Then Ariel found herself pressed under Truth’s foot.
“Eh?”
She barely blinked before the entire world suddenly spun around, her vision quickly fixed on the grass beneath her.
Before she could even react, Truth’s dainty white shoe had already left a sole mark across her face.
Ah… so someone wasn’t in the mood for hugs.
“Damn little punk from the village, only Seventh Rank and you dare to cause trouble on my turf!”
Truth spoke with the softest, most delicate voice but uttered the most arrogant words.
Ariel hadn’t even had time to ask any questions before Truth’s small foot hopped onto her stomach:
“Wah! It hurts!”
No, this Saintess was not cute at all!
Ariel curled up, clutching her stomach, and then Truth delivered another straightforward kick:
“You better have someone backing you today, or I’ll use your skull as a bowl!”
Ariel was utterly baffled. What kind of crude language was this? Was this really what a Saintess should say?
And how did I, a dignified Seventh Rank Heavenly Fire Mage, get knocked down by what looked like a less-than-Second Rank priest relying on brute force? Am I dreaming?
“Seventh Rank, you say? Then what rank are you?”
Gritting her teeth, Ariel immediately grabbed the wand behind her and cast a flying spell, smoothly floating up to look down on Truth while evading her third kick.
Hovering in the air, Ariel steadied herself, but the pain in her abdomen made it impossible to strike her usual cool pose. She bent her waist slightly, one hand clutching her stomach, the other tightly gripping her wand, pointing it at Truth:
“That’s enough, kid. Don’t think just because you’re a Saintess I won’t fight back! By the way, how do you have so much strength? Hiss—”
Rubbing her stomach gently, Ariel never imagined she’d get beaten up by the Goddess of Life’s Saintess today—and with such unexpected strength. There had to be something fishy here!
“Crack!”
A crisp snapping sound rang out in front of Ariel.
She immediately looked down and saw that Truth, at some point, had grabbed her wand and, with a gentle tug, snapped the entire wand in two without any effort at all!
Ariel’s eyes widened; her heart skipped a beat:
“Ah! My Forbidden Primal Hellfire Judgement Abyss Chaos Annihilation Void Light Myriad Final End Heavenly Peerless Staff!”
This was the almost-new wand she had bought secondhand from her teacher for a fortune—gone just like that!
Next, Truth grabbed the broken half of the wand and flung Ariel onto the ground. She tumbled over three and a half rolls, just as she was about to stand up, Truth stood in front of her again, looking at her as if she were trash:
“Trash.”
Strange, very strange. This woman was definitely not a Saintess!
Ariel sat on the grass, scrambling backward with all limbs, her face growing pale:
“Hey, can we at least talk this through? There might be some misunderstanding…”
“Slap!”
“A misunderstanding, huh!”
Truth took a big step forward and slapped Ariel crisply across the face.
“Wah! How can you bully someone like this? I warn you, my teacher is from the Royal Capital…”
“Slap!”
“Your teacher, huh!”
Ariel was slapped again.
“Ugh… do you know whose follower I am? I’ll have you know it’s the great Heavenfire Lord…”
“Slap!”
“Your Heavenfire, huh!”
Two slaps in a row for Ariel.
On the endless Deya Plateau, a Seventh Rank mage dressed in the Heavenfire Follower’s garb sat on the grass, retreating bit by bit, while a small priest kept stepping forward, slapping her.
If the scene was viewed from afar, it would look rather comical…
“Ugh… can you please stop slapping me and let me finish talking?”
“All right.”
“Slap!”
Ariel lightly slapped Truth.
“Wah! Why are you slapping me now?!”
“Just a reflex.”
Since Ariel was sitting, Truth easily grabbed her collar and pulled her up, leaving her knees slightly off the ground.
Truth pressed close to Ariel’s face, no longer hiding the strong demonic aura she exuded.
The overwhelming pressure, enough to stun three and a half Sunas, was fully unleashed, turning Ariel’s face pale:
“You’re a de—demon?”
No, girl, you should have just said you were a high-ranking demon earlier. Wise people know when to choose their battles. If you’d said that, I would’ve obediently knelt before you, ears pulled, instead of being scared by a fake Saintess act!
“Listen, little bitch, your Meteorite Spell caused me heavy losses, so now I’m very angry—very angry! Now, tell me why you did it!”
The intense pressure made Ariel struggle to breathe, cold sweat dripping down her forehead. What did “heavy losses” mean? Did that big Meteorite Spell just happen to hit something important of hers?
