Mad God

After the death of the Gods came chaos. The fall of theirs greatly impacted their followers, especially in the west, where a significant number of people worshiped them. It took years and the Immortals and their disciples' constant hard work to finally stabilize their part of the continent. Amidst these times, the name of the Immortal Wonders Sect gained its reputation as the home of the 4th Immortal. Most of the people in the west did not know for decades to come where that mysterious Sect was located and why it was so hard to get into it, even if one had talent. Only a select few knew that it was on the other side of the world.

"How are things outside?" Kai asked, sitting on a bench on a little, small island in the middle of the Calm Blue. Before him, under the shade of some coconut trees, lay four graves with simple headstones, only having their names etched into them. Skoorn. Nilier. Alfina. Oynega. Beside him, Ren was sitting silently, watching the graves with him for hours by now, not speaking at all until his question rang out between them.

"Starting to settle down. The bloodshed is going to be finally over! It went on for long enough! Now comes the long period of rebuilding. It will take decades for us cultivators but centuries for normal people."

"But it will be done." Kai smiled, turning his eyes towards her.

"Yeah! I was honestly surprised at how well our side held out! I expected the worst, but… it did not happen!" She let out a long sigh, filled with relief.

"It just shows what you did here was the right choice. If it had been hit by the demons as they were before, it would have played out differently!"

"Maybe." she nodded, not going down that road of thoughts for her own sake.

"When are you going to open it?"

"Later." Ren shook her head. "Let the world heal first! I can't shock them with something like that right after everything that just happened! I waited 2000 years; another 20 or 40 is nothing!"

"I agree," Kai said, closing his eyes and enjoying the sound of the calm waves behind them.

"What if their bodies are going to be dug out after centuries pass?" Ren asked a really morbid question right out of the blue.

"If I'm no longer here to prevent that, then that was their fate. If they get turned into a kind of treasure, that is also a kind of rebirth! I'm not going to stress about something like that!" He chuckled. "Whatever happens, will happen!"

"Heh, can't agree with you more on that!" Ren laughed, leaning back and looking up at the Sky.

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…..

As the years passed, the Immortal Wonders Sect returned to their calm and almost idyllic days. After a decade, they had more and more demons joining up, trying to learn how humans act, how humans cultivate, and simply, how humans live. The Empire was flourishing in the wide world, same with the Kingdoms. They reformed their alliance, but it was based on nothing more than trading. By now, the number of disciples from their ranks rivaled the amount from the Empire, and it seemed that the Immortal Wonders Sect was everyone's primary goal.

"Haaah!" Aerthus moaned, leaning back on his chair, while Dermitos started arranging the stacks of papers on his table. "Why do I have to deal with… paperwork?! I am done being an emperor!" He cried, lying on his desk, pursing his lips like a kid.

"No matter if it's a Sect or if it's an Empire, some things never change!" Dermitos laughed, already used to it. "Anyway, most of the time, you pass this to me, Carthus or Boursat! It is finally time that you do something yourself; you are way faster with it than all of us combined!"

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Aerthus rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I am going away with Rumira for a year; we are visiting the other side. I told her I would tour with her when everything calmed down!"

"I guessed so!" Dermitos sighed, knowing it meant, once again, it would be the Grand Elders' job to do everything in the Sect.

"Relax, it is the perfect opportunity to train Frenir! The kid wants to attack the Demigod stage already but needs to slow down! Cultivation is not just sitting down and gathering energy! The mind also needs to calm down for that! And experience things! Haaah! So let him play up to the role of the Head Disciple and try himself out in leading the Sect for a year! Of course, I'll tell Levictus to keep him in check! And you all too! Don't let him come up with strange ideas!"

"Ahaha… sure, sure!" Dermitos laughed, shaking his head. Just as he finished, an explosion shook the whole Sect while their mouth twitched simultaneously.

"That the granddaughter of yours? Back at it again… huh?" Aerthus looked at him with one eye.

"I'll scold my son good… so he really reins in his daughter! Plus Xendar! I'll tell him off, too; it was his son who led her astray!"

"I doubt that!" the Sect Head chuckled.

By now, Feynor had stepped down from the throne of the Empire, giving its seat to his son, Sylas, as he joined the Sect as an elder. Even though he was technically above his daughter in both ranks and by the fact he was her FATHER, it was too late to change Elyse's wild behavior. Outside, at the training grounds, thick smoke was rising as she and her boyfriend, Valen, brother of Ren, were coughing loudly, trying to wave away the black fumes.

