Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2511: 1000 Curse Armor

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

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

Aside from restricting the invaders’ realms, the card world’s will had never directly acted against them. I never understood why. But if I had to speculate, then based on what I was experiencing now, it was most likely because it had never considered the invaders a true threat to its existence—at least not until Slay used that stake-shaped tool carved from the twig of a world calamity tree. That was what finally frightened it into intervening.

"My prince, please do not resist. I do not wish to harm you. But if you leave me no choice..." Slay warned, drawing out a slave globe meant to capture both Lucine and me. Her other hand reached for the stake tool, clearly prepared to flee this damned realm the moment she secured us.

However, she froze mid-sentence as my body began to expand—slowly, steadily—until I stood nearly nine feet tall. Before she could react, she realized the transformation had only begun. From my skin, one after another, 1024 identical heads emerged, each accompanied by a pair of humanoid arms and legs. They sprouted all at once, intertwining and layering over me, forming a grotesque lattice.

They wove themselves together like living links, wrapping around my form until my entire body was encased in something resembling chainmail—only this armor was composed of heads, limbs, and faces. As the transformation settled, the newly formed appendages dried and hardened, solidifying into a macabre exoskeletal plating fused with my skin.

The most unsettling part was the eyes. Even hardened, they moved—rolling, twitching—each face shifting through expressions that were impossible to read. Anger, grief, agony, joy, madness—every emotion flickered across them, as though a thousand different souls were screaming through the armor, all at once.

’Thousand Curse Armor,’ I intoned silently, the words resonating through my mind. I nodded in quiet satisfaction. Then, fixing my gaze on Slay, I asked, "Well then—how do you like it?"

My Curse Armor was formed from approximately 1,024 ruler-class curses, though calling it that precisely lacked a certain impact. So, I stuck with the name 1000 curse armor.

The Thousand Curse Incarnation was my strongest form, and Thousand Curse Armor was my strongest armor. Wearing the strongest armor over the strongest form, I felt untouchable—as if there was no existence I could not face. And when I fueled this greatest combo of mine with pure primordial energy, I reached a state that was undeniably my peak.

I allowed myself to reveal this only because the Card Celestial could not observe anything occurring here. The stake-shaped tool carved from the twig of a world calamity tree severed its perception in these parts entirely. That meant I did not have to worry about it discovering that I could summon and wield primordial energy.

And to be honest, Slay was the kind of opponent I was trying to find to test my full power against. An opponent with whom I could fight, unleashing my full power without holding back.

"My prince, now you are my type," Slay said with a glint in her black beady eyes. And soon complained in annoyance, "Your Highness, do we have to do this? Now? Can’t you just obediently enter the slave globe?" She turned to look at the stake and her heart ached seeing its durability slowly burning away.

"My prince... this form of yours is my type," Slay murmured, a glint flickering in her beady, black eyes. But almost immediately, her expression twisted into irritation. "Your Highness, must we really do this? Right now? Could you not simply enter the slave globe obediently?"

Slay unconsciously glanced at the stake shaped tool curved out of the twig of a world calamity tree. I could clearly see the pain in her eyes as she watched its durability continue to burn away. I understood what she was feeling as I too felt the same. Which was exactly why this needed to end quickly.

Meanwhile, Lucine—who had already lost the will to resist after witnessing Slay’s flawless command over mass, space, and time—was now overwhelmed by a conflicted storm of emotions. Horror twisted her expression as she watched my transformation, disbelief tightening her breath at the powerful presence I exerted. And yet, despite her misgivings about my chances against Slay, despite the dread that clung to her like a second skin... a faint, unbidden hope surfaced within her. A hope that perhaps, somehow, I could stand against Slay—and we would survive this ordeal.

"My prince, forgive me... but I will have to be rough now," Slay said, just as the appendage atop her head snapped forward like a whip. It lashed toward me at a neck-breaking speed.

The moment the meaty club at the end of her pseudopod was about to strike me, I shifted my weight and sidestepped, catching it in my right hand. In my grasp, it writhed and stretched, straining violently to break free. When brute force failed, it instead coiled along my arm, tightening and twisting in an attempt to crush or contort the limb into submission.

Slay’s lips curled into a knowing smirk, seeing me play right into her arms. Her racial ability’s influence on her targets grew stronger with any form of direct physical contact. Even if the pseudopod could not physically harm me, prolonged touch meant her influence would seep in—slowly, steadily—attempting to erode and claim me the longer our bodies remained connected.

’Wyatt, what are you doing? Let go.’

Lucine’s voice sounded sharply in my mind, strained with urgency. ’Didn’t I warn you? Her ability’s influence deepens the more exposed you are to her. The longer you stay near her—the more you see her, smell her, hear her, touch her, the more you...’ her voice trembled, ’taste her—the stronger her hold on you becomes. Let go of her pseudopod. Now.’ She repeated her deduction of Slay’s racial ability, desperate to make me understand before it was too late.