“Uh… my teacher told me to do it…”
Ariel replied hesitantly, and Truth shoved the broken half of the Hellfire Judgement Staff back at her, ordering her to contact her teacher immediately.
Truth was already itching to make that teacher kneel!
A Seventh Rank mage was just a street dog not worth her fight; at most, she would drag Ariel back into the Mist to settle debts.
Truth wanted to establish the reputation of the Blood Demon, taking great risks to build her status.
She needed to let certain people know that a powerful demon was hiding in the Mist and make it clear the Blood Demon was not a member of the Mist but only happened to be hiding there.
Let’s see who still dares to light firecrackers in the Mist then!
This was because once the connection between herself and the Mist was exposed, Deya City and the Mist’s surroundings would be filled with the Goddess of Life’s Demon Hunters and spies from other Great Powers.
Not to mention that the five Human True Gods would likely drop some Twelve-Rank Spells from time to time to perpetually nuke the Mist, leaving no room for development.
Don’t ask how Truth knew they would do that—if she were a Human True God, she would do the same.
That was why she had hesitated so long in the Mist just ten minutes ago.
Under the Blood Demon’s oppressive aura, Ariel grasped the still usable half of her wand and carefully began to summon her teacher with her remaining magical energy.
“Hurry up!”
Truth slapped Ariel’s head, who whimpered and hurried her chant.
Why, Guruxi… why did my first mission from the Heavenfire Lord have to turn out like this!
……
Sylvia Kingdom, a bustling underground district packed with people.
In a dimly lit room with a ceiling dotted by countless stars, Ninth Rank Cataclysm Mage Rosalia leaned back on a bench, leisurely sipping hot tea.
She had short hair dyed a mix of blue and red and wore a crisp white, sharp androgynous outfit.
In front of her sat three students practicing meditation.
“Vuuum—”
A sudden, brief echo sounded in her mind. It was the emergency call from her student!
Who got into trouble? Who dares mess with us Heavenfire Followers!
Rosalia put down her teacup and immediately checked the distress signal.
The blurry figure of her most promising disciple, Ariel, appeared before her:
“Teacher, help!”
Ariel knelt on a patch of ground, clutching the broken half of her wand pitifully.
Behind her was… huh?!
Thanks to anti-surveillance magic, Rosalia saw a terrifying creature behind Ariel.
It was black and red, shapeless like a pool of spilled blood, writhing constantly.
Its deep, sinister black eyes occasionally protruded beyond its body, eyeing Ariel as if urging her on.
A Blood Demon.
Seeing this twisted monster, Rosalia shuddered:
“This is at least a high-ranking Blood Demon. No wonder the Heavenfire Lord wanted me to probe the Mist—it’s hiding an Original Demon inside. Good thing I didn’t fall for it!”
In this world ruled by gods, except for those who became high-ranking “Original” demons before the rise of the gods, all other demons had no chance to advance beyond Ninth Rank due to the Demon Hunter movement.
So everyone collectively referred to demons above Ninth Rank as “Original.”
Rosalia was relieved it wasn’t her who ran into this Original Demon.
Blood Demons, who only attack sneakily from the shadows, were especially troublesome for traditional mages!
Without hesitation, Rosalia severed Ariel’s connection and regretfully turned to her student with a bun:
“Penny, I have good news and bad news. Good news—you’re now the senior to Talis and the others.”
“Really?”
Penny, who was meditating, couldn’t believe it. How did she suddenly become a senior?
Their only senior was Ariel, a Seventh Rank. For the teacher to now make her Ariel’s peer meant recognition of her strength?
It felt great to be acknowledged. Excited, Penny craned her neck and asked:
“And the bad news?”
“Your senior Ariel is dead. So now you’re the senior.” Rosalia sipped her tea.
“What?!”
Being caught by a high-ranking Blood Demon was basically a death sentence.
Sorry, I’m powerless to help.
But luckily, we still have the Heavenfire Lord backing us. Ariel, you should hurry and summon the Heavenfire Lord to help.
Those Original Demons know the Heavenfire Lord well—they’ll likely show some respect and let you go.
If not, just forget I said anything.
……
On the Deya Plateau, watching Ariel futilely fumble with her wand unable to contact her teacher, Truth grabbed the long hair with red highlights:
“Am I your teacher?”
“Don’t pull! Don’t pull! This is the hair I spent ages dyeing! Right… right, besides my teacher, I can also summon the Heavenfire Lord!”
“Hurry the hell up and summon!”