At the other side,
They see a big hall.
Four people were sitting around a round table,
Playing a card game.
They were all like humans, nothing different.
Farther away, a group of creatures like gargoyles was sleeping.
Xena's eyes widened in shock!
Little mortal asked,
"Do you know them?"
Xena nodded,
"They are the 4 'angels', but they don't have their wings now..."
Little mortal snorted,
"They just use fake wings to act cool."
Xena felt nervous,
"What is the plan now?"
"I go there first.
You count to... 50, and then light the candle.
When you come to the other side,
Don't worry about anything, just act as if you really are back after you killed the guardian!
And you can expose their plan about them trying to kill you!
You can even show them your guardian token as proof of completing your mission!
Then they are going to kill you,
So fight to the death, and leave the rest to me!"
After that, he jumped inside the passage, which was bigger now, and for whatever reason, no one from the other side could detect him or the passage.
The passage closed shortly after!
Princess Xena was frozen in place with her mouth a little open...
"What did he mean, leave the rest to him?
Where is 'the rest' that I should leave to him if I'm dead?"
At this moment,
A countdown appeared above the crystal hanging on the backpack.
50 - 49 - 48 -...
Princess Xena knew there was no going back now.
She could only trust the guardian and play along.
He wouldn't harm her because of the guardian token.
Or he could, because they were out of the territory?
She shook her head, erased all the messy thoughts from her mind, and focused on the mission!
It was clear her only way of survival, and the only way of making a change in her home planet, was through this little guardian!
....
On the other side, Little Mortal was currently standing silently beside the table where the four guys were playing a card game.
None of them could feel his presence.
He even picked up some food from the table and ate while watching them play the game with interest.
Less than a minute later,
A message appeared on his guardian token.
[Karma connection with the four targets has been established.]
Little mortal nodded, but didn't leave and continued watching the game.
A couple of seconds later, the four stopped playing and looked at the other end of the hall.
"Oh, someone's coming from that one?"
"Isn't that one from more than 1000 years ago?"
"Hmm, which one was it?"
"I don't remember, but we will see who it is soon."
"Well, whoever it is has the same ending."
The rest of them laughed.
On a magical circle, with complicated patterns, a light pillar appeared, and when it was gone, Xena was already there.
The four pairs of eyes fixed on her.
"Oh, she is Cassandra's eldest daughter."
"Wasn't she supposed to be dead?"
"Looks like things didn't go as planned..."
"You trash, go finish her off."
Xena bit her lips!
They didn't even ask her about the mission,
Or how she is still alive!
The black creatures who received the order attacked at the same time.
Xena blinked once, and her eyes, filled with hatred, changed to ones filled with only fighting spirit.
She couldn't see her teammate, but he told her to fight to the death!
A fight broke out, surprising the four guys.
Blood-red spikes suddenly shot out from the ground, and they pierced all the black creatures!
It didn't even take a second before all of them were sucked dry and turned to empty shells!
The four guys gasped in shock!
Xena, who was at the peak of level 3 after she chose to follow the guardian, gasped in shock!
She didn't expect her power to be so much stronger!
Little mortal, who was sitting in a corner and watching the fight with interest, gasped too!
The four guys commented,
"Looks like our little princess had some fortune on the other side!"
"She indeed had.
And it cost us a lot of minions..."
"Seems we should take matters into our own hands."
"Yes, let's finish her fast, I want to know how she advanced so fast!"
Xena, who felt the overwhelming power in her body, couldn't care about the mission anymore!
She really wanted to kill these people!
But,
The aura of 4 level 4 beings just crushed her confidence in no time.
They didn't even use any fancy moves.
Just the heavy aura and their physical power were enough to overpower her.
Now she understood why Little mortal said that 1 level higher can beat up someone 1 level lower.
But when she was going to get killed for real,
She saw another copy of herself in front of her,
That was getting farther and farther away with the four guys and the hall itself.
She thought maybe her soul had left her body after death, and now she was on her way to the afterlife...
But why isn't she going up?
Isn't heaven up there in the sky?
After a while, she saw herself in the middle of a jungle.
It was silent all around; only the sound of some animals and insects could be heard.
Then she heard a familiar voice,
"In a world where werewolves and vampires coexist, the landscape is a blend of shadow and moonlight.
