After a brief silence, Little said,
"Well, that's one more hostage for me."
And started laughing again.
Then he walked to the Night manager,
"Lady Night, sorry for the delay.
You were saying? How can I become the Galaxy Guardian?"
The night manager, who couldn't figure out what was going on, said,
"I remember once, in the era that guardians were around, one of them became galaxy guardian without challenging others."
Little mortal raised an eyebrow,
"How?"
"He recruited many strong forces.
His territory naturally became the strongest one in that galaxy.
So, I heard world law just took away the position of galaxy guardian from someone else, and gave it to him who had the 'strongest force' under his command."
Little mortal was shocked and asked the token,
"Why didn't I know about this?
Why didn't you tell me?"
But the token didn't say anything.
Little mortal furrowed and started sniffing.
And then asked the rest,
"Can you smell it too?"
The night manager was going to ask 'What smell?'
But saw the two managers, and Rose nodded.
So she did the same, while wondering what smell?
Isn't she supposed to be the one with the strongest sense of smell here?
Then she saw Guardian Mortal sniffing the token, and said suspiciously,
"The smell coming from you, Mr. Token...
The smell of something..."
He pointed at the old manager, who knew the answer this time,
"Fishy!"
Little mortal smashed the token to the ground,
"Traitor!"
The Guardian Token sank inside the silver platform.
Everything, alongside the hearts of the onlookers, trembled!
Little Mortal started rubbing his chin,
"So, with the token's weird act, it seems I should be more careful.
Now I need to make a perfect plan with our new information."
Then he shouted,
"Big guy, meeting area."
In a moment,
Three chairs and a nest-like seat appeared, with a whiteboard in front.
"Everyone, please join the meeting."
The two managers and Rose sat on the chairs.
And the 'nest' was naturally for the night manager, who awkwardly sat on it and joined the meeting.
Little mortal started writing on the whiteboard.
[ Final goal:
- Mortal becomes Galaxy Guardian
(Guardian of the Galaxy is a cooler name, but I can't use it because of copyright law.)
New Information:
-The guardian token is a traitor.
- Assembling the strongest force in the galaxy can
Make me a galaxy guardian.
Emergency situations:
- Short on time because the Sneaky guy might come out of his cage and tell everyone about me
- Soon, that 'coward' is going to snitch about me to that fortune teller
My advantages:
- I am unbeatable
- I have passive fate skill
- I have a capable assistant
- I have the best managers (minus the solar system manager)
- I have the best followers and special force members
- I have a collection of the best birth treasures
What we need:
- A lot more strong Followers
Question:
- Where to find such a strong force in a short time before the sneaky guy is out? ]
Then he turned to the crowd, who were blushing for being in the 'advantage' section.
"Any idea?"
They all had an idea, actually.
But they needed to be sure about something first.
Immortal manager asked,
"Secret Guardian, can you confirm that you are the strongest force in this universe now?
Is there anyone who can make trouble for you?"
Little mortal shook his head,
"No, only that sneaky guy can."
Rose asked,
"Secret guardian, is your 'coach assistant' technique still working on everyone in this universe?"
Little mortal nodded,
"As good as ever."
The old manager asked,
"There is a limit of only level 2 and level 3 creatures for going to the 'War Ground' as you said before, does that apply to you too, or like other rules, you can ignore it?"
Little mortal didn't answer.
The old manager looked at the rest to see if he had said something wrong.
Night manager, who didn't even know what they were getting at, asked the same question, just started it with 'secret guardian'.
The old man's face fell...
So that was the problem?
He forgot to call him 'secret guardian' in the official meeting...
Little mortal smiled confidently,
"There is no limit or rule in this world that can stop me!
Nothing can affect me physically or emotionally."
The crowd didn't know what to say...
They thought,
'Really?
Try to absorb some spiritual energy then!
And nothing can affect you emotionally?
Didn't you almost kill that solar system manager for his disrespect?'
Little mortal suddenly gasped,
"How could I forget about those people on the war ground!
Now I know what a brilliant idea you have!!"
Then he started writing on the whiteboard again,
[ Operation 'galaxy guardian'
First step:
- Find the horn guy
Second step:
- Go to the war ground and recruit followers
Third step:
- Scout the thug's army situation
Fourth step:
- Take over the thug's army if possible ]
Then he asked,
"Anything missing?"
The crowd shook their heads.
That wasn't their idea!
How did another army come to play?
They thought he should go in, use his coach assistant technique, and bring out enough forces.
And it was supposed to be done secretly.
But it changed to 'take over two armies' plan...
