It had been a year since the silent battle began.
The guardian had been in hiding for many years. A year ago, Wayzz told him that he sensed someone using the butterfly miracle with black magic. The guardian waited and awaited a supervillain attack on the city or himself. He was very well hidden the whole time, using the turtle's shields. The attack never came and the guardian did not risk giving the miracles of the ladybug and the black cat. Airing those miracles, which when combined can make any wish come true and which were quite possibly what the butterfly holder was looking for, was not a smart move, especially when the stranger had not made any attacks.
So the guardian waited for the bubble to burst.
And it did.
The day Wayzz told him that another miracle had been activated.
The guardian had already chosen which miracles its holders would seek.
The guardian went out to find his champions.
It had been a year since this silent battle began.
Hawk Moth had been searching all over the city for the holders of creation and destruction. Noroo had reluctantly confirmed that what he had read in the book was true: if he got both miracles he could make whatever wish he wanted. For a whole year Hawk Moth had been secretly akumatizing people. He gave them subtle powers and did not change their appearance. They were his spies, to catch the holders or the guardian off guard. People still did not know that they were possessed by akumas, they just believed they had had some strange episode. None of his akumatized ones knew it because the Hawk Moth himself purified them once they were no longer useful to him, doing akumas spend a lot of energy, why would he keep them for no reason?
But one day something changed.
One of his akumas found it.
A miracle.
And then the war started.