Chapter 2822: The Great Swap

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampment, Limitless Celestial Blood Fate Rule Domain

"So, we just wait here?" Corey asked, already sounding bored. The moment she was out of the running for the replacement of the Emissary of Light, she had lost interest—though, for once, her silence would’ve made things easier for the rest of us.

"How much longer? Can’t we just wait in the city?"

"You can leave anytime you want. No one’s stopping you."

I tried to tune her out and keep my focus on the Emissary of Light. He was both physically and mentally incapacitated—held down by Lil’ Baem’s gray mist and the vampiric sword lodged in his skull. His spirit was still fighting, desperately drawing on faith to keep the mist at bay and repair the damage. His brain had been dead for a time, but people’s faith in him refused to let go.

The Field Marshal and I kept a close watch on him. After all, a wounded beast was far more dangerous—especially when the one before us could be called the king of beasts.

Meanwhile, with the help of the Hive Spirit, Sansa set her plan into motion. Her world-devouring plague spread in silence, threading its way through minds, carefully reshaping memories. The Emissary of Light was being erased, not by absence, but by replacement—his presence rewritten with meticulously crafted recollections of Saintess Catherine S. Margaret of the Church of Demigod Michael Angelo Godson.

Every detail was adjusted, every gap filled, every contradiction smoothed over.

It helped that the Church of Demigod Michael Angelo Godson was already the most widespread and deeply rooted faith in the Empire. The foundation was there. All Sansa had to do was rewrite what stood upon it.

Still, it was a massive undertaking, and it would take time. There were also variables—card apprentice who might sense the plague and slip through its reach. The Masters, the Four Rulers, the other world leaders at the top of the strength rankings... I didn’t know if they could resist a memory-devouring plague outright, but they could certainly detect something was off and take precautions for themselves and those under them.

I had accounted for that.

Those people were variables, yes—but not threats to the plan. Unlike the common masses, they wouldn’t contribute even a shred of faith to the Emissary of Light. They understood his origin card and how it functioned. And if they didn’t before, they certainly did after I exposed it during my fight with his incarnation in Sky Blossom City, broadcast live for the world to see.

My only concern was the Emissary’s followers who were exploring the Way Beyond. They were too deep within it—far enough that it might take days, even a week, for Sansa’s plague to reach them.

The fastest way to deal with them would be for Sansa to track them down within the Way Beyond itself and replace their memories directly, one by one. Just as she was now moving across the Empire and its regions, personally spreading her innate calamity—the world-devouring plague—she would have to do the same there, in that distant and fractured expanse.

"Wyatt, I’m bored. Come on, let’s fight—strictly martial arts."

Corey made the suggestion knowing full well she stood no chance against me if I used even a fraction of my abilities. This was just another way for her to prove, at least to herself, that she could stand on equal footing with me.

"I like the sound of that," the Field Marshal said immediately. "Wyatt, why don’t you give it a try? If you’ve practiced the basics like my martial card spirit asked you to, it shouldn’t be hard for you to beat her with your innate strength."

Of course she would support it. She’d been on my case about neglecting martial arts for a while now, and Corey had just handed her the perfect excuse.

"See, I would," I said, keeping my eyes on the Emissary, "but now’s not the time."

If this had been before Corey’s breakthrough—before she inherited those new memories of her past self—I might’ve taken her up on the challenge. But now? Not a chance.

I didn’t have a complete read on this version of her, but what I did know was enough. After inheriting those memories and abilities, Corey could manipulate nuclear fusion and fission. She had already conjured two miniature suns to evaporate a pair of devils. That wasn’t something you dismissed lightly.

And, here she was, confidently baiting me to a martial arts-only challenge. That meant she had something to rely on—something she hadn’t shown yet. After all, no one with even a shred of sense would challenge an opponent they knew they couldn’t beat.

Then again... this was Corey. So I couldn’t be entirely sure.

"Wyatt, are you chickening out of a martial arts challenge?"

"Fine. Get your ass ready. It’s going to get the whooping of a lifetime."

"Shut up, you perv. I’ll tell Big Sis Su."

"Go ahead. You’ve fed her so many lies and stories about me, I doubt she’ll believe anything you say now. You’re the girl who cried wolf one too many times."

"Now you’re slandering me. I would never do that to my best friend."

Corey looked me straight in the eyes as she said it—without a hint of shame. Never mind that she’d been badmouthing me to Susan right in front of me not long ago. Whatever she told Susan behind my back was something only the two of them knew.

"Did Bloodette finally stop crying?"

The words slipped out as a section of the bloodstorm above us suddenly parted, revealing a patch of clear sky. It wasn’t natural. The storm still raged everywhere else, just as violently as before.

"Wyatt," the Field Marshal said sharply, her tone cutting through the moment, "something’s coming. We need to take cover."

"No, it’s already here." I said looking at the sky to find a silhouette highlighted by the moonlight. It was hard to make out its features but it was a humanoid with immense power.

"Kidd, you are still alive! Then, how come the supply of faith from your sector suddenly stopped?"

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