Jake had spent another month rapidly progressing since his shopping trip. The most monumental event was when Jake finally laid down the ritual circle framework for the Pollendust Bee Queen. He had prepared enough cores, and with some of the materials he had bought, could begin the initial stages.

It was a bit like how Mystie had used her ritual for a long time before Jake came along. Jake would do something similar but at an even higher level. The ritual circle itself was about ten meters in radius and was placed on his lawn, surrounded by a barrier he cheated to get made by just having Duskleaf erect it. This initial stage would last quite a while and was likely going to be the longest.

Besides the ritual, Jake had just been slamming out potions and had been working on a special kind of soul poison he really wanted to make. It was harder than he had thought it would be, but he still felt he was getting closer to his goal.

With this also came some levels. It felt like they had been coming even faster than before recently, and Jake theorized it was due to how expensive the materials he experimented with were. Again, he didn’t know; all he knew was that three levels in a month was pretty damn good.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 181 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 182 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 177 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 183 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

One other thing Jake had also done during this time was a lot of heavy drinking. Only a bit of it had been alcohol, with the majority being Endurance-increasing elixirs. And damn, had it paid off.

Status

Health Points (HP): 54011/54050

Mana Points (MP): 95231/100484

Stamina: 47021/48320

--

His stamina had increased by more than ten thousand points since he went shopping, the main contributor being 555 stats gained from elixirs, maxing out his current limit for his levels when it came to consuming them. This was before percentage bonuses, so he had to add another 45% to that. All in all, good stuff. As for his free points… Jake had been weak and, in a moment of indulgence, tossed all the 175 stat points he had saved up into Perception.

He had no regrets.

Yet even after all of these things had gone so well and Jake felt like everything was going great, he felt uneasy that day. It was a terrible feeling he could not pinpoint; he just knew something was wrong. Off. Jake felt restless and couldn’t focus as he asked Villy, who didn’t provide any useful answer. He then turned to Miranda to ask her how things were on Earth and was told nothing was amiss.

Next up was Sylphie, and while they couldn’t exactly speak, she also wasn’t worried. Sylphie was still hanging around with Carmen too, so it shouldn’t have anything to do with her either. Jake then checked everyone in the Order he knew but just got confused responses. Nothing was wrong anywhere… yet Jake felt as he felt. Something was horribly wrong, and it frustrated him to not know what the issue was.

And for every moment, that feeling of wrongness was building.

Miranda felt flustered after Jake had contacted her for the second time that day to tell her that something was wrong. He gave no details or even an idea of what the issue was; he just said something was wrong. Miranda had gotten to work and checked in on everyone, having even contracted Caleb, Jake’s brother, to make sure things were calm. He said nothing was wrong. Same for Casper and the Risen.

The Noboru Clan also didn’t have any issues. She was well and truly lost and considered if perhaps she had to go to the Holy Church and the Augur to try and figure out if there truly were any problems. She even went as far as to check where the two hawks, Mystie and Hawkie, were, but they were still in the forest. If they were in danger, then Miranda had no idea what to do anyway.

In all honesty, then Miranda was worried about Jake. What if something had happened to him that caused some kind of mental disturbance? That didn’t seem to be an issue, though, as he was perfectly lucid. Lucid… but troubled and worried.

She kept trying to find the problem and did recall Lillian, Hank, Hank’s children, and most people she and Jake both knew. He had said that his feeling of wrongness was likely connected to someone he knew being in danger, but that was it. All she could do was take precautionary actions.

Miranda was still researching and trying to find out what was wrong as suddenly the ground shook. Are we under attack?

Without any hesitation, Miranda activated one of her skills to get the status of the city and saw only one place with a disturbance. The teleportation building connecting Haven and the fort had been utterly destroyed. Even the usually well-protected one at the Fort was now nothing more than rubble.

She instantly teleported down to her ritual chamber to prepare for an attack as several tokens in her inventory vibrated. With bated breath, she checked them and saw the same message from everywhere.

“Under attack-“

“Teleportation circles-“

“Cut off-“

The Noboru Clan, Court of Shadows, Valhal, Risen, and even the Holy Church.

Miranda scrambled to understand the situation and quickly realized one thing: in an instant, the entire teleportation network of the planet had been destroyed.

An hour earlier.

Sometimes, one must choose a lesser evil.

Arthur checked his watch and saw it was time. The researchers and space mages had been hard at work for the better part of a year, and finally, their hard work would be realized.

