A brief flash of purple light flickered within the guildhall as an immaculately dressed man stepped through the fading light. A dark purple card floated above him momentarily while it absorbed the receding light and returned to the man’s belt.

  Adorning a thin mustache, the stranger had neatly trimmed short blond hair, pale gray eyes and an elegantly chiseled jawline. It was hard to judge his age accurately, but to an onlooker’s eye, he appeared to be in his thirties. Dressed in tightly fit black robes, the stranger exuded a natural aura of authority as he passed through the hall.

  Several passersby acknowledged him with a quick nod, while others halted in their tracks to give him a bow of respect. The stranger ignored them all as he confidently strode his way ahead, before stopping at a large decorative door guarded by a single giant of a man looming over him.

  “…”

  The stranger stood there with his pale gray eyes calmly gazing at the towering guard.

  “Tch.”

  The guard grunted before tapping a brown card strapped to his belt and stepped aside. The massive door opened without a sound, allowing the stranger to step forward into the guild’s core.

  “You took your sweet time, Renald. The Leader has been waiting for you.”

  A husky feminine voice sounded to the stranger’s right as a woman shrouded in silky indigo robes walked over. An extravagant pouch tied to her hip hinted at the power held in those hidden cards.

  “I had to pass through the Sunspire’s territory to get here to the 20th floor, and they wouldn’t let me pass unless I gave them all the details of why I was making my way to the Starhaven guild. Of course, I didn’t tell them the truth, but I want to know what all this haste is about, Leana.”

  Renald’s eyebrow twitched with annoyance as he followed behind the woman. He already knew the way to the Leader’s throne, but he let Leana lead him anyway. Despite his short temper, he knew that the leader of Starhaven was someone whose name terrified even Sunspire’s Archbishop.

  As one of the few rankers to evolve to Tier 6 and reach the Card Luminary stage, Starhaven’s leader stood at the forefront of humanity’s crusade against the dungeon.

  Renald was a powerful Tier 4 ranker in his own right, and even amongst the other Tier 4’s, he was special due to his epic rarity class card: Diviner.

  He couldn’t see the complete future, but his class allowed him to take small glimpses a few seconds into the future. This made him a formidable opponent to face, as combined with the rest of his fate cards, only a handful of other Tier 4’s could contend against him.

  The duo had reached the colossal, empty metallic throne at the center. The glorious Starhaven crest was etched into the middle of the seat, signifying the man who represented the honor of their guild.

  “The leader’s not in the guild at the present, so he’ll talk to you through the comms card.”

  Leana pulled down the hood covering her face, revealing beautiful dark locks of hair. Her icy-blue eyes glanced at Renald before she stepped back. The throne glowed with an enigmatic gold light as a hazy illusion of an armored man coalesced on top of the throne.

  Seeing the figure appear, Renald quickly got down on one knee and whispered, “Greetings to the Card Luminary.”

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  Leana on the sidelines remained standing with a slight smile on her face as she looked upon the guild’s leader and their source of pride.

  “Renny! How you been, chappy? Sorry man, the tree-huggers in Verdura wanted me to help them out with something in their kingdom, so I had to leave urgently.”

  Renald’s eyebrow twitched at the leader addressing him as ‘Renny’, but he didn’t dare refute the man. As famous as Starhaven’s leader was for his legendary class card, he was equally infamous for his hoodlum personality.

  Leana let out a defeated sigh. If she could fix this rowdy personality of the leader, a lot of the mess that he created in the world could be avoided. She recalled the aghast expression on the Elf Queen’s face when the leader called her the ‘Fancy Tree-Hugger’ to her face in the presence of her subjects.

  “It’s alright, Card Luminary. What can I do for you?”

  Renald maintained his decorum.

  “Lily, hand it over to him.”

  The hazy figure on the throne said with an eager tone.

  “Don’t call me Lily, you lug!”

  Leana cursed in mock defeat, but eventually took a shiny silver card from her pouch. The moment the card appeared, Renald’s gray eyes widened in shock. He’d heard of cards above the 6th Tier, but this was his first time personally seeing one.

  “It can’t be…”

  When his sight landed on the words etched into the card, Renald swiftly pivoted his head to the figure on the throne, “A-Are you sure you want me to use this?”

  “Let alone the fact that you’re the highest evolved ranker with a compatible class card, we’re also in dire need of information. The Akarsha dungeon’s integration into our world took us by storm, and in the countless years of clearing the dungeon floors, the Leader gathered certain vital information.”

  Leana placed the silver card on Renald’s palm, causing the card to glow brightly as it fused with the man’s deck. The Leader silently waited for his guild member to continue.

  “Our world will soon face a terrifying calamity and we need you to use that oracle card to see who the enemy is.”

  Leana explained while the image of the figure on the throne distorted slightly. It was unknown whether it was due to the comms connection or the leader’s turbulent emotions.

  “Very well.”

  Renald nodded as he channeled his lumen into the silver card. His lumen reservoirs were running a bit dry because he didn’t have a chance to replenish it, but it was pointless to complain before the Card Luminary.

  The silver card vibrated as an intense silver light exploded into the area and quickly entered Renald’s pale eyes. The Diviner let out a painful screech while streams of silver liquid poured down his cheeks from his retina.

  Leana almost stepped forward to help Renald before being stopped by the Leader’s sharp warning. There was a reason most cards were restricted to specific classes, and it was fatal for a non-compatible classes to force the cards into their deck.

  Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait for long, as Renald’s screams eventually died out while the silver light receded into the card. The oracle card was now noticeably dimmer than before.

  Renald panted, out of breath, crumpling to the floor. His eyes looked like they were about to close, but his mouth quivered as if he wanted to get his words out. The hazy figure on the throne leaned forward at the same time that Leana rushed to Renald on the floor and held him up. He was completely drained of lumen, but he should be fine after a day or two.

  “I-I saw… I s-sa…”

  Renald struggled to form a sentence; however, Leana guessed what he was trying to tell them.

  “You saw the enemy? Who is it?”

  She wiped the gathering beads of sweat on Renald’s forehead, a trace of urgency hidden in her voice.

  Renald nodded once to indicate she was correct before bursting into a series of coughs. After a few seconds, he squeezed out his words.

  “Cardsm…ith.”

  After that, Renald’s eyes rolled back into their socket and the man passed out of consciousness.

  Leana turned her head to the throne, her fingers trembling. They finally had a clue as to the one who will eventually destroy their world.

  It was a Cardsmith.

  A/N - More chapters will be released in a few hours!