What kind of joke was this?
Logan looked at the one wearing a wooden mask... no, that was not a mask at all. That was actually his face, a round face made of wood, with only a few small holes serving as his features. A faint purple glow drifted out from within.
He simply floated there quietly, holding a purple flower horn in his hand. From his color scheme and appearance, he clearly belonged to the Akana faction.
But what Logan wanted to ask was, why was he here?
A long time ago, Logan had already mentioned that in Riot's setting, the Spirit Blossom skin line was not purely a skin universe.
Spirit Blossom skin champions could appear at the same time as the champions of the main universe, that is, Runeterra, and neither side affected the other. It was not a universe line like Odyssey, nor was it a special universe like Divine, Immortal Journey, or Star Guardian.
Because of that, this guy should not have appeared here at all!
Of course Logan recognized who he was. That was freaking Bard!
Bard!
Officially recognized, and recognized among the player community too, as one of the strongest beings!
He was a true cosmic apex!
In Riot's official universe, Aurelion Sol was the absolute ceiling, and the only thing that could be mentioned in the same breath as him was the Void. That was also the only existence Sol took seriously.
As for Nagakabouros, that great sea-serpent monster was just the designer indulging themselves.
Below the Dragon King, Logan knew of two such existences. One was the Mask Mother, who created Kindred and many death gods. The other was the roaming god who wandered between planets, Bard.
Yes, Bard was widely regarded as the strongest being beneath the Dragon King!
Among champions, number one was Aurelion Sol, number two was Bard. Basically, no one would argue with that.
Because of that, seeing Bard appear in the Spirit Blossom realm, to be honest, Logan's calves were trembling a little right now.
This was just too absurd!
The joy from earlier, when he had seen so many gods in the Spirit Blossom realm, instantly disappeared, because even if all of these gods were added together, they would still not be enough for Bard to beat up.
As the strongest being under the Dragon King, just how ridiculously powerful was Bard?
Put it this way.
Ornn was powerful, right?
He was publicly recognized as the strongest demigod of Runeterra. Even if placed in the celestial universe, Ornn would still belong among the top beings. From the respect Soraka, the Starchild, had for Ornn, and from what a group of Aspects had said when they descended to the mortal world, it was possible to tell just how powerful Ornn was.
If ordinary demigods came at him, even a dozen or so of them would not be enough for Ornn to swing his hammer at.
And yet Ornn's true form... was actually the same as those little meeps following behind Bard!
That was right, you heard correctly. Those little meeps behind Bard, those tiny yellow things that danced along when he blew his horn, would grow up into beings like Ornn!
And how many meeps did Bard have?
Just like his in-game portrayal, Bard constantly wandered across the Rift, absorbing meeps to strengthen himself. In the official setting, Bard also wandered between planets, saving them and taking away the nature spirits of those planets.
Because of that, there was no way to calculate how long Bard had existed, nor was there any way to calculate how many planets he had visited over the years, or how many meeps he possessed.
If Logan could not be certain that Bard was a benevolent god, his face really would have turned green by now.
"Logan, what's wrong?"
Seeing Logan standing there in a daze, Ahri sniffed and jumped onto Logan's shoulder.
After rubbing against Logan's cheek, the little fox said, "Why are you spacing out?"
"Ahri... him. Why is he here?" Logan asked Ahri. Only Logan and Ahri could hear this conversation.
Ahri glanced at Bard, then transmitted her voice to Logan in the next moment. "You mean him?"
"I don't know either."
"What?"
"I said I don't know either."
Ahri explained, "He belongs to Thresh's side. He is a god of the Akana faction. Although both the Akana and Kanmei are under my care, the problem is that I really don't know how he got in here, nor do I know what kind of memory he was born from."
"It was just, just one day... he suddenly appeared like this. Like you." Ahri spoke seriously.
She was not lying.
She was the first god born in the Spirit Blossom realm, but in her memories, she truly did not know how this wooden fellow from the Akana faction had appeared.
To learn that, perhaps they would need to ask Thresh?
"..."
Logan took a deep breath.
No, he could not treat him as Bard. The Spirit Blossom gods had nothing to do with the real-world champions, so this... probably just looked like Bard?
Maybe some Ionian had once seen Bard and spread Bard's story, and then a god had been born from that because of him?
Logan could only think about it that way. Otherwise, there was truly no way to explain why Bard would appear here.