“Activate the circle,” Arthur said.

The more than a dozen space mages complied as they got into position. Soon, the circle began pulsing with power, a cube in the center functioning as the anchor to connect two very far-off places. The cube had been given to him during the Myriad Choices event for this exact purpose. The magic circle would only be active for a few seconds… but it was enough.

Eighteen figures appeared, and a second after, the entire underground chamber shook as cracks formed all over. The mages who had helped perform the ritual all fell unconscious to the ground as healers rushed in to take them out. The formation was well and truly broken too, but it had done what it was supposed to.

“We meet again, Arthur,” the man – if he even was that – leading the entourage of new arrivals said. His orange skin made it clear he was not human, and neither were any of his comrades. Arthur knew every single figure that had just appeared could singlehandedly battle the strongest party that the United Cities Alliance possessed. But such a force was necessary, especially their leader and the odd shifting elemental-like being of ash. Both of them were figures he knew few could rival.

“Welcome to Earth, Celestial Child,” Arthur bowed, using the title he had been informed the alien named Ell’Hakan went by.

“A single sun and a singular, powerful moon,” Ell’Hakan smiled as he looked up, his gaze seeming to pierce the several hundred meters of soil above them to gaze at the sky. “I thank you for your welcome, and I believe all preparations are in place?”

“We have held up our part of the bargain,” Arthur nodded. “By the end of the hour, everyone will need to be in position, so we must not delay.”

“Naturally,” the alien man nodded with a smile as Arthur led him to the chambers above.

A hard decision had to be made, and Arthur had simply seen no other path than the one chosen. A cancer had invaded their planet in the form of divine fanaticism. And like cancer, these organizations would fight each other to eventually leave the body they inhabited dead, broken, or mutated beyond recognition. So he had chosen to battle this cancer by introducing a metaphorical chemo-therapy – a harmful method that he at least had a semblance of control over. One he hoped would give their planet a new life.

Once they reached the chamber above, Ell’Hakan turned to three of his followers. “Go.”

The three of them nodded as they all teleported away. Space mages, all three of them.

“What do you intend for them to do?” Arthur asked.

“Something for the future. Only a fool doesn’t plan for tomorrow,” Ell’Hakan said with a comforting smile. “Do not worry. I will keep my promise, and their task is of no consequence to our plan. Once our business concludes, and if we are successful, you shall have this world, just as the contract dictates.”

Arthur nodded, feeling assured. “Very Well. The Disciple should arrive soon.”

As if he had predicted the future, a young man walked into the room. Arthur once more felt pressured as he knew this person was at the very peak of D-grade already. Just a single step away from his evolution and a vital piece in their strategy.

“Greetings, Disciple of Eversmile,” Ell’Hakan greeted the young man with a bow. “Have you made the preparations? Assembled them all?”

“They are ready,” the young man named William simply said as he looked at the being of ash. “I take it you will be the one to lead them?”

“Such is the arrangement. Lead me to them, human,” the rumbling voice of the Unique Lifeform said.

The more time passed, the more assured Arthur felt. Despite not a single one of them being in C-grade, they had a chance. But the Chosen was powerful, and so was this Fallen King. There were also many other factions…

Ell’Hakan noticed Arthur’s doubt and comforted him. “As long as you do your part, so will we do ours. Remember who stands before you. Now… let us begin our story of conquest and liberation.”

Miyamoto sat in meditation within his chambers. The wind was blowing hard as the flowers swayed, the world itself in contrast to his inner calm. He had been contacted earlier by Ms. Wells of Haven and informed that Jake believed something was wrong.

The Sword Saint would not disregard the hunter’s judgment and was prepared.

He opened his eyes as the ground rumbled. Yells went through the entire compound, and the city of Saya was in chaos as the security forces moved to find those responsible or identify their city’s attacker. All he heard in the distance was that the teleporters were all destroyed. Miyamoto slowly stood up and sighed.

“Who are you people?” he spoke as two figures appeared. Both with orange skin. He frowned as he felt their power. These people… stronger than the Judge of the Court.

“We come at the behest of the United Cities Alliance as well as our lord, the Celestial Child, Ell’Hakan. By his grace, we offer you the opportunity to surrender and to join us in our quest to purge this world of divine influence,” one of them said.

Miyamoto frowned. “What does this purging consist of?”

