Surprise

Third Person POV:

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Alice and Hiro left Rose in the room. She didn’t know what to think after being commanded by Alice. “I better please her… I didn’t think that she could be so evil to me!” Rose talked to herself as she left the room. After finding a good place, she entered her own world and started cultivating.

Meanwhile, Alice mixed together the herbs they have gained, with the core of the monsters, which were at the sixth level. It took thirty minutes for her to finish concocting the pill.

“Success~” She said happily with a sweet voice while holding one pill between her fingers. It was a blood red colored pill, with tints of blue in it. Alice looked at Hiro with a smirk. She stuck out her tongue and put the pill on it, which after she slowly pulled it back, sexily.

Gulping loudly, Hiro said - “Are you taunting me? But we should focus on cultivating…” Although he said that, he still stood up from the ground and stopped in front of Alice. He coiled his arms around Alice’s waist and pulled her into his embrace. With their foreheads touching, they were looking into each other’s eyes. Alice was still just rolling the pill in her mouth, not gulping it down. Hiro put his lips on hers and pushed his way into her mouth.

“Chu~ Hey… are you trying *Squelch* to steal it?” Alice asked happily between their kisses. Her eyes were telling tales of their hot nights. Before they would lose their minds, they quickly merged, and then gulped down the pill. They felt heat spreading through their bodies, enhancing them physically. Using their minds, they started cultivating both their souls and body at the same time. Two days later, they reached the early ninth stage! Alice used the core of the Bane Spider and the Common Abyss Troll, so the pill turned out to be much more powerful than she intended it to be.

Meanwhile, at another place…

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Weston immediately left towards the academy when he heard the bad news from the love birds. He too was a member of Genotin Academy, which meant that he had to fight. A sudden turn in the middle of the battle would be dangerous to his life as well, so this wasn’t only Alice’s and Hiro’s problem.

“Can you really meet with Sedna? I don’t think that anyone can come and go to talk with her,” Helen asked Weston with a worried look on her face.

“I don’t know dear, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Weston said as he teleported once more and appeared in front of the director’s house. In fact, it wasn’t anything big or fancy. It was like a simple and common mortal’s house in the middle of a plain. It was painted white and there was only the ground floor. Strangely enough, no one was around the building, which filled Weston’s heart with hope. Knocking twice on the door, he stood in the door, waiting. After standing there for five minutes, he was about to knock again when he heard a voice from behind him.

“Why don’t you just go in? Why don’t you start shouting and hitting the door, like everyone else? Instead of standing there like an idiot,” Weston couldn’t identify the voice. It sounded genderless.

Still, without turning around, he answered. “It’s because that’s bad manners, which I don’t like. Also, waiting five or ten minutes is worth it if I can tell what I want to the director.”

“Hmm~ alright, in that case, you can come in. I’ll welcome you this once as a reward,” the voice talked once again from behind him. Weston couldn’t help but turn around. Originally, he thought that the person in question was only playing with him and using wind magic. To his surprise, Sedna was standing right behind them, only a meter away. She seemed unmoving and eternal. Like a mountain.

“E-Eh? Huh? When? But how did I not feel the Lady’s aura?” Weston asked since he couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

“You are still young, Earthling. “ Was all she said as she went past him and opened the door. Both Weston and Helen entered the house with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

“Oh, by the way, now let’s see if you are worthy to talk. I don’t listen to random people’s babbling, you know?” She said with a smirk on her face as she turned around. Her long blue hair flew through the air as a huge presence fell on Weston’s and Helen’s shoulders. They dropped to their knees, and then all fours. Breathing heavily, they were trying to catch some air. Not even their own world helped them. Even their eyes almost popped out. Both of them closed their eyes and focused on their own souls and breathing. They soon felt themselves calming down.

