About 30 minutes pa.s.sed.
During this time, Fifth Order angel Sonnata felt like he might as well pull out all his hair as he nervously moved back and forth.
"Don't tell me I'll have to wait another four hours until the two-day deadline is up?" Sonnata gritted his teeth to himself as he muttered, "I'll go crazy if I have to wait that long!"
He needed to confirm that nothing unusual had happened with Hero City as soon as possible!
East Sea King was also going crazy with his nerves; particularly every time he saw the formerly proud and arrogant angel behaving like a young boy about to be caught by his parents after accidentally breaking the family heirloom.
The other soul evolvers had not yet broken away. They were all waiting for the two-days time lapse to expire and Hero City to reappear.
Even if they couldn't get back in, at least they could learn the reason why they were expelled prematurely, couldn't they?
Suddenly, the s.p.a.ce in the area distorted fiercely and the water churned with such force that some closer soul evolvers were sent flying hundreds of meters backwards.
"Finally!" Sonnata's eyes sparkled as he looked toward the city slowly materializing not too far away.
However, Sonnata's joy did not last long.
A giant holographic screen hovered in the sky outside the dome protecting the city. On the screen, a young man seated on a stone throne in what seemed to be a huge, extremely luxurious hall was looking straight ahead while a pet.i.te silver-haired, black-eyed beauty sat on his lap comfortably like a little tame cat.
Sonnata did not know what that throne was and neither did he know about the throne room because he had never been to the Sky Emperor's Palace nor did he know such deep information. However, the moment Bai Zemin appeared on the holographic screen Sonnata immediately realized that what he was about to hear or see was not going to please him at all.
"Ah, h.e.l.lo everyone." The image of Bai Zemin on the screen raised his right hand and waved forward with a friendly smile.
Even the little beauty on his lap did the same. She even nodded with a big smile on her face.
"As you all probably already imagine, I am now the owner of Hero City and thus expelled the uninvited guests." Bai Zemin lowered his hand and said in a serious voice, "However, I am generous enough to let you go with the treasures you took from my house instead of killing you. Be grateful."
"Be grateful!" Bai s.h.i.+lin nodded with a serious expression on her baby face.
Sonnata couldn't help but spit out a puff of slightly golden blood after hearing that Bai Zemin had taken over the city.
"You... You..." Sonnata took several steps back, barely restraining his aura to avoid harming the others and having the Soul Record turn him to ash later, "Y-You have any idea what you're doing? You're turning all eight factions against you by stealing Hero City!"
"Stealing?" everyone watched as Bai Zemin's holographic image snorted, "If such a legendary treasure as you described was so easy to steal then why didn't that G.o.d of yours and the others take it home sooner? Can't they do something that a pitiful little Lower Existences managed to do? Besides, your threats are as good as the paper I use to clean my a.s.s now."
Sonnata's face turned red with shame and anger.
All the way from Europe to the East Sea, Sonnata had not failed to point out the Lower Existences as creatures unworthy of mention in the face of the vastness of the Higher Existences. Therefore, Bai Zemin's words were no different from two hundred slaps in the face.
On the other hand, the East Sea King's face was pale as if he had seen an unidentified sea creature as he stared at one of the people standing on the city wall.
"Mei... Mei'er..."
There, the Seventh Princess surrounded by her friends and peers stood proudly as she held up a head.
The paleness on the old King's face grew worse as he immediately recognized who that head belonged to.
It was then that Bai Zemin spoke again.
"East Sea King... you disappoint me."
The old King subconsciously took several steps back as his eyes met the young man's on the screen.
"I helped your kingdom in the past, I became friends with the Seventh Princess of the East Sea not long after the apocalypse broke out... But you still ignored all this and decided to be my enemy, choosing over the person who helped you some alien invaders."
"Alien invaders?" Sonnata opened his eyes wide before yelling, "How dare you! You-"
"SHUT THE f.u.c.k UP!"
