Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

"Who are you? How did you enter here?" The Empress asked in alarm, shouting, "Guards!"

Immediately at her shout, dozens of guards rushed into the royal chambers, alarmed upon seeing an intruder there. The head of the royal guards was the first to charge at Yulna, thrusting forth his sword into her before tumbling to the ground, losing his balance.

After all, his sword failed to even make a scratch on her. And as he wasn't expecting such a rebound, he lost balance and collapsed to the ground, shocking the guards.

But, unwilling to believe what they witnessed, they came at her with their weapons, thrusting and hacking at her, failing to even scratch Yulna as thunderous sounds reverberated upon each impact.

Yulna calmly stood in place with a smile, watching the guards hack at her until they collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Following that, intense fear crept up in their bodies as they turned tail to run.

Yulna snapped her finger, unleashing a blob of corruption that slammed into the door, closing it, preventing the royal guards from getting out.

Yulna calmly took a step forward, walking towards the Empress with a smile. The royal guards dared not utter a sound, horrified as they tried their best to take up as little space as possible.

Clop! Clat! Clop!

Muffled sounds resounded as her boots made contact with the carpeted floor as Yulna arrived before the Empress, watching the expression of the other party. A starlight stream flowed out of the Empress and poured into her.

Mental Energy!

Mental Energy was the energy of the mind, created through the expression of the thoughts of people. This formed the basic food of the Systems, the reason they made Hosts in the first place.

And just as food variety, the type of thought decided whether or not the Mental Energy was tasty, suitable, beneficial, etc. for the consumption of a System.

Of course, for a Grade 3 System fragment like Yulna, most forms of Mental Energy were suitable for consumption.

She sensed the thoughts and emotions within the Mental Energy streams directed at her by the Empress and the royal guards, smiling as she thought, 'It seems I've formed a solid image of myself in their minds. To them, my words are absolute from here on.'

The Empress noticed her smile, shuddering internally as she mustered the final vestiges of her courage, asking, "W-Who are you really?"

Just as Yulna was about to reply, as usual, she went through the memories of the original Yulna, focusing on one of the stories that everyone in PADS learnt about, smiling in response as suddenly, the Celestial Armour covered her, followed by the unfurling of her wings.

Of course, her appearance was different from those in the PADS, for it was her corrupted self, sporting an appearance more fearsome than the worst of nightmares one could experience in a fever dream.

As everyone trembled in fear, almost fainting in response, her appearance reverted to that of the petite girl that tilted her head, stating with a gentle smile, "Guess?"

"A…Devil?" The Empress said, suddenly laughing in response, "Of course, for my actions, a devil making its appearance makes sense."

"A Devil?" Yulna scratched her cheeks, chuckling soon after as her muffled laughter resounded through the room, causing a couple of guards to soil their pants.

Yulna looked at the Empress in disdain, "It's pretty insulting to hear myself being compared to a mere Devil you know."

"Then…are you…?" The Empress trailed off, hoping to get an answer from Yulna.

"Well, if I were to explain it in a way you could understand…" Yulna thought before saying slowly, "You can think of me as someone that creates Devils?"

"Anyway, leave that behind." She waved her hand, speaking before the people in the room fainted out of fear that was constantly growing in their minds, "I'll give you all an offer to realise your dreams."

She looked at the Empress, "Do you want true power that helps you achieve your dream?"

"True…power?" The Empress was stunned before she got up and kneeled before Yulna, accepting the situation instantly, "I accept it gracefully."

Of course, as someone that had ordered hell on earth to be recreated through the wars she waged, the Empress was a hardened individual, quickly grasping the situation. Moreover, she dared to pit her life on the line, especially since the allure of power and authority was so tempting to her.

"Let's go to the Palace basement then." Yulna said, staring at the royal guards, "All of you, follow me."

"Do as she says," The Empress commanded from behind, "Anyone that dares flee would be labelled a traitor and have their family executed."

The royal guards could only meekly nod as they got up and followed the two ladies.

The Empress led Yulna to the basement of the Palace, frowning the moment they entered as it was a place where nobles that went against the crown were typically imprisoned to be tortured.

"Hmm, this is big enough." Yulna nodded upon seeing that the ceiling was around twenty metres in height.

