Mm, I agreed to come to this ancient ruin under one condition: I was allowed to bully anyone I wanted through the ruler’s background. Unfortunately, when I got here, the ruler pulled the rug from under me, and she’s not helping me abuse my position at all! In fact, my position is totally and completely reversed. Right now, I’m the one being forced to leave! Isn’t that just outrageous? It’s preposterous. It’s something even Ilya can’t fathom. Okay, that last one might not be true. Ilya would’ve prepared for the ruler’s lack of follow-through; Ilya’s always preparing for the worst for some reason. How often do her companions let her down that she needs to do everything herself? Jeez. “Alright, I’m leaving.”

The ruler blinked at me, but she followed me out anyway. I wasn’t looking at any of them, but thanks to my divine sense, I could see the faces of the Blazing Sun Sect disciples relaxing in relief. After I went outside, I immediately teleported away, and as expected, the ruler teleported next to me. “You’re really leaving, just like that?” the ruler asked. “I know I said I wasn’t going to help you fight, but did you really think I was going to let her trample on your dignity?”

Hmm. Knowing the ruler, she probably would let them before beating them herself and wiping their memories later. “Who said I wasn’t going to fight back?”

The ruler looked at me. Then, she turned her head and stared at the building that was just a dot on the horizon now. Isn’t it obvious what I’m going to do? Since the woman inside is stronger than me, I’ll have to resort to the despicable tactics that Ilya came up with to deal with people stronger than herself. “Alright, first things first, I’ll set up an anti-Lucia cannon right here.”

The ruler blinked as a long-barreled piece of equipment appeared in front of me. “You know how to operate an anti-Lucia cannon? I don’t recall you using one before.”

“Of course, I know!” Who says I have to have used something to know how it works? “Puppers! Operate it for me.” It’s fine if someone else I know knows how to use it. Then, it’s basically the same as me using it without the bad karma for what’s going to happen next. “If I can’t have whatever’s inside that building, then no one else can either.” There’s definitely something valuable in the building; otherwise, would I have been kicked out? No, I wouldn’t’ve; the woman would’ve been bribed by my cookie instead.

Puppers appeared by my side and stared at the anti-Lucia cannon. He circled around it before nodding. “I’m assuming the end marked by the skull and crossbones with the red warning signs is where the attack will exit from.” He crouched down and grunted as he dug his hands underneath the anti-Lucia cannon. He flipped it around and exhaled before making minor adjustments to the barrel. Puppers gestured towards me. “If you place your hand right here and channel your qi, it’ll fire a shot.”

“It’s not strong enough,” the ruler said before I even went over to Puppers. “This was created to deal with you when you weren’t capable of using spiritual energy.” The ruler tapped on the anti-Lucia cannon a few times, and all of the lines on it warped and shifted. The lines on the cannon used to be straight and symmetrical, but now, they were curved and seemed to be drawn all willy-nilly. “There. Its strength has been increased. Unfortunately, the material of the cannon is too low-grade. It’ll disintegrate after one shot.”

Why’s the ruler helping me? “Didn’t you say you weren’t going to help me while I was inside the ruin?”

“Oh, I have a rule that takes precedence to that one,” the ruler said and beamed at me. “If something seems fun, then do it.”

Ooh, that’s a great rule. I might be too weak to implement it just yet. I’ll keep it in mind for when I’m as strong as the ruler. Well, if something fun will happen, then the karma obtained can’t be bad! I’ll place my hand on the spot Puppers told me to and inject my qi. …Nothing’s happening.

“Try using your spiritual energy,” the ruler said.

Alright, I’ll press my hand down and inject some spiritual energy. Ah! It’s glowing, and all the lines are spinning! It’s pretty colorful. The lines are spinning faster and faster; the whole cannon seems to be glowing. Mm, it looks like it’s pulsating actually, and each of the pulses force more and more of the glow towards the end of the cannon. I have a feeling, when the whole glow is concentrated on the end like it’s doing now, it’ll—

Nyoooooooooooooooom!

Holy crap! I think my ears are bleeding. Why was that so goddamned screechy!? Ah! The cannon exploded! It’s a good thing Puppers was conveniently standing next to me. I instinctively used him as a shield. It’s too bad he was a pretty horrible shield. I think I’m blind. If I had to take a guess, then I’m guessing my face melted off. I’ve experienced something like this before when fighting that crazy hunter. I was engulfed by a white light, and I practically melted. Since I’ve already been melted before, I know exactly what to do in this situation: wait around a bit until my eyeballs recover. Couldn’t the ruler have warned me this would happen? Actually, with her abilities, couldn’t she have made the cannon not explode in this direction?

Oh? My vision’s coming back already. Either the cannon didn’t melt me as much as that crazy hunter’s attack, or my body became much sturdier thanks to Master Seven Legs’ procedure. Ah, I think it was the cannon. Did it just blind me? I think it did. My clothes and interspatial rings are still intact—thank goodness for that. My ears did bleed though. That was really loud. Ah! The building in the distance is gone now. All that’s left is a crater. Perfect. Mm? What about the people who were still inside? I’ll go check up on them to see if there’s anything, err, anyone that can be saved.