Dark laughed heartily and activated "Pride 4" in his hand.
A beam of dark golden light immediately shot out from the card's surface and shone onto Ditto.
Bathed in the light of "Pride," Ditto wore an expression of enjoyment.
Clearly, unlike DemiDevimon, it did not care at all about the light-and-dark attribute of "Pride 4."
The "Pride" crest that had emerged at the center of its belly grew increasingly profound. The energy level within its body also began to surge at a visible rate.
It rose steadily from one star.
In the blink of an eye, Ditto crossed the threshold between the First Tier and the Second Tier, then continued to grow without stopping until it touched the barrier between the Second Tier and the Third Tier.
Then, the edges of its body suddenly began to squirm.
There was no doubt that it was striving to break through the Second Tier.
Dark could not help but focus his attention on it.
However, Ditto always remained just a step short of breaking through the Second Tier.
After a bout of violent trembling, it suddenly deflated, no longer able to pierce that hard barrier.
"It failed."
Dark frowned slightly.
"Magic Beast: Ditto" came to a complete stop after reaching six stars. Ditto's magic, attack, and defense all became 600 points.
Though that was a slight improvement over the 400 points it had at four stars, there was no fundamental change.
Without breaking through to seven stars, Ditto could not "transform" into a Third Tier Magic Spirit.
That enormous leap had ultimately ended in failure.
Dark shook his head, but he was not discouraged.
"Muu muu—"
Ditto, however, was visibly dejected.
Dark picked it up and rubbed his cheek against it to comfort it.
Only after Ditto smiled again did he put it