Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2906: I Held Back

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Western Region, Berg District, Scarlet Berg, Guild Association Mall

”You asked for it!”

Receiving no response to her offer of a clean surrender, Jaya had no choice but to use force. Even then, she consciously restrained herself, terrified of unleashing the full extent of the monstrous strength now flowing through her body.

Jaya casually threw a punch.

The instant her fist connected with Palace Guard No. 4’s abdomen, the surrounding air exploded with a deafening shockwave that shattered every nearby glass panel into glittering fragments. The demigod’s eyes bulged as his body folded around Jaya’s fist before he was launched upward like a cannon shell.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

His body tore through multiple floors of the mall in succession, pulverizing ceilings, storefronts, and support beams as chunks of concrete and twisted metal rained downward behind him. By the time he burst through the outer wall of the mall, a massive tunnel of destruction had already been carved through the building.

And his momentum still hadn’t stopped.

Palace Guard No. 4 continued hurtling across the city like a human meteor until he violently crashed into the Palace Guard Captain, who had been moments away from slaying the twin-headed corpse dragon.

The collision detonated like an explosion in the sky, sending both demigods spiraling through the air while the corpse dragon barely managed to avoid getting caught in the impact.

Looking at the massive tunnel of destruction carved through the mall, then back at her own fist, Jaya genuinely didn’t know how to react. She had deliberately held back almost all of her strength, yet she had still caused this much devastation with a casual punch.

For the first time in a long while, Jaya felt uneasy about her own power.

She silently prayed the card demigod wasn’t dead. Their lord had specifically instructed them to avoid killing whenever possible. In the end, despite everything, they were technically still on the same side.

Shaking those thoughts away, Jaya slowly floated through the ruined tunnel she had created. Before leaving, she made sure the other kids were still protected inside Aurelia’s barrier and confirmed the building wouldn’t collapse from the destruction she had caused earlier.

Only after exiting the mall did she notice something strange.

Aurelia was grabbing onto a shadow-like figure that appeared almost frozen in place. That was when Jaya realized the flow of time had accelerated again, and thanks to her Overclock Card, she had automatically entered the accelerated time flow without even noticing it herself.

Only then did understanding dawn on her.

The reason Palace Guard No. 4 had delayed responding to her earlier wasn’t because he didn’t want to — it was because he was likely trying to activate his time-related card or rune and enter the newly accelerated time flow.

She had been so focused on controlling her overwhelming strength and worrying about the damage she might cause that she failed to notice the shift in the flow of time until it became impossible to ignore.

She had also begun training her resistance against time-related rules by using her Rule Immunity. However, it proved ineffective against accelerated time. The demigods weren’t using time rules to slow her down directly. Instead, they were accelerating their flow of time.

Since the effect wasn’t being applied to her body or soul directly, her Rule Immunity had nothing to resist, making it practically useless in situations like this.

Thankfully, she possessed the Overclock Card, allowing her to automatically adapt and enter the accelerated time flow alongside them.

”I caught mine. Where’s yours?” Aurelia asked as she flew over while dragging the unconscious Palace Guard No. 3 behind her, tightly restrained in strands of Frosilk.

Unstoppable Frosol’s Frosilk was noticeably different from ordinary Frosilk. A faint golden radiance pulsed beneath the icy threads, as though molten light had been trapped inside the fabric itself.

”Hopefully still alive,” Jaya answered while staring toward the distant clouds where the Guard Captain had finally managed to force himself to a halt and was now checking on his squad member.

”Huh?” Aurelia blinked in confusion, wondering since when Jaya had become smart enough to speak in riddles.

Before she could press further, an aggrieved roar thundered across the sky, instantly drawing her attention.

It was the Palace Guard Captain.

His roar carried grief, rage, and killing intent powerful enough to shake the surrounding air. After confirming the death of his squad member, he carefully stored away the corpse before slowly lifting his gaze toward Unstoppable Frosol holding Palace Guard No. 3 and Viltronian Frosmite hovering nearby.

”You freaking killed him?” Aurelia asked in disbelief after watching the Guard Captain store away Palace Guard No. 4’s corpse.

Her gaze slowly drifted toward the massive hole in the mall and the enormous tunnel of destruction carved straight through the building behind them.

’What the fuck even happened here while she was busy playing tag with Palace Guard No. 3?’

If the Guard Captain hadn’t accelerated the flow of time to an even higher level midway through the chase, she would never have managed to catch that slippery bastard in the first place. Meanwhile, Jaya had apparently turned an entire section of the huge guild association mall into a disaster zone in the span of a few moments.

”I didn’t do it on purpose. I held back almost all of my power and still...” Jaya hurriedly tried to defend herself, guilt evident in her voice, but her words eventually trailed off as she found herself unable to properly explain the situation.

”Not that I don’t trust you, but the scene behind you is telling a very different story,” Aurelia replied, still glancing at the massive trail of destruction Jaya had left behind.

Her attention then shifted toward the Guard Captain. Despite the rage radiating from him, he didn’t recklessly charge at them. Instead, he flew toward the remaining squad members, who had already assembled into a displacement battle array formation. It was obvious he intended to regroup and launch a coordinated attack instead of blindly seeking revenge.

Meanwhile, the twin-headed corpse dragon circled back toward the duo, both of its heads staring at them in visible astonishment sensing their unfathomable presence.