Although slowly and heavily, with the help of each other, their bond and their own efforts, they stood up from the ground. Nodding once, the pressure suddenly disappeared. “Haha, you are all drenched in sweat,” Sedna said while laughing. Snapping her fingers, all of them appeared in a nice and luxurious looking bathroom. “Have a bath. It refreshes your minds,” she said as she disappeared. A few seconds later, her voice resounded through the house. Meet me in my room. You’ll find me it at the end of the corridor. It’s the last door.”

Weston and Helen looked at each other with helpless looks on their faces. After seeing that happiness between Hiro and Alice, they were also affected. Both of them fell in love with each other at first sight. Weston also heard of the love birds’ beliefs and he couldn’t help but believe that Helen was his other half. After talking it over, they decided to try it out. To their surprise, the bonding happened very quickly and easily. They were naturals. This only reinforced their belief in each other even more. Such being the case, they weren’t shy in front of each other. They also counted the wasted years because of the dwarves and filled it up with… sex.

After cleaning their bodies and relaxing, they couldn’t help and do some smut, but they didn’t dare to fall on the other side of the horse. Feeling slightly relieved of their desires; they turned their symbiotes into clothes and went towards Sedna’s room. It was a simple wooden door, yet they felt nervous. Weston was about to grab the handle of the door when it opened by itself. Sedna’s room looked completely average. She was sitting in the middle of the bed, cultivating. Opening her eyes, she smirked while looking at them.

“I see that you enjoyed yourselves. You are really flexible, Helen,” Sedna said as she started laughing loudly. Actually, she didn’t peek at them. She didn’t even know what they were doing. She just said it out of fun. But upon seeing their worried faces, her face turned stiff as she asked. “Eh? Did you seriously do it? I didn’t know… I was just joking…”

Both of them slumped down their shoulders, feeling happy that they weren’t watched by Sedna. “Well, at least it was used for something other than bathing,” Sedna said with a helpless face and then asked the reason for their visit.

After coughing once, with his face red, Weston focused on calming down as he started. “I have serious matters to report. There are traitors in the academy, probably. One of the elders is surely a traitor and possibly there are more. When the time of war comes, they’ll probably backstab us, and that is something I don’t want to happen.”

Sedna furrowed her brows upon hearing his words, but she soon started smiling with an unbothered face. She seemed to be strangely calm. “And on what basis do you claim this?”

Hearing her question, he told everything he heard from Alice and Hiro. Hearing the names of those two made her focus more on the matter at hand. “So are you saying that Galen and another elder or elders don’t know their places? Hahaha- I’ll see about that. Thanks for telling me. Those stupid kids don’t know anything, so don’t worry. You should just focus on improving yourself. This academy has more things than you could imagine.”

As she finished her sentence, she started muttering to herself. “Stupid Gaia… leaving all the work to me. What bored of fight… she was just bored of work!” Weston scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to do. Looking up, she saw that they were still standing there with stupid looks on their faces. “What now? Is there anything else? Rewarding happens only after the problem happens, so don’t wait for it. Also, like I said, you don’t have to do anything. Just turn stronger and take my place so that I won’t have to bother with these things. Why can’t children grow up by themselves? I don’t understand!”

Seeing that they didn’t move, she snapped her fingers and both of them were teleported right back to Gold Planet. “What the hell?” Helen cursed out loudly.

“Well, she said that everything was fine. I hope that those two won’t be killed because Lady Sedna didn’t do her job properly…” Weston muttered to himself. He was surprised to hear a voice in his head.

“Shut up, stupid kid. Do you think that I don’t know what I have to do? Those two can’t be killed anyway… they are cheaters. I’m not stupid, so just go and do your own things!” Sedna shouted at him with an annoyed voice.

“I’m sorry!” Weston talked to the air exactly when Ellery opened the door. Seeing his father talking to nothing, she simply closed the door. Helen slapped her forehead and she started laughing, which quickly affected Weston as well. Hearing their laughter, Ellery felt strange.

