The stars were awfully beautiful, each sparkling like a distant acid eye through the endless clear skies. The moonlight beamed a soft, warm silver light, bathing this green short grass that dared to hold the color of the great acid.

  This circular dome of this huge… huge arena might as well extend to the sky. The seating was all so vast. A colosseum!

  Yet, it was all just so pretty.

  Uln lounged on his throne, still a wooden, ugly thing. How unsightly.

  [Corroded Throne] [Mystic] [Novice-Piece]

  Still Novice-Piece… the reason was obvious. This place was too clean, way too squeaky, way too beautiful. This was not a fair place for the Corroded Throne. But this space, this large dome of mighty steel bowl—Uln wanted it. This would be a great starting point for his nest.

  He growled, raking his knife across the human head. Their hair parted, and he slid his hand inside, gripping their brain and yanking it out with that sweet taste of blood permeating the air. He clutched the brain, and it squeaked. Bringing it to his mouth, he almost gagged at the taste. Still, he took a bite, and oh, it was so disgusting.

  Their best part was the heart.

  Uln threw the human body off his table and screamed:

  “Their heart is most sublime! Bring me more!”

  “My, my lord…” Guzuk the Tall-rat mumbled, his hand fumbling with the other in an awkward clasp.

  “What?”

  “We would appreciate any help to reach those boxes the humans hid in; they appear to be a reinforced steel structure. We can breach it, but it will take time…”

  This bunch of useless…

  “Do it yourself. Can you see what is beneath me, Guzuk?”

  “The—” Guzuk’s eyes narrowed into it. The word died in his mouth.

  Uln twisted his lips, and anger rose like an unbidden inferno.

  “Yes, this is the Corroded Throne, you fool! Do you think those grand acid thrones just appeared out of nowhere? It needs to start from the bottom! From the infestation we are about to create. Why do you think I gathered corpses here!”

  Uln was vexed, throwing one arm to the mound of human corpses, thousands of them like two small hills around the table.

  [Infestation: 55%]

  “Yes, yes, of course, my lord! Your days of glory await you certainly!” Guzuk stumbled over his words. “But, if you can do it from even such an incredible range…”

  The rat spoke sense.

  Uln had to cross his arms and stare at the Drip rats who were still running around chasing random humans with their screams so loud and grating, while the Tall-rats sprayed acid jets into those watching boxes with reinforced glass to view the stadium up high.

  One problem was Uln’s Acid reserve needed recovery… Still, he was certainly not going to tell them that!

  He had just enough for six Hydra, maybe.

  “What about Jungo and Poier? They should arrive soon with a full canister, no?”

  “We just sent rats to check on them, my lord. It should be soon.”

  Uln clicked his tongue and stood. “Fine, watch my spell,” he said with all of the haughtiness.

  Guzuk began clapping, and a grin etched Uln’s snout.

  “With this spell, I will take down Urki and Nere! I will secure a place in the Last World and make those who question my sanity or resist the system regret even being born. This will be the first Blight Nest of the Last World! The first Corroded Throne to be seated on the Last World!”

  Uln stretched his hand up to the moon. Bubbles of Acid began to form; they hissed, smoke climbing up in silver light. The bubble extended into a small typhoon of acid, swirling like a vortex. Uln’s knee buckled a bit, his Acid Ring flickering with weak green light.

  This might be…

  No! Not stupid! This was his right. Anger built up inside him, and he howled out. The water cascaded into the shape of a two-headed dragon and poured forth in a stream of green acid. Uln formed a fist and punched the air toward two viewing boxes.

  The Acid Hydra streamed out and lurched across the coliseum. Their heads opened, crashing straight into the protected steel box. A loud hiss of acid rang through the night, and the humans inside did not even get a chance to scream.

  Uln laughed; he laughed to the moon. He tried to see the Rat King's face, those fools! No one could stop him here. No one! Once his nest grew enough, he would use the Corroded Throne power to join the Integration into the Last World. It would work, of course it would! And he would uncover so much treasure, power, and everything!

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  How blessed he was.

  The System blessed him with his core, allowing Uln to progress far faster than his brethren. His Nest had tried to keep him from going on this crusade, but they were fools! For what was the point of a great power if not used?

  “Just wait until you are stronger, they said!” Uln laughed. What a ridiculous statement! As if there was anyone on this small planet who could resist any kind of invasion.

  The real problem was the system… It wouldn’t allow anyone to ride out the forming of the Last World. Before the forming happened, Uln had to establish his nest and his Corroded Throne. With his core, the Corroded Throne would grow fast, but that still meant he would need much more acid.

  So more of these humans’ bodies.

  Uln sat down, enjoying the sight of his rats charging into the opening. For a moment, silence settled, and winds howled across his fur. Doubt started to brew inside his head. What would happen if the nest was not enough? Uln hated the path the great clans had taken to control the Integrators. That move would cost them a lot, but none of them were willing to go against the system directly.

  Even the great clan…

  He shook his head, growling at himself.

  But, still, all of the Great Clan’s Emperors and Empresses, those who grew their corroded thrones and had grown their nest into entire planets, even multiple… all of them were born with Arch-core, just like Uln.

  It was clear Uln was meant for great things. But… but! The damn system decided to combine every world! Well, not every world. But the other worlds would be doomed by the Darkling!