"Alright then, thank you for coming to this emergency meeting.
We can end it here."
And the whiteboard disappeared.
Little mortal looked at the crowd, who didn't leave,
"Why are you still here?"
The three managers stood up awkwardly and were going to leave,
But when Little Mortal saw them going in the same direction, he said,
"Your office is up there!
Why are you going towards the forbidden jungle?"
The three who were exposed for going after the little higher beings, changed direction.
Little mortal shook his head in disappointment.
Rose asked,
"Boss, what kind of plan do you have for our little guests?"
Little mortal shrugged,
"I don't know.
I just saw them being homeless, so I brought them here."
The new birth treasures started trembling.
The meaning was clear,
'They weren't homeless!
You kidnapped them on their way to their new home.'
But Little mortal ignored them.
"Alright, karma token, come here."
The guardian token came out of the ground and flew to him.
Little mortal snorted,
"See, if you aren't a karma token, then why did you respond?"
The guardian token,
[...]
It was the only token here, so it thought he was calling it.
Little mortal hung the token that was still covered in black liquid on his waist,
"Alright, I still need the headband, but you can stay disconnected from the wristbands.
With the solar system supporting my weight, I'm fine with headband alone."
Then he looked at the rest of his treasures thoughtfully,
"Hmmm, who else should I take with me?
Oh, little knife, you should come,
And connect the second slot to my crystal.
Little crystal, ask your main body what we did last time to fool that four-armed guy, we'll try it again."
Then he said to Rose,
"Well, I'm off.
I leave the matter of night planet 'guardian journey' to you, assistant Rose.
See who the important people are there that we can use, and their stories.
You can get help from Lady Night, too.
After that, bring the information to me,
If I can make sense of it, that's fine; if not, I'll go to my big sister and ask for another script."
Rose nodded,
"Leave it to me, boss.
You can go with peace of mind."
Little mortal smiled at her like a senior who is proud of his junior.
Then he said,
"Mr. Token, find that general.
Space mirror, open a passage to him."
A moment later, a small passage opened.
Little mortal looked at the other side and saw the two guards and the four-armed general, all with four arms again,
Were standing there.
He nodded, and the passage got bigger.
Little mortal, before going in, said,
"Mr. Token, I can use three slots now that I'm the solar system guardian?"
[ Affirmative.]
"Good.
Little knife, let's go."
And they left through the passage.
The passage closed shortly after.
...
In a quiet place.
Little white, the lab rat, opened its eyes.
Its eyes were out of focus at first.
After a while, it came back to its senses and looked around in confusion.
The sky was dark, the ground was made of marble, and not too far, an old man and an old woman were playing a board game on a table.
Seeing the two familiar faces, the white rat heaved a sigh of relief.
It quietly walked towards the two.
On the way, it muttered to itself,
"What a terrifying dream..."
And when It arrived beside the old lady, who was still playing the board game in silence, it looked around, as if searching for something.
But it didn't matter how carefully it searched, it couldn't find what it was looking for...
Seeing the old lady still playing, the white rat just lay on the ground silently, and watched the two play.
After a while, the game ended, and the old man said,
"Oh, you won again..."
The old lady chuckled,
"You were distracted, weren't you?"
Looking at the two elderly people, there was nothing special about them.
They were like a retired couple.
The old man was wearing simple and comfortable clothes, and the old lady was in a completely white dress.
The old man nodded,
"I was indeed distracted by your birth treasure."
The old lady looked at the white rat,
"Where have you been?"
The white rat replied respectfully,
"Greetings, master.
Greetings, lord Adventure god.
I was in the middle of another experiment, but I fell asleep.
I was looking for the rest of the birth treasures now to get back to work, but didn't find them."
The old lady asked with interest,
"Are you sure you weren't somewhere else?
Because I lost my birth treasure recently.
So, how could you work with the rest of them here?"
The corner of the rat's eyes twitched.
Then its whole body started twitching, as if it had a panic attack.
And then it fainted again after saying,
"I-Impossible... It wasn't a dream... "
The old man, or to be exact, Adventure God, said thoughtfully,
"Seems this rat saw something?
Can't you take a look at its memories?"
And the old lady, or to be exact, Divine doctor, responded,
"I already tried, but it's protected."
"By another higher being?"
"No, by world law..."
Adventure God was shocked!
He looked up and said,
"Buddy, can you send this little guy out?
Or is it stuck in here like us?"
And to answer his question,
It didn't take long for the little rat to start floating, and then it went to the darkness above.
"So your birth treasure can go out..."
