Staring at his gloveless hand Pef felt the world collapse, almost like a part of his soul was ripped open. Or better said, the smarter part of his brain was missing.

'This better be a test and not a theft.' he spoke menacingly inward, directing his ire towards the World Tree seed.

'Your way with words has not improved much, oh mighty conqueror of heavens. But, you should know that half of fault rests with that crazy glove itself. It did something to the array, to exclude itself from the transport stem shift.' the seed answered after a few minutes of silent deliberation.

'...Yeah. That would be something my glove could do.' Pef sighed inward as his senses covered this entire small plane.

If this was a test of some kind, he first had to discover the parameters.

--------

Free at last! the glove jubilated for a millisecond. Then it set about to conduct its own plans, without supervision from the user. Pef would be fine by himself, whatever inheritance quest he got inside the crystal stem.

'You know I can still see you, my orange glove...' the new Mercy General spoke on the Legion network, even while she was busy re-formatting the Middle Heavens into a proper governance.

'It's all going according to your plans, my Lady of Mercy. Although dealing with that Old Bee will not be as easy as you believe.' the glove warned its maker as it began to transform into a winged godess once more.

'If Pef can bribe her with a bowl of honey, I can do much better.' the General answered in calm voice, then cut off the link.

If you say so....the glove muttered inward, as a Primordial Fiend Horn appeared in one hand, while the other hand still held the Tier 12 bottle pill.

An Artifact Creation array deployed around the winged goddess, refining both the horn and its owner into a stronger being, and when that wasn't enough, the Nine Universe Array appeared once more.

Blood from the Taotie and from the White Tiger dripped into the array to impart their bloodline essence, and a pair of peak Tier 10 Royal Bee wings completed the recipe. A Tier 11 Iron Sword appeared in front of the winged creature, while a vat of Royal honey sat beneath. Crushing weight began to merge all these components into a singularity, and with its last powers the glove began stealing some essence from the trapped Patriarch inside the pill bottle.

Slowly, the bee wings transmuted into proper goddess wings, blurred into near invisibility by the North Winds stolen from the captured Patriarch.

The blood of the beasts became flesh while the Abyssal Iron of the sword became her bones, and lastly the Fiend Horn released its essence and began to Ascend the winged goddess into the next realm.

Tribulation clouds formed above the Four Winds Starfield, and when the first bolt fell the entire Middle Heavens knew someone was now Ascending into Iron Realm.

'That was quite clever of you' the Mercy General admitted with a tinge of jealousy and pride. Having your own children surpass you was the wish of every parent.

More and more Tribulations fell onto the new goddess, until the Creation Array burst open.

A small and feminine hand rose up and grabbed the last tribulation bolt, then crushed it into a small ball of powerful energy, filled with Lightning and Wind Dao. 'And that's why I love my dear Pef. He never stops inventing crazy methods to cheat his way up, without even realizing it was impossible.'

the winged Goddess murmured in a soft voice, as she opened her other hand to find the pill bottle still unaffected by everything that happened. Only the Patriarch inside was pretty drained of essence, yet still alive. Then again, any Tier 11 worth its salt would withstand far more than this.

A Void clone formed silently at her side, then vanished, stepping over immense space distances to arrive into the Celestial Restaurant near instantly.

'Lady Kalima. This is for Disciple Wong.' the clone said in a stern tone, as she passed over the Dao Enlightenment Pill to a surprised Fay Goddess.

'I see...' Kalima answered in a surprised tone.

'No, you don't see. Pef fought and defeated a Tier 11 Patriarch that tried to protect the Mercy Emperor. The consequences are too dire for him to remain below the Dao Barrier. I wish some of you could come, but it's not possible right now. This is for you.' the winged goddess clone explained in a sad tone, becoming near visible for a second before it vanished, leaving behind a giant honey vat.

As more and more Void clones arrived to explain and leave a last gift for those left behind, the real winged goddess formed a sword from her bones and began to slowly move through the forms, rapidly passing through the Sword Dao stages until she could also perform the Universe Splitter, if only an incipient and ragged version. But enough to step into the Sword River without the user's aid.

Just before she stepped through, a glint of the sky announced the arrival of another goddess, one with a large Mirror Artifact floating at her back.

"Not even saying goodbye?" Gena Feng asked in an enticing voice.

"I kinda wanted to avoid you, in fact." the winged goddess answered with a displeased voice.

"Oh dear! You are scared of me?" the Mirror Goddess asked with a trill of laughter.

"Just...fine, tell me who you want dead up there, and I'll arrange for it." the transformed glove muttered, sounding even more disgusted.

"See? We understand each other so well. First, I also want a vat of that precious honey, just like you gave all the girls." Gena Feng demanded in a furtive tone, indicating she did in fact notice the gifts being spread around.

"Is this a marriage offer?" the glove asked, sounding amused instead.

"...We'll see. My Mirror would like me to have a worthy husband, so not until he gains a true Heart Mirror. Which is not that hard to obtain, in the next Heavens." Gena Feng answered with a coy smile.

The winged goddess sighed and waved a hand, producing a vat of honey for the prospective new wife. Finding a Heart Mirror wouldn't be hard, nearly any High Noble House would have at least one, if not more. Obtaining one was another thing though.

"Just prepare our Twin Angel well, Mirror Goddess. This Dao Barrier was easy enough, but the next one is something entirely different. She must also know the Song, not just the Words." the winged goddess added as she cut forward and fell through.

Stepping on the swords flowing below, the glove goddess began skipping against the current, climbing the Sword River towards its source.

Luckily, time didn't flow here at all, so a few eternities later she jumped off and stepped through the Dao Barrier once more, this time into the High Heavens. She had some many things to arrange, until her user caught on and followed the orange brick road she laid for him.