Before spaceships invaded Earth, a familiar ship that defeated the giant squid cruised along. The boat was swiftly sailing around the tip of Africa, with its sailors running about on deck. A young man practiced his sword techniques in a training room for cultivators below deck. His hair was tied back, and sweat dripped down his face.
"Raiken!"
Lightning flashed upon his blade as the young man zipped across the room, destroying targets set up. The man came to a halt, looking at his sword as if it wasn't enough. He needed to be faster and more powerful.
"Hiro!"
Hearing someone call out his name snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking up, his eyes focused on a young girl who had just walked into the room.
"Lucy, have you finally come down here for some training?" asked Hiro.
Even though he was strong for his age, Lucy's speed of cultivating and understanding multiple elements amazed him. He knew one day, she might be the strongest cultivator around.
Lucy, a girl around 10 years old with blonde hair and blue eyes, looked like those princesses from fairytales.
She responded, "Of course not. I don't like getting all smelly like you." The cute girl in her black dress held her nose, making fun of the man.
Hiro just shook his head laughingly. Lucy and his relationship had been close since he became a Knight on the ship.
Lucy then released a tiny static lightning bolt at a remaining target. "See! I don't need any training. Hehe..." She giggled in response. "Hiro, I want to go up top, but Dad won't let me unless I'm supervised."
Seeing her hit him with her "pretty please" look, Hiro sighed. Seeing his head go down, she knew he was defeated. Lucy ran over, grabbed his hand, and ran out of the room.
"This is much better!" She smiled while leaning against the railing.
Hiro leaned his back to the sea, holding his sword. He grew up by the ocean, and his mind didn't care to relax. His last few missions with Reiner proved his weakness in this world. A snake creature on the previous island almost killed him with its venom. This made him realize he needed to train and study more.
What bothered him the most was the limitations of using his sword as a dantian substitution. If he was to use the artificial one created for Knights on board the ship, he would have to restart cultivating at the Early Aura Fighter, and since Hiro was at Late-stage, he would essentially be redoing his last 10 years of hard work.
Explosions rang through the sky north of the ship. The loud noises caused everyone on the deck to look into the sky and see a spaceship breaching the atmosphere.
"Reporting Commander, the flying ship seems to be some space technology we have not seen before," announced a sailor.
"Return to your post, sailor."
Mr. Nightingale looked over to Reiner with a face of worry. His ancestor Vampir Nightingale knew that cultivators from other solar systems could invade them. When energy returned, he decided to start an organization to protect this planet from further destruction. The biggest obstacle is that many techniques and manuals worldwide have been lost or need to be completed. In Hiro's case, that left them to find natural-born geniuses that could cultivate instinct or traditions.
In an old-fashioned sailor dress uniform from the USSR days, Mr. Nightingale beckoned for Reiner to come close. The old man's grey hair covered his head and wrinkled his face as Reiner touched his friend's shoulder. "Old friend, the Universe has come for our world."
"Misha, it is what we feared. I hope the knights are ready for war." In the last 200 years, Reiner trained the many knights under his command. Even though they had been gathering cultivators, they barely had 30 knights.
"Do you think we will survive this?" asked the worried old man.
"I don't know. Babushka said two things: it will rain or snow; it will or will not."
"Reiner, I have a feeling when it does rain. It will pour." The two men stood in the control room, waiting to see the ship take action.
Hiro gripped the railing on the top deck watching as the large metal spacecraft crashed into the ocean miles away.
"Invaders have come," Hiro said as he voiced everyone's thoughts. Everyone on board was warned by Mr. Nightingale. He knew he had to break into the 3rd cultivation level, Shattering, but to do that, he needed to start cultivating again. Clenching his fist, he felt a hand touch his uniform.
"Don't worry too much. War was bound to be upon us." This little girl was as calm and tranquil as a lake even though Armageddon had arrived. No worry was shown in her blue eyes. It was like she knew more than she was letting on.
"You're right. I will get stronger and save the human race from this disaster." Thinking of the giant squid who killed his family and village. Only those cultivated to the peak may protect those they care for.
Looking down at the blade in his hand, Hiro made a vow to himself
to defeat these invaders and protect his planet.
Lucy just looked up at Hiro and smiled. It amazed her how determined and stubborn the young man before her was sometimes. This also would allow him to make it very far on the path of cultivation. She then looked toward the ship crash and tilted her head.
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As the spaceship crashed into the ocean, a human god fell.
Hermes' body sprayed blood as a man covered in red scales watched him
fall. The man licks his spear. "The blood of a fallen god."
The loud explosions everyone heard were the two battling in the sky. Hermes never cultivated to be a warrior. His strength was in his speed, intelligence, and charisma. He only ever obtained immortality to follow his brother Zeus. As the last 5 years went by, the damage to his cultivation worsened and weakened him more than he realized.
The god's blood-soaked toga and missing leg indicated he was the loser. Hermes' body splashed into the cold water of the Atlantic. Soon his corpse vanished into the deep blue ocean.
"Hermes, you should have known better. I have lived many years longer than you. My bloodline is the direct descendant of Adam. I am Adam 721's 1st son, and this world will be mine now."
The dragon-man in the sky floated as his wings flapped. Defeating Hermes meant that this man's cultivation was at its peak. Construct Evolution was the 6th stage of cultivation before reaching immortality and ascending.
As the ship settled within the ocean, thousands of dragon-men exited. They look upon their leader floating in the sky and all of them began to chant.
"Long live Charir-Dar. Long live Charir-Dar. Long live Charir-Dar."
The dragon-man king smiled with his razor-sharp teeth. Knowing he lucked out, being the first group to arrive. That moment didn't last long as hundreds of other ships entered the atmosphere. Invaders wanting this cultivation paradise had come to claim it as their own.
This was forever called the day when the sky fell, and the Earth became the battleground.