The Embryo of the World Alliance (?)

A space where pitch-black and pure white intertwined, faintly tinged with traces of azure.

The World Consciousness that had previously appeared before the Great Ming Card Masters was kneeling on the ground, continuously letting out wails of agony.

"Adele."

"Adele!!"

"After all these years, why aren’t you dead yet?!"

Black patterns gradually crawled over the World Consciousness’s body as countless chaotic thoughts began battering his sea of consciousness.

Better to die standing than live kneeling. Revenge, revenge, revenge.

This was the creed engraved into the souls of every lifeform in the Resistance Faction.

At that moment, the illusory figure of a gray-haired woman appeared behind the World Consciousness.

Looking at the World Consciousness before her, whose body was already covered in black patterns, she let out a soft sigh. "After all these years, you and I have long become one."

"If you do not die…"

"How could I die?"

"But I still have to thank that outsider. If he hadn’t killed so many members of the Submission Faction, I probably wouldn’t have been able to awaken."

As she spoke, the gray-haired woman slightly raised her right hand. Looking at the azure radiance that occasionally flickered through the lines on her palm, the corners of her lips lifted gently.

Upon hearing the name of his own kind, the World Consciousness abruptly raised his head, his throat releasing a beastlike roar. "It was all him—"

"It was all him!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Anger mixed with fear, endlessly breeding within the World Consciousness’s body.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out in the space.

"If you want to kill me, then try."

It was Lu Su.

At some unknown point, he had appeared within this space that belonged solely to the Secret Realm’s World Consciousness.

At the sight of Lu Su, an incredulous expression instantly appeared on the face of the already half-mad World Consciousness. "You—"

"How could you possibly appear here?!"

But then he seemed to recall something and suddenly turned toward the gray-haired woman’s phantom behind him. "Was this your doing?!"

"Adele!!"

Ignoring the World Consciousness, who was already on the verge of madness, Adele’s phantom slowly drifted to Lu Su’s side.

"I truly never expected there to be an existence like yours in this world."

With just one glance, the gray-haired woman saw through Lu Su’s true nature. It was her first time seeing a World Consciousness like this youth, one capable of wandering about freely.

Lu Su slightly shook his head. "I also didn’t expect that you, Lady Adele, had not truly died."

"And also…"

After the Soul King had successfully tainted a small portion of the Secret Realm at the Secret Realm Entrance, he discovered that the state of this fellow World Consciousness was even worse than he had expected.

On one hand, Lu Su’s earlier slaughter in the Submission Faction’s territory had greatly weakened him.

On the other hand, the remaining power of the gray-haired woman before him had also been constantly eroding the World Consciousness.

Now, the two had formed a strange symbiotic relationship.

Rather than saying Adele was a living being, it would be more accurate to say that she was a World Consciousness representing the will of the Resistance Faction.

It was only because the Submission Faction had once been so powerful that she had remained asleep all this time, with only her own power struggling to resist the Secret Realm Consciousness.

This was also why the Secret Realm Consciousness had been unable to extend its reach into Resistance Faction territory.

"What do you intend to do now?" Adele looked at the Secret Realm World Consciousness still kneeling on the ground and spoke softly. "If you decide to erase him, I will help you restrain him."

Hearing this, Lu Su looked at her in surprise. "You should know that if you do this, you’ll dissipate as well, right?"

"It doesn’t matter. That was the ending I was meant to have."

A look of relief appeared on Adele’s face as she spoke frankly.

However, Lu Su had no intention of doing that.

Just as he was about to say something, the Secret Realm World Consciousness opposite him slowly rose to his feet, his form beginning to flicker continuously.

"I…"

"We…"

"We only wanted to survive. Was that wrong too?"

At that moment, the voices of countless men, women, elderly people, and children intertwined, endlessly echoing through the space.

Hearing this, Lu Su looked at the ever-changing World Consciousness and said calmly, "There’s nothing wrong with wanting to survive."

"But if you wag your tails and beg before Him, do you really think your lives are still in your own hands?"

The voices that had been echoing through the space instantly fell silent.

Seeing this, Lu Su lost all interest in talking.

In his view, this fellow World Consciousness had gone mad and completely lost the rationality a World Consciousness should possess.

But that was normal. After all, a normal World Consciousness would be swept along by the living beings within its world.

Just like how there had been so many surrenderers in this Secret Realm, causing the World Consciousness to immediately kneel before the World Devourer Calamity Star.

And the existence of the Resistance Faction had allowed Adele, who should have died, to survive.

Only a loner like Lu Su had no such troubles and could preserve his sense of self.

Suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his heart, Lu Su turned to look at the Soul King beside him.

Without needing him to say more, the powerful card named Adonai stepped forward. Azure spiritual power immediately swept across the entire space.

