Rem walked out of the meeting. The moment his foot clicked out of the Madam’s castle and into the wide semi-empty street of Water-quarter, Rem activated his routine [Clairvoyance] scouting. He saw a vision of a familiar threat following Cytortia.

Rem took out the rune-powered communicator Scathach made for them and called the goddess.

“Cy, you are compromised by you-know-who,” Rem said. “Move to the safe-house and commence Plan N.”

Rem heard a footstep behind him.

“Sound like you are in trouble,” Martynov threw Rem a bottle of coke. “Do you need my help?”

“Yes,” Rem replied. “I need Samadi to return.”

Martynov grimaced. Samadi. It was Rem’s code name during the Argentum War. The name of a monster so terrifying he owned an entire asylum and hospital wing under his name. Even now the Mexican Cartel forbid the mere mention of his name because it tanked the soldier’s morale faster than a torpedo blowing up a fishing boat.

Aleksei Martynov could only beseech heaven to save the poor souls from the return of Samadi.

Not even the strong want Samadi to exist.

…

Chuang Tianshang watched Cytortia leaved the Shyme’s mansion.

The last two-days were ridiculous. She originally expected to kidnap Satholia within a few hours. However, the goddess doubled to Shyme’s house and stayed there for two days. She didn’t remember any version of the Cytortia being this careful before. While Chuang may be confident she could nab Cytortia in a quiet street without suspicion, directly attacking her in Enma’s property or a crowded street would bring her too much heat.

However, Chuang believed that the right opportunity would arrive as long as she waited long enough. Finally, in the second afternoon, the nature goddess reemerged from the house with a trekking bag-pack. Cytortia and Shyme chatted as the duo strolled to the Earth-quarter for late after-noon shopping.

Then the funniest thing happened. Cytortia dragged Shyme toward the North-West gate of Venistalis. She smiled at the fox-girl beneath the towering structure that protect the capital city, whispered something into her ears, and walked out of the gate.

Chuang followed her from the distance and saw her slipping into the forest.

Chuang analyzed the situation and came up with two scenarios. Cytortia knew that she was being followed and luring her into a trap. Or the girl was attempting to leave Venistalis under the cover of the night. All logic dictated the former, but that worked against the very nature of the goddess. Cytortia was and will always be a naïve girl who was too weak to fight back. She might be righteous, helpful, but she was overly honest.

The prospect of Cytortia laying a trap to catch her was laughable.

However, Chuang recalled how Cytortia stood up against her a few days ago. Something was giving her confidence. It must be Hal Jordan — the mysterious man who humiliated her.

Chuang frowned. Even now she did not understand who he was. But, given that she had no recollection of him from the future, he must not be alive for long. Hell, he might even be the one who persuade Cytortia into joining Alchemical Society. Just how much trap could the two put together to catch her? That man might be a tactical genius, but he was just a pushover—a forgotten star that disappeared in the current of time.

But she needed to be careful. Scathach still existed in the equation. However, the warrior-maid shouldn’t be a problem. Scathach was a mercenary by nature. As long as she promised to treat Cytortia well, and allowed her to visit from time-to-time, Scathach would have no problem with Cytortia and her joining force. Hell, Chuang would bet that Scathach would be the first person who would kick some dose of reality into Cytortia and force her to join.

Chuang smiled. She moved from her hidden-spot on the towering-wall of Venistalis and leapt from the wall. She wanted to see how much could a no-name and a shrimp do to her.

…

In the far future, Chuang would look back at the night, and scold herself for not bringing a back-up.

…

Chuang followed Cytortia into the forest.

The air was damp — ominous even—the rustling sounded of the leaves being blown by the wind didn’t help improves the eerie air. The sun set and the evening stars shone. Chuang didn’t like the atmosphere. Her favorite period of the day was the early morning. Chuang didn’t remember why she woke up with a sun-rise, but the sun-setting was immensely grim omen weighting on her mind.

Cytortia stood in the grass clearing, bathed in an orange glow of the sun. The warm light painted the grass field orange gold and the trees rosy yellow. The goddess glanced at the sky, dropped her backpack, and reminisced inside the picturesque moment with longing.

“When did it become like this, Chuang?”

Chuang sighed. It was a trap as expected. As incredible as it sound, Cytortia really become smarter.

“Do you want to ask me that?” Chuang said. “It is always like this, Shrimp. I ask you to do something. You get cocky. I hand you a beat-down before you tuck down crying. It is always this pattern, and you never learn.”

Cytortia stared at her child-hood bully.

“I remember differently. LinLey is a bitch. Tai Hua is Tai Hua. Kar’dia only care about Tai Hua. You? You used to be nicer to me. You thanked me when I prepared your lunch box. You even taught me the basic fire-spells when I started learning alchemy.”

“I still miss those lunch-box.”

“Who want to make you one when you keep blasting me in the face!?” Cytortia said. “I remember you started turning like this after losing too many times to Tai Hua, and you took it out on me.”

Chuang stood silent.

“I promise I will be better.”

“That’s it?” Cytortia said. “Aren’t you here to drag me into a war that will screw me over? Your action are the opposite of your promises, Chuang.”

