Date: Unspecified
Ti: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Brothwork Manor
As a maid escorted us toward the manor’s main gate, I glanced at Jill—clinging to my arm, completely absorbed in her own jubilant little world—and let out a long sigh. She was unlikely to be the one in danger. Their target was almost certainly .
I had been in the Central Region long enough to expect sothing like this. Ever since I left Morningstar University and arrived at Jill’s pub, I had wondered when they would finally make their move. Yes, I had defeated card demigod Sean with ease, but that alone wasn’t enough to intimidate the people plotting against .
Now, at last, they had chosen to act. They took their ti—clearly wanting to be thorough, not to spook their prey into retreat.
But I wasn’t concerned. I had co fully prepared for this outco. In fact, I was looking forward to the loot. Many among the Freedom Fighters needed Diamond-grade grimoires to break into the Card Emperor realm and rise further. And now, I had the perfect opportunity to stock up.
What concerned was Jill’s complete lack of caution. She behaved as if the entire Central Region were her personal backyard. Part of wanted to believe Demigod Norley had given her so powerful safeguard—a card she could rely on in tis of danger. After all, she had once handed Demon rchant Ezra’s card, which later revealed itself to be Devil rchant Belphegor’s card in disguise. That single act led to uncover the Devil rchant Code and eventually beco a demon rchant myself.
Again and again, I had seen signs indicating that Demigod Norley possessed far deeper ties to the Dark Races than any of the other Founders. Whatever those connections entailed, I could only hope Jill wasn’t carrying another concealed monstrosity like that demonic card... or be forced into a situation where she would need to use it. Though I had co prepared, so had they. Because of that, I couldn’t be certain how the situation would unfold.
I was confident the enemies waiting outside wouldn’t harm Jill, but Jill wouldn’t simply stand by and watch get ambushed. If she interfered, she might force their hand, pushing them into harsher asures. Hopefully, my preparations were enough to prevent things from escalating that far.
Yes, I could have called Hendricks and avoided the ambush entirely. But that wasn’t why I was here. I hadn’t co to run or hide—I ca to make a statent. To show the world that anyone who thought they could take what belonged to was gravely mistaken. This would give those eyeing a share of my pie sothing to reconsider.
As we reached the manor’s front gate, my Primordial Soul Pupils imdiately detected the ambush lying in wait just beyond the property. They didn’t want to take any chances. They could have attacked inside the Brothwork family’s Morningstar Manor, yet they refrained.
I suppose even they still had a bottom line they weren’t willing to cross.
"Wyatt, stop. There’s an ambush ahead." Jill snapped out of her blissful haze the mont I summoned my nanomorpher hover-bike, she rang with sharp warning.
"I know," I answered with a nod.
Originally, I planned to leave Jill at the manor gate and face the ambush alone—show them I’d seen through their setup and still chose to walk straight into it. But knowing her, she would never allow that. So, I had no choice but to bring her along. Even so, I hadn’t expected her to notice the danger at the last second. She must have so higher-grade danger-sense card or rune, sothing subtle but potent enough to warn her of an ambush of this magnitude.
"You know and you’re still walking into it?" she snapped. "Have you gotten cocky just because you defeated one demigod? An ambush is nothing like facing a half-wit demigod. There are at least a dozen Card Demigods out there, each one an elite with centuries of experience. Stop being reckless and call Hendricks before they realize we’ve spotted their ambush and attack blindly!"
She was full-on nagging now, her irritation barely restrained. If we hadn’t just started dating—and if she wasn’t trying to spare my feelings—she would’ve outright called stupid, maybe even a moron, for daring to walk knowingly into a trap like this.
"Listen to —I’ve got this. Why else do you think I dared to leave the safety of the Southern Region and co to the Central Region of all places? Just sit back and enjoy the show," I told her, certain of my preparations. But Jill didn’t buy it. She insisted, "I’m coming with you."
"I never said you couldn’t." I swung onto the hoverbike and offered her my hand. She could have boarded on her own—she was a Card Emperor, after all—but we both knew these small gestures were part of why we hadn’t simply flown here. Flying would’ve been faster, far more efficient. But riding together gave us sothing we rarely had: quiet monts of shared closeness, allowing us to get to know each other better.
"They’re using a Temporal Separation Array," Jill warned as she settled behind . "The mont we step outside the gate, we’ll be pulled into a ti-space separate from our reality. Entering is easy, but escaping without locating the core is incredibly difficult because of the ti displacent. Even with the core, we’d need perfect timing to return to the correct mont. I studied this formation in depth back at university—it has almost no exploitable flaws. Are you sure you still want to do this?"
Jill warned with genuine concern just monts before I lifted the hover-bike’s accelerator.
"That’s perfect," I exclaid, revving the accelerator. "Of everything they could’ve used, ti is the one thing I’m least worried about. Trust on this one."
With that, we shot forward—straight into the ambush—riding my golden nanomorpher hover-bike.
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