A realm where ancient rivalries shape everyday life.
Dense, misty forests cradle hidden packs of werewolves, their howls echoing through the night!"
At this moment, a wolf's howl sounded from afar.
"While vampire enclaves thrive in the depths of crumbling castles and hidden urban lairs, their eyes glint with secrets and power."
The princess's adrenaline rush calmed down after hearing the voice describing their planet.
She looked down and saw the little barefooted boy putting his notebook away.
It seems he was reading from the notebook just now.
"..."
The two stood there in silence.
Princess Xena looked around to see what he was waiting for.
After a while, the guardian token flew to them from another direction.
Little mortal caught it and said,
"Little crystal, show me how things went."
A screen appeared above the token that was connected to the Crystal.
On the scene, Xena died with her face full of fear!
Her body dropped on the ground and turned to ashes.
Only her special member token was left in the ashes.
One of the four guys picked up the token and said,
"Oh, so she found the guardian and killed the other party?"
"But how did she become a peak level 3?"
"She was there for how long?
One or two thousand years?
She was a talented one, so she probably found a way there."
"From what I remember, that planet was a max level 2."
"Now that you mentioned it..."
Another voice sounded at this point,
"What happened?"
The four guys turned around and saw a man with blond hair in a white suit walk in.
Xena's eyes widened!
"It's him!"
But when she looked down, there was no one there except herself anymore...
She looked at the screen again, but it faded away, and the guardian token was gone too!
She was confused at first, but a cold smile appeared on her face the next moment.
She muttered,
"Oh, you sneaky pervert...
How many times have you gone into other people's rooms in the middle of the night without their notice?
How many people did you brainwash?
Your judgment day has finally come!"
There was a fact that all the followers of the little guardian knew by now.
He was like a vengeful spirit; if you became his target, it didn't matter who you were or how strong you were, your ending would be miserable...
And now, Guardian Mortal had a target!
...
Back in the messy hall, with corpses of the minions everywhere, the four guys stood respectfully at the side.
The man in the white suit was looking at the ashes on the ground while frowning.
Things happened too fast.
A suspect from the past appeared and died...
She was level 3 on a planet with a max level 2?
But that wasn't important now.
What was important was her being killed here!
The reason the man in the white suit didn't kill her himself in the past, or never killed any other close relatives of the two family heads,
It was because they had a blood connection with each other.
Killing them would be known immediately by their family head!
And that could trigger a sudden change in their feelings and force them out of his brainwashing technique...
In that case, a mess, or even a rebellion, could begin on the planet.
He knew about this because it had happened before, and they were forced to kill many of them and replace the family heads.
And because this planet was so special, they couldn't just change the forces here with their own.
The planet manager might commit suicide in that case, and the whole planet would be destroyed!
And now, these idiots actually killed the first daughter of Cassandra outside of the magic circle?
He didn't want to waste his time with these four idiots and left in a hurry to check on Cassandra.
But his eyes suddenly locked onto the token that was left behind!
"Wait, it's not a normal guardian token..."
He looked at it more carefully,
"Oh, it's a child token from the main guardian token?"
This time he didn't even leave through the door, but made a hole through the wall and disappeared outside...
Unbeknownst to him, a little boy was on his tail,
Who muttered to himself while chuckling,
"The ritual guy came personally and took the bait without me looking for him!
Mr. Token, I'm counting on you!"
...
Xena, in the middle of the jungle, received a message on her token.
She didn't know whose token was left in the hall with the 'Fake Xena' that Crystal made to deceive the enemy, but her token was still with her.
[First mission: fight to death (100% completion)
Second mission: disguise yourself, become the vampire's family head (0% completion)]
One glance, and she already knew who sent the message.
It was from her boss, Guardian Mortal, who was probably busy now with the man he called 'ritual guy'.
She replied to his message.
[Message received.]
And turned into a bat and disappeared into the darkness.
She couldn't wait to go back home and see what had changed after being away for so long, but before that, she needed to go somewhere else.
She left 2000 years ago,
But from Little Mortal's explanation about the flow of time, she knew the last 300 to 400 years that the cultivation planet was separated from its universe was a long time for her, but it was just a couple of days here.
She was probably gone for around 1600 years.
...
Night Planet.
