Chapter 557 — Faith Corruption & Bloodline Influence

The moment the Human Emperor’s eyes gained a semblance of intelligence, Liora moved, not giving him any chance to launch an attack.

The World Core, which had previously remained hidden within the Space Orb, was transferred into the Cosmic Sea inside her body.

As the cosmic dust raged and washed over it, it was pulled into the surrounding landscape like fresh paint blending into a larger painting.

The World Core began to change as this occurred.

Within moments, it was broken down to its purest structure and rearranged, transforming from a rhombus-shaped crystal into a giant star.

Just as with the rest of Liora’s talents, several worlds began to form around it.

They all carried an aura of supreme humanity and righteousness, showing a tendency for life to be born within them.

However, Liora paid no attention to these for the time being. Her eyes fell upon the pure light surrounding the Human Emperor Star.

It was faith—faith that belonged to the Human Emperor and had been accumulated for countless years.

The moment Liora’s gaze settled upon it, countless overlapping whispers echoed directly inside her mind.

"Oh, Human Emperor, please save the human race from this catastrophe!"

"My Lord, save the human race!"

These whispers were the same as the prayers Liora had previously received, with the only difference being that they were directed toward the Human Emperor rather than her.

Of course, that was bound to change.

Liora’s had an idea. Her mind stirred.

The cosmic dust representing Predation surged forward and began to swirl around the star, washing over it and plundering the faith surrounding it.

Little by little, that faith was gradually stripped away.

As a result, the Human Emperor Star’s aura began to change.

It had already been integrated into the Cosmic Sea, yet its nature still differed from the rest of the stars.

Now, however, it began to grow closer to Liora’s own.

Bit by bit, its nature rapidly transformed.

The process did not take long.

Soon afterward, all of the Human Emperor’s faith had been plundered.

The Human Emperor Star truly merged with the Cosmic Sea, becoming no different from the rest of her talents.

Under normal circumstances, this would have caused a riot. After all, the Human Emperor talent had once reached Rank 11 and possessed unfathomable power.

Yet after being severed by the Human Emperor and later absorbed to create the Cosmic Sea, its level had already been downgraded.

Though it remained slightly stronger than talents such as the Dragon Law, it was no longer enough to destabilize the entire Cosmic Sea.

The fusion of the two brought forth certain changes.

However, Liora had no time to examine them in depth. As her consciousness returned to reality, she noticed that less than a moment had actually gone by.

The Human Emperor was still preparing his attack when his body suddenly froze—a result of his talent gene changing hands.

The blurred facade over his face receded, revealing his true appearance hidden beneath it.

He was a young man with handsome features and sharp, sword-like eyebrows.

But the very next moment, a crimson light emerged from the depths of his body and washed over his face like water.

His features began to twist.

First, the color of his eyes changed. Then his face became increasingly more feminine, while his black hair turned crimson, as though dripping with fresh blood.

The transformation did not continue for long.

The next instant, the intelligence in his eyes deepened, and his appearance began reverting to its original form.

Of course, Liora would not allow him to do as he pleased.

She had been working to create this opportunity for quite some time.

After seeing the Human Ancestor Spirits within the Human Shrine and understanding that they were fragments of consciousness relying on faith to maintain their existence, she had devised her current plan.

By plundering the Human Emperor’s faith and stripping away his very concept from this world, she could attempt to replace him, just like she had done with the ancestors’ statues.

Replacing a Rank 11 Awakener would have been impossible under normal circumstances. However, the Human Emperor was far from normal.

Not only had he disappeared long ago, causing his control over his own faith to weaken significantly, but Liora now also possessed his own talent gene.

More importantly, she had another trick hidden up her sleeve.

Raising her head and seeing that both the Elder and the Human Emperor projection were doing their best to expel her influence, and they were in fact bound to succeed, Liora finally used the true source of her confidence in carrying out such a plan.

She glanced at the Human Emperor, sending the traces of her own existence looming within him.

Or to be more accurate, the traces of her bloodline descendants.

The Elder had not truly gone mad just yet. Although she had conducted blood sacrifices to sustain the projection and rush here, only about half of those sacrifices had actually been human beings.

The rest had been demons of this world and, more importantly, Devils.

Perhaps because of her urgency, or perhaps because she didn’t know much about them, she made a grand mistake.

Liora finally made her move.

This time, she used neither her Awakener talents nor the recently born Cosmic Sea.

Instead, she employed a method she hadn’t used in quite a while—she summoned her Throne.

The moment that thought surfaced, the space above the three figures cracked open.

A transcendent river extended out from the opening and materialized in the sky above them.

Each droplet of its water contained a different scene, of the past, of the present, and of the future.

And at its deepest point rested a giant throne.

It looked worn, as though it had endured thousands of years of corrosion beneath the sea and was on the verge of shattering.

The concepts integrated into it had dimmed considerably, and its aura was now weaker than ever.

However, Liora knew very well that this was only an illusion.

The moment her Throne appeared, she realized that it was stronger than ever before.

Not only had the influence of the River of Time failed to weaken it, but it had instead greatly elevated it, allowing the Throne to inherit part of the river’s transcendent nature.

Liora only spared it a brief glance.

Then, she called upon the Throne’s ability to suppress all of her descendants and pointed toward the Human Emperor.

Instantly, a thunderous explosion seemed to have erupted within the projection’s body.

A violent tremor ran through him as bursts of blood surged from his depths and dyed his entire body crimson.