Planet Lubo.
Eleven days after the outsiders start gathering universes using their Guardian tokens.
Little Mortal checked his monitoring child token and the names on it to see the progress of his 'workers'.
- Abyssion, the Eternal Void [ 830 ]
- Thalgrim, the Corruptor [ 685 ]
- Sanguinia, the Wraith of Despair [ 842 ]
- Karnath, the Blood Lord [ 745 ]
- Zaldrath, the Plague Bringer [ 677 ]
"Look at them all motivated!
And we even found some talents.
The 'empty guy' and 'blind girl' are actually so overpowered!
Give them two more days, and they can reach level 8."
Then he went to the whiteboard,
"Okay, let's see how to deal with them without me exploding.
I have already allowed the rest of our 'outsiders puppet' return to level 7.
It was 4 of them left.
So, 4 x 9 = 36, plus my level 118.
I am at level 154 now.
To reduce the pressure on my body, I should start with the lowest rank and first challenge the one with 677 universe.
This way, the rest of the challenges will be fine."
The day that all of the outsiders were back to level 7,
He recalled the main guardian token, which had a message from the Vulture, who pretended to be Lord.
[The next time you send the Main Token back to me, it will be the day your side is ready, and we will immediately start the preparation for war while moving towards you at full speed.]
Now, Little Mortal was going to start the operation,
'Rise of the Secret Guardian'.
After wearing his martial arts clothes, he called for his headband and wristbands too.
"Okay, everyone!
You all know the plan.
Operation 'Rise of the Secret Guardian',
Will be officially begun in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!
Let's go, boys!"
In a moment, the Space Mirror, World Tree, and Crystal made their move.
World Tree took away the fairies' garden, which had been evacuated completely, and transported it to a universe devoid of any living creatures.
The Puppet Master's universe, to be exact.
At the same time,
The Crystal made an illusion so that no one could see the missing garden.
Little Mortal put on his headband and two wristbands and walked inside the passage leading to the fairy's garden.
The prison cage, soul cube, and puppet, followed him closely, while shouted,
"Element of Surprise Team! Assemble!"
The former Element of Surprise Team assembled once again to 'surprise the opponent'.
The full-body armor transformed into a ten-meter-tall empty shell of a man.
The birth treasures began to hang or circle it, accompanied by all kinds of special effects.
Even the 'Element of Surprise Team' themselves were impressed by their current form!
But they knew well that they were nothing but a 'paper tiger' because the headband and wristbands were the ones connected to all of the universes in the guardian territory.
They were acting as the main support at this moment.
The other side of the passage, on the floating garden, in the middle of an empty space,
Little Mortal sat down and closed his eyes.
Time passed.
It seems he was meditating.
And finally, after 1 minute, he opened his eyes,
"1 million years of meditation have ended."
Then he slowly stood up, clenched his fists, and said in an encouraging tone,
"Nothing can stop me now!"
The birth treasures wondered if anything could stop him before the '1 million years of meditation'?
After a deep breath, Little Mortal muttered,
"Everyone, the first fight is the most important.
We do it quickly, precisely, and without error.
I already fought this ugly Cockroach before when that Erebos guy turned into it, so we have the upper hand!
And you, Little Staff with that scary skull, you are the main character in this fight with your former master."
The 'Element of Surprise Team' vibrated collectively,
The staff with a skull, that once upon a time was filled with a 'delicious drink', and a certain little guardian drank it all, was now in the full-body armor's hand, ready to act as cool as possible for its former master!
It saw in one of the guardian records that everyone could see through World Law, its new owner beat up the copy of its former master, the Cockroach, with a suplex, and then fell on it like a meteor.
So the staff, and the rest of them, knew this challenge was going to be an easy one.
Little Mortal looked at the empty space and said in a low voice,
"World Law, bro, it's me, Universe Guardian Mortal.
I want to challenge my 'Subcategory Guardian', outsider 'Zaldrath', to a secret duel."
The 'Element of Surprise Team', while speechless because he called World Law 'bro', disappeared a moment later alongside Little Mortal.
World Law didn't respond to his request at all.
