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"Keuk!" The Fornol Empress grunted in pain as she collapsed to the ground, watching the corruption part of her bubbling out of her body, condensing into a sphere before her.

A thin strand of corruption formed a tether between her and the sphere, acting like a cord extended from her hair. It was what prevented her power from being extracted out of her permanently.

Yulna frowned as she stared at the sphere before her, deep in thought as she observed it. Even though it was still the corruption that she controlled, it had absorbed the essence of the world, a signature ability of the Grade 3 System, Apocalypse.

And absorbing the essence of the world had resulted in the corruption turning into the Fornol Sunflower, the power wielded by the Empress. But, even though it was resulted from her power, Yulna was unable to use it or absorb it into her own, the reason why she was frowning at the moment.

The previous Yulna was only a Stage 5 mystic Human, possessing the abilities of five Mutated Beasts, with the strongest of these Mutated Beasts only having five horns.

This formed a stark contrast to Rhizen that was at Stage 9, possessing nine Mutated Beasts, with a good fraction of them having nine horns.

Therefore, even when she had as much corruption as a Celas that had been able to face Rhizen, she wasn\'t strong enough to fight him, for her abilities were weak.

The potency of her abilities wasn\'t enough to kill Rhizen if she were to face him in the future. Therefore, Yulna wished to integrate the powers of the Blight Humans into her to strengthen herself.

But, it was easier said than done, even if she wished to exchange her current powers—Mutated Beasts—to gain the power of Blight Humans.

She had five abilities in total: Burst Crossbow, Rippling Whistle, Celestial Armour, Rapid Wings, and the All-Devouring Whale.

Among them, the only useful ones were the Celestial Armour and the All-Devouring Whale. Rippling Whistle was useful before to communicate with fellow Mystic Humans. And now, she could use the same to command Blight Humans all over the world.

But no matter how well she organised the Blight Humans to destroy the Mystic Humans, they would only serve as an annoyance. In the end, she was the one that had to face Rhizen.

This was because, even if a Blight Human were to reach Stage 10, they would never be able to kill Rhizen, someone that could harness his luck to affect Cause and Effect should the need arise.

So, only she could fight him, thanks to her immunity to instant deaths and innate resistance to his luck abilities.

\'It\'s not working.\' Yulna frowned as the sphere of corruption only sparked from time to time, failing to merge into her body.

Sighing, Yulna snapped her finger, watching the corruption turn into a stream and flow into the Empress, watching her gasp for breath as she regained her powers.

"You may leave now." Yulna waved her hand, turning silent as she fell deep in thought.

"Yes, God Mother," The Empress bowed before leaving.

Staring at the back of the leaving Empress, Yulna thought of the characteristics of the Empress\' ability, Fornol Sunflower, \'It\'s a terrifyingly powerful ability. I\'m missing something that\'s preventing me from integrating this power into my own.\'

She then summoned her Whale, watching its figure oozing out corruption as she thought long and hard, "The Whale\'s characteristics will allow me to do something about it. But first, I must evolve my current abilities."

She summoned the rest of her Mutated Beasts, intending to experiment with them, \'I should use them to somehow evolve the Whale to make it possible for it to devour Blight Humans to integrate their power into my own.\'

"Something like treating them as my Mutated Beast…" She sighed in the end, snapping her finger as she gazed at the four guards before her, "Why don\'t the four of you fight? I\'m bored."

"Yes, God Mother." The four royal guards nodded in response before they began to fight one another, unleashing their respective abilities.

Currently, they were all at Stage 2, having grown with extensive training that Yulna had given them over the past month. \'But, it\'s not enough.\'

\'They need to reach Stage 5 at the very least before they become strong enough to help me.\' She thought, watching vines and flowers with various effects clash with one another before her, \'But, the actual prize is at Stage 10.\'

Every world had a champion of its own to face the apocalypse. Some were stronger than the others, but all of them had the capability to become the strongest of their species, which they did in the end, whether they won against the apocalypse or not.

In the Undead World, the champion had reached Stage 10, the only Horned Human in their world to do that. As even Rhizen was only at Stage 9, this was a significant feat. The same was true in the Green Sludge World too. Moreover, in the Aberrant World, Felix would reach that level in the future.

But, it was once the first Horned Human reached Stage 10 did those from the PADS understand the true worth of Horned Humans. They were the essence of resistance their world expressed when being invaded by Apocalypse.

When a Horned Human reaches Stage 10, they gain the qualification to obtain an External Item.

Tower of Purification, Vitality Bowl, Fortress, Castle Wall, etc. There were all sorts of External Items that the PADS had manufactured over time. But, it was manmade, a fruit of their genius.

In contrast, the External Item of a Stage 10 Horned Human was created by their homeworld itself. it was special, granting the champion tremendous power to wield, in a class of its own.

