Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2801: World’s Will Shouldn’t Be Called In Vain

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampment, Mystic Dimension

”What?” The Emissary of Light looked at the Field Marshal in confusion, unable to fathom how she could say something like that with a straight face. He felt second-hand embarrassment from her words, even though it was just the two of them.

”You heard me right. Card World’s Will sent me to kill you and lent me its celestial force to help me in my mission,” Field Marshal Lorn asserted again. As she said those words, she infused celestial force into the mystic realm, stabilizing it. It no longer trembled merely at the moody but overwhelming presence of the Emissary of Light, instead it consolidated around him like a custom-made execution chamber just for him.

”You can’t just go around claiming that,” the Emissary of Light remarked, not knowing if he should laugh at the Field Marshal or give her the benefit of the doubt. It felt absurd. They were here to fight to the death, and there was his opponent making delusional claims. Why did he care about his opponent’s delusional words? Wouldn’t you, if I proclaimed that the god had sent me to help send you to the river of reincarnation?

”I just did,” the Field Marshal replied with a steady voice. ”And the Card World’s celestial force I’m wielding is proof of that.”

Her expression never wavered. She stood there with quiet intensity, like a crusader on a pilgrimage for the Card World, projecting a sense of conviction with every word she spoke. So much so that even the Emissary of Light couldn’t help but give birth to a hint of doubt in his heart that maybe Field Marshal Lorn was lying.

Many sages died leaving behind the same piece of wisdom: ’Doubt and faith can’t exist together. You either believe, or you don’t—there’s no halfway when it comes to faith. It doesn’t need you to exist... you’re the one who needs it to live your ignorant life.’

These words perfectly captured the plan the Southern Princess had prepared for the youngest of the three mischiefs—the Emissary of Light. She had long concluded that his greatest weakness was doubt. To him, doubt was what rust was to iron—slow, subtle, but inevitable once it set in.

With that understanding, she devised a two-step plan, meant to be executed in order.

First: Make him doubt his own ability.

She achieved this by tricking him into limiting his power to the people’s limited perception of reality instead of letting it wild with their imagination. Ultimately turning the Card World’s Will into the kryptonite of his otherwise invulnerable existence.

Second: Make him doubt that the Card World’s Will was out to get him.

The Field Marshal accomplished this by displaying unwavering faith in her niece’s plan and drawing upon the celestial power of the Card World. It was that very faith, expressed through her absurd words, that made the Emissary of Light question whether the Card World’s Will was truly coming after him.

Even if that thought lasted only a moment, it was enough. Like rust on iron, doubt, once it takes hold, begins to erode faith—slow, subtle, and relentless, until the inevitable.

”I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but for a second, you almost had me,” the Emissary of Light said with a laugh, dismissing the Field Marshal’s messianic display. He couldn’t believe the legendary Hero of the South would make such a theophanic entrance. If anything, she played the role of a spiritual leader better than he did. Her actions only strengthened his confidence that he would win—not that he had ever truly doubted it.

Hearing him, Field Marshal Lorn suddenly grinned and declared, ”I call upon the Card World’s Will to bear witness and aid me in sending my opponent to the River of Reincarnation.”

The Emissary of Light’s eyes widened in shock when he heard the Field Marshal call upon the Card World’s Will as both witness and aid in her lie. That shock slowly hardened into fear as he felt the presence of the World’s Will watching over them, answering her call instead of sending a divine punishment over her way.

The flicker of doubt he had felt earlier suddenly surged, crystallizing into certainty. The Card World’s Will had truly sent Field Marshal Lorn to deliver him to the River of Reincarnation. Even if that wasn’t the case, its presence alone meant it had answered her call to help her end him.

Either way, he was no longer facing the Field Marshal—he was facing the will of the world itself.

”Any last words before you die, you false herald?” the Field Marshal asked, offering her enemy the smallest shred of mercy she could.

Her plan was never to truly call upon the Card World’s Will for help, after all she was lying through her teeth. Yes, she held a measure of blind faith in her niece’s abilities, but even her niece would never have advised something like this. Those who invoked the World’s Will in vain, or called upon it to bear witness to falsehoods, were met with fitting divine punishment.

And yet, the Field Marshal did it—because her young lord had asked her to.

Back in Sansa’s camp, when she chose to confront the Emissary of Light, he had asked how she intended to fight him. She told him of the plan her niece had devised.

Her young lord not only agreed with it, but took it a step further. He instructed her to call upon the Card World itself to aid her in vanquishing the Emissary of Light, assuring her that the World would answer her call—and not punish her for invoking its name in falsehood.

He also strongly advised her never to let the Emissary of Light know whether she was acting on behalf of the Card World or whether the Card World was aiding her. That ambiguity would force him to expend more of his faith energy during their fight.

After all, the more information he possessed—and the more certain he was—the more efficiently his Origin Card functioned. The less certain he became, the more ineffective and inefficient he grew.