Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2839: Sandalphon’s Song

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

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

Corey was clad head to toe in white scale armor, her temples shielded by a matching helm. The scales came from a semi-ruler-class primordial serpent, making them incredibly resilient. It took considerable precision and effort on the Field Marshal’s part to strike true and disrupt Corey’s soul pathways, ultimately rendering her unconscious.

The moment Corey lost consciousness, her fusion form unraveled. The gigantic serpent and the teenage girl separated violently, pushing out of each other before going limp. Both were unconscious. Field Marshal Lorn reacted instantly, catching them before they could fall. Without wasting a second, she dragged their bodies into the bloodstorm clouds, using the roiling cover to hide them from Sandalphon and Konjur.

It took some effort on her part, as the serpent was far heavier than it appeared—its weight pressing down like a glacier.

Under the cover of the clouds, the Field Marshal hurried off in search of her young lord, hoping he might know what their next move should be against beings of such caliber. In her centuries as the Field Marshal of the Southern Region, she had faced all kinds of monsters, supreme beings, card apprentices, and other world invaders. Yet before these two, none of that experience seemed to matter. They were in a league of their own.

She could only hope her young lord would come through again—otherwise, may the card world have mercy on them. Unable to locate him with her intent sense, she reached out through her grimoire. He answered almost immediately, instructing her to regroup with Karl and continue the search for the Emissary of Light. As for the other two, he told her not to worry—he would handle them.

The Field Marshal felt a flicker of disappointment at her young lord’s instructions, but she understood them. Her gaze drifted to the unconscious Corey with a trace of blame in her eyes. She had placed her trust in her twice today, and both times it had fallen short. The power she showed had been impressive, but in other matters she couldn’t be more disappointing.

However, she wasn’t worried about her young lord doing the same. He wasn’t like Corey—eager to prove himself, eager to carve out a legend. If anything, he was far more cautious and meticulous than she was. She didn’t doubt his capability; what unsettled her was being left out of his plans.

"Hisss!" Lil’ Baem stirred awake and immediately slipped free of the Field Marshal’s hold, snapping her out of her thoughts. The ginormous serpent hovered in the air, glaring, its gaze flicking between the Field Marshal and Corey in her arms.

The Field Marshal tossed Corey toward her and said, "Take her and head back to the city. This time, keep her there. She’s a danger to herself."

Lil’ Baem caught her mother with telekinesis and gently settled her atop her head. She gave a quick bow to the Field Marshal before shooting off toward the sky-blossomed city at full speed.

Meanwhile, the Field Marshal caught up with Karl and joined his search for the Emissary. She was surprised to find him surrounded by faint, ethereal aspirations, each appeared to have been alive and their story at some point. Their forms shifted as their mouths mimicked those of the Sandalphon. She quickly understood—he was using soul pathway resonance to replicate its ability. However, no miracle manifested; there was no faith in the vicinity to sustain such an effect.

His intent, however, was clear. By imitating the unique soul pathway vibrations produced by the Sandalphon’s song, he was attempting to trace the Emissary through any residual faith linked to those vibrations. This was only possible because that particular ability of the Sandalphon relied on the vibrations of its soul pathways to guide faith and help it fulfill its purpose.

What troubled the Field Marshal, however, was how Karl knew those vibrations in the first place. He had been down here searching for the Emissary—it should have been impossible for him to have encountered a Sandalphon before. According to Corey, they were basically extinct. So how was he able to mimic the Sandalphon’s ability with such precision using soul pathway resonance? She knew that Karl, the so-called supreme leader, was strong and capable—but this went beyond what mere strength or skill could explain.

The Field Marshal couldn’t help but take a second look at him. His blurred figure drifted through the forest beneath the bloodstorm, surrounded by eerie apparitions that floated in silent orbit singing the Sandalphon’s song. For a moment, she felt he was far stronger than when they had first met earlier today. Back then, she had the instinct that she could take him on. Now, all she felt was something unfathomable.

She couldn’t help but wonder how her young lord had managed to bring someone so powerful under his command.

As if sensing the Field Marshal’s confusion and calculating her questioning, Karl raised a hand and pointed to the eye-shaped tattoo set between his brows and answered before she even asked, "I can replicate the Sandalphon’s song because my senses are unnaturally sharp—even by demigod standards—and because of the Eye of Prosperity. It compensates for what my senses alone can’t fully perceive."

Calculating her following response was also a question, he continued to answer without waiting for the question, "I can’t use the Eye of Prosperity to locate the Emissary directly. His faith acts as a mask, obscuring him from its sight. That’s why I’m relying on my myriad ethereal spirits to use soul pathway resonance to mimic the Sandalphon’s song and trace the Emissary, hoping that his faith will respond to their song and reveal his location."

The Field Marshal stared at Karl, caught between shock and a quiet sense of reverence. While she and Corey had been left grasping in the dark, he was already forcing a path forward under the worst conditions. At that moment, she understood how, in the clown mask’s vision of the future, someone like him had conquered and ruled the Central Region—and why she had died as nothing more than the Field Marshal of the Southern Region.