It seems the words 'secret duel' and 'outsider' were enough for the World Law of this zone to collaborate with them entirely in secret.
The 'Secret duel' began.
Zaldrath, the Plague Bringer, suddenly appeared in a familiar battleground.
It looked around and became certain that it was in the 'challenge ground', where it had challenged other higher beings hundreds of times in recent days.
But this time there was a different,
It was the one who had been challenged this time!
When it looked for its opponent, it saw the 'Surprise Team' with a familiar staff that was showing off.
While shocked, before the giant Cockroach could analyze what was going on,
It saw the world turned upside down,
Then something smashed on it a couple of times,
And while its body was on the verge of collapse, it turned into a puppet.
The match was over...
[ 07/11 ]
The only thing World Law said at the end of the 'secret duel' was announcing that the 7th 'outsider' had been caught.
Little Mortal and the 'Element of Surprise Team' appeared back in the garden.
Little Mortal ran to the biggest tree close by, sat under it, and said,
"I need to go for a round of seclusion.
See you in 10 billion years."
And closed his eyes.
Just a moment after his win, his body was again covered in cracks.
But this time it wasn't like last time, when he had some control over it.
The cracks were so thick that the birth treasures could clearly see the darkness inside, which was going to swallow everything around.
And by swallow, it was indeed as it felt.
Everything around was being pulled towards him.
But the headband and the two wristbands,
With 158 universe support + 677 new universe support that was just added, came to rescue and tried their best to stabilize the body.
But even so, it seems it wasn't enough.
It was at this point that the fairy's garden started vibrating slightly!
A kind of power that the birth treasures were seeing for the first time started leaking out from the trees and the ground itself, slowly gathering around Little Mortal.
As if effective, it didn't take long for the cracks on Little Mortal's body to start closing, and the gravity pull became weaker.
After placing the different parts of the 'puzzle' next to each other, the birth treasures figured out why he went to Hunters Mainland and brought the fairy's garden here.
The same thing happened to him when he was gathering his birthday gifts.
At that time, his body was on the verge of collapse, but luckily, he ended up in a fairy's garden, and the garden actually helped him to become healthy again.
So whatever problem his body had,
It could be fixed with the help of the fairy's garden, which was originally designed by World Law to host and assist the newborns after their rebirth.
That's why he brought a bigger garden from a level 10 Mainland and added it to the old one for a better effect.
This way, he would be ready for when he takes over too many universes at once.
And that's why in his 'quests', this one was going to cost everyone's life if he failed.
Because without the garden's support, he would probably explode, and... Well, they didn't know what would happen after.
But a body with the power to move black holes, going out of control, surely didn't have a good outcome for anything around it.
The whole zone and the universes inside might be devoured!
...
Mainland
Today, the Mainland Manager felt anxious for no reason.
The white canary kept looking at the bubbles in the sky and then at its crystal.
No new picture was uploaded today.
Many bubbles, around 80%, were connected by karma to 5 peculiar bubbles.
The bubbles of outsiders, to be exact.
The white canary muttered to itself,
"If they advance to level 8, I advance to level 9, right?"
It was a fact that the canary knew, but the outsiders didn't.
They even thought the manager was 'sealed' and, after winning over so many universes, they were probably sure of it.
The white canary looked towards the bubbles of those whom it selected to advance, and wondered,
"The universe of the selected higher beings is only connected to the Mainland and not other universes, except that girl with Space law.
So it means everything is still as 'He' planned?"
It could even sense that they were already at level 7 and were now trying to stabilize their condition and adjust to their new power.
So the manager still wasn't worried about the outsiders.
The only problem was them, taking over too many universes.
Now, they could stop the Mainland immediately if they wanted to.
While in deep thoughts,
It suddenly saw more than 600 karma lines change connection.
All of them to the same bubble with its level 7 chosen ones inside.
The universe of that assassin God, that it knew the 'Newborn Guardian' was probably there too.
The white canary's eyes widened in surprise.
This change only meant one thing!
The Newborn Guardian, that unknown entity, or both, made their move!
So the final phase of the plan was going to begin!
It knew if any bubble connected to Assassin God's universe by karma, its higher beings would be under the control of that terrifying entity!
