My Apocalypse Territory

Royal Capital, court.

The preparations for the ritual ceremony had drawn to a close.

During this time, among the conversations of the commoners on the streets, eight or nine out of ten were discussing the ceremony.

Just like Daxia Country's Spring Festival, carefully planned by the Royal Family, the ritual ceremony was a national celebration for the people.

Inside the palace,

the King and the Eldest Prince, both possessed by the Heart Demon Clan, showed rare smiles on their usually gloomy faces.

The World Tree was an extremely rare treasure, even the Upper Envoy Clan viewed it as a rarity.

To erode the World Tree was not only to bring about its demise but also to use its shell to create treasures required by the Upper Envoy Clan.

Such an important mission, carried out by the two of them, would be handsomely rewarded by the Great Sovereign upon completion.

"Even breaking through to the Holy Tier in the future wouldn't be impossible,"

the King contemplated.

Suddenly,

a member of the Wolf Head Alien Race rushed into the palace in haste.

The Heart Demon Clan King's expression darkened, "What's the meaning of this? Haven't I ordered that we meet less often within the court? And where is your Clan Leader!"

As he spoke, a somewhat intimidating aura emanated from him.

The Wolf Head Alien Race's expression paled as he immediately knelt down.

"No, Great One, something's happened."

"Hmm?"

The Kingdom's expression changed slightly, becoming even more solemn, yet he fully retracted the aura he had released.

The Transcendent of the Wolf Clan took a couple of breaths before hurrying to speak, "A group of Human Race warriors has broken into the old Royal Capital, and... and somehow they've revived the World Tree! Even the Clan Leaders can't stand against these Human Race warriors!"

The King was about to explode in anger when he suddenly paused, stupefied.

The Clan Leaders of the Wolf Clan, Tiger Clan, and Bear Clan might not mean much in his eyes, but they were still beings of the Transcendent Second Tier, not weak by any means in their respective levels. Even facing Third Tier Domain Level warriors, the three Clan Leaders should have been able to hold out for a while when working together.

Human Transcendents, Domain Level warriors?

That was impossible!

The once-mighty Aino Kingdom only had one elderly Domain Level warrior.

After that battle years ago, there were no notable experts left in Aino Kingdom, to say nothing of Domain Level; the Heart Demon Clan King was convinced there were no Second Tier Transcendents either.

The Royal Capital had always been under his control, after all.

But the Transcendent of the Wolf Clan couldn't provide much information, only knowing that the group wore black robes, "When those Black Robe people first came, there were only a few. But reinforcements kept arriving; by the time I fled to send word, I saw another dozen Black Robe reinforcements. I'm afraid the Clan Leaders won't be able to hold out much longer, I implore the two Great Ones..."

Black Robe!

Were they the same ones causing trouble in the Royal Capital before? Such strength?!

The Heart Demon Clan King, considering the situation with the World Tree, no longer hesitated and made ready to move, when suddenly he looked up.

Boom!

An explosion rang out.

As they stepped outside the palace, the Court Guards had already come running out, their faces etched with panic, looking up towards the sky.

There, a crack thousands of kilometers in length nearly split the sky in half.

Around it, countless other large and small cracks spread.

The whole sky looked like shattered glass, exceptionally twisted.

What shocked the Court Guards even more was that through the cracks, they could clearly see ruins on the other side.

...

"What... what is that?"

Duke Morton Mansion.

Many noble Transcendents were still gathered here.

Several Transcendents who were previously part of Duke Morton's faction looked unfriendly towards Duke Morton, hoping to receive compensation from the Duke.

After one setup against the Black Robe Organization, they had lost too much.

Head of the table,

Duke Morton also felt desperate.

What could he do? His losses were even greater!

The entire Duke Mansion had fallen into ruins, and every treasure within had been plundered, leaving not enough even for repairs, much less healing medicine!

Some of the Transcendent beings directly under the Duke's service were still eagerly waiting to be healed!

Amid the squabbling, a loud bang erupted from the sky, and they quickly rushed outside to witness a similarly catastrophic scene.

