Eternal Thief

"Out with it! What the hell did you do this time?"

Ace couldn't help but grin as his surroundings were changing, and the landmass of the secret realm was being connected with the three forbidden countries as if it was a part of it which has been turned into a secret realm while the vortex was vanishing. 

He replied jollily, "Oh, I'm about to break, though there is no need to worry." 

"What? Do you take me for a fool? What kind of breakthrough is this?" Winter retorted speechlessly. 

"I forgot you haven't seen me breakthrough before. No worries, tell me where you are, and I'll pick you up, and please hurry if you don't want to experience the wrath of heaven with me." Ace coolly said with a hint of teasing. 

He knew Winter was present in this place and still activated the heavenly punishment because he wanted to cause a commotion for her to make her move since it would take some time for the secret realm to merge back if it got destroyed or heavenly punishment appeared inside. 

Furthermore, even if things don't go as planned, he is now confident in protecting Winter, especially after getting two 99.99% laws under his belt. He also got a deep understanding of laws and what they truly represent now that he was only a hair away from achieving 100% element law proficiency. 

But Winter cleared her mission just in time so he didn't have to wait for her and just went to her and sent her back to the thief's house. 

"YOU! You owe me an explanation…!" Winter said through gritted teeth as she told him her general location. 

"Just ask Freya." Ace chuckled before he stepped in the air and turned into a dark lightning blot as he bolted in Winter's direction. 

"Great, now everyone is hiding things!" Winter furiously yelled with a hint of panic in her voice because the aura was getting suffocating as the secret realm was being merged back. 

Not just her, because everyone present in the secret realm or outside was feeling even more terrified. 

At this moment, a perfect triangular island was coming to fruition, connecting the three forbidden countries. They were clearly a part of this unique island once before they were turned into three pieces and a secret realm. 

Now, everything was returning as it once was, and as for the ships or people present in the sea or on the three islands, they were utterly helpless to do anything. They couldn't even escape as they seemed to be locked down by terrifying pressure. 

Even the few quasi-law awareness realms and one law awareness realm demon were in the same situation. They were all nothing but mortals at this point under the terrifying power of heavenly wrath, and it was just the beginning of a nightmare. The most hateful part was they had no idea why this was happening!

At this moment, beside Winter, a dark lightning bolt suddenly landed, startling her so much she almost yelped. But when she saw Ace's figure appearing, she relaxed but also shocked because he seemed to be turning into actual lightning a moment ago, nor did she sense him. 

She asked, forgetting about her current plight for a moment, "What was that?" 

Ace replied nonchalantly, "You mean my lightning form? It's actually the intent of the Law of Evil Occult. It is quite a peculiar law that I have never heard of or seen before. This law seemed to have power over natural elements and their true meaning and could grant one the law intent to turn into those elements as long as you have that element law understanding and many more things. 

"Not only that, but it can also help comprehend natural laws. But the most ridiculous part is the EVIL. It can corrupt any law I used through Evil Occult, raising its overall power by 5%, and anything that gets in contact with that law can't heal unless they have something to counter EVIL. I must say, a law of God is something completely else." He sighed as he appeared extremely spectacle as he still couldn't believe that his kind of law existed, and he felt deep fear of the existence of Gods. 

Furthermore, he knew this law was reduced in level to match his current level, so it wasn't even at its peak state, yet it was still so overbearing. 

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?" Winter had no idea what Ace was saying as she completely lost him when he said the law of God. 

"Rumblee…." 

Mighty rumbling rang, drawing everyone's attention, and when Winter looked above, her eyes widened with horror when she saw the jet-black vortex swirling with four-color thunder. 

It was announcing its presence and was ready to bring down the thunderous calamity the moment the secret realm merged back. But before that, a bolt of four-color thunder started to rain down as the cleanup was starting!

"Alright, I'll explain more later. Now go unless you want to try one of those bolts?" Ace smilingly said, but that smile was filled with chilling, killing intent. 

Winter felt a deep sense of apprehension when she heard his words, and for the first time, she felt fear from Ace and couldn't bring herself to retort. 

"Just b-be… be careful!" She obediently gave her hand, and Ace nodded confidently, "It's just a usual thing, don't worry." She vanished into her thief house's space with a strange glint shimmering in her eyes. 

After sending Winter to safety, Ace didn't have any more reason to move around, and he stood there and just watched the destruction of the three races' holy land coldly. He knew as long as even a sliver of life existed in the heavenly punishment clouds range; it wouldn't pay him any attention. 

At this moment, Ace spotted a few powerful auras rising from the three cities' direction, and they were all law awareness realm experts; even the lords were among them. 

They were all using treasures and escaping techniques to escape alone or with their families. Most of them were alone as they cherished their lives far more than anything else. 

However, under the pressure of heavenly punishment, they were wasting too much Qi, and their speeds were decreased by over 80% because of the suppression. They were only able to move because of their higher realms. 

But Ace only matched with mockery, "If it were so easy to escape heaven, I wouldn't have to go through all those deadly encounters, would I?"