Like all those puppets who went to the meeting of outsiders with the 'God of Prophecy'.
All of them were connected to the same universe by karma.
And now, another +600 universes have suddenly changed their connection to it.
So, did this mean they were all under the control of that unknown entity now?
The white canary wondered.
"Is it a good thing or a bad thing...?"
But either way, it was sure of one thing.
All those 'child tokens' were used as bait, not just for outsiders, but for everyone!
Now, 'He' was done with his mission on the enemy mainland and was back to hunt his prey, not one by one, but in batches!
Those outsiders were nothing but his workers...
....
Puppet Master's Universe.
Little mortal, under the tree, opened his eyes slowly.
But he gritted his teeth, knocked on his crystal, and closed them again.
A breath later, he opened his eyes again.
This time, light began to emanate from his eyes, and different auras danced around him.
The Crystal felt tired.
Who are you trying to show off here?
Little Mortal slowly stood up, 'secretly' tapped his crystal again, and after turning off the special effects of his awakening, said,
"10 billion years of seclusion have finally ended!"
And with a look of nostalgia, he turned to the birth treasures,
"It's been a while, my friends.
I didn't expect you guys to wait for me this long..."
And sighed apologetically.
The birth treasures, which were pretty sure only 1 hour had passed, vibrated together,
It's been 10 billion years.>
Good thing a certain backpack wasn't here to say something it shouldn't, and treat all of them to a round of getting beaten up.
Little mortal nodded and asked,
"Mr. Token, I don't know if you still remember,
But there was a group of outsiders that we needed to catch 10 billion years ago."
[ I remember.
This is their current progress.
Abyssion, the Eternal Void [835]
Thalgrim, the Corruptor [690]
Sanguinia, the Wraith of Despair [847]
Karnath, the Blood Lord [750]
Each of them won five more challenges. ]
Little mortal nodded,
"Let me see...
That blind girl is another one that I fought indirectly.
So, are you guys ready to challenge her next?"
The 'Element of Surprise' team vibrated.
And the two eyeballs, which were Sanguinia's birth treasure, acted as the full body armor's eyes to show they are as ready as they could be.
Little mortal took a deep breath and encouraged himself,
"I was level 185.
With the new 677 universe, plus 10 original levels of the Cockroach itself,
I am now at level 872!
I can do this!"
The birth treasures felt numb all over.
He didn't seem any different from when they had seen him for the first time.
Where were these level-ups going to?
Can someone force this little monster to use his full power?
The brave crystal vibrated,
"No, just my 'Expand' and 'Condense' technique is now working as intended, and now my 'Domain' is around 80 meters.
But wait for level +1000 to see my main ability.
I really missed that one."
The birth treasures, for the first time, understood what he was saying completely about his powers.
They saw his young version turn everything into molecules with Expand in God's arena,
And he himself could 'Condense' his enemies, like what he did with those 'chips' or the God of Life and Death when he was angry.
It now seems that he could use both, and since his level was significantly higher, the radius of his judgment techniques was 80 meters(262 feet).
Little Mortal scratched his head,
"Which one was the blind girl?"
[ Sanguinia, the Wraith of Despair. ]
"Oh, right.
Ahem,
World law, bro, it's me again, universe guardian Mortal.
I want to challenge my 'Subcategory guardian', outsider 'Sanguinia', to a secret duel."
And once again, they were sent to the battleground, silently.
After a brief moment, they came back.
The 'Element of Surprise' team was shivering from head to toe, and Little Mortal was laughing.
"It was so funny.
She didn't even 'see' you!
And used that nightmarish technique of hers on all of us."
The birth treasures who were 'hit' by her divine attack all experienced the same thing.
Sanguinia used a divine technique that could force you into your worst nightmare and keep you there until you are mentally broken.
In their nightmare, the birth treasures faced Little mortal.
But not a normal and playful version,
Instead, a serious Mortal who didn't hold back at all and destroyed them again and again!
"You guys are so lucky that I finished the fight as fast as I could because I'm scared of these outsiders getting themselves killed like that imposter,
Or you would be stuck in that nightmare for a while!"
