Boom!
The planet forming the Apocalypse System cracked into pieces and collapsed as a Whale drilled out through its centre, almost zombified as it didn't stop devouring the former's essence.
"You…bastard!" The Apocalypse System cursed as it began to lose consciousness, for its essence was being devoured by Rhizen now, 'It went just as you had expected. I never thought he would win, but he did in the end anyway.'
Suddenly, the pearl tree on its planet body dissipated, carrying the rest of its essence as it fused with the Apocalypse World, "Hahaha!"
The Apocalypse System's maniacal laughter resounded as it roared, "I've poured my everything into your world. From now onwards, it'll be in a state of perpetual apocalypse, the worst kind where it's impossible to sustain life."
"Even your shelters won't be an exception."
Crackle!
A corrupted power gradually crept towards the cliff and touched the door, corroding it in a matter of seconds as it inched inside.
Immediately, the plants within began to shrivel up. The ants furiously mixed their saliva into the corruption and caused some of the greenery to recover.
But the corruption was overwhelming, gradually killing more and more ants.
"Hahaha, what will you do now, Rhizen? You might have won the battle, but you lost the war. Your people won't be able to survive this." The Apocalypse laughed before soon, it calmed down, shooting its gaze at a certain before it dissipated for good, emanating displeasure, "Fuck you."
"Fuck you all."
"What was the last line about? That was against character." Rhizen frowned but didn't put much thought into it as he returned to his world and planted his Tower of Purification, working it into overdrive within the shelter as it gradually stopped the spread of corruption.
"No, this isn't enough," Rhizen spoke upon observing that the plants within the shelter were slowly but surely losing vitality. At this rate, in a few decades, the shelter would become an almost barren land.
His Tower of Purification was only able to ensure at least some patches of grass could grow. The shelter was still liveable, but they would need to procure resources from external means after this.
Finding more worlds just wasn't an option, for they would need to invest a tremendous amount of resources for returns that just weren't sufficient. After all, they currently had to feed people more than a dozen worlds worth.
"Somewhere we can procure enough resources and survive the retaliation from Systems," Rhizen frowned in thought, for he was aware the Apocalypse System was one of the most valued in the System World.
And since he killed it, more Grade 3 Systems might target his world in the future. At present, he had already completed his objective and gained sufficient power for his world to function and exert its influence.
They had also managed to overcome their curse of regression that happened every twenty years. Rhizen could still maintain the current status quo and aim for other apocalyptic worlds, since thousands had been converted by the Apocalypse System in the past.
But that would all have to wait. They currently couldn't afford to go against another System. Their foundation was at the absolute minimum where it was hard to persist for even a couple of days.
Even a Grade 2 System was a fearsome opponent in this condition, not to mention a Grade 3 System. So, their priority was to rest and recuperate while building up strength.
As he thought, he recalled the figure of Stencil, "There is just one place that fits the bill. Aren't there 168 worlds in the Serpent Universe antagonist to Stencil's world? I can ask for her support while growing and fighting against the enemies there. It would be a change of pace for once."
Immediately, he relayed his orders to all the elite Mystic Humans under him, "Reclaim your Tower of Purification from all the worlds."
"But, is that fine?" One of the elites asked in worry, "What will happen to these worlds?"
"We're abandoning them." Rhizen stated resolutely, "these worlds currently serve no value since they've become barren. All the natives are in our shelters so there's no use carrying this baggage. We can always terraform new worlds to suit our needs."
"We only need this world since that's the source of our power. So, reclaim your Tower of Purifications. We're leaving shortly."
Immediately, everyone among the elites at Stage 7 and above that possessed the External Item of Tower of Purification entered the worlds under the control of PADS and reclaimed them.
They also packed and transported all the Guardian Beast Statues, the Blight Cores, and every other resource of importance that they couldn't bring in their hurry to escape before. They weren't living resources and hence hadn't been destroyed by the corruption yet.
Though, it was only a matter of time before they would be gradually worn down and broken into useless components. So before that happened, they had to relocate everything and place it within the protective domain unleashed by Pearl Buck—Rhizen's Tower of Purification.
It was the only one that could resist the Apocalypse System's final corruption to a certain extent.
While this happened, Rhizen expended more than half his luck and tugged the strings of cause and effect, alerting someone.
A couple of weeks later, right as the people in the shelter were almost on the brink of starvation, a gigantic serpent appeared. It opened its mouth and swallowed their world.
Of course, none of the natives in the Apocalypse World even noticed it since it happened in an instant.
In the Serpent Universe, a tiny sphere rapidly flashed through its endlessly long body, alerting the countless invader races camping through the various sections.
"What was that?"
"Catch it!"
"It must be Stencil's reinforcement!"
Unfortunately for them, the sphere was way too fast. And by the time they managed to react, it had long since reached the tail section and landed in a certain zone that had been emptied.
Immediately, a portal formed before the tiny metre-wide sphere as Rhizen walked out, mildly confused.
"Are you done with your quest, Rhizen?" Stencil smiled amicably, having arrived to greet the newcomers, "It was about time we had some allies."
"Welcome to the Serpent Universe."
…
"Welcome to the Serpent Universe." Spying on their conversation was the Fate System who smiled, 'It's a success.'
