Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3104: Celestial Treant

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

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

Being reminded of the only stain from his distant past, Thalorien’s eyes immediately turned crimson. The calm confidence on his face vanished. Winter Valley was not a subject he appreciated being reminded of.

Without another word, his enormous hands descended toward the Lil’ Red Storm Realm. His fingers dug into the realm. The crust split apart beneath them as his claws pierced deep into its interior.

Thalorien didn’t hesitate. He released the full power of his massive Frost Rule Stream. In an instant, cold erupted from within the realm. Not from its surface, not from the atmosphere, but from deep inside its body. Before the realm’s defensive mechanism could react, the Frost Rule spread through its internal structure at an overwhelming speed.

The crust froze, the mantle froze, and everything continued freezing outward and inward at the same time. The Lil’ Red Storm Realm rapidly transformed into an enormous chunk of solid ice suspended in the void.

Thalorien slowly withdrew his hands. Looking at the massive frozen realm before him, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. That smile lasted less than a second. His expression suddenly froze, sensing that Celestial array formation was still active.

Thalorien’s eyes narrowed. He stared at the enormous glacier floating before him in total confusion and disbelief. He hadn’t merely frozen the physical structure of the realm. His Frost Rule Stream had invaded the realm’s womb. It had frozen the realm across both the physical and spiritual planes.

That was the most reliable method Thalorien knew for killing a Celestial. A Celestial could repair physical damage. It could reconstruct its body. It could even survive the destruction of large portions of its realm. But freezing the realm’s womb and its spiritual foundation simultaneously should have been enough to kill its will.

Yet Dalia was still there. The Celestial array formation was still functioning. And whatever Dalia truly was, she appeared completely unaffected.

Thalorien glanced between Dalia and the enormous glacier suspended before him. Confusion and puzzlement had long replaced the satisfaction on his face.

He couldn’t understand it. He had just used the most reliable method he knew to kill a Celestial. Instead, it appeared that all he had accomplished was covering the Lil’ Red Storm Realm in a blanket of ice. And somehow, that was it.

Trusting in his own ability, Thalorien quickly pushed aside his confusion. If freezing the Lil’ Red Storm Realm wasn’t enough to kill whatever Dalia was, then he would simply destroy the entire thing. His enormous Frost Rule Incarnation body moved, preparing to crush the massive glacier suspended before him and grind the frozen remains of the realm into fine snow.

But before he could act, a thin crack appeared across the glacier. Thalorien paused as another crack appeared, and another. Within moments, countless fractures began spreading across the frozen realm. The dark spherical shadow trapped within the glacier appeared to move.

At first, it was subtle. Then the entire glacier began trembling. It looked as though something inside was trying to move. Trying to break free.

Thalorien’s eyes narrowed. Before he could react, the impossible happened. The realm within the glacier suddenly expanded. The ice could no longer contain it. With a world-shattering explosion, the entire frozen realm shattered into countless fragments, turning into a storm of fine snow that scattered across the void. And from within the destroyed shell, something emerged.

The massive spherical form of the Lil’ Red Storm Realm began to change. Its structure shifted. Its surface twisted and expanded. Then the realm itself began taking the shape of a gigantic humanoid tree, a Treant. No, calling it a Treant alone didn’t quite capture what Thalorien was looking at.

Its colossal body was formed from countless enormous roots intertwined around masses of rock, using them as a skeletal system supporting the muscular system. Layers of clay and mud covered its exterior like flesh, while mineral veins and buried ores ran beneath the surface of its body.

The Lil’ Red Storm Realm hadn’t simply broken free from the ice. It had stood up. Meanwhile, the realm’s suns and moons began moving. One by one, they shifted through the void and took their designated positions behind the gigantic Treant, moving according to the paths dictated by the Celestial array formation. The sight was magnificent. And deeply unsettling.

The Celestial Treant slowly raised its head, slowly opening its eyes. Its gaze immediately met Thalorien’s.

The Snow Elven Crown Prince froze. The moment their eyes met, he understood. This was her. The so-called fake Celestial, the entity he had been fighting all along. Thalorien’s mind raced as he tried to process what he was seeing. But no matter how he looked at it, the existence before him made no sense.

A realm could serve as a Celestial’s body in a physical plane. But it shouldn’t be able to transform itself into a giant humanoid and walk out of its own frozen shell. Everything Thalorien knew about Celestials seemed to reject what stood before him.

Yet there she was, a living realm and a Celestial array formation. And now, apparently, a colossal Treant standing in the void.

For a moment, Thalorien could only stare. Then, unable to contain his disbelief, he muttered, “What are you?”

Listening to his question, a gentle smile formed on the Celestial Treant’s face. The expression looked strangely warm on a creature large enough to treat moons as ornaments.

“Me?” Dalia replied. Her voice reverberated through the void. “The Myriad Realms’ best elder sister.”

A brief pause followed. Then she added with unmistakable pride, “Dalia Wyatt.”

“Huh?” Thalorien stared at her. For a moment, his mind completely failed to process what he had just heard. Before Thalorien could decide whether Dalia was mocking him or whether something had genuinely gone wrong with her mind, the massive Celestial Treant moved.

Its fist disappeared. No, it moved so quickly that Thalorien’s perception failed to follow it. Then the fist appeared directly in front of his face.

BOOM!

The enormous fist slammed into the face of Thalorien’s Frost Rule Incarnation. His gigantic head snapped backward. The impact traveled through his entire body. Before he could stabilize himself, his colossal form was launched through the void.