Little mortal, still laughing at them, sat under the same tree for a while.
This time, his cracked body returned to normal in just 10 minutes.
It seems his base level was helping him to stabilize his condition a lot faster.
"Okay, my level 872, plus the new 847 level and the original 10 level of my opponent, is equal to level 1729.
Good, I broke through level 1000!"
The crystal started vibrating,
But Little mortal shook his head,
"Later.
Let's finish the job here.
From now on, be serious.
The next opponents are all new ones that we have never fought before."
The guardian token's mechanical voice sounded,
[ You can see all of their fights with other higher beings in 'guardian records'; they are all fully recorded. ]
Little mortal stared at the token blankly.
After a while, he came back to his senses,
"Why in the world didn't you tell me sooner?
Aren't you always trying to give me 'suggestions'?"
[ I just did.
Guardian mortal already had enough experience fighting the previous opponents.
Plus,
With the power evaluation that I have from you - ]
Little mortal kicked the token away and shouted,
"Enough!
I don't want to listen to your nonsense!"
And shook his head in disappointment.
The Crystal vibrated,
Little mortal gasped.
"Oh, you are right!
Big sister can copy other people's techniques by summoning their avatars; she can use all of these records for herself and imitate them later!
I'm sure they all fought with all their might, too!
Mr. Token!
Come back, I forgive you!"
And the token, which was used to get kicked and slapped around, came back.
"Okay, show me the names again."
[ Abyssion, the Eternal Void [837]
Thalgrim, the Corruptor [692]
Karnath, the Blood Lord [753]
"Hmm, let's leave that empty guy for the end.
Bloodsucker is next.
Where is that arrogant red blade?
It's your time to shine!"
And the full body armor, with Blood Devourer vibrating in hand, stood up in a cool way.
Little mortal was speechless when he heard what the blade was saying.
It was shouting Let's slaughter my master!
While shaking his head, little mortal muttered,
"I'm telling you, these lunatics are crazy, and so are their birth treasures..."
Then he rubbed his chin,
"I think these upcoming fights are a good opportunity for me to use my 'Expand' and 'Condense' techniques to get used to them again."
The support team became excited.
A good show was waiting for them to watch.
Then he cleared his throat and said,
"Sorry to bother you again, brother-in-law, no!
Wait, I mean brother world law!
Yes, brother world law...
It's me, universe guardian Mortal.
I want to challenge my 'Subcategory guardian', outsider 'Karnath', to a secret duel."
And the next moment, the group was sent back to the battleground again.
The 50-meter-tall muscular blood lord with his red hair and heavy aura appeared.
The moment he saw his red blade in the armored man's hand, he roared so loud that the battleground with all its resistance trembled slightly,
"Thief!
I'll make you bleed to the last drop of your blood!"
And then the armored man separated.
The body parts, the treasures hanging on it, or revolving around it, all separated!
An embarrassed voice sounded,
"Sorry, you guys were hit by it too!
I accidentally used it as an AOE (area of effect) attack instead of a single target..."
And Little Mortal appeared beside the 50-meter-tall monster, which was looking at him with eyes filled with fear and separated body parts!
All of his fingers were now detached from his palm,
His head was divided into distinct parts, with his ears in one place and his nose in another.
And it was the same for his limbs.
All of the body parts were falling to the ground now,
Like a modular object that was no longer in one piece...
The big head without ears and nose dropped in front of Little Mortal,
and he picked it up and carefully examined the place that had a nose and a pair of ears in the past.
Then nodded in approval, turned to the support team, and said,
"Condense."
The 'scared out of their wits' treasures,
Which were separated too, like the Blood Lord,
In a moment, attached to their separated parts perfectly and turned back to normal.
Little mortal called them over,
"Come and see how fascinating this technique is!"
The 'Element of Surprise' team, which wasn't so scared of this monster for a couple of days, came over while still shivering.
What did they just experience?
What did he just do to them?
The answer was here for them to see personally.
Little mortal picked up a piece of leg and pointed at the place that was now separated from another part.
It was more like a clean cut.
"Look,
This is what I call a 'perfect cut'."
