Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

Rhizen appeared at one side of the desert region, staring at the scene happening in the Pitcher Plant Forest. All he did was observe the luck values of the place, smiling for a moment before chasing after Yulna that had appeared.

"Dammit!" Yulna didn't even manage to observe what was up with the place when thousands of Homing Feathers chased after her, causing her to flap her wings in a fluster and fly away, breaking the sound barrier to do so.

Boom!

Attacks from both entities met in the air, resulting in loud explosions whose sounds were like thunderclaps, frightening the three Blight Humans and two Horned Humans.

'So, this is God Mother's true strength.' Feleokruna stared in amazement, wondering, 'Just how high of a Stage do I have to reach before I wield such heaven-defying power?'

She then frowned, noticing Yulna focused entirely on the defensive, showing no other intentions than to run away, 'Why…is she not trying to fight him?'

She observed their exchange, feeling that the strength of both was similar to one another. Of course, that was only in terms of their powers. Yulna was as strong as a Celas, not to mention the new powers that she was gaining over time.

All she had been doing recently was to completely progress as a Mystic Human but using corruption. She already had five abilities, and when she attained Stage 6, she obtained Fornol Sunflower as her ability.

Currently, she had already reached Stage 8, which was why it seemed like she was able to fight on par with Rhizen. Though, truth be told, only when she reached Stage 9 would she truly be a threat to him.

But even then, she still had to be wary of his luck and the other means under his disposal. Until then, she needed to develop peacefully, which was why escaping from the place was her only goal.

The two continued to exchange attacks as Rhizen gradually pushed Yulna away from the region. It was his goal to prevent her from observing what was happening in the Pitcher Plant Forest.

'As long as I prevent her from interrupting this process, something beneficial to me would be formed here.' This was his thought, a reason he didn't try to kill Yulna, which wasn't possible at the moment.

Fighting with her would cause too much damage to the world, which would depreciate its value. And for Rhizen, that was bad, for he had made lots of plans using it.

Currently, this world wouldn't be able to endure an all-out battle between Yulna and Rhizen. This was why he purposefully avoided the conflict, intending to take advantage of Yulna to create more benefits for PADS.

Otherwise, as long as he harnessed Xuna's power of Coincidental Luck, he would stumble upon Yulna eventually.

Bang! Bam! Kaboom!

Birds continued to slam into the Varnol as Feleokruna unleashed sunlight beams nonstop, swallowing Blight Cores like they were candy. Though, a few minutes later, she began to feel cramps in her stomach.

Consuming too many Blight Cores strained her Origin Space, causing her corruption to show signs of hardening. This was the first time Feleokruna ever encountered this phenomenon, unaware of what was up.

Though, she could feel instinctively that it wasn't good for her future, limiting her consumption of the Blight Cores, making her Varnol gradually move north of the desert so that they could leave the place and return to the Fornol Empire.

Xuna too was of the same opinion, gradually moving south to the desert to escape the range of the Pitcher Plant King's influence. Though, they were gradually being overwhelmed by the birds.

It seemed the birds from the entire continent were being attracted to the place, so the endless stream was exhausting them.

"I'm running low on Nacre…" Xuna said in alarm, watching the sun begin to set. It resulted in her Nacre generation dropping steadily, preventing her from using powerful abilities.

This also meant that Yihan couldn't be healed as easily as before, so his wounds were gradually accumulating.

Minutes turned into hours as both sides were exhausted now, on the verge of dropping to their deaths. Xuna's Nacre generation had stopped now, leaving the Nacre in her Origin Space all that they had.

She was supplying them to Yihan who could only brute force his way through while constantly mending the spherical cage that continued to crack and shatter.

Yihan had gone overboard, feeling his muscles stiffening, finding it hard to fly any longer. He feared his wings would stop flapping any minute now.

On the other side, the Varnol gradually began to lose altitude, showing cracks all over its body as its time was almost up. It would have lasted a day or two if all it did was fly through the sky. But, it had been repeatedly bombarded with attacks by the birds that accelerated its destruction, causing patches of it to begin falling already.

