Planet Lubo.
Morning.
Little Mortal finished his breakfast and nodded at his backpack,
"Thanks, big guy.
How much food is left from what my sister-in-law gave me?"
The backpack trembled.
Little Mortal shook his head,
"So it will be finished soon?
Should I go find a job to make money so I can buy some food and not die from hunger?"
The backpack trembled again,
Little Mortal rolled his eyes at it,
"Don't be silly.
I am the guardian, not the owner.
Did you ever see a company's guard claim that he is the owner?
Hmm?
Did you ever see one?"
The backpack was speechless...
Little Mortal then scratched his head and muttered,
"I still have 5 days left before they send me away.
What should I do?"
Then he looked at his birthday gifts and said,
"Oh, right!
I didn't have the Crystal at the start of my journey when I started gathering my birthday gifts.
I should create a video clip of the gift-gathering process from start to finish to sell it later.
A clip of my treasure collection isn't bad either.
That's two videos."
Then he called for his crystal,
"Little Crystal, come over.
You need to copy some of my memories, like what you did with those 'evidence videos'."
The crystal flew over, and Little Mortal placed it on his forehead while saying,
"Remember, don't upload this on my channel until 'they' capture me and send me away."
The Crystal vibrated.
And the two started making the two videos for the time after his departure.
....
Underworld.
Lilith was now looking at a certain hexagon with a smile at the corner of her lips.
This hexagon was cold, as if it were dead like the dark hexagons, but it wasn't dead in reality.
The only reason it was cold was the mainland connected to it.
The Undeads mainland.
Then her gaze moved to another hexagon.
This one seems normal, but empty of any sinner.
Like all the other evil mainlands after level 8.
This hexagon was the one connected to Hunters Mainland.
Seeing the changes, Lilith chuckled while muttering,
"The temperature of Hunters Mainland has dropped significantly,
And the temperature of Undeads Mainland has risen slightly.
From their current placement,
It means the two are close to each other now..."
That was how she would know about the world above.
If two mainlands were too close to each other,
Then the carried by them would change position in the underworld, too.
If they clashed for whatever reason, then they would be connected.
And if one were a normal mainland and won the war between them, the two hexagons would merge.
And in case of an evil mainland winning, one of the hexagons would die.
After a brief silence, Lilith smiled mischievously,
"Now two hunters are after one prey.
Can my partner handle them?
Should I send him the news...?"
But after a while, she shook her head,
"Let it be a test for him.
I want to see if he can handle two level 10 Managers or not.
If he can't, there is no way he can help me and the underworld..."
After that, she left, but an avatar of her stayed behind to watch the changes.
If the two mainlands clashed, she would immediately notice.
Like now that from the change in temperature,
And how much one went up, and one went down,
She could tell these two mainlands were close to each other, but not in conflict.
If the two start a war, then she needs to reconsider her decision about not letting her partner know about the Undeads mainland.
At that time, she could even use him to make more chaos.
She then brought out the paper of her contract with him.
A moment later, a line from the contract moved towards the hexagon connected to the Speedy Mainland.
It was the karma line between her and the one in the contract with her, Mortal.
Seeing he was still there, she left in a good mood.
She finally had a way to track him down.
She didn't know what she was tracking wasn't Little Mortal himself, but the copy of the contract with him...
....
Hunters Mainland.
The mainland was now back on the road.
The level 7 universes were at the back,
And the level 6 universes in front, carrying the mainland with their full power.
However, there was now a difference.
The Hunters Mainland was now cold and snowing.
Far away to the right,
The hunters had a neighbor now.
A big, humongous planet, looking completely white from their point of view.
Only a red dot on it was barely shining.
Lord was now in the sky with close to 100 level 7 creatures behind him, looking solemnly at this huge snowball, which didn't have a single universe connected to it.
One of the level 7 creatures behind him asked,
"Should some of us infiltrate the other side and find a way to slow it down?"
Lord shook his head lazily.
Looking at his face now, it seems he even had a difficult time keeping his eyes open, let alone speaking.
His hair was messy, his beard was long and uncut, and his clothes were untidy.
