Currently, Fantasia's having another invader breakout.
However, since this has been happening constantly within the last few months, people have gotten used to it and it doesn't surprise them anymore.
They've learned the drill now, they know how to keep themselves safe while the authorities took care of the problem. Thanks to Ashton's arrangements, nobody has died from the invasion attempts so far so at this point, people treated it like it was just an inconvenience.
Some people are annoyed by it, of course, but that's pretty much unavoidable at this point...
Ashton knew that some people were questioning his efforts and intentions. This was mostly because it was taking him a while to resolve the problem down to its root.
They wanted him to do something to completely prevent the invaders from tainting the sanctity of their home. To stop them from entering Fantasia directly at least.
In Ashton's defense, he could absolutely do that.
Recently, there had been additions to the ranks of Ascendants of Fantasia, all of which are his Beneficiaries so he got some niche rewards from the System. He got an item that allows him to completely lockdown the space around Fantasia and, by extension, the entirety of Last Bastion.
If he uses this, he could stop the constant invasion completely. He just chose not to do so for now due to the simple reason that he's using these events to strengthen Humanity's army.
These constant challenges allow them to grow under pressure, something that's not easy to come by even with the many training facilities he built. These battles allow them to experience real battles against enemies who will not hesitate to kill them.
The pressure squeezes out more potential from them, allowing for accelerated growth. Knowing that, how could anybody expect Ashton to let go of such a chance?
Not to mention, their enemies are still mostly unaware of Humanity's true progress...
What their spies see are false truths that Ashton deliberately crafted for them. In their eyes, they see Humanity barely pushing back the constant invasion, in reality, however, it's quite the opposite. Someone has yet to die from the invasion, so it's safe to say that it's not working as they initially thought it would.
Not to mention, it's also Ashton who wanted this to happen in the first place. Everything was under his control, even the very thought process of his current enemies so there's no surprise that everything was going well for Humanity so far.
Ashton watched as his men rounded up another batch of invaders. He saw how they've gotten so used to it that they didn't need his input anymore.
Nobody dies, some people are injured but nothing fatal, no infrastructure was damaged from the entire battle and currently, Jerry's leading the civilians back to their homes.
All in all, another flawless defense on their part. He expected no less after all of his investments so far.
He got up from his chair and disappeared from the office. He doesn't have any work to do for the rest of the day, Jerry can handle the rest.
Ashton appeared at his home. Aria wasn't here, she was probably still on the forge right now, supervising her disciples.
With nothing better to do, Ashton sighed and decided to contact West Two; his Doppelganger.
'Any updates?' He asked mentally.
'Hold on.' came West Two's reply.
He waited for a minute or two, and after that, he felt West Two linking with him. He accepted the connection and West Two began syncing his memories with him.
Currently, West Two is at the Qliphoth, disguised as a Demon. He sent him out there to monitor the situation in real-time while he holds down the fort here.
Because West Two is his doppelganger, he shares Ashton's abilities. He could also use Dream Laws, he's also an Ascendant but he's weaker than Ashton. He could also use Ashton's long list of Abilities on his own. Also, he could borrow the Bone Scythe should he need it.
It was West Two who pushed Wrath to the edge of madness. The one responsible for giving him a power-up. He's done the same with Pride as well.
Additionally, he acted as a double agent. He crafted another identity; the Deceiver and informed the Celestials about something that he did in the first place.
He made them believe that he was on their side, even receiving their blessings in the end, hoping for him to succeed in his mission.
Ashton wanted to laugh at how silly this whole thing was, but he was not yet done so he saved it until then.
Normally, this would be a questionable thing. Helping his enemies gain more power? Is he stupid?
But Ashton has a plan. A very elaborate plan required this to happen. Although it looks like he's setting himself up for failure, he had faith in himself and the process.
Eventually, everything will play out according to what he envisioned...
From West Two's memories, he saw that scene where Wrath and Pride were being monitored strictly by the rest of the Sin Demons.
They did it because they don't want another fight to break out as well as to watch over their attempts on tapping into the power that they displayed the last time.
As expected, the temptation of power isn't something that they could simply ignore, and understandably so since this could be a game-changer.
Unfortunately, Wrath and Pride have yet to succeed in their attempts.
It's puzzling for them since they can't seem to remember how to actually do it. The idea was just that elusive for them. Yet they didn't doubt that they managed to do it last time since everybody around them saw it happen.
The other Sin Demons gave them some suggestions but nothing worked so far. The numerous failures ended up disappointing everybody but they weren't pressured since this was just the first day.
They somehow had faith that those two will eventually get it. They just needed to try harder next time or figure out the trick behind it.
'Well, I didn't think that they would be this slow. There are clues all over the place yet they just can't seem to notice it.'
West Two didn't erase the clues he left for them. If anything, he even emphasized it a bit but they still didn't understand it.
He's not gate-keeping this new ability from them, it's quite the opposite actually, Ashton wanted them to learn it and master it as soon as they could.
'They just need to let go of control. Allow themselves to sink further and further into their Sin, that's the trick.'
'If the two of them would just sit down for a bit and just think about everything that lead up to that point, they would be able to see how it happened. Learning the trick wouldn't be far from that, sadly they're just so stupid.'
And them being stupid isn't his fault. Now, he could only wait until the idea comes to them. If it takes too long, then a little bit of intervention wouldn't be so bad.
Ashton relayed his plan to West Two and received an affirmative response. He also told him what he should do for the Celestials.
After updating the plan, he deactivated the link for a bit to let West Two move autonomously. He wasn't afraid of West Two betraying him since he came from the System.
He wouldn't have necessarily sent West Two there if he could help it. Sadly, he had no pieces left to use.
His spies had moved on the to Grand Fleet. They've become his eyes there, informing him about any kind of developments that are out of place.
Sure, he could've just made more spies to monitor both the Qliphoth and Laguna, but there was no fitting candidate. Nobody was worth the effort and the Slave Seal. It's either they didn't fit the criteria or they're just simply too weak.
Hence, he sent out West Two instead. With him out there, he could expect some good performance at least. West Two could access everything that he has, if he couldn't succeed in his mission, then that meant that he was biting off more than he can chew.
Well, that's simply not the case so far, so Ashton could expect some good results from him.
After receiving an update from West Two, Ashton was freed for the rest of the day. He used this time to remind himself of his schedule for tomorrow...
'Another public lesson to accelerate the standardization of cultivation for Humanity.'
'Then a team meeting to arrange another recruitment for the Guild.'
'After that, I'll be attending the opening ceremony of a School, another Medicine Pavilion, and the establishment of the Blacksmith Organization courtesy of Aria.'
'Then, I have another meeting to discuss the expansion of Fantasia's territory. We'll be occupying more of Last Bastion after several decades since the last time it happened.'
'Maybe we could even salvage the cities that were destroyed previously. We have a lot of ARC Cores available anyway.'
Ashton's schedule might sound loaded but in truth, it wouldn't even take him half a day to finish all of that.
Taking it easy as everything around him prospered, there might be nobody who could do the same as he does it.