"Mom!" Felor shouted, riding the Hoil Bee as he unleashed a beam of sunlight, lighting up the night sky as he created a path for Varnol to move forward, hurriedly arriving to their rescue, "Climb aboard!"

Feleokruna jumped on a Hoil Bee, sighing in relief as Luncress and Lortwik too did the same. They abandoned the Varnol, for it wouldn't last long anyway.

"Leave!" Felor shouted as the army began to retreat, killing the birds attacking them nonstop. Many Hoil Bees were sacrificed as a result to pave open a way for them. After all, they were an expendable resource while the royal guard wasn't.

The royal guard formed a close-knit circle around the queen and the prince, protecting them as the group gradually began to retreat.

"Xuna! Yihan!" Chief Yubak shouted as he rushed over, clearing out the way as he landed on the spherical cage, staring at the exhausted figures of the two within. He broke the already crumbling cage with bare hands and grabbed hold of the two.

In her Klock form, Xuna shrunk herself and latched onto Yihan's back who reverted to his human form, having expended all his Nacre now.

"Hurry!" Chief Yubak said as all the West Guardians erected a massive shield using stuff they pulled out of their armour, gradually making their way towards the south.

"So, that's the current state of the royal guard." Chief Yubak turned around, staring at the collapsing Varnol before gazing at the Empress and the royal guard. They were only a few hundred metres away, and through his exceptional eyesight in the West Guardian form, it was easy to make out their faces.

"Who…is that?" Feleokruna muttered, staring at Chief Yubak, "For some reason, I feel like that person knows us pretty well."

"I'm also feeling the same, your majesty," Luncress said before his gaze fell on Yihan who had retracted his West Guardian form. He frowned for a moment before becoming startled, shouting in shock, "Isn't that Yihan?"

"Yihan? Who is that?" Feleokruna frowned in response, seeing Luncress' shock.

"He's Chief Yubak's son." Luncress said before staring at the West Guardian that was holding Yihan and Xuna, "Then that means…he's…"

Chief Yubak observed their actions, retracting his head armour as he made a formal bow in the air, "We'll meet in the future, your majesty. The Galtori Clan will be awaiting your visit to catch up on old times."

With that, the West Guardians began to retreat, increasing their distance from the Fornol Empire's Royal Guard.

"That's…Chief Yubak indeed." Feleokruna's expression was as if she had eaten a mouthful of flies. After all, Chief Yubak was their Empire's best engineer. Him joining the enemy's side meant trouble for the Fornol Empire.

After all, it meant their navy was compromised. Chief Yubak was aware of everything regarding their navy, having personally built many tools they relied upon.

"We need to have an overhaul of the entire navy," Feleokruna muttered once they exited the region under the influence of the Pitcher Plant King, stopping at a location beyond the flight paths of the birds.

"Our navy is currently useless due to the turbulence of the deep seas, your majesty." Luncress said, "So, it might be a good thing. We can upgrade our technology."

"Upgrading the technology is fine, but our basic ideology cannot be changed. And Chief Yubak's influence in that is strong." Feleokruna muttered, feeling a headache as she recalled the sheer number of West Guardians she had witnessed, "The Galtori Clan, huh."

"Do we have any such specialised powers on our side?" She asked next.

"There's one among Blight Humans…" Luncress hesitated a little to say.

"Who?" Feleokruna asked immediately, raising an eyebrow.

"She's an enemy." Luncress sighed, saying under the Empress' glare, "It's Kekua Fornol. Her powers are unique among Blight Humans and can be a game changer if used well."

"The quality of her ability is almost on par with the royal family, your majesty. It has personally been confirmed by multiple eyewitnesses." He spoke.

"Kekua Fornol…" Feleokruna thought for a moment before commanding the royal guard, "Use all your means to arrange a meeting with her."

"I'll talk to her privately…" She said, "On her terms."