Yumina soared through the sky in the sleek vessel she had borrowed from Su Fei. The journey had taken half a month, half a month of nothing but endless water, purple horizon and distorted winds. But at last, the destination appeared.

A giant volcano stood in the middle of the ocean.

It was massive, its crater wide enough to swallow entire fleets whole. Smoke constantly rose from its ridge, forming a ring of dark clouds above, yet strangely, no eruptions had happened for years. The volcano had become a docking hub for ships instead of a danger zone. From above, countless ships looked like tiny ants surrounding a colossal, slumbering beast.

Yumina slowly descended toward the forested side of the volcanic island. She landed in a secluded area, tapped her ring, and stored the flying vessel. The ring gleamed with a faint silver glow.

She smiled at it.

It was a gift from Tyla, an absurdly expensive high-grade storage artifact. She still remembered how casually he had tossed it at her, as if he were giving away a handful of stones.

She shook her head at the memory and was about to lift herself into the air again when several shadows appeared around her.

A dozen thuggish men stepped forward, surrounding her in a loose circle.

Their leader, a scarred man with a jagged tattoo on his cheek, grinned. "Well, well. Welcome to the island, wealthy young lady."

"Wealthy?" Yumina tilted her head.

She tucked a strand of her bright orange hair behind her ear and looked at them, confused.

The leader chuckled. "Pretty girl. Young. Fancy clothes. And above all... arriving in a personal flying vessel. That model alone is worth millions."

Yumina blinked. She knew the vessel was expensive, but millions?

Su Fei was just working under Tyla, wasn’t she? How did she casually hand over something so costly?

"Right..." Yumina sighed. "Anyway, I’m in a hurry. Oh, before I forget, do you know a short girl with light hair and a big hammer?"

"Oh?" The leader’s eyes lit up. "Are you her friend? What was her name again?"

"The dwarf-looking one," a lackey chimed in. "Stel—no, Ella!"

"Yeah! Ella." The leader laughed. "That little girl had guts. She actually fought the Explosive Gangsters."

"Explosive... Gangsters?" Yumina repeated flatly. "Who came up with that lame name?"

The group stiffened.

"Lame? You dare call that lame! That’s exactly what she said." The leader burst into laughter. "You two really are made from the same cloth. Listen, sweetheart. Nobody messes with the Explosive Gangsters here. They run this whole island."

Then his expression darkened.

"Capture her. If we hand her over, the bosses will give us a nice reward."

Yumina cracked her knuckles calmly. "Great. Then lead me to them."

Before they could decipher her words, she rolled her wrists.

Two gleaming lion-faced gauntlets materialized on her arms.

They didn’t even have time to scream.

A few minutes later, the half-dead leader lay on the ground, pointing shakily toward the volcano’s peak.

Yumina dusted off her hands, reclaimed her vessel, and shot into the sky.

---

At the volcano’s summit, a disturbing scene unfolded.

The lava was perfectly still, like a glowing red lake sealed under invisible pressure. A massive stone slab floated at the center. Sitting atop it was a small girl with pale hair and a shattered hammer dangling limply from her hand.

Ella.

She looked exhausted, her aura drained to the point of flickering.

Around the crater stood dozens of men with bright red, explosive-looking hairstyles. They yawned and watched her with lazy interest.

"I wonder how long she can last," one said.

"Shut it. Boss is using his domain to suppress her aura. She won’t last a month," another replied.

"Why’s he keeping her alive? Why not just kill her?"

"Apparently she crushed the boss’s brother’s little brother."

"Huh? His little brother’s little brother?"

"His, uh, private parts."

"Oh."

"Boss gave her a choice. Become his brother’s plaything... or jump into the volcano."

Ella could barely lift her head. Her fingers trembled. She had been holding on with sheer willpower.

"Ling Tian... Yumina..." she whispered.

Then the sky cracked open.

Lasers shot down from the clouds.

"What the—?!"

Before the gangsters could move, one of their men was vaporized into ash.

Even Yumina stared at her vessel’s sudden firepower.

"What kind of monster ship did Su Fei lend me...?" she muttered.

She didn’t have the Prana Stones to fire repeatedly, so she unleashed every shot she could. Red-haired bodies dropped like flies.

Then, bam.

An invisible force slammed into the vessel. It recoiled and spun backward.

Yumina steadied herself. "A domain...?"

A man floated into view. His red-spiked hair crackled with fiery aura.

