31 Escaping the Aberrant World
Thousands of feathers streamed through the air, chasing after Yulna when suddenly, a bolt of lightning landed in their midst, setting most of them on fire.
And following that, the rain drops weakened them little by little before eventually, they all vanished. Dust Wave too was similar, being countered by the rain, preventing Rhizen from using long ranged abilities.
Due to that, catching up to Yulna was his only option. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't ask for help, for Shika and Dwun were held back by the Cloud Keras.
And every time he closed in on Yulna, lightning bolts would slam into him, injuring him, and causing him to slow down as a result.
Yulna too was able to manipulate the thunderclouds like the Cloud Keras. Thanks to it, she was able to keep him at bay, continuing to fly.
Guooong!
The Whale suddenly changed directions, gaining altitude as it flew into the clouds, opening its mouth to rapidly suck in a good portion of the clouds, converting them into Nacre before gushing out the excess water.
Its injuries began to heal gradually as its shape continued to morph. Rhizen was simultaneously using multiple Mutated Beasts, having transformed into them to result in a fusion state, possible thanks to his Desperate Luck.
The Apocalyptic Art of All-Devouring Whale was from a fish-type Mutated Beast resembling a Whale. The Apocalyptic Art of Thieving Heaven originated from a cobra-type Mutated Beast, Celestial Armour from a rhino-type Mutated Beast, Homing Feathers from a vulture-type Mutated Beast, Death Stinger from a scorpion-type Mutated Beast, and finally, Spike Frenzy from a porcupine-type Mutated Beast.
And now, Rhizen had activated them all at the same time, causing his appearance to morph grandly, resulting in a spike in his strength. But, he was also pushing himself, for just the Fusion Art of Devouring Heaven, activated by the fusion activation of Thieving Heaven and All-Devouring Whale caused a lot of strain, preventing him from activating it a second time in a short interval.
So, the moment his transformation wore off, Rhizen was bound to lose consciousness at the very least.
Therefore, he had no other choice, intending to capture Yulna before his Desperate Luck ran out.
The body of a whale that had elongated to become serpentine, sporting a tail with a stinger. Scaly eyes with a death glare, a head covered by spikes, and a spiky pair of wings resembling blades, almost transparent in nature. And finally, a layer of skin resembling a rhino covered the entirety.
Rhizen had transformed into a beast that spanned a length of 60 metres, a giant in the sky that finished eating up the clouds until its fill before flapping its blade-like wings, erupting with a sonic boom as its figure made a beeline towards Yulna.
"Do it! Now!" Yulna shouted, blowing into a whistle as the information resounded clearly in the minds of all the Aberrants.
Suddenly, in a city that was situated deep inland, having hardly faced any damage from the Heaven's Will Scheme, the ground rumbled as hundreds of tunnels appeared around it. And exiting it were Titan Aberrants numbering in the tens of thousands, shocking everyone in the city.
After all, as a city situated in a safe zone, the strength of the City Lord too was on the lower side, only a Stage 7 Mystic Human.
He stared in alarm at the sheer number of enemies that had appeared, all Titan Aberrants. The tunnels lead directly into the ocean, created thanks to the earthquakes that had happened.
The Aberrants truly had concealed their intentions under multiple layers of schemes, with each scheme having an obvious and subtle effect. But, all of them were to divert attention away from their true goal: Yulna, and Stotte City.
Upon predicting that they wouldn't be able to win against the PADS, the Aberrants changed their tactics, intending to concentrate all their power on one individual and steal some of the power wielded by PADS.
The first key necessary to attain this was Yulna, a candidate suitable to withstand a major amount of corruption. And, the second key was in Stotte City.
But, it was impossible to target a city so deep inland where even the nearest river passed through at least a couple of cities first. It truly was established in a safe location.
And hence, in hindsight, it became the best target for the Aberrants. Therefore, they planned to use the earthquakes to form a crack in the land, one large enough to reach the ocean.
The sudden creation of a vacuum underground due to the tectonic plate movements would force the ocean water into it if the crack reached the ocean.
Of course, as a Grade 3 System, Apocalypse was an expert on devouring worlds. Hence, the corruption in the Aberrant World was able to make accurate estimates, causing earthquakes in such a way that multiple cracks led to the doorstep of Stotte City.
And on the other side, deep within the ocean waters, Titan Aberrants had gathered in dense numbers, constantly devouring the regular Aberrants to strengthen themselves.