Around him, an aura of laziness was emitting.
Even the creatures behind him kept yawning from time to time due to his effect on the surroundings.
Maybe his most 'awake' moment in recent years was when that black lightning showed up and scared him so much that his soul almost left his body.
After a while, he waved his hand and left after saying,
"You guys stay on watch, I'm tired."
Not long after he left,
The Vulture appeared and looked at his departing figure coldly, muttering to itself,
"The next batch of chips that he receives will be enough, I think.
I can even get rid of him if needed."
Then it gazed at the big snowball-looking mainland.
"The Undeads Mainland already caught up with us.
I need to somehow slow them down and increase our distance again, or..."
Then it looked in the opposite direction they were moving.
Its eyes pierced through thousands of light-years of distance.
Far, far away, in a distance that none of the creatures on this mainland could see, another mainland was after them.
However, it was too far away and too small to see what it looked like.
The only thing obvious was some small lights behind it, as if small suns were being carried by it.
"... or I should let them join the fun?
Level 2 civilizations are hard to deal with for others, but not me."
And then it smiled in a horrifying way and muttered,
"If I can't have the speedy mainland,
Then no one can have it!
It's either mine, or no one's!"
The group of level 7 creatures who couldn't see or hear it shivered without reason!
....
Planet Lubo.
Little Mortal had completed the two video clips he wanted to make, and now he had nothing else to do.
He left the main planet of the Pirate God alone for now, because he didn't want to let him know more than he should.
Pirate God only knew the name of the person who challenged him and knew that he had lost his territory to that person.
But he didn't see his opponent, and didn't know who Guardian Mortal, who challenged him, was, because Little Mortal knew when exactly this guy was 'disconnected' from 'mainland's news'.
He himself was responsible for Pirate God ending up in Hunters Mainland.
So to keep him in the dark, Little Mortal didn't touch his universe or his main planet.
While looking around in boredom, he saw the puppet and cube come to him while vibrating.
Little Mortal raised an eyebrow,
"They finally remembered that?
Hmmm, just tell them we do as they say."
The puppet vibrated,
Should we ask how they want us to do it first?
If we can't do it, we can ask them for some changes.>
But Little Mortal shook his head,
"Do as I said and be quick!
We need them to have 100% trust in us.
Back and forth conversation between us can expose us or make them suspicious."
The puppet replied to them as it was ordered.
If its Little Boss said he's fine with anything, then he's fine.
After a while, the outsiders replied.
Little Mortal took out his notebook,
"Alright, tell me how they want us to do the announcement?
I think they want it to be done sooner, so the moment they become guardian, they can start challenging others immediately.
If the smuggling of 'child guardian tokens' delays, it will slow them down too, and they can't just challenge whoever they want."
But when the puppet told him about the outsider's message, Little Mortal almost snapped!
"See! What did I tell you?
This bunch of lunatics never trusted this silly fortune teller or their teammates!
If we do the announcement this way, they can even send me away without anyone suspecting them!"
Then he said thoughtfully,
"But won't they risk themselves to be exposed?
These lunatics surely thought of that, right?
Well, fine, I trust them this time.
They want to play like this, fine by me!
Let's see if I don't make them regret it!"
....
Mainland.
Above the castle of Entertainment Goddess,
The main screen interrupted whatever it was showing with another live.
A familiar voice echoed,
"What are these parasites thinking?
No one can stop me from running away."
In just a moment, the stream of a certain crazy brat who everyone thought was already caught was full of viewers.
Chat:
- Kid, didn't they catch you?
- I think he is on the run now, again lol.
- Where even is he? That place is like a storage.
- What are those tokens?
- Never saw one.
- Hmm, a planet with two hands on both sides of it?
It looks somewhat familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen it.
- The man who took those newborns had one similar to these ones, too.
While most of them didn't recognize the tokens,
The members of God's Council, as well as the outsiders, did.
One group smiled and eagerly waited for the show,
And one group looked slightly nervous but excited because the Mainland Manager already told them about the 'guardian announcement' that seems to be an unusual one.