The birth treasures carefully examined the area where the leg was 'cut'.
And sure enough, you could only call it a 'perfect cut' and nothing else.
Little mortal explained,
"This is my 'Expand' technique, which you saw me use once in its uncontrolled form in God's arena,
And we even saw its friendly fire effect on the space goddess who turned to dust."
The birth treasures nodded like students.
Then he pointed at the cut,
"As you can see, from the perfectly smooth surface, where the separation occurred in atomic leve,
Every cell's membrane, tissue, and structure is split cleanly, and at the same time intact."
Then he pointed at the Blood Lord's upper body,
"Body parts with organs and systems remain whole but disconnected at the point of separation.
Which means,
Since no molecules are destroyed,
You can clearly see that blood vessels, tissues, and cells aren't ruptured.
Blood flow is stopped at the cut surface, though, leaving the edges pristine.
And, physiological processes, like circulation and oxygen transport, all cease where the body is severed."
The birth treasures 'gulped' down, looking at the surface of the part which was 'cut'.
The cut surfaces looked glossy, smooth, and somewhat otherworldly,
And each part could reflect light differently due to its molecular-level smoothness.
It was a weird and, at the same time, amazing sight that they had never seen in their lifetime as professional birth treasurers...
Little mortal explained further,
"And let me tell you,
The most amazing thing about this technique is this."
And then started running around, trying to find the other part of the leg.
"Oh, found it! Look!"
And then brought the two parts close together.
The two parts, as if they found their perfect 'half', attached together in a moment and became as good as new!
"And this, ladies and gentlemen,
Is 'Expand',
A perfect molecular cut, without harming anything!"
Then he said,
"Equality."
And turned Blood Lord into a level 1 creature.
"Condense."
And his body, like the birth treasures,
Attached together again and turned back to normal.
Little mortal knocked him out with a spin kick, and while some cracks appeared on his skin again,
Said,
"Puppet and cube.
Pack him up; we need to leave."
[ 09/11 ]
Another outsider was hunted down, and another puppet was added to the puppet squad.
Back in the garden, Little Mortal stood motionless for a couple of minutes, and his cracks healed.
"Alright.
I was level 1729.
With 753 universes that bloodsucker gathered for me,
And his original 10 universes,
It pushed me to level 2492!"
The 'element of surprise team' didn't care about his level anymore.
They were still feeling dizzy from the 'Expand' technique and the real yet illusory sensation that they experienced after being 'separated' at the molecular level.
They were definitely 'Alive' and just in a 'Paused' state!
That was so weird.
"Alright, Mr. Token, who's left?"
And the token showed him the remaining two.
- Abyssion, the Eternal Void [ 840 ]
- Thalgrim, the Corruptor [ 693 ]
"Oh, look at this empty guy working so hard!
Then let's leave it for last.
Let's take care of..."
Little mortal paused, then looked at his support team and asked thoughtfully,
"What should we call that twisted parody of what might once have been human or animal?
Nothing comes to my mind."
The birth treasures vibrated, giving him ideas.
<...>
Each one said a name.
But Little Mortal shook his head,
"These names are too cool for it.
Mr. Token, ask big guy my question."
And a moment later,
[ Messed up dude. ]
Hearing the answer, the birth treasures nodded.
It was indeed based on this little monster's taste.
And sure enough, Little Mortal approved,
"See, that's a name you can call it.
Big guy, as the senior member, is indeed the most knowledgeable."
Then he tidied his martial arts clothes and said,
"The area that I can control around me is now...
2492 levels, minus my original level 85,
Multiplied by 0.1 meters for each level,
It is equal to 240.7 meters(790 feet).
It should be enough to cover that guy."
Then he cleared his throat,
"World law, bro, only two more and we never see each other... for some time.
So this time,
I want to challenge my 'Subcategory guardian', outsider 'Thalgrim', to a secret duel."
The group was silently sent to the battleground for the fourth time.
The towering, twisted creature of the Corruptor appeared.
You couldn't tell at all what it was.
Even its current form was kept changing, to a human-like figure, then to a broken-looking dog, and even sea creatures.
