Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2725: Belphegor’s Prefect Daughter

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters

”One last time, are you sure you want to keep Agony around in your title demon core?” I asked again while accepting Corey’s party request.

”For the tenth time, Wyatt. Yes. I freaking want to keep her alive,” Corey answered in annoyance. ”Why do you keep bringing it up?”

”Because this isn’t just about keeping her alive,” I said. ”She worships Belphegor as her father. Not like you and Corey Park. When I fought her, I could feel it. She has some kind of father complex. What I’m trying to say is she might be willing to do anything just to make him proud.”

Honestly, I believed keeping Agony alive was a huge mistake. Her personality wasn’t something you could ignore. If she became part of Corey’s upgraded title demon core, that influence wouldn’t just disappear. She could become the new darkness inside it. And if that happened, Corey wouldn’t be able to become one with that darkness using demonic taming medicinal pills.

When Corey previously told me she didn’t want to kill Agony, I suggested a compromise. She could keep her as her ego flame just like Corey Park. But I made it clear that choosing that route meant risk. I warned her that if she chose that route, there was a real possibility she would eventually have to fight Agony for dominance over the title demon core, i,e her body. The winner would take everything.

Later, when I was purchasing the ingredients for her soul trait acquisition, I had Hive AI redirect all its simulation resources toward maximizing her chances. The plan was to use Agony’s unholy core to evolve her ego gem, helping her acquire a soul trait.

The results were not reassuring. Out of all simulated outcomes, Corey only successfully subdued Agony as her ego flame in eleven percent of cases. And that was with both Corey Park’s and my assistance accounted for in the calculations.

That was because, unlike Corey and Park, Agony was an actual devil spirit. In the simulations, I was able to help them suppress her during the preparation phase. But once the upgrade began, any external interference would destabilize the process. At that point, I wouldn’t be able to help her. And Agony would take that opportunity. The moment external support was cut off, she would launch her attack, attempting to refine Corey and Park instead and turn them into her own ego flames and taking over Corey’s body.

Even in the cases where Corey successfully refined Agony as her Ego Flame, the problem didn’t end there. Agony would eventually rebel, forcing Corey to suppress and seal her inside the titled demon core. Killing her wasn’t an option. Doing so would cause mortal damage to Corey herself. After all, Agony’s unholy core had already been used to create the upgraded title demon core. Destroying her would mean destabilizing the very foundation of that upgrade.

”Holy shit, I can’t believe that there is someone that would love Belphegor as their father and do anything for him selflessly, and what’s more absurdly shocking is that someone is none other than a version of myself,” Corey exclaimed in disbelief, unable to bring herself to believe what she was hearing. Belphegor was the definition of devil among devils. How could a version of her love him? She couldn’t believe it.

I shook my head, trying to make her understand what she was dealing with here, I explained, ”Agony hasn’t known any other life like you guys. She can’t tell good parents from bad ones. Not to mention, it’s Belphegor we’re talking about here. He was a born manipulator. If not for Park’s memory of her father, she too might have been like Agony trying to become the perfect daughter for Belphegor. To Agony, the life she had with Belphegor in the Dark Realms is just how life is supposed to be. You have to assume her understanding of right and wrong is as twisted as any child raised in the dark realm.”

I exhaled slowly and warned, ”To her, we might not even register as enemies. We might just be prey. And there’s no telling how far her thinking is apart from ours. You can’t use what felt like common sense to us to reason with her, as what she considers common sense might be completely different. You have Park’s memories. I don’t need to tell you this.”

After listening to my explanation, Corey turned pensive. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. But from my experience with her, I could guess. She was probably arguing with Park internally, convincing herself that they might be able to reason with Agony or find another solution.

I thought so because Corey didn’t see Agony as an enemy. She saw her as a kin. Maybe even as the sibling she never had, just like she did with Corey Park. I could read it in her expression every time I mentioned killing Agony to her. And that was dangerous.

Corey was supposed to fight Agony for dominance and refine her as her Ego Flame. That process required resolve. She had to approach it prepared to do whatever it took. With the mindset of a killer. Not with the mindset of a guardian.

Let’s assume Corey somehow managed to refine Agony as her Ego Flame, even with that mindset. What then?

Down the line, when we face the Seven Princes of Hell, what would stop Agony from deciding it was better to side with her father than continue living as a prisoner? She could bide her time. Plot quietly. Wait for the right moment to rebel.

After all, Corey Park had once undermined Corey once by conspiring with me. The latter had no idea until Park confessed feeling guilty. If someone as close and trustworthy as Park could do that, who was to say Agony wouldn’t attempt the same?

Especially when Corey already saw her as part of herself. Or worse, as a long-lost sibling. And not as an enemy Agony actually was.

”Wyatt, don’t worry,” Corey suddenly said with a bright laugh. ”I know just the thing that will make Agony change her mind after I refine her as my Ego Flame.”