They already knew little mortal was in the manager's hand, so it should be fine, right?
The 'camera' zoomed in on the tokens, and a small hand picked one.
"What are these?
Why do they have so many?"
Then the cameraman's chuckling sound echoed in the storage room,
"If it's something valuable, then I take them away as 'hostage', let's see if they dare to catch me again!"
And then he put the 'crystal' down and started gathering the tokens, throwing them into a big bag like a thief.
The viewers were speechless.
- Where is God of Prophecy?
- I'm sure they'll find him soon, like last time.
- Yeah, he is stupid; he is actually showing everyone where he is.
- What's the point of being invisible if everyone knows where you are?
- I think all of you are wrong.
- How so?
- Don't you see that -7 minute at the corner?
- What's that? I never saw it before.
- Me neither.
- Oh, wait a minute, is that what I think?
- What?
- What we see now isn't live!
- No way, did he start his stream with a 7-minute delay?
- Looks like someone learned his lesson!
On the scene, the little boy took away all of the tokens, dragged the bag, and left with his crystal arrogantly as if he took what belonged to him!
The scene changed again.
Now he was in a grassland, digging a hole with a group of manifested monkeys.
- Hahaha, he manifested monkeys to dig a hole with him.
- Is he trying to hide in the hole?
- That's actually smart.
Who would know where the 'grassland' is that he is going to bury himself?
- Indeed, the grasslands in our mainland are all the same.
But after digging the hole, the little boy didn't go inside.
Instead, he dragged the bag and pushed it inside the hole while snorting,
"Now what, fortune teller?
I challenge you to try and find them!"
Then the ground repaired itself, and the dirt and monkeys all disappeared.
As far as you could see, now was only the same simple grassland...
The viewers were speechless.
At this moment, everyone suddenly heard an angry shout from afar.
However, not in the live stream with a 7-minute delay, but rather somewhere on the mainland.
"Mortal, I give you 10 minutes to bring my stuff back, or I kill those newborns one by one!"
The voice was unfamiliar to many, and familiar to a certain group who knew who he was.
Outsiders thought it was the guardian puppet,
And the God's Council thought it was the guardian god who acts as a puppet under the Mainland Manager.
But why?
Wasn't Mortal with them?
Or was it still part of the manager's plan?
The -7 minute under the live stream turned to 0.
Little mortal with a cold face and a grassland as a background appeared on the screen and shouted,
"You corrupted police officer!
Are you threatening me?"
The voice boomed through the mainland again,
"Yes!"
The viewers watched with interest.
This was the first time for them to see a newborn that wouldn't surrender when threatened by other creatures' lives!
He was indeed broken in the head.
But everyone knew the guy with a confident smile who called a big shot like God of Life and Death a weakling was now really angry.
The brat was done for.
But,
"I give you 1 minute to release the hostages!
Or I expose you to the whole world!"
Shouted Little Mortal seriously.
- Bro, this kid is fearless!
- He received 10 minutes and countered with 1 minute?
The screen above the castle of Entertainment Goddess turned dark, and a number appeared,
That started counting down.
[ 60, 59, 58...]
- He is serious!
- So what if he is serious? What can he do?
- That guy can squish him with one finger if he catches him.
- God of Prophecy might be locked onto him by now.
While they were discussing, the timer reached 0.
Then the screen returned to its previous display.
However, no one seemed to care about that part.
What made everyone's jaw drop was the mainland's sky, which turned dark all of a sudden.
A familiar genderless voice echoed through the whole 'zone'.
[ Higher being Mortal, your request has been received.
100% law, in exchange for showing the world the secrets of the higher being 'Aegisara'.]
Then a moment later,
[ Request has been denied.
Higher being Mortal, only part of the secrets can be revealed in exchange for 100% of your law.
Do you accept? ]
While everyone's heart was beating wildly, a panicked roar came from afar,
"Stop it!
I release them!
Let's talk about it!"
But,
[ Higher being mortal, accepted the price.
Now, behold part of the secrets of Aegisara, paid by Mortal.]
A certain canary was now looking at the sky with a blank face,
"You can do that...?"
