Date: Unspecified
Ti: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning
’Don’t worry about . I know what I’m doing,’ I responded to Lucine, while simultaneously directing her to move as far away from the stake as possible. ’And whatever you do, do not try to pull the stake out. Don’t ask why. Just trust , for once—stay away from it.’
I had already noticed her searching for a chance to remove the stake while I was keeping Slay occupied. She believed that if the stake was pulled free, the Card World’s will would resu its suppression, forcing Slay’s realm back down. She had no idea that Slay had provoked the Card Celestial itself—and it was now pushing with everything it had to break through into this space-ti and take care of the puny threat once and for all.
’Fine,’ Lucine conceded, though reluctantly. She trusted that I must have a reason strong enough to justify my actions. However, if she knew my true intentions—if she understood the unnecessary risks I was taking—I doubted she would be willing to gamble alongside .
Lucine had never once considered reaching out to the Morningstar University or other card apprentices of this tiline for help. She didn’t want to place any additional strain on the ti prison’s loop. If a native card apprentice of this tiline were to realize that soone from the canon tiline had turned their tiline into a ti prison with a never-ending ti-loop, it would only complicate matters further. There was no telling what consequences might follow—or how those consequences might ripple back and affect the canon tiline itself.
And there was another reason—each ti the ti prison loop reset, Morningstar University in this ti gets destroyed in an explosion caused by a failed experint. That blast would gravely injure Slay, who gets thrown into the ti prison. In that weakened state, she would always summon that sa grimoire-like tool and eventually begin to scream:
"Devil rchant Code."
Again.
And again.
And again. Until she realized sothing was off. Then she would begin to scrutinize her surroundings—first the remains of the university, the five regions, then the world itself, and eventually the tiline—until she uncovered the truth and reset the tiline and mories back to the beginning, continuing the cycle.
This was why no card apprentice from Morningstar University ever arrived, despite the chaos erupting in the ’Garden of Beginning.’ They had long since monitored and recorded every possible reaction Slay would have within this ti prison. They had carefully mapped a safe path to enter this world only when necessary—to search for resources for their projects in the ti vestige.
Morningstar University in this tiline was chosen precisely because it was already fated to be destroyed. It was a tiline that could be sacrificed—made into Slay’s eternal cage.
Call it hypocrisy or sothing else if you like, but in the end, Lucine’s ancestors had taken a perfectly functional tiline and turned it into a ti prison just because Morningstar University gets destroyed here—despite the fact that it was rely an alternate branch of the canon tiline.
"You two, I am starting to feel left out," Slay remarked with exaggerated lancholy, clearly sensing the ntal exchange between Lucine and .
I frowned, noticing that she was no longer rushing to subdue . Instead, she had eased into a conversational pace, waiting—letting her racial abilities influence seep in, increasing her hold over with ti. This caused to wonder if my grip on her pseudopod had startled her more than she let on. I hadn’t expected caution from her, especially when she believed she still held the advantage.
"Stop teasing already," I remarked proactively, my gaze sharpening. "Show what you’ve got." I said trying to confirm if my guess was right.
"All in good ti, my prince. Have a little patience," Slay replied, with a calculated smile. Seeing the Hybrid Celestial suddenly erupt with so much power out of nowhere had unsettled her. Not to ntion the eerie and baleful aura surrounding him. She began to doubt that, having pushed them into the corner, the Hybrid Celestial was planning to bring her down with him. To sacrifice himself to save his friend’s life.
This way, one of them gets to live and stop her from returning to the canon tiline.
Slay didn’t dare to underestimate what a hybrid celestial was capable of. Not to forget, the hybrid celestial was her shortcut to perfecting her body and making a quick coback in the Dark realm.
There was just too much on the line to act willful. So she chose the safest approach, even if it ant letting the wooden stake carved from the world calamity tree’s twig erode itself away. She blad herself for the ss, ’This is what I get for playing with my food.’
"Sigh." I exhaled, realizing Slay truly had no intention of fighting , let alone confronting directly.
Just then, I felt the subtle slackening of her pseudopod’s grip around my wrist—it was deliberately slow in order not to alert . She was preparing to discard it before I could use it against her. It wasn’t even a sacrifice, considering she already intended to abandon this physical body after returning to the canon tiline. It was tainted by this tiline, after all.
So she had indeed noticed sothing. Had she seen through my use of primordial energy? I had been careful—extrely careful. But now wasn’t the ti to dwell on that. If there was a mont to act, it was now.
’Evil Sealing — Thousand Curse Coffin,’ I chanted ntally, activating one of my ultimate techniques knowing that if I tried to fight her head-on, she would simply avoid and stall, waiting for her racial ability to erode my will. Which was never going to happen considering my thousand plus primordial spirits. Therefore, I needed to end this in one decisive strike without giving her a chance to respond.
"—Shit!" Slay snapped, instantly sensing the shift in my soul signature. Her instincts scread at her. Without hesitation, she tried to sever the connection—discarding the pseudopod entirely—terrified that I might use the physical contact between us to drag her down with with my last breath.
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