Chuang gritted her teeth.

“So what, Shrimp, are you going to fight me!? I am offering the best deal out of everyone. The only thing good about you is your alchemy. You can’t fight. You are too naïve to lead. And you have no spine. How many places in the world are there for a weakling like you! The weak get trampled and the strong rule. It is how the world always be.”

Cytortia’s eyes sharpened. It was a glared that extended past Chuang and challenged something much deeper.

“It is, but I will change it,” Cytortia resolutely replied. “Last warning, Shyme. Back. Off. You don’t want this fight. I know what will happen, and I warn you now. I am warning the image of the girl I used to call friend not to do this.”

Chuang barely kept back her laughter.

“What are you going to do to me, Shrimp?”

Cytortia looked down-cast.

“What?” Chuang felt disappointed. “That bluff is all you got?”

“No, she is sorry she can’t convince you.”

Cytortia sprung toward a mysterious voice behind her. She met an elf with long-black hair tied into a pony-tale, holding a can of spray to her face. The mysterious elf pushed the trigger.

Chuang barely dodged the point-blank sprays of anesthetic. Her brain froze from a semi-second as it attempted to prioritize her newest discoveries.

Cytortia had an elf by her side. How? Cytortia couldn’t recruit a cockroach from her kitchen sink, much less an ancient and proud race of Lightwell forest. The newfound development sent Chuang’s mind into a lag. She bent back and jump-started a fire-blast large enough to turn the forest in front of her into cinders.

But the elf was fast. A golden lotus appeared from above and fired a stream of golden light at her head. Chuang gritted her teeth and responded by summoning an ocean of flames. A glowing circle appeared before her face, crackling with orange electricity and ignited in a violent Mana maelstrom.

The ensuing explosion sent a tower of fires a hundred-meter high ablaze.

…

Chuang stood amidst the geyser of fire that littered the once pristine clearing.

The elf stood opposite of her with Cytortia in a bridal carry. Chuang gritted her teeth. The elf was fast. She evaded the explosion and carried Cytortia out of the blast-range in a matter of a second. Seriously, where did this girl come from? Her speed alone put her in above mid-tier of Tai Hua’s army.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Her friend,” Luxinna growled.

Chuang laughed.

“Are you serious? Aside from a fluke with Shyme, that Shrimp don’t have any friend. How much did she promise to pay you? I can easily double that value.”

Luxinna’s eyes sharpened.

“Interesting,” Luxinna spoke coldly. Golden sparks rampaged inside her eyes. “Very well. Give me a kinder world. A world where no powerless girl got abandoned because of people like you.”

That answer stunned Chuang and a stream of gold from a newly minted [Serene Lotus] woke her up to reality. Face with a high-speed attack, Chuang triggered her auto-defense spell. Six red hexagonal shields materialized and received the golden jet.

The Heavenly Daughter briefly scouted out her new opponent. Those strange golden beams seemed to be a supercritical liquid. As a fire-mage, she was familiar with this technique. Supercritical matter beam was a favorite tactic for mage who proficient in fire and water affinity. However, what Chuang couldn’t work out is the spark arcing behind the fluid.

Electricity? Supercritical fluid augmented with electricity? What blaze of a spell was this? Superfulid was hard enough to control, but making it conducted electricity was impossibly hard. Never mind the 33 Stars, not even A-rank could do this.

Just who is this girl?

Chuang made her resolved. Her opponent was not a joke. She must pull all the stops right now.

“[Goddess Origin: Full-Open]”

The goddess cores inside Chuang unleashed its full power, blasting back the golden jet with a raw wave of pressure, and sent both Luxinna and Cytortia sprawling.

But Chuang was still buffing.

“[Super Concentration], [Spell-up], [Fire Charge x 7], [Casting Shortcut Circuit: Open], [Mana Storm], [Auto Defense: Fire], [Immolation Robe], [Phoenix Healing], [Toughness Enchantment], [Fire mine x 8], [Mana Spare Reserve: Open].”

Chuang started laying the layer of defense and buff on herself, whipping up a storm of Mana around herself.

Shit! Luxinna Latoria thought to herself. How high is her power-level?

…

Chuang Tianshang

Heavenly Daughter of Fire

Str: 2300 [A]

End: 2500 [A]

Mag: 4000 [A]

Wis: 220 [D]

Dex: 2000 [A]

Skill

Active

Fire Magic [A]

Puppet Construction [A]

Puppet Mastery [A]

Rapid Spell Casting [A]

Cultivator Circuit [C]

Royal Cast [B]

Limit Break [C]

Passive

Goddess Origin [S]

Divinity [A]

Fire Affinity [SS]

…

To answer Luxinna's question: 11020

…

“Cy, she is at least three times stronger than me,” Luxinna breathed. “I think we need to fall back on Rem’s preparation.”

Cy remained silent.

“I understand,” Cytortia touched Luxinna's shoulder. “[Sage Force]”

The green energy coursed through the elf body and enhanced her stats. Luxinna’s eyes turned gold. Armors of glass formed around her body, and her internal central nervous system lighted up like a supernova.

