Date: Unspecified
Ti: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning, Ti Vestige, Morningstar University 2nd Campus
"The Ti Supre," I said to Lucine, watching her face closely to see if my deduction hit the mark. And as expected, Lucine proved she would be terrible at poker.
"How did you figure that out?" she burst out, genuinely shocked. She stared straight into my eyes, as if she could dig the answer out of my soul—though she knew she would never get what she wanted.
"I’ll tell you if you tell how you got the Ti Supre to help you," I offered, seeing just how frustrated she was that I had uncovered Morningstar University’s deepest secret. She could only bla herself for that, after all she was the one who dared to it.
Now that I was certain the Ti Supre was the one giving Lucine the confidence to challenge inside the ti vestige—while we were drifting through the temporal river—I felt cold sweat run down my back. I silently thanked my fortune for not falling for her taunt and pushing my luck. Not that I’d ever be foolish enough to destroy the ti vestige. It was the only thing shielding —and countless other innocent souls—from being lost in temporal river who knows how far away from our original tiline. But it didn’t stop to threaten Lucine using it.
"Deal. But you go first. I don’t trust you," Lucine said. "And don’t you dare lie or try to act clever this ti. I’ll break the deal imdiately." Her warning was blunt and honest—if I wanted to know how Morningstar University secured the Ti Supre’s help, I had to play straight. Yes, they paid a hefty tribute for Ti Supre’s cooperation, but that alone couldn’t have been the reason. If Supre beings could be hired with offerings, card apprentices would have attempted it ages ago. Unless the Ti Supre was different from the others of its kind.
"The answer was obvious," I replied. "Who else would dare promise protection inside the temporal river—let alone safeguard an entire ti vestige? It had to be either the spirit of the ti-rule stream or its herald, the Ti Supre. And with that massive tribute of ti-rule liquid, only the Ti Supre could consu that much on a regular basis. It also explains why you’re all so weak despite your outrageous progress in ti-rule comprehension."
I kept my tone steady, showing I was honoring her conditions. Now it was her turn.
"As simple as that," Lucine muttered after hearing how I deduced that the Ti Supre was their backer in the temporal river. Her cheeks puffed in irritation, feeling cheated yet again. But they slowly deflated as she realized I had answered her honestly and upheld my side of the deal.
She shot a grudging look before letting out a long sigh, fully aware that she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from telling everything—just like she had with the Labyrinth of the Myriad Pasts and the second campus of Morningstar University. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she always ended up wanting to brag about Morningstar University to .
What she didn’t realize was that she was like a rancher boasting to a wolf about how plump her pigs were. So, she shouldn’t bla the wolf if it slipped in under the cover of night to take a few.
Lucine began, "When we first discovered the ti vestige, we learned it was the ho of the Ti Supre, Kronos. And unlike every other supre being, Kronos—just like the vestige itself—was a unique existence across all tilines of the Card World. However, unlike the ti vestige it can also exist in every tiline at once if it choses to.
"It was unimaginably powerful, second only to the Card World’s will and the spirit of the ti-rule stream. But it was also unbelievably lazy. It refined bare minimum ti-rule power it needed just to maintain its realm and existence, and then it simply lay here, doing nothing. Even when it noticed my ancestors trespassing in its ho, it didn’t bother to act. As long as they didn’t bother it, it didn’t care that they were running around inside its house.
"My ancestors were stunned by its temperant. It was nothing like any supre being they had ever encountered. So a few of them decided to try approaching it, hoping to establish so kind of trade. But anyone who tried to disturb it was simply thrown into the temporal river—never to be seen again.
"Even so, my ancestors refused to give up. The possibilities of working with the Ti Supre were too great to ignore. So they sought help from the progenitor of the Unparalleled Bloodline—the founder of the Southern Region and the Southern royal family—who happened to be the adoptive brother of the Blood Supre, Bloodette.
"With Blood Supre Bloodette’s diation, our ancestor finally reached an agreent with the Ti Supre, and that’s how we secured its help in our endeavors."
"So, correct if I’m wrong—everything you and Morningstar University have today is thanks to Bloodette and the progenitor of the Unparalleled Bloodline helping you broker a deal with the Ti Supre?" I asked, fixing Lucine with an unkind stare as the mory of the Southern Family’s demigods struggling helplessly against Belphegor’s Worldhog incarnation resurfaced in my mind. They hadn’t had enough ti-rule based cards to defend themselves, all because Morningstar University had been cutting the Southern Region’s quota for decades.
It would be one thing if those cards were charity. But they were sold at inflated prices—several tis their true cost. And when the Southern Region tried to buy more, offering even higher prices, Morningstar University still refused. That wasn’t business; that was repaying kindness with betrayal.
Lucine’s eyes widened as she realized she had revealed far more than she intended. Her expression twisted with guilt as she sensed exactly where I was steering the conversation. She knew Morningstar University’s treatnt of the Southern Royal Family had been deeply unfair, especially considering the friendship between their ancestors. But she also knew the truth: she wasn’t in charge, and things had changed. In the current tis, trust and loyalty always ca second to interests.
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