Great! Our house is full of perverted couples, containing my parents as well, who are now also crazy! Anything else!? She thought to herself feeling annoyed, but in truth, she was just envious of other people’s happiness. My parents are hardcore lovers, Hiro and Alice aren’t worth mentioning, Poirlion and Narihi are the same, and now even Rose’s head is full of Alice and Hiro for some unknown reason! These monsters are spreading something in my house! Having enough, Ellery left the Gold planet and flew away randomly. She went on a short trip. At least she dropped in a message to her mother about her travel…

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Days quickly passed by. It was early in the morning. The sun just broke through the horizon. The leaves of the trees were swaying slowly in the gentle wind. A mortal would call this a perfect day to go on a holiday. But there were dark clouds coming from the other side of the planet and the flickering bolts of lightning were also a proof of the coming storm. Around the Zumn Reef, there were billions of cultivators. Elders, students, and naturally, Sedna was there as well.

She had a human-sized thing on her back, which was completely covered in a white, silky texture. Its shape was similar to… the Babel! As the students used their senses, they were surprised to find out that the tower was nowhere to be seen. This only made them even more suspicious of the thing on Sedna’s back. Even the elders were looking at each other with curious looks. Only a few elders were standing in the air, with their eyes closed. They were the oldest and most powerful elders, who served the school only as guardians. Looking down at the billions of students on the ground, Sedna talked silently, yet everyone heard it.

“Dark days these are. But fear not because as long as you are on our side, you are on the right side,” she started her speech with a mysterious smile on her face. The students couldn’t help but feel superior even at such a time. “But you mustn’t underestimate Angelwood Academy as it is a newly emerged, very powerful academy. Still, they made enemies out of the wrong school, so tell me. Can they do such a thing?” Feeling excited to fight, the cultivators shouted no. Weston was also among the shouting crowd, along with Helen. Hiro and Alice were still on Gold Planet, cultivating. The gap between the fifth and sixth level was huge and it wasn’t only a question of energy but it also needed understanding.

The elders were flying in a circle around the students, who were on the ground. Sedna shut her eyes and spread her arms. The elders mimicked her. The Universe Energy liquefied and rotated in a circle. As its rotation speed increased, space started shaking. Suddenly, Sedna opened her eyes and clapped her palms together. Her eyes were completely black. She didn’t have pupils either. As her palms touched each other, the rotating Universe Energy fell to the ground and everyone disappeared. Many light years away, they appeared. The students only marveled at her abilities.

Weston quickly contacted Hiro and Alice in a sneaky way and told them their position. Since Narihi and Poirlion were also here, it would take some time for them to arrive, but they wouldn’t be too late. Right after contacting them, Sedna’s voice resounded in his ears. “I’ll bring them here if you don’t mind. Haha~”

None of these people bothered with landing on a planet. Everyone was in free space. Hiro and Alice also appeared slightly backward, but they had something constraining them. Knocking on nothing, Hiro looked at Alice with a strange face. “Now what is this?” He questioned her. Naturally, Alice also shrugged her shoulders, not knowing it.

Sedna quickly enlightened their minds with a few words. “I brought you here. You can’t look outside and others can’t see you either. You are in a separate space but on the battlefield. Once things start, I’ll release you. Until then, just sit on your asses.” Hearing her short explanation, they understood what she meant. A few seconds later, another huge group appeared all around them. They were the students of Angelwood Academy and their numbers were visibly higher. They also had an Angel True Divine Beast among their ranks.

He had white hair with white wings and eyes. He looked really strange with such a setup, but his strength couldn’t be questioned. He was using his feather-covered battle form. Nor Hiro nor Alice was his match because he was in the middle stages of the seventh level, just like the Turtle God in Genotin Academy.