The Spirit Blossom realm was indeed powerful, and Runeterra was indeed special, but to Bard, destroying Runeterra would only take one move.
As a supreme god of the universe, Logan believed Bard absolutely possessed that ability!
Although he thought that way, Logan still maintained his respect toward Bard.
After cutting off his connection with Ahri, Logan looked at Bard and tentatively asked, "You are?"
"Hum—"
The wooden face swayed. Bard bobbed his head, lifted the flower horn, and blew it once, producing a humming sound. Then he showed Logan a smile.
An eerie smile.
"..."
Logan did not understand a single thing Bard had said.
And because the Akana gods all carried obsessions they could not forget, their emotions fluctuated greatly, and they often did not communicate much with each other. Among the many Akana faction gods present, none of them paid attention to Bard, so no one helped Logan explain what Bard had said.
"..."
"Can you speak? Or transmit your voice to me." Seeing that Bard seemed easy to talk to, Logan continued speaking.
The two small holes on Bard's wooden face narrowed, and in the next moment, the sound of a horn being blown appeared in Logan's mind.
Blow, blow, blow, what the hell are you blowing for?!
Do you know how nervous I am seeing you right now?!
Pressing his distress down in his heart, Logan took a deep breath and looked toward Ahri. "Ahri, where's Thresh?"
"Thresh? Thresh doesn't want to see you." Ahri tilted her head, then laughed as she spoke. "After you came in last time and took me, Tristana, and the others outside, Thresh fell into depression."
"He knows it's impossible to imprison your soul now. After all, if he dared to do that, everyone would beat him to death!" Ahri said seriously.
Tristana laughed brightly from the side and said, "Right. We won't let Thresh catch you."
Then a furry paw tugged at Logan's pant leg. Logan turned his head and looked down, only to see a face that looked extremely punchable.
"Can you really take us outside to play?"
It was Teemo.
He held something that looked like a wooden flute and looked at Logan with eyes narrowed into slits.
Logan: "..."
Teemo's face really was so punchable.
After saying a few words to Teemo, Logan also chatted for a while with the gods who came forward to speak to him. Then Logan said, "I came this time because I need everyone's help. Ahri, take me to see Thresh."
"You're sure you want to see him?" Ahri's tone was strange. "The reason he isn't coming to see you is because he's afraid that once he sees you, he won't be able to hold back the urge to take your soul."
"If you go see him now, what if he goes berserk?"
Logan laughed and said, "Aren't all of you here?"
"That's true."
Ahri nodded, then shook her large tail. She jumped down from Logan's shoulder and walked forward. "Found him. Come on, follow me. I'll take you to Thresh."
Ahri looked very excited, and that made sense. Acting as the guide while going to make trouble for her old rival, of course Ahri would be excited!
In the end, Ahri really was very mischievous. Her nature was lively, playful, and clever.
Logan nodded and followed Ahri, but he did not notice that Bard behind him was tilting his head and looking at his back.
Within those wooden eyes, a streak of multicolored light flickered. A presence that did not belong to this Bard appeared, but in the next instant, it vanished.
In the celestial universe, within a land of stars...
In a galaxy no one could reach, a large, broad-bodied being with gray-white hair so long it was impossible to tell whether it was hair or a beard was taking a short nap.
That gray-white hair reached down to his chest and was tied at the very bottom.
He wore a patched robe, with a bright red scarf around the middle. This existence within the galaxy actually had a face formed from a round piece of wood.
There was nothing on that wood. It was round and clean. But in the next moment, two holes suddenly appeared.
Golden light appeared in the two black holes in the following instant.
Along with the appearance of those two holes, the galaxy behind him began to tremble violently. Countless particles of starlight began to move and split apart.
"Meep, meep!"
Along with the trembling galaxy, a group of small golden beings appeared, calling out noisily. They were packed densely together, endless in number, so many that it was impossible to count them.
Those tiny star spirits were golden yellow. Their heads were round, their bodies were slender, and they had no arms, only two legs.
One group of tiny golden beings tugged at this existence's beard, while another group used their heads to carry over an enormous horn. On top of that horn, two beings were lazing around and dozing off.
"Hum..." Beneath the two golden holes, another hole appeared.
A sound spread out. In the next instant, the galaxy behind him completely shattered.