"Damn it!" Elyse cursed, "It has failed again!"

"I don't know… as a destructive spell, it is pretty good!" Valen laughed, his arms still buzzing from power, amplified by Elyse's previous spell.

"It should make you more explosive… but not literally!" Elyse groaned, thinking why this was always going sideways, destroying training field after training field. Whenever they tried to join their powers like Ren and Leinor did back in the day. Yet it always went awry, resulting in Elyse being 'blown up.'

"Who is going to repair the damage now?!" resounded a shout as Feynor flew towards them with an angry look.

"Damn… run!" Elyse said hurriedly, but before they could fly away, a flash blinded them as Xendar appeared, already holding his son's ear, twisting on it.

"I can't spank you." Xendar said, looking at Elyse, "But I can spank him!" He zapped his son, who jumped high, crying out for his mom because he felt like bees constantly assaulting his buttocks.

"Stop crying!" Anya's voice came, flying in, standing on a longsword. Even though she was significantly injured in the past, she recovered to a stage where life was pleasant to her, and she could even utilize the Sect's artifacts, flying around without any outside help. "Be happy your sister is out, or she will be the one doing the spanking! You are a grown man already, but you still act like a kid!"

"Miss…" Elyse tried to defend him but only got a stern look from Anya, shutting her up. Especially Anya's following words.

"You should've already birthed me grandsons instead of goofing around with this good-for-nothing!"

"Ugh…!" Elyse flinched as she could not handle her. Anya was simply her and Valen's bane, no matter the occasion.

Farther away, another pair was watching the rising smoke in the distance, hearing the voices of their elders echoing outwards.

"I hope our kids won't be like this!" Poli twitched his mouth while next to him, sitting in the grass, Emi was caressing her growing stomach.

"Don't worry, my genes are stronger; they are going to turn out to be fine little foxes!"

"You know what?" He looked at him with a grin. "I'm okay with that!" He leaned in for a kiss. "Eisen's kids were criminally cute when they were born!" he continued, gently placing his hands on Emi's bulging tummy.

"And they grew up to be little deviants, just like their mother!" She rolled her eyes, "Not to mention how their father is acting! Being always overprotective of them!"

"Ahaha, yeah, I heard that they stole Pongo's special weed once, prompting her to come and drag Shaman back to the forest to hunt them down, getting it back!" Poli laughed loudly.

"I still think she let them get away with it just so she could drag Shaman around. Niji and Kang had the same idea as me!" she said confidently.

"Want to go back to Thunder Valley sometime?" Poli asked as the conversation drifted towards them.

"No, not now! It is a bit crowded nowadays! If we go there, Kang, Niji, and the rest will drag us into managing the city! Even Allfather stays away from them! That amount of work is too much for a demigod tree? No thanks from me! I can't fathom how 04 deals with it... But, she loves the attention she gets there."

"Yeaaaah, you are right! Our best excuse to not stay there for work would be the same as Allfather's, overseeing the peace amongst the dwarfs and the surface!" Emi smiled.

"I don't think that would even work anymore! Most of the ents are using that excuse, yet there is a long ongoing peace between us!" arrived a third voice as Isha walked up to them, sitting down, hurriedly hugging Emi, placing her head to her stomach. "Aww… I can hear them squirming around!"

"I can even feel them~" she stuck her tongue out, sweeping the ground behind her with her happily wagging foxtail.

"Yo~" Poli nodded at her, "You back already?" He asked as Isha and Zern left for the forest, taking disciples with them for a year-long training exercise.

"Yeah, some disciples got hurt, so I brought them home! We told them repeatedly that the forest is vast, bestial demons are still abundant, and they should not take it as a walk in a park! Yet… eh, no matter, a good lesson for them, I say! Anyway, I'm returning in a few hours, so I just came to say hi!"

"By the way…." Emi said, looking into her eyes. "Are you two…?" She asked, sniffing the air, clearly smelling Zern's scent on her.

"I knew it!" Poli pointed at her, realizing the fact.