Only the moment it saw the man in full body armor,
And its former birth treasure the crown of decay,
The changing state stopped for a moment.
But not because it was surprised to see the collection of birth treasures and its own birth treasure showing off to it.
Instead, it was surprised because of the new and beautiful appearance of its birth treasure.
Even now, the crown still didn't dare to change to its rusty and ugly form.
It was now golden in color, flowers were blooming on it, and a 'flourish' kind of aura of nature was emitting from it, which Little Mortal liked.
Thalgrim, the Corruptor, felt muddle-headed.
Tears gathered in its eyes, as if some memories surfaced in its mind, and it was at this moment that it heard a child's voice, which seemed to be slightly puzzled about something, saying,
"Judgment by age?"
And it suddenly felt that time itself was moving backward for its body, and its body was changing back to the way it had been in the past.
The twisted body started changing form and kept rolling on the ground, while the same childish voice said,
"I really want to see what this 'messed up dude' was before it turned to this mess...
Their Mainland was Normal in Menshiro's era, so this crazy parasite from there looking like this should be normal in the past, too, right?"
And after a while, the result was out.
A small deer.
An aura of nature was now emitting from it, which was identical to the crown.
Little mortal's figure appeared beside the deer, and sighed,
"Little deer, what kind of path were you forced to walk that made you change like that..."
And patted the small head of the deer, which was as tall as himself, and said,
"Condense."
The birth treasures who heard him saying condense,
Thought the small deer was going to be crushed into a small bead, like what he did with those chips that he was mad at their report.
But nothing happened, and only the deer dropped to the ground, as if it had fainted.
The Crystal vibrated,
The birth treasures felt that he had done something new with his 'Condense'!
"I condensed its condition to stay at three years old.
So it will stay like this for a while, then it can grow again, but in his current form, not that 'whatever' from before.
Cool, huh!? My techniques aren't as simple as you think!"
[ 10/11 ]
The group was kicked out of the battleground again.
The birth treasures were dumbfounded.
He can make creatures young and then condense their age, allowing them to grow up again from the start?
So magical...?
Was that even possible?
"Alright, let me calculate my current level using advanced mathematics.
2492 + 693 + 10 = 3195"
Little mortal nodded and looked at the deer at his feet.
"Leave it here, and when we return, let it stay with the fairies.
This one is good by nature, so there is no need to turn it into a puppet."
The crown of decay vibrated,
But Little Mortal shrugged,
"Don't care."
And said to the guardian token,
"Mr. Token, who is the last one?"
- Abyssion, the Eternal Void [ 844 ]
Little mortal nodded,
"Tell me when the empty guy wins another challenge.
It makes my level 4050 by then.
Now it will be 4049 if we beat him, and the number is kind of annoying to look at."
The element of surprise team,
<...>
After a couple of minutes,
- Abyssion, the Eternal Void [ 850 ]
"World law, bro, be happy!
Your little brother is going to finally clean this zone of its outsiders!
I, mortal, want to challenge my 'Subcategory guardian', outsider 'Abyssion', to a secret duel."
And they were sent to the battleground again.
The birth treasures wondered if world law was so familiar with him now that it didn't even care if he said the right words for the challenge or not...
The battleground.
When the 'element of surprise team' tried to 'surprise' the opponent, they found themselves in darkness.
They didn't even know where the opponent was to surprise him.
So they asked Voidstone Amulet, the opponent's birth treasure, where its former master is,
And the answer made them speechless.
It seems this darkness itself was now the opponent.
No wonder it gathered so many universes,
It was indeed capable when it co-
"Condense."
A voice sounded, interrupting their thoughts.
The darkness began gathering from all directions towards the location where the familiar voice was heard.
And then, Little Mortal, with a jellyfish-like creature in hand, appeared.
"And this, my friends, is the best use of 'condense'!
Gathering separated stuff."
The support team, which didn't have enough time to even think about how strong the opponent is,
<-_->
The jellyfish that was now as weak as a real jellyfish caught fresh from the sea of darkness,
"O_O"
World law,
[ 11/11 ]
Little mortal,
"Level 4050.
I can do this!"
- The end.