As they approached, the rhythmic sounds of steel clashing against steel and the grunts of exertion grew louder. The training grounds were a wide, open field of packed dirt, lined with weapon racks, straw dummies, and wooden targets.
It was not so far away from the golden apple garden. In a way, that only strengthened the security of those precious golden apples.
Groups of non-human soldiers were having friendly sparring matches with each other, their movements sharp and focused. Cryptus was the one instructing them. It felt quite funny to see a 3'11 feet tall skeleton teaching others, especially when some of them were over seven feet tall with broad, muscular bodies.
At some distance, she saw Reiza and Irish training under Li Feng. Especially Irish, since Reiza was only used to fighting with her hands.
She had only joined in to use this as a chance to learn more about Irish's skills and strengths. Who knows, it might actually end up helping her during the competition that would happen soon enough.
Reiza looked at Li Feng and gestured with her eyes. Li Feng immediately understood and waved his hands to stop them from swinging their swords.
"Ahem... ahem... Let's start sparring sessions now. Miss Irish, show me your best sword skills and magic, and I'll show you mine. Do not hold back!" he said with a light cough, trying to sound like he had no deeper intentions.
But in reality, he only wanted Irish to reveal her trump cards during the sparring session. With Reiza and Li Feng, although they were not related by blood, they were still like cousins.
He still treated her like his own sister, so of course he was rooting for Reiza to win in the upcoming competition.
"I won't hold back either and make her reveal her full power without any other choice!" Li Feng thought to himself with a smirk, his fist clenching around the hilt of his katana.
Irish was about to nod in agreement, but then her gaze landed behind Li Feng, onto two figures coming towards them.
"Honey!" Irish exclaimed with a bright, happy smile.
"Aren't you ignoring me? I'm here as well!" Lunatic added with a light chuckle, puffing out her chest a little.
Li Feng turned around and saw Scarlett and Lunatic coming towards them. His lips twitched twice, feeling irritated because of Scarlett again.
"Not her again," he sighed to himself in disappointment.
Scarlett immediately noticed the sudden change in Li Feng's expression the moment he looked at her. She also felt irritated for some reason, and she rolled her index finger downward and smacked Li Feng's forehead lightly.
"What's with that sour face? You should feel honoured to see me. Now be a good boy and bow down to me!" Scarlett said, feeling a surge of pride.
"Yeah, yeah," Li Feng said in an uncaring tone and bowed down slightly. "I greet the queen!"
"Hmm... Now that's good!" Scarlett said, rubbing her nose proudly.
"Whatever. Did you just come here to disturb me?" Li Feng sneered, looking away with a flick of his wrist.
"Just a casual inspection. Is everything going good? Any shortage of weapons quantity or quality? Any hidden threats?" Scarlett asked, her tone shifting to that of a responsible ruler.
At the same time, Lunatic walked over to Irish and started having a small conversation with her and Reiza.
Li Feng was still looking away as he answered, "Everything's going fine as long as you are not here." He added the last part with a clear hint of annoyance.
"You! Canta you just answer one thing clearly" Scarlett's lips twitched again. She felt like smacking this Li Feng once more.
"Forget it. Once you are done here, go and find Aoto. Ask him when he's free. You are gonna take him and others to the mana cave and teach them about the basics of cultivation, okay?" Scarlett instructed.
"Others are fine, but I'm not dealing with your pervert friend. And why are you even friends with someone like him? Your image in my eyes has gone down even more!" Li Feng crossed his arms, speaking with slight disgust.
"Ohh, yeah? But I was thinking of marrying your sister to him," Scarlett said in a teasing tone, a wide smirk playing on her lips.
"No way! My sister would only marry a handsome and kind demon that she herself will choose!" Li Feng immediately fell for Scarlett's ragebait the moment his sister Xao was mentioned.
Scarlett turned around immediately and started walking away. "I'm going to talk about it to Aoto and Xao, hope they like it!" she said in an over-the-top voice, making sure he could hear every word.
Li Feng immediately chased after her. "Hey, stop! Don't you dare!"
But then Scarlett opened her wings and flew away immediately, leaving Li Feng standing there in despair, shouting at the empty air.
"Haha... of course she was messing with you. You are so easy to read!" Reiza chuckled and patted his back lightly.
Before he could say anything, Irish came in front of him. Her eyes were different now, her pupils filled with the darkness of the deepest abyss. Li Feng was immediately startled by seeing Irish's expression.
Irish had a calm face, but behind that calm face was clearly a brewing storm.
"Mr. Li Feng, I've been noticing your behavior towards Honey for quite a while now. I think you should be a little more polite. She's your queen!" she said calmly, her voice laced with a bone-chilling coldness.
A black death aura started leaking out from her body, showing her bloodlust. The air around them grew heavy and cold.
"I-I'm sorry!" Li Feng apologized out of pure instinct and gulped hard. He looked at Reiza for help, but she immediately looked away, leaving him all alone to face Irish's wrath.
"Cough!, I apologized out of instinct!" he thought to himself, feeling a mix of fear and frustration.
But then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the black death aura vanished. Irish smiled charmingly, her eyes returning to normal.
"It's good that you understand!" she said, clapping her palms together as if marking it as the end of the conversation.
"I suddenly remembered some really important work, I'll be back!" Li Feng made a quick excuse and immediately walked away, trying to save his own skin.
