Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3098: Celestial Array Formation

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Lil’ Red Storm Realm, Freedom Megalopolis

Crown Prince Thalorien Aesryl II of House Winterbloom, or, to be more accurate, the uncrowned Empyrean of the Snow Elves, clenched his fist as he and his remaining clones were helplessly dragged toward a Celestial array formation.

He had fallen into a trap. His initial suspicion had been correct. The force that had attacked his region, robbed him of the Froslings and the Half Bloods, and vanished without leaving behind a clear trail had never been some rogue Ruler-class entity acting independently. They belonged to an ancient Ruler-class force.

Otherwise, how could they possibly possess a Celestial array formation in a barren backwater of the Myriad Realms?

Yet that only raised more questions. If they truly belonged to such a force, why hadn’t they simply killed him back in the Dark Realm? Why go through the trouble of stealing the Frost Elves, waiting for him to activate the curse, and then luring him all the way into this isolated corner of the Myriad Realms?

What were they thinking? What were they conspiring?

Left with no choice but to endure the pull of the Celestial array formation, Thalorien’s mind began working at full speed. Every detail, every decision, every inconsistency… He replayed everything that had happened since his region was attacked, desperately searching for the piece he had missed.

The more he thought about it, the more certain he became of one thing. They didn’t want to kill him. If killing him had been their objective, there had been plenty of opportunities to attempt it. Instead, they had taken his Frost Elves, allowed the curse within them to activate, and effectively created a trail leading directly back to this realm. They wanted him to come here.

Thalorien’s expression darkened. He couldn’t think of anything he possessed that would interest a force capable of casually maintaining a Celestial array formation in a forgotten corner of the Myriad Realms, hidden from the rest of the Dark Realm.

For the first time since this entire incident began, Crown Prince Thalorien Aesryl II felt something he rarely allowed himself to feel, uncertainty. And for someone who had survived for so long by preparing for every possibility, uncertainty was far more dangerous than the Celestial array formation currently dragging him toward the realm below.

If he had to guess, Thalorien believed that the ancient Ruler-class force that had rescued the Froslings and the Half-Bloods wanted him to continue his experiment. Only this time, he wouldn’t be doing it for the Snow Elven Race. He would be doing it for them.

That was the only logical explanation he could come up with. Otherwise, why would they go to such lengths to lure him here and cut him off from any reinforcements or backup? If they truly wanted to kill him, they could have attempted it back in the Dark Realm, where they had already managed to infiltrate his territory and take away the Froslings and Half-Bloods.

Instead, they had allowed the Half-Bloods’ curse to activate. They had waited for him to make contact. Then they had trapped him in this isolated corner of the Myriad Realms. The more Thalorien thought about it, the more convinced he became of his conclusion. They wanted his expertise.

His experiment with the Half-Bloods had taken him millennia. Even if the Froslings and Frost Elves were now in their possession, replicating his work from scratch would take an equally absurd amount of time. Capturing him was far more efficient. With that realization, Thalorien slowly stopped resisting the pull of the Celestial array formation and conveyed the same command to his remaining clones.

There was no point wasting their strength fighting a force they couldn’t overcome. If his guess was correct, then they needed him alive. Soon, Thalorien and his clones entered the atmosphere of the Lil’ Red Storm Realm.

However, even after crossing into the realm, they showed no signs of slowing down. Thalorien’s expression changed. The force pulling them toward the realm continued accelerating their descent. They plunged deeper and deeper.

The thin space surrounding the realm began to tear under the friction generated by their descent, swallowing them as they passed through it. Only then did Thalorien realize that something was wrong. This wasn’t how negotiations were supposed to begin. Before he could issue another command, the thin space completely swallowed him and his clones.

The next moment, Thalorien found himself buried deep within the realm’s crust. His remaining clones appeared around him, equally trapped beneath layers of earth and frozen matter.

There was no welcoming party, no representatives from an ancient Ruler-class force, no negotiation like he was expecting, only darkness. Thalorien understood he had been overthinking it. Now was not the time to think but fight for survival.

‘Sansa, does the Crown Prince have a death wish? What’s going on?’ Dalia asked in confusion.

She had expected Thalorien and his remaining clones to struggle harder the moment they entered the realm. Yet, halfway through their descent, they had suddenly stopped resisting.

In fact, they had done the complete opposite. They had practically allowed her Celestial array formation to drag them straight into the crust of the Lil’ Red Storm Realm. It was almost as if they had willingly buried themselves.

“Your Highness, be careful. He is planning to destroy the realm from within,” Sansa hurriedly warned.

Through her Innate Calamity, Sansa learned the sudden change in the Crown Prince’s intentions. Thalorien and his clones had stopped trying to escape because they had reached a different conclusion. If they couldn’t leave the realm, then they would destroy the realm itself.

“The Crown Prince intends to freeze the core of the Lil’ Red Storm Realm,” Sansa continued, her tone growing more urgent.

Once buried within the realm’s crust, Thalorien and his clones didn’t attempt to break out. Instead, they immediately began moving deeper. They burrowed through the crust with all their might, their bodies transforming into streams of special snow as they tore through the layers beneath them.

Their destination was clear. The core of the Lil’ Red Storm Realm. By combining the power of his remaining clones, Thalorien intended to freeze the realm’s core from within.