A fissure had opened high above, and within it, the sight was as unclear as the rippling surface of water under the violent trembling of space.

However,

The sight of broken walls and a landscape of ruins was still distinguishable to them.

Within the crack, the ancient tree of heaven with its dense branches and leaves was especially conspicuous.

Besides,

"It's dark creatures, a lot of very large ones, and wait, they're coming out!"

The old Royal Capital had already been cut from its original place on the Aino continent by special means employed by the Heart Demon Clan, then replaced with the new Royal Capital.

The two spaces were closely connected, and the spatial barriers far weaker than in the normal world.

Under the impact of Nancy's overpowering attack, the space shattered, leaving a huge gash several thousand meters across with no signs of closing. Furthermore, the tremors worsened, and more and more spatial rifts started to appear.

Most dark creatures lacked intelligence and acted purely on instinct.

They might retreat under the deterrence of a powerful being's presence, but would never pass up the delicious meal in front of them.

To dark creatures, the scent of the Human Race was the finest of foods.

The entire Kingdom, with a population of hundreds of millions, tempted many Awakening Tier dark creatures to pounce forth immediately.

Some were sliced apart instantly as they grazed the edges of the spatial rifts during their passage, while many more fell from the sky, forming a dark, oppressive mass.

"What's going on? What is happening! Is the Eternal Army eating shit? How did they let the dark creatures in?"

Some clueless nobles clamored, while many others had grave expressions.

Duke Morton casually waved his hand, blasting hundreds of dark creatures into dust, but there was no trace of relief on his face.

He looked up at the several massive space rifts overhead, with more and more dark creatures pouring out from them, plunging the Royal Capital into utter chaos.

A behemoth burst forth, plummeting from the sky with a roar, the shockwave spreading outwards, and countless buildings collapsed like dominoes.

"These are Transcendent Tier dark creatures, and there seems to be an abundance of them!"

The other nobles panicked.

They thought about returning to their own mansions to hold fort, but then again, staying beside the Duke, amidst many masters, seemed much safer.

They could see clearly, on the other side of the fissure, the uncountable number of Transcendent Tier dark creatures were probably more than all the Transcendents of the Royal Capital combined.

There were other creatures too, relatively small in size compared to dark creatures, but with even more formidable strength.

Creatures with wolf heads and human bodies, tiger heads, and human bodies...

Could it be that there were other intelligent species on the Aino continent?

And what was that ancient tree of heaven?

Moreover,

On the other side of the fissure, besieged by countless dark creatures and Alien Races, what kind of being was it?

"Black robes!"

Duke Morton suddenly spoke, "Look at the third fissure from the top, on the bottom left, those being attacked are members of the Black Robe Organization, and..."

His tone was complicated.

He was all too familiar with those in black robes!

He could even recite the masks they wore!

Duke Morton's feelings were mixed.

In theory, seeing the "Black Robe Organization" surrounded should have evoked happiness and pleasure.

However, the dark creatures attacking the "Black Robe Organization" were also his sworn enemies.

All those who lived in the Royal Capital knew that it was these bloodthirsty dark creatures that created this apocalyptic environment. He, Duke Morton, had once owned a vast Territory outside the Royal Capital, with countless subordinates. However, as the Black Tide descended, his Territory was destroyed, forcing him to retreat to the Royal Capital, and most of his formidable followers died or were grievously wounded.

Compared to the "Black Robe Organization" that merely stole treasures, dark creatures were natural adversaries, caught in a fight to the death.

He also speculated that those Alien Races, the ones that dark creatures refrained from attacking, might very well be the shadowy puppeteers behind the creation of the Black Tide.

"Wait a minute..."

Duke Morton suddenly furrowed his brow.

As he remembered, the Duke Mansion was once filled with strong warriors, and even after retreating to the Royal Capital and losing much strength, he wasn't the strongest in the mansion...

There seemed to be a contradiction in his memory.

Duke Morton fell into deep thought.