And sure enough, a scene produced by world law started playing in the sky.
The man named Aegisara, whom many didn't know, appeared.
He was the same person who went to that newborn's facility and took them away.
So his name was Aegisara?
The sound of world law echoed in the scene.
It was talking to the man named Aegisara.
[ Aegisara, you have been chosen as the 'guardian',
For an emergency task to save your zone.]
The man looked at the sky in shock after hearing the voice.
A token on his waist flew up and started spinning.
On the token, a 'shield' was engraved.
The spinning token soon started changing.
After a while, the token went back to the man's waist, but now, instead of the shield, a planet with two hands on both sides was engraved on it.
The man looked at the guardian token and muttered with a smile,
"What an interesting turn of events.
I can do so much with my 'guardian token' now if I play it smart!"
At a glance, everyone recognized the token!
It was similar to the ones little mortal took 'hostage', which turned out to be the birth treasure of this man called Aegisara.
But now, it wasn't just a normal birth treasure,
But an enhanced version transformed by world law!
It was surely an overpowered birth treasure, like those unique ones that belong to the mainland's big shots, if not better.
The audience was puzzled now,
Why did they never see this token in action?
Why didn't they know the guy either?
Shouldn't he be famous?
The scene changed,
The man was now writing a plan in a secret place.
At his place, from time to time, a token would drop out of the 'guardian token'.
On the paper, everyone could see how his experiments with the 'child tokens', which they could now guess what they were, went.
They saw how a group of people called guardians,
Could be chosen on a planet in his universe if they received his 'child token',
And then not only would the planet be safe under their rule, but even the law Guardian God could receive from there would be a lot more.
And it didn't end there.
On the paper, they also saw 'Planet Guardian', 'Solar System Guardian', and 'Galaxy Guardian'.
If a guardian was promoted, each promotion meant producing more law on a larger scale for him.
Guardian God's level of absorbing law from his universe was so much that he was already at the peak of level 6, only 100 years after his birth treasure was upgraded!
The audience was stunned.
World law didn't only enhance his birth treasure,
But it even smoothed his path to the top.
But what now?
Wasn't level 6 the end?
The man muttered,
"It's not working anymore.
If I want to advance further, I need to..."
You need to what?
The shocked crowd, who couldn't believe him reaching the top of the level 6 ranking and now thinking about advancing further, were now dying of curiosity.
But then again,
Why didn't they remember him if he was rank one at some point in time?
The man's eyes suddenly shone,
"Right, the 11 universes from the world law's task!
I can use them to test it out and do the task!"
The audience was confused now.
What task?
What 11 universe?
Use them for what?
The scene changed again.
He was now looking at another paper filled with information.
The information was about the 'planet guardian' he had in other universes.
Information about 11 specific universes, to be exact.
Seeing the numbers, the audience's eyes shone with the light of greed.
Could these child tokens do that, too?
It actually worked the same for higher beings from other universes, if they had one.
While the guardian god could receive around 10% secretly, they could actually absorb 80% more law from those planets with a guardian!
What if they allowed someone to become a solar system guardian or a galaxy guardian?
At the end of this scene, the man muttered,
"This isn't a safe start.
I can't be 'alive' for the next phase of my plan either,
Or no one will trust the tokens."
And the scene changed while everyone wondered what the next phase of the plan was, and what wasn't a safe start?
*BOOM*
The sky of the mainland in this scene turned dark.
Guardian God's voice echoed through the mainland,
"I, Aegisara, the Guardian God, request world law,
To support and protect my guardian law,
To bring peace and a safe environment for all beings to live in!"
And world law responded,
[Higher being 'Aegisara', the price will be your life and your universe.]
The audience was stunned.
What happened all of a sudden?
Why did he end up with the choice of sacrificing not only himself, but even his universe?
That's complete death for a Higher being!
What about his plan?
Why did he go from 'it's not a safe start' to getting himself killed?
On the scene, many familiar higher beings also appeared.
Even some of the older higher beings who didn't remember any of these events saw themselves to be there, trying to stop him from getting himself killed.