"Yeah…" Isha nodded with a bit of a shy smile, "We… are trying it again. Maybe it is going to work this time!" she said in a cheerful voice. "Honestly… seeing you getting a family, our younger disciple brothers and sisters getting on with it too… I feel like an old hag already!"

"Don't say this before Ren!" Poli and Emi said at the same time before all three started laughing, feeling blessed, remembering how they all met and where they are right now.

Outside of the Sect, at the shores of the Calm Blue, Wyland was in the small, little fishing village that got rebuilt. He was standing at the beach, watching the waves coming in one after another. His children were already grown up, starting their own families long ago, as he was already a grandparent.

"I was surprised none of your kids picked up cultivation." Toobu stood next to him, enjoying the peace.

"I can't force them to do so, and if they find their happiness in this kind of life, I am also happy for them!"

"True enough!"

"What about your daughter?" Wyland asked.

"That little…" He grumbled, "She is off with her mother into the forest! She is teaching her… demon stuff. I don't know!" He rolled his eyes. "She is a little, fire-breathing menace, I tell you!" Toobu complained, but he just laughed loudly in the end, "Completely me when I was a kid!"

"I can see that!" Wyland laughed with him.

"Don't you want to come back more often?"

"No. I am good here." Wyland shook his head, "After Master returned, it was great to be under him, listening to him once again for years, but I realized this is the life I enjoy the most!"

"I am happy for you…." said his brother, filled with warmth as he patted Wyland's shoulder. "Plus, I am a bit jealous! All of us who are already elders have to teach the newcomers… geez, sometimes it is not fun, especially now that the Sect has grown past 500 000 members!"

It was not just him who was now a pillar of the Sect; everybody else who once was in the top 10 of the same competition once had their own group of disciples and responsibilities. Maybe the only ones from Ren's personal cycle who had it easy were 01 and 02. They were with Veponia, already the father of 12 kids… and counting. After the reforms, the reborn city of the Naulin bloodline was flourishing even more than in the times it was the capital city of their Kingdom. With Keina's, Milly's, and Seya's leadership and bits of advice coming from Rabout, it grew to be such a wealthy and powerful city even disciples of the Immortal Wonders Sect came to their annual auctions, acting cordially towards them. Sentios and Kitten always stayed there, working as Elders from the Sect, serving as the primary connection between the two and regulating the arriving disciples.

At the same time, far away, on the other side of the world, Orsi was sitting on a small boat, sailing down a river, passing by the old town of the God's Blood Sect, looking at the overgrown bushes and grasses, already covering the empty shell of a town.

"You always take this route every 3 years~" Reignar smiled, steering the boat.

"Yeah… it was a weird experience, and it is hard to forget it. I barely knew them, yet when I interacted with their souls, it was like I knew them for centuries," she said, unable to move her eyes from the shoreline until they passed it completely.

"I won't say I understand it, but I get it. After we arrive at the Midnight's Shadow sect, are we going home?"

"We should!" Orsi nodded with a small smile. "We have been away for far too long!"

"It's not a problem~," He said, looking into her eyes warmly. "I take you anywhere you want to go~."

They were not the only ones still traveling their part of the continent. Tylvana, Sengge, Chono, and Uhure, accompanied by Frenir and Paoma, were on a diplomatic mission, establishing connections with people and demons and slowly promoting their part of the world. With selected people only at first.

"I hate the air here," Frenir complained while Paoma was glued to him, as it was her who finally wooed him.

"Man up!" She slapped his butt, "You are going to be a leader of one of the biggest Sect in the world!"

"I'm starting to think Sister Ren knew it best..."

"Tell me about it!" Uhure cut in as they walked along a forest, heading towards their next destination, a small Sect. "She made Thunder Valley and left it all to us! Now we are on a diplomatic mission on the other side of the world, where demons are still looked at weirdly!"

"At least you are not Yanda or Lulu," Frenir answered. "They have been traveling the world or the ocean, to be exact, contacting all the nautical demons! Lulu already pleaded with me to call them back. She said she never wants to smell or see seafood again!"

"See?" Paoma chuckled, hugging his arm, "We are much better off being here! So do not complain!"

"Duly noted!" Frenir smiled, looking towards the Sky, stealing a glimpse at the Tear that now was constantly visible.

