A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign

Mao Lu felt the electricity of their kiss, it was like a storm brewing in his mouth.

He couldn't help but smile as he held onto Chàng Bo, their noses rubbed, their lips pressed against each other and their hearts beat in sync with one another.

"Ah, this is love," he thought as he felt his heart skip several beats.

They stared at each other in a daze for a few seconds before Mao Lu became aware of his surroundings again. He frowned and looked around at the now decimated Coven.

Their lovey-dovey aura faded and Lu's right eyebrow began to twitch. "You did this didn't you?"

He glanced over the corpses on the ground, he was pretty sure that their fight with Four and Five had not caused this, not to mention he had sensed some destruction going on in this Coven before Four or Five had even gotten there.

Due to Chàng Bo's cloaking device, he had been blind to the massacre Chàng Bo had committed, but now that he was here he could easily put two and two together. It didn't take a genius.

Lu folded his arms and glared at Bo, "I'll give you one minute to explain yourself.”

Chàng Bo blanched, his face getting paler as he heard Mao Lu's softly spoken words yet felt his scary aura. Mao Lu's aura was insidiously overwhelming, it made him almost powerless.

He shyly looked about attempting to avoid eye contact as he muttered, "Well you see…"

He looked up and saw Mao Lu's crossed arms and his no-nonsense expression.

Chàng Bo fidgeted some more until he eventually sighed, "The Mages here were really disrespectful to you. They know that you are the Gatekeeper and they knowingly let one of their kin cause harm to your friends and I…."

As he was saying this excuse he could already feel his argument chipping away. He felt like a child being reprimanded by a teacher.

He sighed, "Alright, truthfully I wasn't having the best of days, and these people were so arrogant and blatantly disrespected your authority by letting what happened to Frank, happen. I also noticed that a lot of the Practitioners in your Realm don't respect your authority as a Gatekeeper enough yet. I mean you've been letting them do what they want and not giving even a little recrimination. And I thought I would let loose a bit, y'know and give them a warning."

"A warning." Mao Lu looked about at the bloody smears of blood and guts on the ground that used to be Mages belonging to the Western Witches Coven.

"You call this a warning," he said dryly.

Lu shook his head, he was annoyed but at the same time so happy to see Chàng Bo that he couldn't even shout at him.

"I mean" Bo felt flustered, he had never had to justify his actions before. In the chaotic Star Realm, every day was a life or death battle. The strong always survived and we're always right, if someone died from the hands of someone stronger, although many wouldn't like it, not many would complain.

"They could have rescued Frank Wang and they could have prevented Qi Zhou from getting involved with your friends from the start but they didn't, and I found it rude—"

"So you decided to kill them all because they were being rude" Mao Lu interrupted. He tutted with annoyance.

"Honestly…you're so immature Chàng Bo, actually this is beyond immaturity, this is a problem" Lu groaned and cupped his head in his hands as he looked around again.

"I'm not a self-entitled jerk like the other Gatekeepers. I thought you knew me better by now to know that I'm not a tyrant and that I would never enjoy you doing something like this."

Chàng Bo felt sheepish if anyone else had said that to him he would have sneered and ignored them, but when it came from Mao Lu he felt embarrassed.

He bowed his head slightly, "I was wrong, I'm sorry."

"You, sorry?" Mao Lu laughed, "You definitely were wrong, but I sincerely doubt you're sorry, you're only saying that to appease me."

"..."

Bo didn't know what to do. It was true, he wasn't really sorry, but he was starting to feel bad about his actions. He didn't want Mao Lu to be mad at him.

He was internally shocked by this revelation. He really couldn't stand seeing Mao Lu angry at him, liking someone so much that he valued their perception of him, was a new feeling.

"Fine, fine, I don't want to be mad at you. I just want to get out of here." Mao Lu grumbled with annoyance. He started to angrily walk away leaving Chàng Bo standing there as dejected as an abandoned puppy.

"I didn't tell you to just stand there" Mao Lu yelled back at him, "Come on let's go home together, and when we get back we are going to have a serious conversation about morality and ethics."

