"…Ahem." Muria coughed dryly, looking at the lightning descending from the sky without giving him any face, trying to ease his embarrassment.
"You still think this isn't enough?" Mikaela said in a faint tone, watching the increasingly dense lightning in the sky as the demiplane's shadow grew clearer.
"Alright, I admit the world's rejection is much stronger than I expected," Muria said helplessly, originally planning to open a permanent portal to his demiplane in this small world.
He found the task far more difficult than anticipated, which made him feel somewhat humiliated. After all, he had specifically called Mikaela here to show off his skills, only to end up failing.
"But I can still open the portal. It'll just cost more than I expected."
Although he felt the difficulty, Muria would never admit defeat in front of Mikaela. How could he say "I can't" in front of his wife?
"Muria, enough. Now is not the time. Forcing open the demiplane portal will only incur the world's malice and backfire."
"Alright." Since his wife advised him, Muria naturally accepted her wise words and quickly gave up on opening the portal.
Thus, the shadow of the world gradually disappeared, and the lightning in the dark sky quickly dissipated, returning everything to normal.
"Where did I go wrong?" Muria frowned, pondering why his attempt didn't yield the expected results. "It shouldn't be like this!"
He had already brought all the known base cities in this world under his control. Each base city was guarded by at least two ancient dragons leading dragon flocks and varying numbers of giant legions.
This meant Muria ruled over 90% of the remaining humans in this world.
Because of the guardians Muria sent to these base cities, the humans were constantly exposed to the bloodline radiation emitted by the ancient dragons and giants.
In other words, the remaining humans in this world were being transformed into dragonkin, giantkin, or a mix of both. However, this wasn't the main point. The important thing was that the number of humans in this world was, in a sense, decreasing.
The root of this change lay with Muria, and he had done more than just that. He had also ordered his giants and dragons to plant trees extensively in this world, which had undergone mass extinction, to rebuild the ecological cycle.
This might sound like a good thing, but it wasn't. Due to the erosion of the evil god, this world's sun—or the law representing the sun—had nearly collapsed. Thus, the world had lost sunlight, and even during the day, the sky was overcast with very low visibility.
This meant that the plants capable of growing in this decaying world not only didn't need sunlight but also required terrifying survival capabilities.
Such plants didn't exist in this world, so the ecological circle Muria rebuilt was based on the supernatural plants he stored in his demiplane.
These supernatural plants also had a certain connection to him. Powerful beings could alter their surroundings, assimilate nearby creatures, and even change plants.
In other words, the supernatural plants Muria planted in this ruined world also bore characteristics similar to his followers.
As time passed, all intelligent beings, plants, and spiritual entities in this world were branded with Muria's mark.
This meant that the world's will, born from the spiritual entities in the world, would also bear Muria's mark. Even if it wasn't under his control, it would have a strong bias toward him.
According to Muria's plan, this was supposed to happen, which led to his current actions. But reality, like a girl, slapped him in the face and told him he couldn't proceed to the next step yet.
"Muria, have you forgotten why you can act so freely in this world?"
Seeing Muria deep in thought, Mikaela sighed. "It's because this world has been eroded by the evil god. It longs for salvation, which is why you could summon your followers so easily."
"I see where the problem lies now." After hearing Mikaela's words, Muria raised his eyebrows and smiled, realizing the crux of the issue.
He could summon his followers in large numbers because the world desired salvation, but he could plant trees so easily because the world's ecological chain had been completely destroyed.
The native plants couldn't adapt to the drastically changed environment, so they went extinct. Without the suppression of native plants, Muria could plant trees without resistance. Otherwise, under the world's laws, supernatural plants from another world wouldn't grow so easily.
"Where's the problem?"
"It's the evil god's followers. The most numerous beings in this world aren't humans but the evil god's followers. Their existence has influenced the world's will."
Understanding the problem, Muria's body radiated a visible killing intent. "So, as long as I kill them all, I can achieve everything I desire."
"Why are you so excited? Isn't this something you should've done long ago?" Mikaela looked at Muria in surprise.
"Ahem." Hearing his wife's words, Muria, surrounded by killing intent, was stunned and coughed awkwardly again.
To be honest, when he discovered he could obtain an entire world, even the evil god's followers were pushed to the back of his mind. He never took those monsters seriously in the first place.
"I'll prepare the army now and sweep away all the followers in this world."
…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As a dozen colossal beings walked, the earth trembled with their movements. A child poked his head out of a treehouse, watching the giants passing by with curiosity.
"Dad, come look! These giants seem to be up to something." Noticing that the giants' attire differed from what he usually saw, the child quickly called for his father.
"They're going to fight," a strong man said as he appeared, gazing at the giants moving through the forest with a serious expression.
"Fight? Who are they fighting?" The child, with faint green scales on his cheeks, looked up curiously. A sharp protrusion was also visible in the center of his forehead.
"Who else? The wild beasts."
"Wild beasts." The child was momentarily stunned, then fell into a daze. For him, wild beasts were a distant memory. He couldn't remember the last time he saw those man-eating monsters.
It seemed that since he entered the glorious base city, he hadn't seen those creatures. All he knew was that from that day on, his life kept improving. Except for the subtle changes in his body every day, everything was fine.
"In this world, only those monsters are worthy opponents for them," the man said, watching the giants pass by their wooden house. In the distant sky, he could also see dragons flying in the same direction as the giants.
"The war that will determine the fate of the future is about to begin," the man thought to himself, his face showing hesitation before it quickly turned resolute.
"An, stay at home. I'll be out for a while."
"Dad, where are you going?" The child looked up at his increasingly tall father with concern.
"To participate in this war that will decide the fate of the world—as a human," the man said firmly. He turned and entered the wooden house, then carried out a greatsword as tall as his three-meter-tall body. It was a Divine Mech.
"But we're not humans anymore."
"Appearances don't matter. As long as we identify as humans, we are still humans," the man said, leaping down from the nearly ten-meter-high treehouse.
As the mutations in his and his son's bodies became more apparent, he followed the trend and moved out of the base city with the other residents, building a wooden house in the wild.
Though it was outside the city, the safety level was no different from inside. Moreover, the houses in the base city, built for standard human sizes, were no longer suitable for living. Thus, more and more residents moved out.
"Dad, I'll go with you."
"Stay put. Wait for me here," the man said, turning to his son, who was about to jump down. "If you die with me on the battlefield, won't our lineage end? Can't you leave me a descendant?"
"But we don't even look like father and son anymore. I look like you picked me up," the child muttered softly.
"Nonsense. I know you're my son. Stop talking nonsense and stay put," the man said, laughing angrily at his son's words.
"Okay." The child seemed to comply, but his eyes, avoiding his father's gaze, betrayed his true thoughts.
"Heh." Seeing his son's attitude, the man narrowed his eyes but didn't say more. He turned and followed the giant's massive footprints on the ground…
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