"Why did you ask your backpack to send it out? We could ask some questions...
You know that was our only lead, right?"
"...I apologize."
....
Little white, the lab rat, opened its eyes again.
When it saw the silver platform, and the big backpack, it sighed,
"Big guy, I just had a dream...
I saw our masters, playing a game together like old times..."
The big backpack trembled.
Little white froze for a moment, then its eyes widened in shock!
"It wasn't a dream?
But, I fainted when I was going to tell them about my dream of the Evil Boss!"
Releasing what it said, the white rat hurriedly covered its mouth with both paws and looked around vigilantly.
The back vibrates,
And you probably fainted because of the world law, which prevented you from speaking about the things you shouldn't.
Do you think I didn't try to tell our master how we were stolen?>
The little white rat was stunned at first.
But a moment later, it shouted,
"Give me a knife!
Give me a knife, big guy!"
The backpack threw a knife at it while puzzled.
What was the use of a knife in this situation?
Little white, with eyes filled with madness and determination, suddenly stabbed its stomach!
The backpack was going to stop it, but it shouted,
"I'm not committing suicide!"
The backpack strap that was going to slap the knife away stopped.
...
Where the two old people, adventure god, and divine doctor, were playing, they suddenly felt the presence of the little rat is back.
The two looked up and saw it falling from above towards the table between them.
The two just watched with interest, because they saw its eyes were filled with madness at this moment!
As if it were ready to die to achieve whatever goal it had!
Then it fell to the table, and blood splashed everywhere.
This time, before fainting again, it threw itself off the table.
The two furrowed.
And again, before it could say anything, it flew up to the darkness above and disappeared...
"Hmm, the blood on the table, and the scar on its chest..."
"Indeed, before its wounds healed, it showed us a face with it.
A familiar one..."
The white lab rat indeed tried to expose Little Mortal's identity in this way when it found out it couldn't speak about him.
Divine Doctor chuckled,
"Was it that little newborn who called you
Marco Polo?"
Adventure God nodded,
"Yes, and called you Dr. Quinn.
But how is he related to us being stuck in my birth treasure?"
"How should I know?
I only remember him asking us what's the use of our birth treasures if we are retired...
Is it possible that he is the thief?"
"I don't think so.
As you know, he was lawless.
Basically, the weakest kind of higher being around."
Divine Doctor sighed,
"If it weren't because of you, we wouldn't be stuck here in your backpack..."
Adventure God shook his head helplessly,
"I always liked to leave my castle in my backpack.
That's why I asked Space Goddess to give me a teleportation device to have access to it.
I even gave you one, so you can come here with your castle anytime you want.
How could I predict when I thought my backpack was stolen, and I teleported inside to find where it was taken, such a thing would happen?"
Divine Doctor was annoyed,
"I saw my birth treasure and you are missing together, without telling me anything, so I just tried your stupid teleportation device to see why you took away my birth treasure with you...
And here we are, stuck in your 'former' birth treasure."
Hearing the word 'former', Adventure God gritted his teeth and became silent...
Indeed.
When he teleported here, he found out that the owner had changed completely, and he not only lost connection with his treasure, but the ownership too...
The two sighed and went back to their games.
Adventure God could tear apart his birth treasure and go outside.
But how could he destroy his old friend who accompanied him in countless adventures?
Even though it could be repaired, he didn't do it.
He was waiting... Waiting for the time that the culprit shows up, and tell him what he/she wants from him.
In the end, the most important problem was his birth treasure, which he was no longer connected to.
...
Little White woke up again.
It looked around, and when it came back to its senses again, jumped up,
"Big guy, big guy!
Did they receive my message?
Did they see the thief?"
"Good, good, give me another knife!"
"What?
You can't send me in anymore...?"
If it wasn't because of the Frontline Effect, you were dead by now.>
Little White dropped to its knees,
"Why...?"
The little white rat, 'hearing' the answer, raised its hands towards the sky, and shouted at the top of its lungs,
"World Law!
How dare you stop me!
Show yourself, I fight you to death!"
And then a lightning descended out of nowhere and hit it.
Little White fell unconscious again...
The birth treasures who say the silly rat being saved by the Frontline Effects once again,
<...>
They thought maybe because it was a 'living treasure,' the Frontline Effect was working for it.
...
In front of the massive entrance of the war ground.
The three 'Four Arm Generals' were standing.
They were all waiting for Assassin God's next order.
With the disappearance of both gods from both sides,
The war between the two sides came to a standstill.
So, they were standing here quietly.
But suddenly.
BAM!
