"Now, I think it's about time I punish this little peeping tom of ours. How dare he try to find me?" The Guardian muttered as his gaze shifted, breaking through the fabric of reality and landing on the spot where the so-called god was.
Making a grasping motion, he clenched his hand and gently released it before sighing and giving himself a pat on the back. "Haaa… I've really worked hard today, huh? Without praise, too. Ah~ The silent woes of the protector~"
He leaned back and closed his eyes. He snapped his fingers, creating an alarm clock-like device, and said, "Wake me up when something interesting happens."
QWACK!
The device shouted before falling into his lap.
***
…boom!
Boom!
BOOM!
A series of explosions accelerated rapidly toward the God's hideout, causing his expression to change! "DAMMIT! Who's the bastard that attacked me?!"
He waved his hand to create more barriers around his home, but the explosions ignored their very existence. Soon, they broke past all his defenses and wrapped around the massive structure that existed between the folds of space.
Everything inside was being rapidly condensed into a singular point, showing no signs of stopping.
His expression morphed into pure rage, but he held himself back and quickly grabbed all his things and women, teleporting them to another location.
In an instant, his previous home had turned into a black hole. Yet, it didn't stop there. It continued to condense until everything vanished from existence. There was no trace that he was ever there nor that he was attacked. They just simply vanished, as if they never existed in the first place.
Suddenly, a note popped out of thin air and, in the most annoying, ear-grating voice, announced, "I spy with my little eye, a naughty little boy and his toy dolls. Farewell now, you pry, in shadows, you shall not spy."
Then it blew up into a cloud of smoke, releasing a noxious gas that stunk to high heavens. The man's face turned green as, for the first time in countless years, he almost threw up.
Teleporting him and his 'possessions' a galaxy away, he could… still smell it! So, he jumped a bit farther, feeling the most embarrassed he had ever felt in his entire life.
Had he just… run? From a cosmic-sized fart?
After some quack read him a childish rhyme?!
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" He roared, the vibrations destroying all the nearby planets.
His face went through a multitude of colors, from green to red to blue, until he almost passed out from anger. His eyes turned bloodshot as he had half a mind just to reduce Mira's world to ash, capture her soul, and toss her into another body! It wouldn't work as well as the lantern, and she might lose a significant part of herself in the process, but he hardly cared at the moment.
All he wanted was to get revenge on the bastard who did this!
"I'LL FIND YOU! EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL OUR PRECIOUS MIRA, I'LL FIND YOU!" He roared like a madman, uncaring about his image. Not that anyone was around to notice. His women had all passed out and were still puking their guts up.
Suddenly, as he was yelling, a gas bubble appeared in his mouth and popped, releasing a burst of that noxious gas down his throat. "Naught, naughty~ Don't be so haughty~!"
"Cough… Cough… FU-cough-FUCK!"
A slight grin appeared on the Guardian's face as he listened to his cries. 'This is the life.'
***
Meanwhile, Mira had no idea that the man living rent-free in her Soul Sea was finally doing something she would approve of. She was busy working, improving her forging skill with every passing moment.
That is, until a sudden earthquake struck the continent, causing her to lose focus. Then, the ground shook again, and again, and again… over and over…
'What the hell's going on?' Mira frowned. Part of her wanted to believe it was just a regular earthquake, but this didn't feel anything like that. The irregularity of the quakes, the frequency and power behind them, it felt like two powerhouses were fighting in the distance.
She looked in the direction where she felt the shockwaves coming from, toward the Central Continent.
Mira wasn't the only one to notice this, as after a few seconds, nearly every cultivator stopped what they were doing and looked toward the source of it all.
Meanwhile, the stronger beings like Aelina and the other Sect Masters all became solemn. Anyone below the Divine Sea Realm couldn't feel it, but how could they not?
Ascension Realm beings were fighting, and not just a few, but many! Enough to where if they decided to sweep through the world, there was nothing anyone could do to stop them!
However, while they were curious, none dared to leave their Sects. Instead, they raised their defenses, uncaring of the cost.
The Central Continent might be hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, across the vast ocean, one random hit from them could still decimate their entire Sect. Similar to how nobody below the Divine Sea Realm could fight Aelina, the same applied to the Ascension Realm, just a bit more exaggerated.
On top of her mountain, Aelina looked off into the distance, hands behind her back, with a rare frown. '...Why do I feel like Mira has something to do with this?' She thought, only to grow more worried.
She immediately shook her head and chuckled, 'No, no. What am I thinking? Just because something big is happening doesn't mean that little demoness is involved. Right…?'
'...right?'
It felt like a lump of iron was dropped into the pit of her stomach. She couldn't shake off the feeling that Mira was somehow involved in this mess.
'Dammit! That stupid girl! What'd she do this time?! What sort of sins did I commit in my previous life that I have to put up with this?!' She scrambled for the Communication Talisman and linked it to Mira's.
'What?' Mira's indifferent voice came out from the other side.
"What'd you do this time?! Why is the world shaking?! How'd you offend those Ascension Realm powerhouses?!" Aelina yelled, needing answers.
A short silence passed. '...What? The hell are you talking about? I've been staying at the Celestial Springs resort for the last month or so.'
"..."
"WHAT?!" Somehow, Aelina seemed more surprised about that. "You?! At a hot spring?! Meant for relaxing?!" She pinched her nose, trying to calm down. "...No, that's not what's important. Why do I get the feeling that you're somehow involved in this?"
Mira fell silent again, but Aelina could feel the difference. She was hiding something. 'I knew it!'
'Well…' Mira started. 'I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I did encounter some annoyances from the Central Continent.'
"Are… Are they dead?"
'No. Those lizards were too slippery. Couldn't even get a trace of them.'
"Hmmm~ I don't think it's that," Aelina muttered.
'Other than that, I've just been busy forging.'
"That's it?"
'Yeah. I haven't offended anyone else.'
"How odd… Then, is it really not your doing?"
'How the hell would I know? Anyways, I'm busy. Don't contact me for useless things like this.'
The talisman crumbled.
'This bitch…' Aelina cursed before she took a deep breath and returned to her normal, calm self. Numerous calculations ran through her mind, and she eventually came to a conclusion.
Even if it was unlikely that Mira was involved, she still had to prepare as if she was. So, she raised the Sect's defenses, even beginning the preparations for a large-scale Teleportation Formation. With Mira's garden, she now had the resources to pull that off but was still hesitant.
'Tsk. What a pain.' She clicked her tongue. Part of her even thought that she had to increase her strength, and fast.
It'd been a long time since she felt such urgency, such danger, but with the threat of Ascension Realm monsters on the horizon, her spirit that had been hammered down over time started to rise up.
A giddy sensation started to rise up in her chest. A sensation that made her want to get up and search for opportunities, to get stronger now, to finally improve! It was as if a fire was lit under her butt, one that wouldn't go away.
So, using this newfound motivation, she shot up into the air and covered the Sect with her Divine Sense. 'All Elders, come to the mountain peak!'
Every Elder stopped what they were doing and shot toward Aelina's residence, sensing the urgency in her voice. Some were already on their way before she could even say anything.
Within a second, she now had every Elder standing in front of her. She smiled and waved her hand, causing hundreds of Mystical and Divine-Grade resources to appear under their shocked gazes.
Then, with one sentence that would spark the meteoric rise of the Battle Maiden Sect, she said, "Let's get stronger."