Once the crack opened into the ocean, the created suction forced the high-pressure water to gush into it at terrifying speeds. And, the Titan Aberrants rode these currents, rapidly rowing their way towards Stotte City in a matter of hours from far away.
"Dammit!" The Stotte City Lord paled in fright at the sheer number of Titan Aberrants that began to attack the city barrier, beginning to crack it in a matter of minutes.
The defensive battle barely lasted for an hour before the horde of Titan Aberrants swarmed into the city, engaging in a slaughter.
Cities in dangerous locations were the most fortified with Artillery Canons and other External Items, for they fought against the worst horde of Aberrants.
Cities like Stotte City hardly had to face such a horde, so the reserve of Mystic Humans here was very little. And as they fought less, the strength of the Horned Humans too was pitiful, barely reaching Stage 3.
One needed to be a Stage 5 Horned Human to face a Titan Aberrant, rendering all the Horned Humans in Stotte City useless. This put all the pressure on the scant few Mystic Humans in the city that were overwhelmed soon after.
"Die!" The Stotte City Lord bellowed in anger, carrying large hand canons that he used to blast everywhere, with each hit killing at least three to four Titan Aberrants. But, he was gradually overwhelmed too, for their allies dropped dead one after another.
The Horned Humans gradually lost control, turning into Aberrants, increasing the pressure on the Mystic Humans, resulting in a vicious cycle.
Eventually, the City Lord was the sole human left in the city, struggling to fight as countless Titan Aberrants committed suicide to result in a dense stream of corruption that attacked his Tower of Purification, causing its Nacre production to slow down.
This meant that his Nacre recovery too became slower, causing him to attack at a slower rate. And unfortunately for him, the Titan Aberrants continued to pour out of the tunnels.
"Haah…hah…dammit! You fuckers! Just you wait! My comrades would exact revenge!" The Stotte City Lord stared vehemently at the Titan Aberrant that stared at him with a wide grin, crunching his hand into pieces before spitting it out.
It slowly played with the Stotte City Lord, torturing him. But, it didn't go overboard, ensuring he was alive, slowly dragging him towards his Tower of Purification.
The Stotte City Lord tried to retract his Tower of Purification, but just like what had happened in Greire City, he was unable to recall it as a mysterious ability was chaining it down.
"She's here." Suddenly, the Titan Aberrants turned around in unison, gazing at a figure that sped towards them at terrifying speeds.
[Uproot it!]
A message resounded in their minds as the Titan Aberrants took action immediately, holding the Tower of Purification as they gradually uprooted it. It was mildly damaged as a result, but the damage didn't affect its functions.
"Give them to me!" Yulna shouted as she grabbed hold of the Stotte City Lord, plunging her hand into his stomach as a mysterious power swirled around her hand before she yanked out his Origin Space.
Her head turned into a whale's as she swallowed it, causing the Stotte City Lord to scream in pain as nerves protruded all over his body, bursting in response to spill out a fountain of blood.
Yulna then summoned a cylinder, her External Item that she crushed and swallowed. She then extended her hand, expanding its size before crushing the Stotte City Lord into blood that she splashed onto his Tower of Purification.
She then grabbed hold of it tightly, seeping in a dense stream of corruption into it, causing it to tremble violently as she bellowed, "Become mine!"
Boom!
A terrifying beam of energy exited the ground and flowed into the Tower of Purification as the bodies of all the Titan Aberrants began to dissolve in response.
"Hahaha! We've succeeded!" The Cloud Keras bellowed in joy just as Shika killed it. Its corpse suddenly dissolved into energy and vanished.
"Suck them dry, Yulna!" The Twenty-Armed Keras stared happily as its body dissolved into energy and vanished, forming a gigantic stream that flowed into the Tower of Purification held in Yulna's hands.
All the Aberrants in the Aberrant World vanished, converted into pure energy that flowed into the Tower of Purification as Yulna clenched her hand into a fist, connecting it to her Origin Space, turning it into her External Item.
The tree—Tower of Purification—almost withered as it unleashed a beam of energy into the sky, condensing a portal, one that lead into another world.
By using up all the energy in the Aberrant World, Yulna planned to escape along with the powers that she had stolen from the PADS, with their signature Tower of Purification being her primary goal.
Staring at the injured beast that was flying towards her at terrifying speeds, Yulna gulped nervously before flying towards the portal in a hurry, uttering what every System wished to say, "fuck you, Rhizen!"