The name was given to it for only one reason.
Because it was always night.
In the morning, dark clouds were covering the sky; not a single ray of light could pass through.
At night, there was always a clear starry sky, with a full moon.
The dark clouds were the effect of the vampires' family treasure,
And the full moon was the effect of the werewolves' family treasure.
At this moment, the man with the white suit,
He was flying inside the dark clouds as fast as he could.
His destination was the main city of noble vampires,
Bloodhaven, and to be more specific,
Cassandra's mansion, the head of the vampire family.
On the ground, Little Mortal was riding his tricycle while communicating with the token,
"Are you still locked on the target?"
[Affirmative.]
"Use the karma function and see if any family members of Princess Xena are in the same direction he is going."
[There are many of them.]
"Check the strongest connection and see if he is going there."
[The target is moving in the same direction.]
"Alright, my unstoppable ride!
We know where to go now!"
And Little mortal, on his tricycle, disappeared into the misty road the next moment.
What was unique about the vampire family was the ground leading to their residence area.
On the ground, a couple of kilometers away from the residence of noble vampires, the road was always foggy.
Any creature that got close knew where its destination would end.
...
A while later, the man in the white suit dove down from the clouds.
Under the clouds, a big city came into his sight.
It was a modern city, but not with that much of a population where he landed.
You could see people everywhere, but as if it were late at night, there weren't many of them.
The citizens in this part of the city had pale skin, were tall, and had a hint of arrogance on their faces.
The man in the white suit landed in an alley.
An old man in butler's attire appeared, opened the door of a black car for him, and said,
"Sir Rayan, where should I take you?"
The man in the white suit, Rayan, said while sitting in the car,
"Take me to Lady Cassandra."
The old man nodded and closed the door.
"Yes, sir."
And the car moved towards the center of the city in the foggy and silent streets.
The closer they got to the center, the fewer people and the fewer houses could be seen.
After a while, there were no people or houses anymore.
Only an empty road, in the fog that was covering the car now.
The butler, on the road where you could barely see five meters ahead of you, stayed on the road as if it wasn't anything unusual.
...
Princess Xena was flying secretly towards the ancient city of the vampires.
This place was nothing but an empty ruin now.
On her past journey through the planet,
She found this place.
After exploring it, she found out that, in the past, to become the king or queen of the two families of vampires and werewolves, there was a test.
It wasn't like it was now, inherited.
At that time, she was wandering around with a different appearance, and now she changed back to her old disguise once again, to explore this place thoroughly this time.
Unlike last time, when she didn't care and didn't have the power to do so.
Now she had a mission to become family head.
At this moment, she received another message,
[Who is the lady looking like you, in the big mansion at the center of the city?]
Princess Xena bit her lips and answered,
[My mother, Cassandra Armand, the queen of the vampires.]
It seems the little guardian was already at her mother's door...
....
Bloodhaven.
City center.
Cassandra's mansion.
The most prominent building in the whole city was
located here, on an empty ground with this building as the only place.
All around was foggy, and only some city lights of tall buildings were barely visible.
At this moment, a lady in a black dress was kneeling in front of a table and whispering,
"How do you know she didn't die after coming back?"
On the table in front of her was a bowl of water.
At this moment, black-colored words appeared on the water's surface,
[Maybe someone helped her.]
The lady whispered in surprise,
"Who?"
Another sentence appeared,
[I don't know...]
The lady tried to ask more questions, but received no response.
While in her own thoughts, she heard a knock on her door!
She hastily waved her hand, and the bowl of water disappeared!
Her heart was beating wildly!
'Was I exposed?'
She was pretending to be brainwashed for so long... How could she be exposed so easily?
Why didn't heaven's will warn her like always?
With all kinds of thoughts in her mind, she tried to act calm and asked with an indifferent tone,
"Who is it?"
But inside, she was extremely nervous.
A child's voice sounded from the other side,
"Hello, Queen Cassandra.
I am Mason Mourne, from the 'Cover Up Agency'.
I am here for tonight's cover-up mission."
Cassandra's brain stopped working.
She understood every word,
But the sentences made from those words were nothing she could make sense of.
At this time, behind the door of her private room,
A little boy from the 'Cover Up Agency' was here to do a mission?
What agency even is that?
And he called her queen?