Bai Zemin's voice thundered like a roar, making a large part of the waters in the surrounding area tremble fiercely.
Sonnata froze as he looked at one of the magic cannons pointed at him and glowing brightly.
Bai Zemin looked at him with deadly eyes as he said coldly: "The only reason you are still alive is because I don't want to destroy the Earth, MY world. You still don't get it, do you, G.o.dd.a.m.n angel? You stopped having the qualifications to talk to me a long time ago!"
Sonnata could feel the scythe of death on his neck as he watched the golden glow of the cannon in the distance. He knew that even with his speed he wouldn't be able to evade that, so even though he was extremely furious, Sonnata didn't dare to say anything.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath before saying in a serious voice, "Angel Sonnata, go back to Italy and tell your G.o.d that I will soon go claim the Vatican as my territory."
Sonnata's face paled when he saw the old bronze spear in Bai Zemin's hands.
"The Supreme Pontiff was killed by me, and I will soon take the Holy Church and fuse it with my Transcendent faction." Bai Zemin's voice was neither slow nor fast, neither high nor low, "I will use everything I have to let the whole world know that your Army of Heaven lost against me, a small and insignificant mortal."
Sonnata was no longer listening. He turned and became a blur, disappearing without a trace in less than an instant.
He had to report this as soon as possible... If Bai Zemin really had killed Israfel then there was no one who could hold the Holy Church anymore, and Medes would not be able to interfere at all since he was a Higher Existence.
That would put them completely off the Earth!
Bai Zemin coldly snorted upon seeing Sonnata's retreat.
"East Sea King, because of my friends.h.i.+p with the Seventh Princess I have decided that I will not kill you despite your lack of ethics." He turned his attention to the old King, and his words surprised the old merman as he now stared at him in disbelief.
Bai Zemin remarked, "I will give you one day's time to arrange the coronation ceremony of the Seventh Princess as the new Queen of the East Sea. In addition, I want you to hand over to me the treasure that the Third Prince used to let you suppress one of the evolution requirements."
Bai Zemin did not forget the supposed mutant plant that the Third Prince of the East Sea used to let other soul evolvers reach the next Order more easily.
A treasure of such magnitude could only belong to him and no one else. Bai Zemin would definitely not feel comfortable leaving something so dangerous in the hands of someone other than himself.
Seeing the East Sea King looking at him with wide eyes but not saying anything, Bai Zemin snorted, "If you disappoint me again then don't blame me for being cruel. I definitely won't give you another chance to live!"
The East Sea King looked at his daughter and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but seeing Xian Mei'er's indifferent expression he finally realized that no matter what he said nothing would change.
Soon, Bai Zemin and the others watched as the East Sea King moved away in the direction of the East Sea Kingdom. His speed was not particularly fast, as if his will to move had been drained from him.
Several seconds later, Bai Zemin looked at the other soul evolvers who were staring at him in shock and asked with a clear frown, "You guys need anything else? Go back the way you came."
Most of them looked at each other in silence before leaving while shaking their heads to themselves.
Although they still felt greed and itchiness, even a powerful Fifth Order angel rushed out in the face of the city's power. What were they supposed to do? They could only leave for now.
A few minutes later, Bai Zemin finally made sure no one was around and looked at Lilith and Fire Sorrow.
"Enter the city first. We'll talk here."
Lilith blinked in confusion, but Fire Sorrow looked at his image on the screen in shock.
"Enter Hero City? Are you crazy?" She said in a shocked voice, "We'll die as soon as we set foot in there!"
However, Bai Zemin shook his head, "I am the absolute ruler here. I decide the rules, who comes in and who goes out."
Lilith looked into his eyes for a moment before laughing to herself. She walked towards the city, and without looking back, she pointed, "Let's go, Fire Sorrow. If he said it's okay then it's okay."
Less than a minute later, Fire Sorrow and Lilith were the first Higher Existences since the disappearance of the old Sky Emperor to set foot in the core of Sky City without being punished by the Soul Record.
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