They were able to harness the power of their world to fight.

And this was Yulna\'s true goal in forming the Blight Humans. Among them, the Empress was the target that she was nurturing to become that champion.

After all, even though Blight Humans were created using the power of Apocalypse, they didn\'t try to take over the world as Apocalypse did but instead were gradually being integrated by the world itself as the power of the Blight Humans was derived from the essence of the world.

Meaning, Blight Humans too had the chance of gaining an External Item at Stage 10, as they shared the same power system as Horned Humans.

So, if the Empress were to reach Stage 10 first, she would gain control over the world\'s power, allowing her to even face Rhizen.

\'With the two of us joining hands, we\'ll be able to force Rhizen into a corner, at least enough to damage his Pearl Buck and allow the Astral Network to reconnect with this world.\' Yulna thought.

Just that was enough, for once that happened, Apocalypse itself would descend onto this world to fight Rhizen.

She was aware that no matter how strong she became, she couldn\'t kill Rhizen, at least, the current her couldn\'t see the possibility.

But, once she connected to the Astral Network, dozens of Grade 2 Systems and even Apocalypse could take charge of that to destroy Rhizen once and for all. And following that, they could use his corpse to locate the homeworld of PADS and reclaim the power stolen from them.

\'But before that, I should become strong.\' Yulna firmed herself, intending to experiment further, \'After all, Rhizen too should be doing the same. If he reaches Stage 10 before all my preparations are done, I\'ll die.\'

"No…" She muttered, "Once he reaches Stage 10, everything becomes meaningless. He would become way too powerful."

…

"Tch!" Rhizen clicked his tongue, closing his eyes as he failed to make contact with his home world, \'It seems what I feared has become reality.\'

His connection with his home world worked in a vein similar to the Astral Network used by the Systems. And just as how his Tower of Purification blocked the Astral Network, Yulna\'s Tower of Corruption blocked him from contacting the headquarters of the PADS.

This meant that the two of them would remain stranded in this distant universe unless one of them is killed, or at least their Tower of Purification/Corruption is destroyed.

\'But, the Horned Humans are still able to inherit Mutated Beasts from the Beast Armoury.\' He nodded in thought, \'That means the connection isn\'t entirely cut off.\'

This was because Yulna\'s Tower of Corruption, when it was wielded by the Stotte City Lord was only at Stage 7.

An External Item grew on par with its user. And as the Stotte City Lord was only at Stage 7, its development too was on that level.

Therefore, even though Yulna\'s Tower of Corruption blocked Rhizen\'s connection with the PADS, it didn\'t block off everything, allowing the Horned Humans to come into existence without problems.

\'This means that once I reach Stage 10, the sheer power difference between us would allow me to contact home once again. Yulna\'s Tower of Corruption wouldn\'t be able to block me anymore.\' Thinking as such, Rhizen watched the Emperor and the ministers become Horned Humans one after another.

He then looked at them, saying, "Summon envoys from the neighbouring Kingdoms. Ask them to ally with the Lerni Empire by promising them the power of the Horned Humans."

"And, also warn them that if they dare ally with the Fornol Empire, they\'ll be decimated."

"Yes, we\'ll follow your orders." The Emperor made a formal bow in response, heading to the palace to make preparations immediately.

After becoming a Horned Human, he was finally able to sense the vast ocean of power originating from Rhizen as a thought resounded in his mind, \'He\'s a Deity.\'

The same thought resounded in the minds of everyone, for even after obtaining power, they realised that Rhizen was on a whole other plane of existence as compared to them.

Rhizen observed that the expression of some of the ministers changed rapidly as they seemed drunk on power already, even though it had only been a few minutes since they had obtained it. \'They will definitely use it for selfish needs and commit horrors upon the weak.\'

As someone whose goal was to prevent that, Rhizen didn\'t like his power being used to commit horrors on anyone. And hence, he took action, appearing before the Pearl Buck as he placed his hand on its stem, pouring in a dense stream of Nacre as it lit up, unleashing a beam into the sky as the energy rippled out.

Immediately after, Rhizen\'s voice travelled all across the world, transmitted by the Pearl Buck whose influence enveloped the entire world, resounding in the ears of everyone.

"To both the Horned and Blight Humans, I order you…"

For some reason, all the Blight Humans began to tremble in response, feeling that the corruption in their bodies was vaporising rapidly just by hearing his voice as their expression paled. As for the Horned Humans, they instinctively submitted to his voice, for the very Nacre in their Origin Space heeded his orders.

"You can only kill those with power. If you were to use your power as a Blight Human or a Horned Human to kill the general populace, I\'ll come to know." His voice, exuding a commanding authority turned further serious.

"And, I\'ll erase you from existence."