Only her own people would call her that,
But she couldn't feel any blood connection with the other party!
And not only that, she couldn't even feel a thing on the other side of the door!
Was that a ghost?
Someone far stronger?
She gulped and tried to calm herself,
"I don't know anyone with your name,
Or any Cover Up Agency."
The little boy answered from the other side,
"It's only natural.
This is our first time meeting, and this is the first day of work for our agency.
We established the agency today."
Cassandra didn't know what to say anymore...
What should I do now?
She took a deep breath and said,
"Please come in, Mr...?"
The door opened, and a toddler walked in.
"Mourne, Mason Mourne."
And the two looked at each other as if it were their first meeting.
But a certain little boy was observing her secretly from the window not long ago and saw the conversation between her and the one he later found out to be the planet's manager, thanks to the token message.
[The planet manager is concealing this room.
Beings equal to his level can't influence anyone here.]
And now he was looking at the lady with the familiar look again.
She had some similarities with Xena, but she was taller and more mature.
And Queen Cassandra was looking at the little boy in front of her in shock!
Black hair, black eyes, black short-sleeved shirt,
Black pants and... barefoot?
Who let him inside her house?
Is he lost?
She was going to ask how he came here, but heard him saying,
"Oh, the target is here. Queen Cassandra, please pay attention; my job to cover you up starts now."
Then he walked beside the door, closed it, took out a small notebook and a pen, and stood there as if he was ready to write something!
Cassandra was at a loss now...
What's happening?
Who's coming?
A moment later, she heard another knock.
"Who is it?"
Again, she couldn't feel the other party...
"It's me, Lady Cassandra, Rayan."
The moment she heard the name,
Without her own will, a smile appeared on her face,
"Oh, Sir Rayan, please come in."
When the door was opening, she saw the little boy pointing at his notebook, on which some words were written.
[Smile bitterly, as if you feel someone close to you is gone forever.]
Cassandra didn't know why, but she listened to him and smiled bitterly.
Rayan walked in.
He took a quick look around and said,
"Sorry to bother you, Lady Cassandra, but there was an urgent matter, so I came without further notice."
Cassandra was going to smile again, but she saw the little boy write another sentence for her.
[Keep smiling bitterly, shake your head in sadness,
And say 'I don't feel good at the moment, Sir Rayan'.]
And so she did as she was told to.
"Oh, can I ask why?"
Cassandra was going to smile again and say it's nothing, but,
[Keep the face as it is, say 'I feel someone dear to me is gone', then pause, take a deep breath, and say 'as if she were my own daughter'.]
Rayan raised his eyebrows,
"Lady Cassandra, you work so hard every day, and you are mentally tired.
Let me help you."
Cassandra was going to smile and say 'sure,' but she glanced at the little boy from the Cover Up Agency first to be sure.
[Sure.]
It seems this time she was right...
"Sure."
And then, Rayan started taking out some items and putting them around the chair that Cassandra sat down on.
She even saw Mr. Mourne, who seems to be visible to her, but invisible to Rayan, helping him from time to time with changing the place of some items, which wasn't really a change...
After helping Rayan for a while, a message appeared on the guardian token,
[Karma connection has been established.]
Little mortal nodded and left for the small table with some food on it.
He pointed at the food while smiling at Cassandra.
As if he were asking if he could eat any.
Cassandra stole a glance at Rayan and then nodded at him to show him it's okay.
Rayan, who saw her slight movement, suddenly looked to where little Mourne was standing!
Cassandra felt her heart come to her throat!
But as if he didn't see anything, he went back to his work.
She looked at Little Mourne, and saw him looking at some of her books now while eating her food, as if he was in his own room...
Now she was sure of one thing...
She was hallucinating!
This little boy wasn't real; it was her brain's attempt
to try and protect her from Rayan's brainwashing!
The man that she would answer truthfully to his every question without knowing why!
A while later, Rayan was done with his 'mind relaxation' preparation,
"Alright, it's ready.
Please close your eyes, Lady Cassandra.
You will be calm and peaceful in no time."
Cassandra nodded and closed her eyes.
At this moment, the little boy was standing beside her, looking with curiosity at the magical pattern appearing around her!
After a while,
"Alright, how do you feel now, Lady Cassandra?"
