. Just like Lore Cardians who could radiate ntal energy, unless one possessed thods to shield spiritual detection, experienced fighters operated as if they had a third eye.
"That's not the point," Keith dismissed Azrael's concerns. "Any additional protection is valuable."
Azrael had provided him with enough surprises for one day.
Although Keith had told Azrael and Hisham that he'd survived multiple large-scale battles like this, the truth was that he never felt certain about surviving to the end of any engagent.
Fortunately, due to the versatility of Lore Cardians, casualty rates were generally manageable.
If these secret realm incursions weren't so difficult to defend against each ti they appeared, and their frequency hadn't been increasing in recent years, the world might have achieved lasting peace long ago.
Unfortunately, reality refused to develop according to anyone's wishes.
Furthermore, the higher one's level beca, the smaller the gap between Lore Cardians and monsters grew.
By the ti one reached Hall level, that gap would be virtually eliminated entirely.
This was sothing Azrael had only learned after entering university.
"Even so, Lore Cardians remain formidable as a supernatural system," Azrael reflected inwardly.
"DONG!"
At that mont, a deep, resonant bell tolled across the assembled forces.
"Prepare yourselves. The war is about to begin."
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