Chapter 2512: Evil Sealing 1000 Curse Coffin

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning

’Don’t worry about me. 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 me, 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 resume 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-time 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 me.

Lucine had never once considered reaching out to the Morningstar University or other card apprentices of this timeline for help. She didn’t want to place any additional strain on the time prison’s loop. If a native card apprentice of this timeline were to realize that someone from the canon timeline had turned their timeline into a time prison with a never-ending time-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 timeline itself.

And there was another reason—each time the time prison loop reset, Morningstar University in this time gets destroyed in an explosion caused by a failed experiment. That blast would gravely injure Slay, who gets thrown into the time prison. In that weakened state, she would always summon that same grimoire-like tool and eventually begin to scream:

"Devil Merchant Code."

Again.

And again.

And again. Until she realized something 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 timeline—until she uncovered the truth and reset the timeline and memories 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 time prison. They had carefully mapped a safe path to enter this world only when necessary—to search for resources for their projects in the time vestige.

Morningstar University in this timeline was chosen precisely because it was already fated to be destroyed. It was a timeline that could be sacrificed—made into Slay’s eternal cage.

Call it hypocrisy or something else if you like, but in the end, Lucine’s ancestors had taken a perfectly functional timeline and turned it into a time prison just because Morningstar University gets destroyed here—despite the fact that it was merely an alternate branch of the canon timeline.

"You two, I am starting to feel left out," Slay remarked with exaggerated melancholy, clearly sensing the mental exchange between Lucine and me.

I frowned, noticing that she was no longer rushing to subdue me. Instead, she had eased into a conversational pace, waiting—letting her racial abilities influence seep in, increasing her hold over me with time. This caused me 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 me already," I remarked proactively, my gaze sharpening. "Show me what you’ve got." I said trying to confirm if my guess was right.

"All in good time, 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 mention 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 timeline.

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 comeback in the Dark realm.

There was just too much on the line to act willful. So she chose the safest approach, even if it meant letting the wooden stake carved from the world calamity tree’s twig erode itself away. She blamed herself for the mess, ’This is what I get for playing with my food.’

"Sigh." I exhaled, realizing Slay truly had no intention of fighting me, let alone confronting me 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 me. 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 timeline. It was tainted by this timeline, after all.

So she had indeed noticed something. Had she seen through my use of primordial energy? I had been careful—extremely careful. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. If there was a moment to act, it was now.

’Evil Sealing — Thousand Curse Coffin,’ I chanted mentally, activating one of my ultimate techniques knowing that if I tried to fight her head-on, she would simply avoid me 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 screamed 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 me with my last breath.

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