The big double door of the war ground slammed open!
The three hastily looked over,
But before they could figured out what was going on, a cold voice sounded from the war ground,
"Everyone, gather!"
The three hurriedly entered the war ground and prostrated themselves on the ground,
"Welcome back, my lord."
'Assassin God' didn't respond to the greetings and instead said,
"I said everyone."
While the three were puzzled, they heard someone screaming behind them.
Then a body dropped beside them, that hastily prostrated herself,
"My lord, forgive me."
Assassin God didn't respond to the newcomer either, and instead said,
"Sign it."
And four papers appeared in front of them.
The 'newcomer' that the Silver Knife 'brought' back with stabbing it, was the only level 5 creature of the universe, working under the Assassin God.
By Assassin God's order, she wasn't allowed to show herself to anyone, and only stands guard here at the gate of the war ground.
The four, who were basically slaves, saw the content of the paper, and became shocked!
They cut their fingers immediately, and signed the contract with their blood without hesitation.
There were only two sentences on it.
[From now on, we don't betray each other in any way,
And we can't put each other's life in danger without both sides' agreement.]
It looked like a simple contract, but it showed Assassin God finally had complete trust in them!
After being signed, the papers flew back to an unknown place.
Until now, they had only heard a voice, but they hadn't seen the Assassin God himself.
They were only sure it was him because of the Silver Knife flying around.
Assassin God's voice sounded again,
"Listen carefully, I only say it once."
The four shouted,
"Yes, my lord!"
The cold voice sounded again,
"I trapped God of Oppression somewhere,
And I have a treasure with me that can hide my presence inside the war ground.
So,
This is what we do now.
First,
Gather all of our forces!
Every single one of them.
Then we go after the enemy.
I lead you personally to the battlefield.
And don't worry about the war ground law enforcement, I take care of them myself."
The four of them were stunned for a moment, then shouted,
"As your order, my lord, Assassin God!"
The voice sounded again,
"Go!
Inform me when everyone is gathered."
And all four of them flew in different directions, full speed!
They didn't know what was happening, but now their lord had so much trust in them that he even signed a contract with them, so they didn't doubt him.
From the looks of it, he had a big plan that needed to be immediately executed!
The sound of a horn echoed through the battleground.
The army soldiers of God of Oppression suddenly saw the enemy troops gathering in one place.
They were puzzled as to why they should do such a thing while in a ceasefire?
But they also started gathering their forces.
In no time, the two sides were facing each other in confusion.
The level 2 and 3 beings, who were here to just die, looked at each other nervously.
Above, level 4 beings were in a standoff.
They were just responsible for leading the army below and couldn't interfere in the real fight, or the law enforcement force monitoring the battle would show up.
And The so called law enforcement, was a team of three angels, working under Goddess Of Time, who was the entity that could prevent everyone from cheating.
War ground was an area created temporarily when two universe declare war, and it would last until the war ends.
All three level 5 angels from the Goddess of Time's universe would be allowed to enter the created war ground and act as 'law enforcement' until the end of the war.
And currently,
In a secret array formation, they were watching the changes down below with interest.
Then one of them suddenly looked in a certain direction and said,
"What is a level 5 doing here?"
And then the three of them froze, literally.
Now, they were three ice statues, all looking in a certain direction.
A moment later,
On the ground, the three level 4 generals on the side of God of oppression's army suddenly dropped from the sky for no reason.
Before anyone could react, a phantom of a man in a black cloak appeared above the Assassin God's army, and at the same time, all of the army soldiers lost control over their bodies and shouted together,
"Welcome, Lord Assassin God!"
Just the killing intent emitting from the phantom made the army of the opposite side turn pale!
"What is happening?"
"A God is here?"
"Now?
Exactly when we lost our generals for whatever reason..."
"Oh no, it was God himself who killed them!"
The enemy soldiers started dropping to their knees out of fear and helplessness.
With the arrival of a god involved, there was no way out for them!
Then, papers started falling from the sky in front of everyone.
How many people were here?
Billions.
All kinds of creatures were in the mix.
But what was their worth in front of a god?
Nothing...
The aura alone from the phantom in the sky was horrifying enough to force them to commit suicide.
When the papers dropped on the ground, God's sound echoed through the battlefield,
"Submit, or Die!"
Even the army of Assassin God himself received papers.
While one side was puzzled, and one side scared out of their wits,
They read the content on the paper.
[From now on, we don't betray each other in any way,
And we can't put each other's life in danger without both sides' agreement.]
The content was straightforward, but it was like a path of survival for both sides!