"A Grandmaster? Great..." Yumina groaned. "Why is the vessel so sturdy though?!"

The Grandmaster smirked. "Even after colliding with my domain, it survived. That toy is worth more than your life."

Yumina leapt from the vessel and met him mid-air, her lion gauntlets igniting with power. Energy beams burst from her fists.

A fierce aerial battle erupted.

Ella looked upward, her tired eyes widening.

"That’s... Yumina? Already flying? Already a Grandmaster?" she muttered. She wanted to feel jealous but was only relieved.

The vessel, meanwhile, drifted to her side silently.

Ella leapt into it. The moment she stepped on board, she felt her aura instantly recover slightly.

"Nice... Yumina sent it here on stealth to rescue me."

She pressed a hand to the wheel and the ship responded automatically.

"Wait... what kind of ship is this full of guns?" Ella scanned the laser turrets and her eyes sparkled. "This is awesome..."

But Yumina was still fighting.

"AI! Can you fly on your own?!" Ella shouted.

"Affirmative," the AI replied calmly.

Ella grinned dangerously.

"Good."

Above the volcano, Yumina struggled against the Grandmaster’s brutal flame-based domain. His attacks pushed her back repeatedly.

"Just a little more..." Yumina gritted her teeth.

Suddenly—

BOOOOOM!

The vessel rammed into the Grandmaster at full speed.

"Huh?" Yumina blinked.

The impact blasted both of them downward.

The ship didn’t stop.

It carried the screaming Grandmaster straight into the steaming lava.

"No, wait—! AAAHHH—!"

He vaporized instantly.

The entire battlefield fell silent.

Yumina floated in the air, stunned.

Ella popped up from below, proudly standing on the flying vessel like she was posing for a heroic painting.

"Behold!" she declared. "Ella, the Grandmaster Slayer, has arrived!"

Yumina descended and landed in front of her.

"...Ella."

Ella puffed her chest proudly. "Yep, that’s me, "

Yumina hugged her tightly.

Ella, being short, immediately suffocated between Yumina’s chest.

"Mmph, Yumi, I can’t breathe—!"

But Yumina didn’t let go, "I was worried..."

Ella froze... then slowly hugged her back. Even if her face was buried in Yumina’s chest.

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

"So you met a rich mommy with amnesia... seduced her... and she even paid you to lay with her?" Ella’s eyes widened, sparkling with admiration.

"What the—?! Paid for lay? It was an accident!" Yumina snapped, then abruptly stopped.

Ella leaned forward. "Wait. So something DID happen? Did you cuck Ling Tian with another beauty?" She burst out laughing.

"Oh, great. Now I regret coming here to save you..." Yumina groaned.

They bickered all the way down the volcanic slope like the childhood friends they were. The three of them, Ling Tian, Yumina, and Ella, had grown up together before getting dragged into this world because of the cultivation circuit. But fate had kept the trio separated for too long, and only now were they slowly reconnecting.

"Anyway," Yumina said once Ella calmed down, "I got a clue about Ling Tian. Someone saw him near Nox Pass. We need to head there next."

Getting there was easier said than done.

It took more than a month of searching just to hire a ship willing to approach the Nox Pass. And right when they finally secured one,

"What do you mean you’re canceling?!" Ella slammed her palm on the desk, her giant repaired hammer wobbling behind her.

"We’re sorry!" the ship workers bowed repeatedly. "But we just received alarming news—"

Before he could finish, the sky suddenly rained paper.

Dozens, hundreds, even thousands, of bounty posters fluttered down. Airships and flying vessels were throwing them from above.

"Huh?" Ella caught some.

Her expression froze and amazed by the Bounty amounts. It was bounty posters of the Phantom Pirates.

"According to reports," the worker said nervously, "the Phantom Pirates attacked the Red Dragon Boat. They completely destroyed it. The Red Dragon Master escaped, but both Sky Dragon Palace and Sea Dragon Palace were enraged and immediately issued bounties. They say several nearby ships were blown apart... and even a floating island sank into the sea."

Ella stared at the poster, slack-jawed.

"What the hell...? They destroyed a Dragon Boat?!"

Yumina wasn’t shocked for the same reason. Her chest tightened, but with worry, not surprise.

"I wonder..." Yumina whispered, clutching her hands together, "If Tyla... and her crew escaped already? Also Ling Tian is near the Nox Pass."

She had no idea that Tyla and his crew were the ones responsible for all of it.