Cassandra, who felt no changes, opened her eyes.
The first thing she did was to look for the little boy.
And sure enough, he was standing beside Rayan, with his little notebook,
[Say with your usual smile, 'I feel normal again, thank you, Sir Rayan.']
"That's good then!
I have another matter that I need to attend to,
So I won't bother you anymore."
And after that, he left as if he was in a hurry.
Cassandra looked at the little boy and wondered if he would disappear soon.
But saw him writing something while muttering to himself,
"So, this ritual guy is peak level 4, the manager mid level 4, and the four fake angles from before low level 4.
That's why the Planet manager can't offset this guy's effect.
But why is the planet manager covering this place that has the risk of being exposed?"
Then he put away his notebook, went to Cassandra, and gave her a paper while saying,
"This is your bill."
Cassandra received her bill blankly and read it.
====
1 level 4 hypnosis cover up = 1000 money
1 level 5 brainwashing ritual cover-up = 10000 money
Total: 11000 money
====
Without thinking, she brought out some 'money' from her storage ring and gave it to him.
Mr. Mourne took the money and said,
"Alright, my cover-up mission is finished.
Queen Cassandra, I take my leave now."
And placed his hand on his chest, bowed respectfully, and left.
Queen Cassandra,
"..."
Was he real or not?
After thinking for a while, to be sure, she filled another bowl with water, kneeled, and whispered,
"Who was with me right now?"
[Rayan.]
"Who else?"
[Only Rayan.]
Now, she was sure!
Her brain developed a technique to resist Rayan's brainwashing ritual that even heaven's will couldn't detect!
A smug smile spread across the Queen's face.
....
At the outskirts of Bloodhaven, Rayan got out of the car and walked towards the outside of the city.
Unlike the city center, the city outskirts were filled with people everywhere.
But they were mostly normal people, who would show respect to the tall and pale-skinned vampires that were walking among them here and there.
While vigilant, Rayan tried to blend in with the crowd,
As if he was trying to see if anyone was on his tail.
After an hour of walking, he was finally outside the city.
He went back to the jungle without flying.
He was running as fast as he could.
An hour later, deep in the dark jungle, he stopped and hid in a tree trunk for another hour... with a little boy looking around outside the tree trunk to see what he was waiting for.
After he made sure no one was following him, he left again.
After a while, he reached a place with more trees and tall plants everywhere.
He suddenly tapped the ground with his feet; a double door opened on the ground, and he disappeared inside!
Shortly after, the door closed by itself, and the ground turned back to normal, as if nothing had changed there.
Deep underground, inside a tunnel, Rayan was standing in the dark,
Staring at the door that just closed behind him, alongside a little boy who was looking at the door with him, curiously, to see if anyone was following them.
After a while, he lit up a torch and ran deeper inside the tunnel he was in.
Here, even the spiritual sense was sealed, so he was sure no one could follow him here without showing a sign!
After that, he reached four tunnels; he chose the far left tunnel. On the way, he went through a secret door to another tunnel and continued on his way until he reached an underground cave with a lake filled with groundwater.
There, he took out a puppet that looked exactly like him and sent it to the lake.
He himself hid inside a secret room to see if anyone was following him... with the now 'speechless' little boy...
The game of 'hiding' and 'clearing tracks' continued for another four hours!
Little mortal, who was getting impatient and angry,
Finally saw the guy reach his underground destination!
He reached an altar in a big hall with stone pillars and went to the altar at the center.
Then he brought out a white feather, placed it on a stone surface in front of the altar, and started whispering while kneeling in front of it,
"God's messenger, angel of prophecy, this lowly one found a child token from the main guardian token.
What are your instructions?"
And then, he waited patiently for the answer, alongside the little boy who finally sighed in relief and wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead.
Not long after, the whole underground place started lighting up with the altar at the center.
A halo of an angelic-looking person appeared.
You couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman,
The face was covered in light, and
Two white wings behind it were flapping slowly.
An ethereal voice echoed,
Rayan, with his head low, answered,
"Assassin god's universe, planet cultivation."
"Dead."
"Yes."
Rayan placed the token on the altar gently.
The token disappeared.
And after one last sentence, the angelic-looking person disappeared,
The underground place turned dark again.
The disappointed Little mortal,
"-_-"