Sunny leaned back into the embrace of his throne, the silence of the palace was a stark contrast to the chaotic growth of his empire.

The holographic report of Veridia still lingered in his mind. The growth was exponential.

With the Miniature God-Maker Realm, the lifeforms under his banner were sprinting through evolution.

They were no longer primitives scraping for survival; they were a civilization of magic and technology.

But as Sunny stared up at the stars of the ceiling, a heavy weight settled in his chest.

"It's not enough," he murmured.

The entire multiverse was being connected by Thea. Interstellar travel was becoming commonplace.

Soon, the strongest mortals from across his territory would flock to Veridia, creating a world of power.

But against the Demon Lords? It was like building a sandcastle to stop a tsunami.

If a full-scale invasion happened, the mortals would be the first to burn. No God or Demigod would have the luxury of protecting them.

The infinite swarm of the Demon Army would wash over world after world, extinguishing trillions of lives before Sunny could even react.

The Demigods might survive ironically, as the Demon Realm was running low on demigods after they were slaughtered in the Realm of Advancement. But the mortal demons? They were infinite.

"They need to be stronger," Sunny decided, his eyes narrowing. "They need to be strong enough to hold the line against the infinite swarm on their own."

He pushed the thought aside for now. He could only provide the soil; the mortals had to provide the growth.

"Now," Sunny whispered, rubbing his hands together. "It's time for the next talent"

The cooldown of his innate talent was complete, Which meant that he could now copy any talent among his lifeforms or those who had placed their foots in his territory.

The list of potential targets were a lot. For example: Resilience, Blessings and soul splitting from Adam. Origin of Cards and God of Cards Masters from Merlin. These were all the SSS-Grade talents currently available for copy.

Then their were the talents of the three reincarnation of the old gods.

"Should I wait for them?" Sunny mused. As he began to analyse their talents.

Beru, his talent required eating items or lifeforms to evolve. Sunny was already evolving with every copied talent, effectively achieving the same result without the need for cannibalism or eating artifacts.

Note : Evolving means that like the changes in his skin colour and hair colour, and also the dots of light on his hands.

Thera, Her talent was a tactical nuke usable only once a day. With Sunny's Time Affinity, he could theoretically spam it by manipulating the time for his body, but did he need another damage spell?

Not really, with talents like God's Authority, God's Domain, Divine Command, Mage and body Refining profession at SS-Grade. He was a walking nuke himself.

Cai Zhen, This was a prize. A completely new power system based on Qi. It offered techniques that are similar to talents but can be learned by anyone.

"But he isn't here yet," Sunny noted. "And I cannot waste a a few hours to wait for them, i will copy his talent the next time"

He then thought about Edgar's talent, the Void hunger talent of SSS Grade.

Sunny shuddered. He remembered Edgar's warning, that this hunger was a curse that consumed everything, even the innate talents and the blessings of it's own user.

If Sunny copied it, there was a risk it might devour his other talents.

"Too risky," Sunny dismissed it. He needed talent that can increase his overall power, but the risk wasn't worth it.

Then their were talents of mortals and demigods under him; Emotion Eater, Nature Lover and many more.

Sunny still shook his head, these talent were SS-Grade, and if he can get a talent of SSS-Grade, why would he chose an SS-Grade which isn't needed for now.

After thinking about it for a while, Sunny finally made a decision.

The talent he would be copying right now was Soul Splitting.

Currently, Sunny possessed Three other souls: The Creator, War, and The Destroyer. His main soul made four.

But his empire needs to be expanding even faster than this. He needed more souls, so that his other clones could become immortals too.

"If I copy Soul Splitting," Sunny theorized, "my Skill-Resonance might evolve it. Adam's version has a limit of four souls."

"Imagine... six souls of ten, The demon Gods would die in no time then"

It was the ultimate solution to his problem.

