Chapter 75 Xuna Vs Fornol Empress (Part 1)

Rhizen arrived at the centre of the Pitcher Plant Forest, watching the leaves clamp upon him, failing to even scratch his Celestial Armour. He stared at the Pitcher Plant King, muttering coldly, "Will you spit them out, or do I take them out myself?"

The Pitcher Plant King emerged out of the lake, trembling as hundreds of its vines jutted out of the water, expressing its anger. But, upon sensing the vast stream of power, almost infinite in nature billow out of Rhizen, it controlled itself.

Though unwilling, it opened its lid, taking out the figures of Yihan and Xuna that were pretty wounded. Their skin had vanished, with a part of their flesh missing, having been digested by the Pitcher Plant King.

It was able to sense that devouring these two would prove beneficial and hence did that exactly, gradually digesting them and turning their powers into its own.

But before it could finish the process, Rhizen arrived, interrupting it.

He created two beds using Homing Feathers, making them as soft as possible, using them to carry the wounded Xuna and Yihan. They were bordering death now, on the verge of losing their lives.

Rhizen infused his Nacre into their Origin Space, allowing their powers to do the rest as he actuated them. As the creator of Nacre, he exercised command over it. And hence, it was easy for him to actuate their powers.

Xuna's Healing Rod manifested itself above her as it began to heal her body. Yihan's regenerative powers were actuated, gradually causing a layer of skin to form on his body while all the missing flesh regrew.

Upon seeing that their recovery was going well, Rhizen stared at the humanoid entity within the Pitcher Plant King's pitcher, surprised for a moment before nodding in response, "I see, so you're this world's creation."

The humanoid entity was trembling in fear while staring at him, akin to a prey encountering a vicious predator.

Rhizen observed Nacre and corruption swirling around within it in equal amounts, held together by what seemed to be the essence of the world. He recognised it thanks to witnessing it before while helping Xuna.

The essence of the world was the most concentrated within this humanoid entity, allowing him to understand that the world itself was trying its hand at gaining control over both Nacre and corruption.

And, it seemed to be sourcing the information from the Tower of Corruption and Tower of Purification.

Normally, he would have either stopped this process or tilted the balance in the humanoid entity towards Nacre, allowing them to obtain dominance.

But now, he refrained from taking such an action, interested to see how this world would develop next. After all, unlike the other worlds that were devoured by Apocalypse, this world was actively embracing the powers of both Apocalypse and him.

Therefore, something interesting might be birthed as a result. And, this humanoid entity was the amalgamation of that, the focal point of this world's plans regarding the two world-changing energies.

The reason he didn't interfere was simple: Nacre and Blight Cores.

Nacre Cores were beneficial for the growth of both Horned Humans and Mystique Humans. Similarly, Blight Cores were beneficial for the growth of Blight Humans. And this in extension implied that they were beneficial for all entities created by Apocalypse.

Normally, they would try everything in their power to annihilate all traces of Apocalypse. But with the Blight Cores in their arsenal, they could capture weak Aberrants, Zombies, etc. among those birthed by Apocalypse and nurture them in a safe environment.

This way, they could create a farm to train and strengthen the abilities of weak Horned and Mystique Humans.

After all, in all apocalyptic worlds, only those at Stage 5 and above could do anything. The rest were too weak to make a difference and would have to constantly be rescued.

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But with the Blight Cores introduced in the mix, they could turn an entire world into a training ground where weak Mystique Humans would fight and kill the likes of Aberrants, zombies, etc. gaining both experience and confidence in dealing with such creatures.

That would fuel their growth, allowing them to be veteran warriors by the time they reached Stage 5, becoming ready to be deployed into an apocalyptic world.

Therefore, both the Blight and Nacre Cores were important for the future of PADS and the annihilation of Apocalypse.

This was why Rhizen didn't wish to alter the status quo of this world, leaving everything to the natives. His only goal at present was to deal with Yulna. Once she was dead, he could try looking for a way to return home.