Chàng Bo inwardly groaned as he heard the words "lecture", "morality" and "ethics", but he still quickly ran up to Mao Lu and grabbed his hand.

He smiled fondly at him as they walked out of the Coven and into the surrounding area Scandinavian Forest.

Lu blushed as he saw Chàng Bo's handsome and cute grin, he had to remind himself that he was supposed to be mad at him.

As they stepped out into the pale sunshine, he frowned and looked around with concern. "Wait where are Fei Bing Bing, Detong, Tanaka and Lao?"

"Umm... I'm not sure" Bo shrugged

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

Chàng Bo laughed as he heard the combination of worry, fear and anger rising in Mao Lu's voice. “You know you’re adorable even while mad?”

"OW!" he yelled as Mao Lu pinched his cheeks.

"Don't laugh and flirt with me when I'm asking you a serious question, and stop with that wide stupid grin."

"I can't help it, when I'm with you I can't stop smiling" Chàng Bo laughed, the grin on his face growing impossibly larger.

Mao Lu felt his face go a bright shade of pink. He coughed as he let go of Bo’s cheeks and held his own, they were warm.

“Don’t cover your face, I want to see it” Chàng Bo placed his hands in his.

As he held Mao Lu's soft fingers he felt his whole body hum, a daring yet gentle warmth filled up his heart and he felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach. When had he ever felt so calm, when had he ever felt so happy and playful?

Only Mao Lu made him feel this way.

He wanted to lean in and kiss him again, but then a voice interrupted them.

A figure cautiously stepped out from the air and said, "Mao Lu…? "

It was Fei Bing Bing, she appeared in front of them, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you!?" She shouted.

She gave no time for Mao Lu to respond before she flung herself at him, hugging him tightly.

As Bing Bing did this, Bei Lao and Tanaka also appeared. They also seemingly stepped out from the air, appearing in front of them like mirages in the desert.

While they also grinned at Mao Lu, they didn't approach him, their eyes couldn't help but wander over to Chàng Bo, the wreckage of the Coven and the ruptured carcasses which lay scattered around.

"You need to either let go of the Pendant or use your willpower and desire to be seen, otherwise you will remain invisible to everyone," he explained lazily to the empty air in front of them.

A moment after this sentence there was a soft plop on the grass as a Blue crystalline Pendant fell on the ground.

Shortly after Zhao Detong appeared.

"Your friends are so good with instructions" Chàng Bo commented like he was praising some Pet Dogs as he swiftly picked up his Pendant from the ground.

As he placed the Blue Pendant in his pocket he noticed Zhao Detong slowly backing away from him. A look of fear, disgust, and discomfort flashed across Detong's face as he stepped away.

Chàng Bo wasn't the only one to notice Zhao Detong's movement. Mao Lu noticed it as well, and he also noticed that it wasn't only Detong who appeared to be scared Chàng Bo. In fact, even the usually bold Tanaka was silently hiding behind Bei Lao, watching Bo as if he were a rabbit watching a hungry Tiger.

Mao Lu internally sighed, what was he supposed to do when his friends were scared of his boyfriend. He felt a headache coming on. He couldn't even blame them for being scared of Chàng Bo, if they had witnessed even a tiny part of what Bo had done to the Coven, then their fear was justified.

He wanted to say something comforting or optimistic to get rid of the thick tension in the air but then he noticed that Zhao Detong was not only backing away from Chàng Bo but also himself.

Detong looked at Mao Lu with an equally fearful expression and continued to walk backwards until his back hit a tree. His legs trembled.

"Bing Bing come here," he said. His voice so quiet that it was barely a whisper.

Fei Bing Bing looked at Zhao Detong with concern, "What's wrong—"

"I SAID COME HERE!"

Zhao Detong looked at the corpses on the ground, he looked at the swords that Mao Lu and Chàng Bo carried, he looked at the glowing rune armour Lu was wearing and violently shook his head.

"This isn't right, this isn't normal. You saw it too right, those monsters they fought. Mao Lu's powers, the way he killed people" he pointed at Bo with a shaking finger.

"That isn't normal!”