“Sedna! It’s been a long while. How are you doing?” Even though they were in space, a clear male voice resounded in it. It was the director of Angelwood Academy. His name was Pledias Shir’ Tu. He was once a friend of Gaia, but he betrayed her because of a treasure. But the trickster Gaia cheated him out of it in the next few years, which made him feel shame and anger. Since Gaia already had Genotin Academy under her rule, he had no chance to attack her or take it back alone.

So he created the most flaunting and prideful school in the whole galaxy. Maybe in the universe… Although Gaia died quite a long time ago, Sedna took her place and he still couldn't take it away because Sedna was similarly powerful!

That treasure was none other than the Babel, which he wanted to get back by all means! It had the ability to increase the rate of Energy Conversion. At the eighth level, cultivators had to convert their World Energy into Universe Energy, which was the highest form of energy. The unrestricted and raw force of the physical world. It wasn’t separated into pieces, like Elemental Energies, like the world energies, the laws. With the Babel in his hands, he could break through to the ninth level in a few thousand years. Although it took a lot out of him to build up his current backing and his ‘stupid’ academy, as long as he can get it, it was all worth it.

Sedna laughed at him as she said. “You are funny. I’ve heard news of your accident. What was it? Oh, I remember. The headquarter of your school was exploded by two students of mine. How many people died? Twenty, thirty or maybe even more? Though, don’t worry. I rewarded them handsomely for their performance! I laughed a lot when I sensed it.” She also projected her words to Alice and Hiro since she knew that they didn’t know the result of their little present.

“You bitch! Four cultivators died who were at the sixth level and around two hundred at the fifth level! I’ll make sure that you’ll repay,” he shouted threateningly. Smirking, he added – “And just look at our numbers. Four-third of your school. Do you think that you have a chance at winning?”

After laughing loudly, she didn’t say anything as she appeared in front of him. Her body was covered in a five-star, white colored symbiote. With a greatsword in her hands, she cut him into two halves horizontally. A huge force went through his body and cut the nearby cultivators into pieces, but he just laughed. When the greatsword left his other side, he was already in one piece. Both of them teleported further away, to spare the lives of these poor kids. Hiro and Alice were also released and the two sides charged towards each other.

[What should we do? Should we use our monster forms?] Alice asked Hiro, not knowing which one was the right decision.

[Humph, let’s use it. As long as it isn’t the attack of someone at the Temporary Law Realm, we can’t be hurt. So let’s destroy the angels!] Hiro answered Alice while kissing her once. Both of them turned into their monster forms, which were about as big as the bear kind of the beastmen, meaning three meters. Before diving into battle, they looked towards Sedna. Colorful lights were flickering in the dark space, overshadowing and outshining the stars.

Sedna made a grabbing motion with her left hand and crushed space around Shir’ Tu, who opened his clenched left fist and space, recovered in just a moment. Still, that gray matter was all around them. Just a single wrong move and they could lose the battle. They saw an explosion with each strike, which was similar to what they have done after twelve stacks. And those were only the normal punches and blade swings. Gulping loudly, feeling a sudden thirst for strength in their throats, they roared and flew towards their enemies. A group noticed them and sent powerful attacks towards them. Unfortunately for them, both Hiro and Alice simply shrugged off those attacks as they crashed into them.

Their bodies were half crushed and the other half was eaten. After collecting their souls, they turned away and attacked other cultivators. They were looking out for each other’s back continuously and they never went farther away than fifty meters from each other. A halberd, which was coated in energy, flew towards Alice’s head. Feeling the force behind it, she didn’t even bother with evading it. The halberd bound up from her scale covered neck and smashed into the woman’s face, cutting it into two halves. Alice quickly corrected her facial expression with a swipe of her paw and a Bolt of Silence.

A guy tried to cut down her tail, but before he could do so, the jaws of death caught his body and tore him into pieces. [Your husband is going to protect you!] Hiro thought proudly while gulping down the dead body.

