Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2505: Ovumites: Daughters Of Shrouded Hills

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

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

I silently watched a slim, dark silhouette slowly revealing its figure from one of the lush green giant trees of the ’garden of beginning,’ wondering how my primordial soul pupils missed it.

I guessed it wasn’t hiding here to begin with; it only arrived after it sensed the stray temporal and spatial forces as I summoned the time vestige and only dared to show itself knowing that I can’t stop the formation of the time tunnel and the arrival of the time vestige midway not wanting to risk losing the time vestige between this past and our future.

The silhouette fully revealed itself to be an eight ft tall, pale pink skinned, female humanoid with a rounded head featuring a long, thick, dark pink, semi-rigid appendage that extends backward from the base of its skull reaching its knees, curling slightly at the tip, a white sleeveless toga its hairless body. Looking into its pair of beady, pitch back eyes, I couldn’t help but frown, trying to guess which race ‌the devil belonged to.

It took me a second, but with my primordial soul pupils and the Hive Spirit’s help, I recognized her race.

The Devil Slay was an Ovumite, an all female race born within the grim peaks of one of the thirteen deadliest places in the Dark Realm — Shrouded Hills. There were only 1141 Ovumite recorded throughout the history of the Dark Realm. Each one stronger than the other and believed to be alive to date, starting the rumor that they were unkillable.

Many believe Ovumites weren’t this strong when they came down the Shrouded Hills. As they consume the essence of their most formidable enemies, using it to get pregnant in pursuit of conceiving a new body that blends the strengths of both bloodlines. As the new form develops, the old body serves as its womb—and its first meal. When the rebirth is complete, the former flesh collapses, hollow and spent, while the new form emerges stronger than before.

In undergoing this rebirth, they remain forever young and vigorous, each transformation leaving them stronger in body and sharper in mind than they were previously. Yet this power comes at a terrible cost—they do not reproduce. Every potential offspring is consumed in the act of renewal. ’To grow is to sacrifice the future for the perfection of the self.’

Begging the question: how were the known 1,141 Ovumites born in the first place? No one knows, because those who dared to travel up those slopes were never seen again. But the passing winds carry the wails of these lost souls down the hill. Serving as a stark reminder to the rest.

I didn’t know a lot about the ’Ten Commandments’ faction, but from what I heard about them, I knew this faction was almost considered a semi-ruler class organization. Fortunately, the celestial world’s penalty applied to the Devil in this time prison too. As a result, the Semi-ruler class Devil’s strength was reduced to the Semi-noble class. Still, it posed a challenge for the strongest of Card Demigods, whose strength peaked at the chivalry class. So, it was no surprise that Morningstar University’s founders trapped this one in the time prison.

”How is this possible?” Lucine muttered to herself, realizing that even though the devil had become aware of the time prison, the timeline was not looping back to the moment of the devil’s original entrapment. Normally, the time prison would endlessly reset, erasing the devil’s memories and awareness each time it regained them. That was how the prison subdued its captives—an infinite cycle of revelation and oblivion, giving no chance to act on the truth.

”Out of my way. I’d rather not kill you two and ruin my fun,” Slay said, advancing slowly toward the lightning-struck stump.

She knew with centuries of suppressed rage and frustration churning within her, holding back would be a herculean task for her. She would likely end up killing the two instead of merely disabling and confining them. Contrary to her plans to trap them in this time prison and give them a taste of their medicine. A terrifying yet satisfying release.

”What’s the point of trying to escape this time prison?” Lucine countered. ”You’ve been here so long, surviving on the soul energy of this past, that the moment you step into our present you’ll crumble to dust. Your body has already been tainted by this timeline. Returning to the original one will destroy you. So you might as well give up and make yourself comfortable here.”

”So are you, puny demigod,” Slay sneered. ”Yet you still plan to return to the original timeline, because you know that if one has enough mastery over the time rule, this level of tainting won’t matter.” She scoffed at Lucine’s attempt to mislead her again.

Besides, it was only her body that had survived by feeding on the soul energy of this timeline. Her soul remained untainted. With her power, she didn’t even need a physical form to escape this backwater realm and take her revenge come time.

Lucine knew she knew that. Yet she still tried to act clever. Did she take her for a fool? Slay had been willing to hold back, but this one was forcing her hand.

”Wait... I remember you,” Slay suddenly exclaimed, her tone shifting into something sharp and delighted. ”You’re the one who used the Soul Sour Fruit in here to offset the toll of crossing the taboos of time and weaken this time prison. And now here you are again—helping me. Is this fate? Anyway, you’re the one I should thank for my freedom. I owe it all to you. Hehehe!”

Slay laughed wildly, recalling every small event that had led her to slowly unravel the rules of the time prison until this very moment. She reveled in the chance to throw it all back in Lucine’s face. ”Change of plans. I will use you to create the Soul Sour potion—to make up for all the time I lost trapped in here.”