At the same time, as Adele gently closed her eyes, the black patterns across the World Consciousness’s body gradually spread out.

After some time, the gray-haired woman, who had already prepared herself for death, suddenly opened her eyes in astonishment. "What are you doing?"

Having already formed a symbiotic bond with the World Consciousness, she naturally knew what Lu Su was doing.

Not erasing, but separating.

The man beside Adele intended to save her.

Lu Su’s expression did not change in the slightest as he merely said, "Cooperate with me fully, Adele."

The reason the youth dared to do this was naturally the Soul King.

For the Soul King, who had accomplished the feat of separating worlds, merely dividing two entangled consciousnesses was not difficult. Especially when one of them was cooperating.

And the other consciousness was incomparably weak.

Even if it was not effortless, it was still extremely easy.

As the azure Spirit Pressure grew increasingly intense, pain appeared on Adele’s face.

However, Lu Su had no time to care about her experience right now.

Because he had thought of something very important.

Could a World Consciousness drop materials?

With the mindset of giving it a try, he walked over to the now-silent Secret Realm World Consciousness and cautiously extended his right hand.

Immediately afterward, the youth began wrapping his power around the World Consciousness’s body, just as if he were extracting materials.

A long time later, when the Soul King sent word that the separation was complete, Lu Su immediately began his move.

Very soon, massive streams of power surged into his body. Only when the Secret Realm Consciousness dissipated into the void did the process gradually stop.

"So it really works."

Lu Su felt as though he was about to burst. He had never expected his spur-of-the-moment idea to actually succeed.

"I finally understand why the Blue Star World Consciousness likes eating this kind of thing."

"It was really generous of Him to spit me back out."

It had to be said that the process just now had truly been addictive. Lu Su had nearly been unable to restrain himself.

Mm.

It felt even better than winning a Pokémon battle.

At least, that was how he felt.

"But the materials dropped by a World Consciousness…"

"Are quite a pleasant surprise."

Feeling the massive power within his Card Making Space, Lu Su’s expression could not help turning strange.

Master Grade Universal Material (300%).

As the name implied, Lu Su could raise any three progress bars in his paper card blueprint to 100%.

Or he could raise a single one to 300%.

In truth, 300% was not much, considering that it had come from a World Consciousness.

But Lu Su was not surprised. After all, he had slaughtered so many Demons in the Submission Faction’s territory, so this fellow World Consciousness was clearly not at full strength.

Adding Adele’s influence, getting 300% was already a tremendous surprise for Lu Su.

Conversely, if the other party had not been in such poor condition, Lu Su would not have been able to destroy him.

"Too bad there aren’t this many Secret Realm Consciousnesses for me to Drain. Otherwise, why would I ever need to worry about materials?"

Among the countless Secret Realms on Blue Star, the World Consciousnesses of most had already perished. An opportunity like this was something Lu Su could only chance upon, never seek out.

While Lu Su was fiddling with his newly acquired power, Adele gradually stabilized her breathing.

She looked at Lu Su in the distance, a complicated expression appearing on her face.

Honestly, even if she had truly died, the gray-haired woman would not have held any resentment. She would instead have felt relieved, since she had already died once.

But if one could live, who would want to die?

After a brief silence, Adele spoke with utmost solemnity, "From this day onward, so long as you are still willing to fight that fiend, then your will shall be my will."

Her firm and powerful voice instantly pulled Lu Su back to reality.

He looked at Adele, feeling as though things had developed in a somewhat unexpected direction.

Even though his purpose in doing this had been to give Blue Star another ally.

Unsure how to respond, Lu Su chose to skip the topic. "Your father is still alive. Would you like to go out and see him?"

"…Yes."

Hearing the word father, which had long been distant to her, Adele could not help pursing her lips.

Seeing her like this, Lu Su could not help recalling how Argyle had looked before he entered this space—utterly agitated upon seeing the abnormality in his daughter’s statue.

Lu Su had even feared the man would pass out on the spot.

But obviously, such a thing would not happen to a Master Grade powerhouse.

With a thought from Lu Su, he instantly returned to the assembly hall in the Resistance Faction’s capital.

Upon seeing the youth’s figure, Argyle immediately hurried over. "Master Lu…"

"…How did it go?"

He was too embarrassed to directly ask about his daughter’s condition.

Hearing this, Lu Su pointed behind him. "General, ask her yourself."

At the same time, a voice came from behind Argyle.

"…Father."

Hearing that voice, whose tone had already become somewhat vague in his memories, Argyle froze in place. After a while, he stiffly and slowly turned around.

Then he saw his daughter looking at him with guilt in her eyes.

"Adele…"

"Lady Adele?!"

At that moment, not only Argyle, but the other three Master Grade powerhouses of the Resistance Faction were also instantly filled with boundless joy upon seeing the gray-haired woman.