All three of them watched his back as he disappeared into the distance, and then they looked at each other. The air became thick with an awkward silence, but then Lunatic broke it.
"Hey, listen to me for a second!" Lunatic said, waving them closer.
Once they were huddled together, Lunatic spoke in a low voice, "Don't you think Scarlett has been acting a little weird lately?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Reiza asked, her face scrunching up in confusion.
For a moment, Irish's mind flashed back to that strange dream, to the other version of Scarlett she had met. But it seemed impossible that Lunatic knew about that, so she kept her mouth shut.
"What makes you say that? I haven't noticed anything at all," Irish said. As a yandere, she was supposed to notice every tiny detail about Scarlett, the person she loved more than anyone. The fact that Lunatic had noticed something she hadn't made her feel a sharp pang of failure. It was like she wasn't being devoted enough.
"If she's right, then I've really been slacking lately," Irish thought, a knot of worry forming in her stomach.
Meanwhile, a sly smirk spread across Lunatic's face. "It's just a feeling, but I'm sure of it. Let me prove it to you. Maybe we can have some fun together before the competition starts!" she added, her voice dripping with mischief. It was clear she had some naughty plans hiding behind that innocent smile.
******
Meanwhile, back in the royal palace, about an hour earlier, just after Scarlett and Aoto had gone their separate ways, Aoto headed towards the guest rooms. He was looking for Chiyoko, Richard, Ingrasia, and Irish.
"Everyone, it's time to go hunting~!" Aoto yelled excitedly as he threw open a door.
But when he looked inside, his smile faded. The room was completely empty.
"Huh? Nobody's here. They must be in Richard's or Irish's room, then," he thought to himself, turning around to leave.
But the very second he took a step out of the room, the floor vanished beneath his front foot. It was like stepping into thin air.
"Whoa!" Aoto cried out, completely caught by surprise. Before he could even react, his whole body was swallowed by the ground.
The next thing he knew, he was falling through the sky, surrounded by fluffy white clouds.
"What in the world is going on?!" Aoto shouted in disbelief, his body spinning and tumbling wildly through the air.
He tried to use his magic to stop himself and fly, but for some strange reason, his magic wouldn't work at all.
Soon, he saw a ground of white clouds rushing up to meet him. Before he could even think—
CRASH!
His head hit the ground with a loud thud, but to his surprise, it wasn't hard at all. The ground was soft and bouncy, like landing on a giant, fluffy bed.
"Phew, I'm okay!" he sighed in relief, pushing himself up to sit.
He shook his head to clear it and looked around. A little way off, he saw Chiyoko, who looked just as dazed as he felt. It seemed he had been through the exact same strange experience.
"He's here too. I wonder if the others are also here?" he thought, scanning the area.
He didn't see anyone else. Instead, his eyes landed on two magnificent thrones sitting right high up in front of him. And on those thrones sat two breathtakingly beautiful women, both with hair that shone like pure gold.
One was wearing a white and golden dress that showed off her thighs, with a delicate chain in her hair decorated with crystals. She wore multiple gold rings and bracelets on her hands, looking just like some kind of Egyptian goddess.
The other wore similar white garments and jewelry, but her style was more like a goddess from Greek mythology.
Although both of them had beautiful golden hair, their features were different. Still, it was impossible to tell which one was more beautiful.
"Don't tell me, they're goddesses? Am I dreaming?" Aoto thought in shock. He never expected to be actually summoned by the goddess who gave them their blessing herself. There was clearly no mention of something like this happening to previous summoned heroes.
But at that moment, Chiyoko looked forward and spoke.
"You! Did I die again?" he exclaimed, looking at the one wearing the Egyptian-style dress.
Aoto immediately noticed his reaction. "Did he meet them before? When?" he thought to himself, completely confused.
He had no idea that Chiyoko had met the goddess of love, the one wearing the Egyptian-style dress, after his death and was summoned to this world with a new, handsome body. Although Even Chiyoko didn't know about the other one.
"Welcome, the two heroes of this generation!" the one who looked like a Greek goddess spoke. Her voice was clear and powerful, like a melody.
"I am the goddess of beauty and battle, Aphrodite. You, Hero Aoto, have my blessing!" she said in her holy-sounding voice.
"And I am the goddess of love, Nikke. Mr. Chiyoko was summoned under my blessings!" the other one spoke, crossing her legs lightly. Her voice was more charming and seductive than holy.
"So they are actually goddesses. Their looks sure fit their titles," Aoto thought to himself with a smirk.
"Umm... where are we? And why are we here?" Chiyoko asked, his voice full of confusion.
"Good question!" Aoto muttered to himself.
"You both are currently in the Fifth Heaven!" Aphrodite added.
"The Fifth Heaven? What's that?" Chiyoko said in confusion.
Meanwhile, Aoto immediately remembered something. Scarlett had shared the knowledge she gained from torturing Dr. Magi, about the world having multiple heavens, and the Fifth Heaven being reserved for high-ranking goddesses or angels.
"So he was actually telling the truth? Multiple heavens do exist!" Aoto thought to himself in amazement.
"There's no need for you to know that!" Nikke answered Chiyoko's question calmly, waving her hand dismissively.
She then rested her cheek on her fist while her elbow was on the throne's armrest.
"As for the reason you are here, it's something you are quite familiar with!" she said, her voice turning high-pitched as if it echoed through the air.
"Scarlett Nova! The fake goddess who is trying to ruin both of our names and steal our faithful believers!"