With the Tower of Corruption removed, it would be easy for him to contact home, form a connection, and return using his power of Thieving Heaven immediately after.

"I won't interfere in your life," Rhizen stared at the humanoid entity, stating solemnly as he pointed at Yihan and Xuna, "Don't kill these two now. But, if they try to attack you after this, feel free to do as you please."

The humanoid entity subtly nodded in response to his words as Rhizen observed that the two were fully healed now, disappearing soon after. "I'm sorry to have used up your Luck, Xuna. But, I've already replenished it."

"Take care." With that, he made a beeline towards the sun, intending to observe the development of his second External Item and also begin preparations to reach Stage 10.

For some reason, he felt that reaching Stage 10 would make it easy for him to find and deal with Yulna.

...

"Ugh!" Xuna woke up, feeling groggy as she blinked in confusion, staring at a leaf before her. It took a few seconds before her face paled, realising what was happening as she looked around in a hurry, noticing that she was surrounded by leaves from all sides.

But strangely, none attacked her.

Xuna then noticed Yihan getting up, hurriedly calming him down so that he wouldn't make any big movements and trigger the leaves to attack. They definitely wouldn't survive if that were to happen.

"Let's leave slowly." She said, using her rocket to carry him out, tensed all along that the leaves would attack them like before. But strangely, they didn't.

Even though they wished to understand the reason, both Xuna and Yihan were aware that they weren't capable enough to escape if the leaves tried anything on them again. Therefore, they curbed their curiosity and made their way out, sighing in relief upon leaving the lake first.

Soon, they flew above the rest of the Pitcher Plant Forest, leaving it shortly after.

But, just when they thought they were safe, Xuna felt the ear on her left prick, turning around as her action shifted the thrust of her rocket, jerking the two to the side.

​ Alarmed, she watched a beam of sunlight, akin to a laser move past them, singeing Yihan's armour as he protected her with it. If she hadn't moved, they would have faced the brunt of the laser impact.

"Tch!" Feleokruna clicked her tongue in response, watching her targets evade her attack. She then focused on Xuna's horns, her expression forming a scowl as she stated in distaste, "That's our enemy's chosen Horned Human. She's already attained Stage 5."

"S-Stage 5?" Luncress was startled. Even he had only reached Stage 3, and he was one of the first to become a Blight Human.

Based on what Yulna told him, Blight Humans were the first to appear. There was at least a month of delay before Horned Humans began to appear.

So, the fact that a Horned Human managed to reach Stage 5 at such a short interval before they could even reach Stage 4 was tantamount to her terrifying potential and the extent of support she gained from Rhizen.

"I'll be facing her." The Fornol Empress said, getting up while commanding the other two, "The two of you target the other guy. He's only Stage 2, so make snappy work of him and then reinforce me."

A Fornol Sunflower appeared on the palms of her hands, glowing orange as they emitted minute sunlight that seemed to tremble underneath her palm. The trembling soon shifted over to the wind, gradually applying pressure on her palm before her body was lifted.

For a moment, it seemed like she could fly, but in truth, that wasn't possible. She was releasing a tremendous volume of energy to maintain this, something that only allowed her to hover barely.

This wasn't to take flight, but a form of warming up for her as immediately after, her ability began to rapidly drink up the sunlight, turning up the heat she could emit.

Feleokruna took in a deep breath as she exerted strength in her leg muscles, pausing for a moment before bolting off to the front, leaping off from the Varnol, landing on a female Spageon that Lortwik brought at the position.

The Spageon quickly flew closer to the ground as Feleokruna landed on the sand, dusting herself as she got up and glared at Xuna, announcing with a loud voice, "I am Feleokruna, proud Empress of the Fornol Empire that controls half the world, representative of all Blight Humans."

In response, Xuna landed a hundred metres away from her, holding a gun in her hands as she spoke curtly, letting out a chuckle, "I'm Xuna, the enemy you can never hope to defeat."