  Yes, this was the only path available if he wanted to get ahead… He didn’t want to wait until the newly Integrated fools finish the world quest and invite outside forces in. Those things could take years to accomplish.

  Even after everything, however, Uln wondered. What would it be like if he had stayed in his clan and executed his king’s plan?

  The king planned to adopt him. His king’s core was only Tempered-Core, which was why the King wanted Uln to marry all of his twelve daughters. Cores would not necessarily be transferred to his offspring, but the potential of the Arch-core was well worth it.

  His old nest, called the Cratoxr, Cratoxr’s domain extended to half of his planet—the Vurheaven. Endless war with the Elves over the planet's complete domination had been going on for millennia, with both sides constantly trading territory. Both sides had always failed to ally with outside forces.

  Uln was supposed to be Cratoxr’s secret weapon. Their grand advantage in the war. However, it was when Uln had heard the fate that befell the grand Blightrat’s alliance between five great clans that he changed his mind. The blight rats had banded together: five great clans, a force of over ninety billion with a combined territory of thirty-five planets.

  Five mighty Rat-Emperors and Empresses with their great clans.

  Nezeth the Skull Melter. An Apex Being Rat-Emperor. Unlike most of the Blight Rats who relied on acid-enhanced gears, Nezeth walked the path of magic, and his favorite spell was a tsunami of acidic flood. Each bubble let out a deadly gas, and he could form that water into an endless sea of pressurized needles that would deliver death to even thousands of Forged Beings. Under him, the Karnath clan had risen and oversaw five planets under the Karnath Dominions.

  Skuzod the Acid Sovereign. Another Apex Being who boasted his spear of acid light, which was rumored to have poisoned an Arch Being, a God. Blight Rats gathered because of his charisma, and he conquered and conquered, expanding his clan, the Arroth, which started merely as a humble nest inside a cave to the Arroth Ascendancy that boasted over five planets.

  Dranar the Rot Warden. An Apex being who served as a mere warden before uncovering an old forgotten Saint-Piece dwarven armor and used it to overthrow five nests that had been fighting for a century; from then on, he overthrew the dwarf forces in a great war where the Blight rats outnumbered one to ten and turned what should be a dwarf planet into a Blight Rats’ planet. With the newfound wealth in Dwarven technology, Dranar was smart enough to enslave them as mechanics; with their space-farer ability, he conquered seven planets and established the Blight Guilds. For unknown reasons, Dranar chose to be a guildmaster of seven planets under his rule instead of declaring himself as Emperor. Well, thanks to that, the system offered Dranar’s citizens a lot of quests that resulted in the Blight Guilds becoming one of six great guilds of the multiverse.

  Skarra the Acid Professor. An Apex being who started as a professor. Skarra eventually led the next-generation acid weaponry, and his humble nest took over the planet with its wealth instead of martial prowess. Skarra had three planets declare him as the Grand Chairman of the Gil’s Cooperation.

  And lastly.

  An Arch Being. A god.

  Sarlzora the Green Eyes. She was one of the two Arch-Beings of Blight Rats, a princess of one in a million. An Arch-Core born into royalty, and she was meant for great things. Alone, Sarlzora turned an impossible war against the Elven, who in that time held strength of ten planets—ten worlds to call on. The Sairaz Overreach had merely three planets and was down to one. But she! The Grand Empress of the Blight Rats stood on Orith’s atmosphere and brought her hands together. Acid was born and danced around her like a sun, and she was the center of it! The acidic sun shone upon the long-eared spaceship and their proud Echelas’s steel melted apart by the sheer heat of it. Their first invasion was broken apart.

  Sarlzora was out of commission after rebuffing the first invasion—but her followers took her mantle and screamed her name across battlefields, delivering fear to the Elves' hearts. Then, when Sarlzora recovered, she conquered all Elven worlds and turned them into green acidic beauty!

  With fifteen planets under the Overreach’s grasp, her force boasted over fifty billion.

  A grand alliance! But the other five great clans refused to join. Even Zavan the Prime Acid, the Arch Being, called it a folly.

  And it was indeed a folly.

  The Darklings tore apart the Blightrats’ dwarven spaceship with their dragon’s march. It was almost comical.

  It was comical, yet the spirit of Sarlzora lived on! Uln would make it so. And it would start here, on a planet that soon would be combined into the Last World. He would make the grandest nest ever and conquer the Last World.

  No matter what it takes.

  Yet, his mind flitted to his king’s daughters. All of them were very beautiful—All of them.

  He clenched his hand, frustration welling inside. The beautiful harem he was sacrificing…

  Not to mention, he and Svorra were small-nest sweethearts. He’d almost sacrifice the harem for her alone—almost.

  “I will propose to all of them when I secure the last world,” Uln said to himself. He dipped his ring into a new acid-filled glass that was just served by one of the Tall-rats. The acid sloshed and rose to the ring’s green gem, green sheen taking over the ring, but nowhere near enough.

  Well, he had time. No one else here could threaten him anyway, so what he needed to do was to organize a hunting party—

  A figure stood clad in the entrance tunnel’s darkness. A half-helmet was worn on one side of the face, tied with white bandages that caught the silver cascade of moonlight as he stepped out.

  [Human, ArchMage-Knight—Level 45]

  He should have married Svorra.

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