[Serene Glass: Overdrive I (Nerve)]

Chuang replied was epic and dynamic.

“[Inferno School: Hell Field],” Chuang slapped her hand on the ground, unleashing the torrent of fire that turn the clearing into searing grilled. But Luxinna, through enhanced perception, already flipped Cytortia over her shoulder, and leapt away on a [Serene Lotus].

“Want to get away?” Chuang yelled from the bubbling ground below them. “[Heaven Fire: Vermillion]!”

A wave of flames spread behind the goddess of fire, forming the brilliant, burning tail of a peacock that out shone the starry sky. The projection unfurled its glory like a light of a blazing sun, raising the temperature up to the point the air warped.

“Shit! That was Chuang’s ace card.”

Luxinna threw out her hand to meet the inferno.

“[Static Glass: Nonuple Serene Lotus]”

The tails of fires fluttered, split, and converged on Luxinna, shielded by nine layers of pristine lotus sculpture. The collision transformed the sky into a ten thousand-degree inferno and set aflame any tree daring to grow tall enough to reach the war between glass and fire. The fire continued to burn, creating the curtain of rising flames in the sky.

The forest was burning. Chuang cracked her fingers as fires turned the trees into purgatory. Animals cried rang across the chaotic dances of the gluttonous blaze. But Chuang did not care. She readied another blast to take out the elf.

“[Burning War: Mountain Piercing],” Chuang flicked her hand and conjured a spear of fire.

However, before Chuang launched the attack, an object penetrated through the fire curtain in the sky and flew toward the Heavenly Daughter of Fire. Chuang made a slight gesture, and the object exploded in mid-air.

“Used the barrier as a bait and slipping out the split second the fire hit,” Chuang growled amidst the smoke and ash rising into the sky. “Then launch the attack from behind my [Vermillion]. Such reaction speed and audacity. It is a shame Cytortia infected you with her disease. Whoever you are, you will make a great ally against Tai Hua.”

Chuang aimed [Mountain Piercer] at the curtain of flames. It was her favorite anti-army combo. Knock the high penetration [Mountain Piercer] at the curtain of [Vermillion] would blow the curtain into a swirl of bolts which spread out like a frag-shot. Chuang was confident even the mysterious elf will have problem intercepting the multi-direction flaming slug from every direction.

Chuang arced her arm for a javelin to penetrate the sky.

Out of nowhere, a hand grabbed the javelin of destruction and extinguish it into a wind of volatile, but harmless, Mana.

Chuang spun to the right and saw a demoness staring at her coyly. She scanned her new visitor head-to-toe and instantly turned murderous. The girl was beautiful enough to beat Shyme Enma, Tai Hua Tianshang, and Arissa Holyworth as Phantasia’s greatest beauty of this generation. Chuang knew LinLey would commit regicide to get that body. As someone who wielded the flattest breasts among the Heavenly Daughter, Chuang’s jealousy stewed hotter than the fire surrounding her when she glimpsed upon the ample, voluptuous watermelon. She wanted to rage, but she only deflated. The girl before her got everything from look to coolness at the point she sensed she was born inferior. How in the name of seven hell did she get that crimson-shade of hair? Chuang always wanted red over orange to go along with her fire motif. Why was everything so unfair?

Then something clicked. The girl's face resembled the one she knew from the future. No. Was it her? But how?

“Melody Solarmaria.”

“Good evening,” Melody grabbed Chuang’s hand and sprayed a foul-smelling fluid her in the face.

Chuang felt herself getting heavier. To make a matter worse was mild asphyxiation as she stumbled away.

“What is that?”

“Chemical cocktail of anesthetic, and inert gas meant to disperse oxygen. Originally, we plan to dump the gazillion tons of this on your head, but you showed up before we can prepare a sure kill amount, so we settled for a can.”

Chuang laughed.

“Do you think a puny trick like that can take me out?”

“God no!” Melody laughed with Chuang and whipped out a big, black MP5. “It just an hors d'oeuvres.”

Melody sprayed the bullets. To Chuang’s surprise, none of them came anywhere near her. For a second, Chuang felt relieved until she remembered the demoness’s eye.

Seven explosions erupted around Chuang. The orange-hair goddess redirected the fire away from herself with great difficulty after getting caught at point-blank, but the unexpected happen. Her face caught fire. Chuang breathed in the chemical fume and gagged. Thankfully, her power as a goddess and her affinity for fire lend her some fire-immunity.

Sadly, fire-immunity didn’t protect her from a draconic punch in the face. Chuang’s [Immolation Robe] set Melody’s fist on fire, but it didn’t stop her for a second.

Chuang flew-face first into the trees, broke her nose, crashed through several flaming charcoaled trunks, rolled across the ground, and stopped face-down. She glared murderously at the demoness through her bloody nose.

“On the other-hand, the flammable accelerant and the Mana-reactive bullet I cooked up with Cy during our girl-time is a brilliant fish-dish,” Melody smugly grinned at Chuang, shaking the fire off her pristine hand. “There goes your [Fire mine]. Anything else, washboard?”