But Guardian God accepted the 'price' without hesitation,
"I shall pay the price!"
He actually accepted it?
And then a black lightning appeared out of nowhere one meter above his head, and struck him.
All those who were close to him turned around and fled as fast as they could!
Even the hair of those who were watching now stood on end.
On the scene,
The guardian god stood there with his kind and benevolent smile for a while, and then turned to ashes!
If they didn't know this guy was still alive,
They would think that he is really a kind-hearted god who actually sacrificed himself for that whatever peace and safety.
But no, not only was he alive,
But another scene began to play out as well, with him looking at another paper.
Where he was, or how he survived, nobody knew.
However, a certain Mainland manager was aware of what had happened and how he had survived.
"So, he sacrificed himself to mix his guarding law with world law, and gain its protection and support in exchange for his life.
But while world law could take his life away,
It couldn't completely kill him because of his incomplete 'task', and he was revived again by world law instead of dying completely, so he could finish the 'task'...
He actually used the loophole that world law gave him!"
The white canary was now speechless.
So the person controlling God of Prophecy and the rest didn't lie about this either?
World law actually chose someone to take care of the outsiders?
In the new scene,
The guardian god was smiling like a villain while looking at the new information he had and muttering to himself,
"After sacrificing myself, the higher beings of other universes with my child token can't enter the 'guardian territory'.
Even if it's in their own universe.
So my guardian law is mixed with world law to this extent now and receives its full support..."
The audience became vigilant at first.
The involvement of world law was no joke.
But soon they began thinking about various ways to counter it if it were to happen to them.
Those tokens were still too good even if they couldn't enter a certain part of their universe.
The scene changed again.
Another man that no one knew appeared.
But from the guardian token on his waist,
They could tell he was the guardian god in disguise.
He was standing in front of a magnificent building called the Guardian Association.
The moment the audience saw this scene, many memories in their mind were unlocked.
They remembered the God of Prophecy who was looking everywhere for these so-called 'guardians'.
They remembered the mess those guardians made in many universes, which included the universe of the God of Prophecy himself.
They remembered the last fight between Gods and Guardians, which was secretly streamed live for them by a certain goddess,
And a group of gods attacked the same guardian association they had just seen and destroyed it.
The older ones even remembered the day the guardian god sacrificed himself!
And many more memories that seem to be protected, or it was hidden from them for billions of years until now!
Now, everyone knew that the guardian god was planning on taking over all of the universes using his guardians growing in them like parasites.
However, he was exposed and faced a full-force retaliation from the mainland's big shots.
Now they all remembered why God of Prophecy was hunting down these so-called guardians for a reason that they didn't know until today.
It was because they were like parasites that could start the same mess again.
However, world law was now intertwined with the guardian law.
So, one side was trying to erase the remains of these guardians and the influence of the guardian law so nobody could become one easily,
And the other side, which was the world law itself, was trying to protect them by hiding the memories related to them from the public and helping them grow quietly.
Everyone, even the mainland manager, was played by world law for billions of years to protect the guardian law by sealing different memories in their brain...
Now with the return of the Guardian God, everyone wanted to know more.
Were these tokens even more dangerous now?
What authority did the guardian god have over them?
And why did they remember these memories that they weren't supposed to now?
Soon, they all realized the reason!
What Mortal did was not only to expose the guardian god.
But he actually exposed him to the world law too!
Whatever 'task' he was supposed to accomplish for world law, he didn't.
And not only that, he actually used it for his own benefit!
This meant the World law was going to abandon him soon!
At this moment,
A certain little guardian was chuckling at a certain guardian token,
"Mr. Token, did you hear that too?"
[I received the world law message in private.]
Little mortal who was teasing it gritted his teeth in anger,
"I see you are so mad that world law officially put me on the task in place of your former corrupted boss,
That you are even making fun of me for receiving the message 'publicly'!"
But the token didn't answer this time.
It was indeed annoyed.
The guess that the audience made was actually half correct.
His former master, the guardian god, was no longer the 'chosen one', and he was abandoned.