He closed his eyes. His will drifted out of the palace, flying across the City of Gods, past the bustling districts, and then it entered the Universe that Sunny created. It only stopped when Sunny noticed the familiar aura.

Adam wasn't in the city. He was on his own personal planet, Eden, nurturing his lifeforms by himself.

Sunny's consciousness dived straight into Adam's soul. His Skill-Resonance bypassed any restriction on Adam's soul and reached the core foundation.

There he saw it. A pulsating gem of white light.

Then the familiar sensation washed over him. The very essence of the talent was copied, dismantled and reconstructed within Sunny's soul.

As swiftly as he had arrived, his will returned back to the throne room.

Sunny opened his eyes. Feeling the lingering sensation in his soul.

"Let's see," Sunny whispered, "Did it evolve? Or do I just have two soul-splitting talents now?"

He activated his God's Eye on himself to check the talent description.

Meanwhile, faraway in the cosmic void, two beings of unimaginable power floated in the cosmic void.

Ichor, the Demon Lord of Corruption and Maledictus, the Demon Lord of Curses.

Their massive forms made the distant Multiverses shudder in fear. Showcasing the destruction they have been causing across the multiverses.

But right now, their usually arrogant faces were twisted with a mixture of rage and anxiety.

"Maledictus," Ichor growled, his voice shaking. "I hope what we saw was wrong. I hope it was a trick of someone."

"What we saw is indeed right," Maledictus hissed, her eyes burning with red energy. "We need to check the multiverses of Gods who had escaped from us. We need to confirm it even if we need to directly intervene, to check the memories of those mortals."

She turned to fly towards the direction they had just came from, but Ichor hesitated.

"Maledictus..." Ichor stammered. "I... I destroyed their multiverses. Every time we passed a multiverse, my followers raided it. They corroded it. Even if we go back, there is nothing to find but dust."

Maledictus stopped. She turned slowly, staring at Ichor with a look that promised violence.

"You fool," she whispered. "Now how will we know how many of them were the old..."

She shook her head, suppressing the urge to curse him into oblivion. "It doesn't matter. We can confirm it in the next multiverse"

"But what about Deimos?" Ichor yelled, "He ordered us to return to the Capital!"

"He will understand," Maledictus replied coldly. "This task should be in highest priority. You can return and explain to them, i will look for the next Gods myself"

She didn't wait. She tore through space, heading for the next multiverse.

"Like hell I will leave you alone, we can send our followers to send our message anyways." Ichor grumbled, chasing after her. He was terrified, yes, but his curiosity was stronger.

The source of their fear had begun a few hours ago.

They had been hunting. The number of Gods escaping their grasp had been increasing suspiciously over the last few years, over twenty thousand Gods had slipped through the net.

Today, they had cornered a big one. Chrono, the God of Time.

A God of Time was a rare, SSS-Grade toy for them. Time was a Complete Law, infinitely harder to master than its sublaws like acceleration or freezing. Thus killing Chrono was a top priority.

But when they finally breached Chrono's multiverse and cornered him, they froze in shock.

Chrono's face... it felt familiar.

Their instincts, honed by eons of slaughter, screamed at them. They had killed this man before.

Before they could react, Chrono panicked and unleashed a Time Freeze spell.

For two Demon Lords, a time freeze should have been a minor annoyance. But Chrono's spell held them for a full ten seconds.

Ten seconds was an eternity in a divine battle. By the time they broke free, Chrono was gone.

But it wasn't the escape that haunted them. It was the aura. It was identical to the God of Time from the Old Era.

One of the strongest God they had slaughtered a million year ago.

A seed of doubt had bloomed in their hearts.

What if the Old Gods were being reincarnated by someone, one by one?

"If the Old Gods are returning," Maledictus thought, her mind racing as she flew, "then the balance of power is shifting and we need to control it, somehow"

Only now did they understand how the Gods were able to escape from their hands.

The puzzle pieces were clicking into place, forming a picture they didn't want to see.

They needed to find the next target as quickly as possible.

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