“The death or escape of all those who serve their gods as puppets,” the other one of his two visitors answered. “We do not care for those blessed by gods with no alliances or factions, such as the Primordial you call your Patron.”

“You are starting a war,” Miyamoto said, his frown deepening. “One that neither Noboru Clan nor I will take any part in.”

“Very well,” the first person spoke again. “It shall be told you died with honor.”

Miyamoto drew his blade as the two were upon him, and in an instant, he was blasted out of his personal compound, flying through the air and out of the city. He landed in the plains outside the city as the two figures appeared to his sides

The Sword Saint got into a defensive position as the two charged again, the old man ready this time.

Caleb had instantly put the true Skyggen in full lockdown after Miranda contacted him. A choice that would prove incredibly wise as not long after the attack arrived. The fake Skyggen had its teleportation arrays all blown up in an instant, and even the secret circles set up by the Court were destroyed.

He moved quickly as he evacuated his parents, wife, and child to a shelter, and just in time, too, as he got reports of incoming attackers. Yet they did not move to actually attack but had simply stationed themselves outside.

As the Judge of the Court of Shadows, Caleb was usually informed about something like this happening… but he had been taken by surprise, and from the sheer level of coordination, this was not some minor attack. They had simultaneously struck nearly every settlement and every single faction at once. He had no idea what these people were planning, but he soon got an idea as more and more intel arrived.

It was a full-on attempt at a planetary takeover.

All over the part of the planet inhabited by humans, similar scenes took place. Armies appeared in cities out of nowhere as residents showed their true colors. The United Cities Alliance had long been considered the largest singular faction and was now showing it. In many places, they simply caused civil unrest. Others went and directly attacked the local City Lord to take control, effectively expanding the scope of the alliance

In the cities that were too powerful or with a populace that could not be infiltrated, far more common forms of warfare were deployed as each city was cut off. Many City Lords that had simply allied with a religious group surrendered immediately once under pressure as they had no way to get swift reinforcements and feared for their lives.

Within less than half an hour, the once well-connected planet with a sprawling teleportation network was turned into a planet of isolated islands with vast distances between each of them.

“Earth under attack, teleportation network down planet-wide, Sword Saint MIA, Caleb isolated, and yet to establish any contact with other cities,” Jake heard from Miranda as his feeling of wrongness was at an apex. The message almost gave him relief as finally, he knew what had caused it.

There was not a hint of hesitation as Jake went to the teleporter in his residence. The moment he reached it, he tried to activate it but felt like the connection was slightly unstable.

“Villy, something is wrong with the teleporter. Can I still use it?” Jake asked with slight panic.

“It will take you to Earth if that is what you ask. It will even take you to your city,” the god answered promptly. As if he had been waiting.

“What is happening on Earth?”Jake asked, knowing the god knew.

“Jake, there are things mortals and gods have to deal with. This is not something that involves me. But… good luck, I believe in you, do your best,” Villy said as he cut off the connection, leaving Jake frowning even more than before. Villy seemed almost worried? But he did understand the part about this not being an issue for the god to deal with.

Without hesitation, he activated the teleporter and was sent through the void. The journey was thankfully uneventful as Jake touched down right in front of the monument erected to allow his teleportation and-

BOOM!

Right behind him, the monument exploded. Debris and rock flew around his ears as he took in everything his sphere saw. Flying pieces of the broken monument, soil and dust spewed up from everywhere, and red flames soared up into the sky from the attack that had broken the installation.

Jake turned his head almost robotically as he saw three figures land amongst the rubble of his now cut-off way off Earth. He stared at what the man in the front was holding as that something was thrown toward him. It landed a few meters in front of Jake and rolled on the ground as he stared down at the lifeless eyes of the monument’s creator’s severed head. Chris’ head.

“Welcome home, Chosen of the Malefic Viper,” a familiar voice said as Jake looked up and saw the Chosen of Yip of Yore – Ell’Hakan.

“I did tell you we would meet sooner than you expected,” he spoke in a calm tone. “My condolences for the builder; he was useful while it-“

Jake didn’t give the man a chance to speak as he charged. A few hours ago, he had been doing alchemy in peace. Everything had happened so fast, and Jake barely had time to properly register what was going on. But… he didn’t need to.

His eyes burned with pure anger as a katar appeared in each hand. Arcane Awakening activated at full power immediately as there was no hesitation or doubt.

He was going to kill every single one of them.