Two enormous hands moved. The shattered galaxy instantly shrank and appeared in those great hands, changing from dazzling multicolored light into a vast golden glow.
"Meep!"
A golden being jumped onto his chest and bumped him with its head.
Then it cried out, meep, meep, meep.
"Hum?"
"..."
"Hum!"
He nodded, then rose and stood among the stars.
The little fellow before him had just told him that he had already napped for three hundred years. And he felt that this afternoon nap of his... had been truly wonderful.
It had been great!
But if no one had disturbed him, he believed he could have kept sleeping.
He reached out and caught the little golden fellow before him, then nodded to it.
The golden little fellow in his palm shook its small head, and in the next moment, a strange space appeared.
Looking at this space, surprise flashed through the eyes of the celestial being named Bard.
"Hum?"
"Meep, meep!"
The little fellow before him was saying that this was what had happened.
When Bard heard that, he became even more curious. When had he ever split off his divine thought?
One had to know that even a single strand of his divine thought was enough to destroy a planet. Because of that, every time he slept, he would have these little fellows watch over him. But this time, they had actually failed to keep watch?
"Meep, meep, meep!"
"Hum?"
My divine thought ran out on its own?
When Bard heard that, he became even more surprised.
So he stretched out his great hand toward that space, then reached into it.
But in the next moment, he suddenly withdrew his hand, and his eyes narrowed.
Combined with the hole at the position of his mouth, that expression looked like shock.
That was right. Bard truly was shocked.
What had he sensed?
The aura of the Star Dragon, the aura of the Mask Mother, and the aura of that empty world, filled with desolation, shrill cries, and not the slightest hint of life.
How could so many powerful auras appear on one planet at the same time?
This piqued Bard's interest. He also understood why his divine thought had run out on its own and appeared in that place.
Because he was him.
Bard had always been an optimist, the kind of person who loved joining in when something interesting was happening. Otherwise, he would not have been called the cosmic drifter.
One had to know that the title he gave himself was the Wandering Caretaker.
That alone showed just how much Bard loved wandering around everywhere.
"Hum..."
"Meep?"
"Hum."
Bard sighed. He had no way to force his way into that planet. Although if he wanted to, he could destroy the laws set down by that planet, which had given birth to its own will, at any time. But if he did that, then he would not be himself.
He only went to a planet when that planet fell into crisis. While saving the living beings on that planet, he would take away the planet's will, that is, the golden little fellows before him.
And another thing was that forcing his way in would draw the attention of the Star Dragon and the Mask Mother.
Although the Star Dragon was trapped, Bard knew very well that in the celestial realm, there was no existence capable of imprisoning him. He was doing it willingly. Bard did not know what he was thinking.
But Bard did not care about him, because Bard and that guy could not play together.
So, when the little fellow asked what he should do, Bard thought of a good idea.
If his true body could not go, then he could simply look at that world from the perspective of his divine thought, right?
He had just woken up. Resting for a while was fine.
As for how long he would rest, that depended on when the next planet in need of his rescue appeared.
Thinking of this, Bard narrowed his eyes in a smile and happily picked up his great horn and blew it once.
"Hum!"
With just one sound, his horn echoed throughout the entire universe.
For a time, countless powerful beings in the celestial realm all withdrew their auras.
Especially in the territory of the Targonians, just one horn sound made the God-King of the Targonians issue an order, forbidding all Aspects from going out.
And this was merely a sound Bard had blown because he felt happy.
Closing his eyes, Bard connected himself to his divine thought.
In the Spirit Blossom realm, on Purple Prison Mountain.
After learning that they were going to Thresh's place, most of the Spirit Blossom gods had already left. This was especially true for the gods of the Kanmei faction. Led by Syndra, they clearly disliked Thresh.
But quite a few still followed Logan to Purple Prison Mountain, intending to watch the show.
After all, in this place, there might not be anything entertaining for several thousand years. Because of that, not every Spirit Blossom god was as indifferent as Syndra, even among the Kanmei gods.
At the very back of this group of gods, the fellow who had previously followed the crowd in a daze, floating in the air while holding the flower horn, suddenly trembled.
In the next moment, on that wooden mask of his, golden light shone from the two small holes.
But in the following instant, that golden light was covered by purple.
"Hum..."
A faint sound emerged. His head rotated three hundred and sixty degrees as he curiously examined this world.
No one knew...
The second strongest being beneath the stars had appeared.
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