Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2769: Materialized Illusion

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Zhongguo (China), Liaodong Province, Shuntian Prefecture, Shenyang City, Imperial Palace

Seeing the devil’s towering cactus-like body lunge at her, Corey remained completely unfazed. She didn’t move a single muscle, and that infuriating smirk still hung on her face. Just as the attack was about to land, she activated her Void Silk and shifted her body into the void. The devil’s strike passed straight through her as if she were never there.

”I knew it. You’re still baiting me to attack you,” Corey said as she stepped back out of the void. She looked straight ahead even though the devil’s body had just passed through her and now stood behind her.

The moment her words fell, the devil behind her vanished. Twenty yards away, his towering cactus-like form revealed itself again. He had never truly attacked her.

The figure that lunged at her was an illusion. More precisely, an materialized illusion. An illusion turned into reality. It had a real body with mass, moved and stuck with force and weight, yet it was born from an illusion. That made it difficult even for her Twin Vision to distinguish the difference.

But her gut had been nagging at her from the start. For a powerful devil, his earlier words and actions felt just a little too off. And her instincts had been right. At the very last moment, just before the attack should have connected, the materialized illusion turned into a normal illusion once again.

Corey also noticed something else. The devil was being unusually cautious, almost as if he was deliberately avoiding hurting her first.

When the materialized illusion’s strike had been about to land, Corey had already shifted into the void. The devil should have known that. Yet instead of following through, he turned the materialized illusion back into a normal illusion, letting the illusionary strick pass through empty space. Despite the risk of exposing the trick behind his materialized illusion to Corey.

Why would he do that? Was there a serious penalty for breaking the rules of his ability? Or was he simply trying to throw her off his smell?

”So your specialty is turning your illusions into reality by adding your own mass to them, right?” Corey said, boldly voicing her speculation while carefully watching the devil’s body language.

Aside from the devil’s strange reluctance to harm her first, Corey had noticed another detail. When the illusion of the devil became real, the devil’s original body conveniently vanished from her sight and existence. Even her Twin Vision couldn’t locate him.

But the moment the materialized illusion reverted to a normal illusion, her Twin Vision pierced through the devil’s stealth. His real body was standing twenty yards away from her the entire time. Yet somehow, she hadn’t noticed him at all.

That was when Corey formed a rough speculation. The devil seemed able to turn its illusion into reality by transferring its own mass into it. When that happened, the illusion became real, while the devil’s original body turned virtual and slipped out of existence.

Shifting between illusion and reality, the illusionary body becomes real while the real body turns virtual. It was a nifty little ability. By now, Corey had a rough grasp of how the devil’s materialized illusion worked. But one question still bothered her. Why was the devil trying so hard to make her attack him first?

”I have to give it to you, you’re quick-witted for someone born in a backwater realm. Many of my enemies back home never figured out my materialized illusion ability, yet you did it on the first try. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed. For you, I’m willing to break one of my oldest rules and repeat my offer. Come join my demon army as my general. I swear on my name that I will treat you well,” the devil said, once again trying to recruit Corey into his demon army. But this time it wasn’t as a mere captain, it was as a freaking general. Her deduction of his materialized illusion ability had clearly impressed him.

”Come join me,” he continued, his towering cactus-like form looming over the ruins of the imperial palace. ”Together we can roam and conquer the myriad realms.”

”I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to explore the stars above,” Corey admitted. ”But not with you. Back in my hometown, there’s a saying: a person’s ability reflects their nature. With red flags like your title and an illusionary ability like yours, I could never see myself exploring the stars with someone like you.”

Corey meant every word she said. She didn’t mind traveling and exploring the stars with a devil. But if she ever did, that devil would have to be worthy of her company. And this one clearly wasn’t.

”Rejected twice in a single day, and by a monkey from a backwater realm at that. You’ve got to be kidding me,” the devil roared, pretending to be offended and enraged.

But Corey had already seen through the act. Even now, he was still looking for a way to make her attack him first. At this point, she had begun to wonder if all devils were this pathetic.

Corey simply glared at him, her patience wearing thin. As she did, her eyes swept across the battlefield and she noticed that the civilians in the vicinity had already been evacuated far away. Only the imperial guard captain remained, stubbornly refusing to retreat.

”Mortal Star,” Corey chanted.

Using Conjoin, she unleashed the twins’ signature move at the devil while activating Void Silk to shift herself into the void. She wasn’t being foolish or taking any chances. She believed that if the devil died from a direct attack, there was a good possibility that whatever curse or causality-type ability he was trying to activate by getting her to attack it first would not trigger.

Moments later, the sky above and the palace grounds below were swallowed by a blinding surge of light and heat. The explosion expanded like a newborn sun, vaporizing everything caught within its reach.