They didn't know why, but they knew that if they signed this paper, they would have the right to live a free life and survive the current situation.
It was the effect of the Brush and Inkwell, the birth treasure that was best for writing contracts.
It could let the creature that was going to sign it feel exactly what the outcome of it will be.
Assassin God's generals were puzzled when they saw the content on the papers.
They didn't feel special anymore...
Everyone on both sides signed the paper without exception.
Then the Phantom disappeared, and a big black bus appeared on the deserted ground between the two armies.
Then, before anyone knew what was going to happen next, the bus door opened, and everyone was sucked inside!
Even the three unconscious level fours that everyone thought they died...
And then, the bus sped away and disappeared on the horizon.
In no time, nothing was left in the War Ground, except the three frozen angels.
Not long after, the sky suddenly changed color, and then two huge closed eyes appeared.
The eyes slowly opened and stared at the ground.
On the ground, as if time was moving backwards,
A blurry image appeared.
First the black bus was shown,
Then a Silver Knife in the sky, which was emitting an aura similar to Assassin God, forced everyone to prostrate themselves,
And in the end the three angels freezing.
It was like the the time was moving backward.
The corner of the pair of eyes in the sky curled up,
And the sound of a woman echoed,
"Assassin God broke the rule of the war ground due to the direct use of his own and two other birth treasures' power in the war ground.
God of Oppression, you can receive 10 million laws from him as his punishment, plus your stolen army soldiers.
If he refuses, send your complaint to God's Council.
I, Goddess of Time, announce the end of your war."
The eyes then closed after glancing at the three frozen angels once, and disappeared soon after.
At the same time, the three angels in the sky, as if time moved in reverse for them, turned back to normal.
The three hastily prostrated themselves towards the sky and shouted,
"O revered Goddess of Time, whose eternal embrace weaves the fabric of existence, we honor your boundless wisdom and the gentle rhythm of your celestial dance that guides us through the ages."
But there was no answer, only the sound of a chuckle,
Belonging to a lady, who was echoing from the past and future....
With the war's sudden end, the war ground started dissipating, and the three angels were sent back to their home universe.
.....
Outside of the big gate of the war ground, the black bus came out, Little Mortal jumped out, and closed the doors in a hurry.
Then he swam back inside the bus, a passage opened, and the bus went in.
Not long after, the gate of the war ground disappeared...
...
On the silver platform, the moment he came back with his unstoppable bus, the voice of World Law sounded,
[Congratulations, Mortal, for gathering the strongest force in the galaxy.
You are now Galaxy Guardian.
May the fate be with you.]
Little Mortal jumped out of the bus and smiled arrogantly.
"Mission accomplished!"
But when he saw no one was around, he shrugged and went to the backpack.
Though after only two steps,
[Congratulations, Mortal, for gathering the strongest force in the universe.
You are now Universe Guardian, and qualified to challenge the higher being of your universe, Hades.]
Little Mortal froze on the spot.
This second message was like a whisper in his ear, only for him to hear.
No one else heard it.
He tapped his guardian token once and disconnected the headband.
"I still feel so light...?"
Then he asked,
"Mr. Token, how big is our current galaxy?"
[110,000 light years in diameter.]
Little Mortal then gulped down and asked cautiously,
"And how big is my guardian territory?"
[It's 110-...
Please wait, connecting to World Law...]
And after 10 minutes,
[98 billion light years in diameter.
The whole current universe.]
Little Mortal gasped!
"How did this happen?"
[The total force under you is currently stronger than the total forces of the whole universe, even Assassin God's Main Planet lacks in comparison.]
Little Mortal was silent for a while, then looked at the shaking prison cage with Assassin God inside,
"Ask World Law to let my birth treasures use the whole universe as support through my guardian position."
[Request has been sent.]
[Request has been accepted.]
Little Mortal was shocked,
"Why didn't that sneaky guy stop it?"
[Higher beings are not managers or guardians.
Only managers and guardians equal to your rank can stop your request in usage of law.
You are currently the highest rank in this universe.]
Little Mortal's breathing became a little faster,
Especially when he saw the prison cage stop shaking.
He looked at the calm cage and asked,
"Little Cage, for how long can you keep this guy in with your new support?"
Little Mortal's eyes widened in shock,
"Forever!?"
Then he went to the backpack, put the guardian token there, picked up the cage instead, and the two disappeared.
The sound of breaking the 'sound barrier' came from afar, which stopped after a while.
At this moment, Little Mortal, in his invisible state, was running in excitement.
His destination?
The new part of the planet, Crystalia.