[Oh my, you will melt my heart if this continues on.] Alice answered jokingly. Not even she was perverted enough to have such thoughts in the middle of this bloody battle. Blood froze almost instantly in the cold space, forming crystallized blood, which had interesting shapes. Everyone in their surroundings was slowed down, turning the members of Angelwood Academy into snails, while the students of Genotin Academy could fight with their normal tempo.

Anyone who dared to go too close to them died. Alice swiped with her paw, crushing a demon, which after she swung her tail, cutting two others into two halves. Six. She counted in herself the number of her stacks. Her minds were continuously observing the battleground and attacking the bodiless cultivators’ souls. Hiro had to expand the capacity of their Soul Ring numerous times. They couldn’t devour the souls as quickly as they were gathering them! Rin kept appearing here and there, killing many cultivators. They didn't even notice her. All they saw was Rin's throat or paws.

Should I release it now? She thought to herself, while her jaws snapped on the head of an unfortunate soul. She had three heads, which meant three heads! Regularly… They were like a meat grinder. Simply no one had a chance at stopping or even damaging them. Alice opened her mouths on all three of her heads and released a Dragon’s Breath. The green, concentrated and liquefied form of her Dragon Qi spread out all around her body, killings hundreds of people instantly. They were always rotating. When Alice released her attack, Hiro was also ready to do so but held it in. They were prepared for a sudden strike.

The two sides were almost equal when it came to the cultivators at the sixth and the seventh level. For example, both Narihi and Poirlion were fighting three opponents at the same time. Thereupon, Anest appeared behind Hiro and Alice. With a swing of her arm, many low-level cultivators died around them. She was holding a green sphere in her hand and looking at her enemies with baleful eyes. But there was also a strange refusal in her eyes…

Because… she was a dragonkin!

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Meanwhile, Sedna and Shir’ Tu continued their battle. Although there were a few really good planets in this sector, this battle had more at stake. The real reason behind the war was none other than the being of these two academies! Only one could stay standing. As they separated from their last attacks, Sedna made a few square kilometers of earth appear under her feet. She took off the tower of Babel from her back and stuck it into the newly formed ground.

“You are good, but not good enough…” Shir’ Tu taunted her while eyeing the coveted treasure. Sedna laughed at him as she started unfolding it. Shir’ Tu felt that there was a huge trap around her, so he didn’t dare to attack, fearing that he would die. The battles of these high-level cultivators could go on for years unless one of them made a mistake or there was a gap between their strength. And this was especially true at these high levels.

As Sedna finished unfolding the tower, Shir’ Tu’s eyes opened widely, almost popping out. “W-WHAT THE DAMNED FUCKING HELL!?” He shouted with a terrified face, ready to leave, but before he could do so, the trap around Sedna activated and completely sealed space. Neither she nor Shir’ Tu had a chance to leave. But that was alright with her.

With a smirk on her face, she asked. “Are you surprised?” Not answering, he started sweating heavily. This was because there was someone she knew all too well standing beside Sedna.

She was smiling similarly. Looking at Sedna, she asked with a yawn. “Is it time for me to wake up? Even though I slept so well…” With a pouting face, she continued. “To begin with, why the hell did you wake me up? For this loser? Do I need to beat him up again?”

“Yes, yes. You have to. Also, I won’t allow you to go back to sleep after this. I’ve had enough of taking care of your things. Now I too want to break through!” Sedna said with an equally cute pouting face. They looked almost the same, except that the other girl had green hair and she was Dryad.

“Ugh… fine. I’ve rested enough anyway. It’s time for me to join the fray! Muhaha!” The green haired woman laughed like an idiot.

Sedna covered her face and shook it sideway, muttering that she was an idiot.

“Are you ready? You little kid~” The green haired woman asked with an evil grin on her face. Shir’ Tu was terrified to the core.

“B-But how? I don’t understand! THIS SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!” He shouted as he felt despair. The Death’s grip was creeping up on his neck!

The green haired woman was Sedna’s sister.

And she was called…

Gaia!