She inspected the place, arriving at the centre of the basement where there was a wide enough open space, bringing out her Whale, startling everyone.

The Whale's eyes shot towards them, watching them tumble to the ground in response before it opened its mouth, devouring a chunk of the ground, revealing the earth underneath. It then continued to do the same until a large enough hole was created.

Yulna snapped her finger, causing the Whale to vanish as she condensed a pearl-like cylinder in her hands, throwing it into the hole as immediately, followed by a flash of corruption, a large tree began to grow.

Tower of Corruption!

As it was fully composed of corruption now, the Tower of Purification had become the Tower of Corruption. It absorbed nutrients from the ground and gradually condensed a fruit on one of its branches.

Yulna extended her hand, watching the fruit drop on her palm. She then threw it towards the Empress, watching her grab hold of it in a hurry, "Here, eat this. I'm not sure of the type of power you'll obtain, but it's entirely dependent on you."

She then looked at the royal guards, "The power you obtain can be either strong or weak, but it depends entirely on you. These fruits…"

She then looked at the Empress, "Let's name them Devil Fruits."

"These Devil Fruits only work in granting you power. You'll have to seize the type of power you need to fulfil your desire." She concluded, thinking while accessing the previous Yulna's memories, 'There's no way my power can access the Beast Armoury since there's no Nacre in me. Therefore, it's impossible for either me or these people to obtain any Mutated Beast. So, I'm curious as to what kind of power they'll awaken.'

Even though she wore a poker face, Yulna was a tad excited to see what would happen to the Empress. She was assured that there was a mysterious power hidden in these Devil Fruits created by her Tower of Corruption, just that she wasn't aware of what they entailed.

The Empress stared at the fruit in her hands that resembled a jackfruit in terms of appearance but was only the size of her thumb. Without any hesitation, she placed it in her mouth, feeling it melt automatically as warm energy flowed through her throat before settling in her stomach.

A couple of seconds later, the entirety of her fruit vanished as the warmth in her stomach intensified before it began to spread throughout her body.

Slowly, the Empress could sense her skin hardening as her entire body felt like it was growing stronger. A mysterious power welled up in her before soon, her hair turned green, a shade lighter than Yulna.

But beyond that, there were no changes as the Empress clenched her hand into a fist, closing her eyes as she digested the vast surge of information rushing into her mind as suddenly, her hair moved on its own, coiling into a bun.

The tinge of corruption emitted by the Tower of Corruption flowed into her hair and was absorbed by the Empress.

'So, the hair works similar to the Horn of the Horned Humans.' Yulna nodded in response as she watched in anticipation as to what type of power did the Empress obtain.

"Please allow me to display my power, God Mother." The Empress bowed respectfully.

Yulna didn't mind the way she was addressed, nodding as everyone followed the Empress to the open grounds nearby.

The Empress stood before Yulna as suddenly, the palm on her right morphed, turning into a sunflower. She then extended her hand into the air as the sunflower lit up in response before unleashing a beam of sunlight into the sky, brightening up the palace.

People from throughout the royal capital stared in the direction of the palace, gazing at the beam of light that illuminated a good majority of the palace, with the heat able to be felt even a couple of streets away from the palace.

The guards nearby the Empress began to sweat in response to the heat, staring in shock before one of them exclaimed, "Fornol Sunflower!"

Yulna's eyes lit up as she turned around, gazing at a row of flowers growing in the garden nearby, noticing flowers similar to the one that the Empress' palms had turned into.

Even though it was nighttime, they glowed faintly. The flower emitted a beam of light similar to a lamppost, but it was too weak.

The flower, Fornol Sunflower was what represented the Fornol Empire, for it was a bioluminescent plant that absorbed sunlight during the day and emitted them at night. And due to the symbol they represented, the Fornol Empire passed down the decree that the Fornol Sunflower could only be grown in the royal gardens.

And now, its natural property was expressed by the Empress.

'The power of the PADS is derived from the mutated beasts living in Beast Armoury located in their home world. And, the power here is derived from the plants native to this world.' Nodding in response, Yulna smiled, "It seems there are interesting plants in this world."

She then stared at the Empress, proclaiming aloud, "From this moment forth, everyone that consumes a Devil Fruit and follows the footsteps of the Fornol Empress, Feleokruna will henceforth be called a…"

"Blight Human."