The part nobody knew was this little troublemaker, who had already caught 6 out of the 11 outsiders that no one knew about, or if they knew, they were puppets and didn't matter, was the real 'chosen one'.
However, the protection and support from the World law were still in place.
Nothing changed in that regard because the token was with the new 'chosen one'.
So, world law didn't have a reason to withdraw its support of Guardian law when the new owner wasn't the triator guardian god.
As before, World law protects the guardian and guardian law.
Little mortal stroked his chin,
"Why didn't we see anything about those outsiders in the secrets that world law showed?"
[You paid for the guardian god's secret, not theirs.]
Little mortal raised his eyebrows in amazement,
"I bet those outsiders already knew.
That's why they asked me to do the announcement like this.
They were sure that none of them would be exposed."
Then he furrowed,
"By the way, why don't I remember anything about this corrupted police officer?
I was attached to this mainland at the same time as the outsiders were attached to it..."
A certain crystal heard him and became interested.
So this little monster wasn't that young either?
Then, after a brief moment, he answered his own question,
"Oh, I was in the middle of my contest with that stupid Lubo, and I didn't have any opportunity for growth to know about the events outside of my universe."
The Crystal, hearing the name, vibrated curiously,
Little mortal puffed his chest, raised his chin, and answered arrogantly,
"10 billion years endurance contest!
And your boy here won easily!"
The Crystal didn't believe him at all and vibrated,
<10 billion years?
And you won 'easily' after 10 billion years?>
Little mortal snorted,
"Ask Lubo if you don't believe me."
No one indeed dared to talk to it.
Little mortal shrugged,
"Then you will never know."
Then he opened his notebook,
"Okay, what's next...?
Oh, right, I should open my online shop now."
On the main screen above the castle of the entertainment goddess, whatever it was playing was interrupted again.
Little mortal with a mocking smile appeared.
"Well, well, well...
I want to see who else dares to threaten me!
Guess how much more 100% law I have in my pocket, you lawsucker parasites?!"
The higher beings who were laughing at the guardian god because they thought he had just lost the World law support, suddenly froze.
- Oh no, this stupid kid's law is 0!
- Are you telling me he can expose us all?
- Didn't he do the same in his revenge videos to find evidence?
- You stupid kid, don't you dare use the same trick on us!
- Everyone, we need to find him, NOW!
Auras suddenly surged from all over the mainland.
Higher beings, one after another, started scanning all over the mainland to find the troublemaker!
All kinds of special effects appeared in the sky of the mainland.
The white canary was speechless...
"Are they looking for those tokens, or the kid?"
Then it chuckled at them mockingly,
"I guess both.
But do they think they can find him?
Even I, the manager of this land, can't find him!
Heck, I didn't even know he existed until the first time he appeared in that neutral zone!"
Then it suddenly paused,
"Wait... Don't tell me even that 'behind the scenes' entity lost him...?"
Little mortal on the screen read the chat,
And suddenly snapped!
He shouted angrily,
"Shut up, you disgusting parasites!
I am Mortal, the strongest!
Come at me with all you've got!
I'll face you all at the same time!
Mortal vs Everybody!"
And continued while reading 'secretly' from a paper and epic background music playing,
"In vengeance, I shall have no mercy!
In the midst of battle, I shall have no fear!
In the face of death, I shall have no remorse!
Come at me, you weaklings!
I'll slap you all so hard that it cleans your dirty old faces!"
The canary,
"-_-"
The God's council looking for an advancement opportunity in this 'announcement' which went out of hand,
"O_O"
A certain goddess who could still watch what's going on in the mainland through her crystal and was now watching a certain little troublemaker insulting everyone in the mainland and threatening them to death,
"Little mortal, oh little mortal...
Why do you keep making trouble everywhere...?
Why can't you calm down?
I thought you were in this 'secret organization'.
Why are you out there making chaos then?
Why...
Just wait for big sister to advance.
Then I will twist your ear and bring you to justice myself!"
And then,
Wave after wave of emotions was delivered to her from different sources.
It wasn't just one or two this time.
But thousands of them...
Tears started streaming from the goddess's eyes, while she finally advanced to level 7.
- The end.