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Decades later, high in the Sky, Ren floated there with a serious look right below the Tear. She stood at the exact spot where she once stood, still being the Mad God, Athos. Behind her, only three others accompanied her up here. Leinor, who was now indistinguishable from a normal human, with actual flesh and bones and with powers matching that of an Immortal. Next to him stood Ariana, already a Demigod, watching Ren with a proud and excited glint in her eyes. The last part of the group was none other than Kyu. She looked like a teenager between 15 and 17, already ready to jump forward and go and explore the Cosmos. Invictus, Kaizer, and Ophila were standing prepared, a tier below them, below the clouds, waiting. If anything goes absolutely wrong, they may have a chance to seal the Tear. Maybe. Those who were in the know, at a high enough level to be told that today the Sky was going to be opened, were all standing still, only watching the Sky and the Tear.

"Get ready!" Ren said, letting out a long breath as she collected all the strength she had stored in herself for the past 50 years. Behind her, Leinor gently put his hand on her back, letting her circulate the energies through him the same way they did when they were just kids.

Raising her hands, Ren grabbed onto the fabric of the Sky, and her fingers sank into the Tear itself, starting to pull it apart. The moment she exerted her full strength, every living being could hear as the Sky was ripped apart. Now, the Tear was wide open, and once again, everyone could see the swirling, violet, and red-colored chaos outside as endless, cosmic energies rushed into the Realm.

"We need to stabilize it!" Ren shouted, trying to use her powers to make it, so it won't be just a giant hole in their Realm but a passing point. A gateway between the Realm and the Cosmos.

"For that, you need stability. A catalyst. Something that is bathed in this Realm and also in the powers of the Cosmos." Kai's voice arrived, appearing from nowhere. "Fuse it with it, and it will stabilize naturally! Becoming a natural passing point between the Realm and the Cosmos!" He smiled, already walking towards it, so he would be fused with the Tear, body and soul alike.

"You want to sacrifice yourself?" Ren shouted at him, surprised.

"I am a better choice than any of you." He replied calmly, but Ren reached out before he could step in, pulling him back quickly with a grin.

"Don't underestimate us, Kai~ We have outgrown you!" She chuckled and picked out a small, triangular item from her pocket, throwing it into the tear.

To Kai's surprise, that small thing started to convert the energies of the Cosmos, filtering it in a way it lost its violent nature and started resonating with the Realm itself. The tear that was ragged and its edges were like a nasty injury started to smoothen out. Everything happened naturally as Rabout's little invention, which almost cost him his life, became a catalyst, prompting the Tear to take up an actual shape.

It only took a minute before a colossal, otherworldly gate appeared before their eyes, with see-through, transparent steps below it. When everything calmed down above the oval-shaped entrance, the little device spun slowly and naturally, being the focal point of the entry to their Realm. Now, if one looked through it, the outside world was no longer wild, violent, and frightening. Everyone standing on those steps could see a beautiful, endless Cosmos filled with tiny dots of light, a sea of nebulas, and many other wonders of nature. Knowing that every light outside of it was one Realm, just like theirs, made anyone dizzy thinking about it; even Ren felt her head spinning.

"I'll be damned…." Kai murmured, mesmerized, seeing the image he almost forgot existed. "You all really have outgrown my old soul… but that is a good thing!"

"See? I told you~" Ren laughed, patting his back as the Immortals also appeared, watching the outside world with awe.

"Let's gooooo!" Kyu laughed but was held back by Ariana, pulled back by her hair.

"Ugh?!" She protested, pouting.

"I can throw you out if you want to go, but good luck finding your way back home!" Ariana grumbled.

“Ah… oh… O-okay! I'll wait!" Kyu smiled innocently, bowing her head to her.

"What about you?" Leinor asked, looking at Kai.

"I'll stay." he shook his head in the end. "I traveled the Cosmos long enough. I am fine by just looking at it!"

"We will go." the Immortal siblings said simultaneously. "Our sects are in the transition period. When they stabilized, and the new Immortals are ready to take our places… we will leave!" They bowed towards Ren.

"I am sure we will meet in the outside world!" Ren laughed, hugging the three.

"When are we going, mom?" Kyu asked, impatient, still in the hold of Ariana.

"Soon." Ren smiled, watching the gate with excited and proud eyes, gently holding Leinor's hand. "As soon as everyone else is ready, we will explore new worlds! Together!" She laughed, drawing broad smiles on everyone's faces, standing before a Gate to a new World!

The End