Global Evolution: I Became A Zombie!-Chapter 215 - 211: Borrowed Authority

Blaze sat on his throne, his cheeks resting on his hands as he looked at the new toys he had conquered. Timo, Saint, Talo, and Bron were the only ones he let live with him after a moment’s consideration.

The rest of the crew was sent to join the Deca and defeat the joint kingdom forces. After their crushing defeat, the entire continent would truly belong to Blaze.

All of its resources would then be used to repair the ship. Now that Blaze had learned all about the spaceship, there was to learn. Originally, he was planning on leaving for the next planet to conquer, but one conversation with Timo changed that.

At his feet, Fester remained curled up after having a nice feast of alien flesh.

"Collective has been closer than I thought," Blaze mumbled, looking uninterested.

The antipodal planet was once again their plaything. Much like Earth had been. The collective had established contact with one supercontinent, Pagona, while the other continent, which didn’t even have a name, was left on its own.

Perhaps the Collective wanted to create two different civilizations and then have them duke it out either for fun or for research purposes.

However, they probably lost interest in the project after Pagona became too strong, only asking for centurial updates and such from the group the people before Blaze belonged to.

"That’s something they would do," Blaze nodded along. "Well, given the unique structure of the planet, I wouldn’t be doing anything better in their position."

Blaze did not know if antipodal planets like Sadarla were common or not. But he knew scientists back on Earth had done similar experiments, the most prominent one being Lenski’s E. coli experiment.

"Now that I think, it was still ongoing before the Collective messed everything up," Blaze clicked his tongue in frustration. "That experiment would have been the most accurate of what the Collective was doing here."

In the experiment, much like the Sadarlans, a batch of E. coli bacteria of the same strain was used to create 12 ’lines’ or groups. Each group lived under similar environments, but they did not interact with the other groups, just like the two islands on Sadarla weren’t allowed to mingle.

Over time, every group changed drastically from its starting point. While the bacteria developed different traits, in the case of sentient beings, such isolation had even more profound effects.

While Pagona developed technologically, thanks to the guidance from the Collective, the other continent grew spiritually. They believed in gods, fate, and similar things. While Pagona hailed technology and blessings as their ’gods’.

This was similar in comparison to the ’citrate’ breakthrough within the E. coli experiment. Normally, E. coli cannot consume citrate in oxygen-rich environments. It was the defining trait of their species.

However, after rapid evolution over thirty-one thousand generations, one of the twelve groups developed the ability to consume citrate as food.

Similarly, the Decan continent also developed a few individuals with strange abilities without being given any ’blessing’ from the Collective.

"Who would have thought such a thing would happen on an actual planet as well?"

His voice didn’t hold any emotions, but the glint in his eyes let everyone know what he was thinking. With a yawn, he got off the throne, stretching as he did.

He was still getting used to his new body. Everything about Kais had remained unchanged apart from two things. First was his ill-proportioned body mass, and the second was his face.

Honestly, even after seeing two worlds, Blaze didn’t like anyone’s face but his own. Call it narcissism, but to an extent, his own face excited him. Not in a sexual way, but from admiration.

It kind of reminded him of his true goal of uncovering as many secrets as he could and of toying with anything he got his hands on. Right now, he had found something new to play with.

"Pagona..." he whispered, staring into Timo’s eyes. "I wonder what it is like."

***

Meanwhile, around the borders of Deca...

Xilo and the ’reinforcements’ their god sent finally squashed the united front before them. The field was full of corpses. Out of the hundreds of thousands who dared to challenge Deca, not a single soul remained.

"Send your men to check the corpses," Dian, the ’resurrected’ knight, instructed Xilo as they turned to head towards Blaze’s temple.

"You might be mistaken about something," Xilo immediately shot back. "Deca isn’t a place where outsiders like you can order us."

Xilo had courage because his people were around him. Besides, he had been loyal to their god without ever betraying his trust. If an outsider began ordering him around, it would harm their god’s reputation in front of everyone.

Dian and the knights froze in their spots. They stood still as if communicating with someone before walking again.

To Xilo, it was a sign of disrespect. He knew their god desired two traits in his subjects. Absolute strength and blinding loyalty. Since he failed to show off his strength, Xilo could only show Blaze his loyalty.

Holding his spear, he charged at Dian, planning to stab him to death and decorate his severed head at the entrance.

However, before he could do that, his body froze in place.

[What are you doing?]

Blaze’s voice echoed in his head as ever Deca in the area fell to their knees. Xilo would have done the same, but he couldn’t move a muscle in his body, so he just stood there, babbling like a fool.

"That man disrespected my authority, Your Excellency," he said. "I was about to teach him a lesson—"

[Your authority?]

The next moment, Xilo slammed his head on the ground. His head burst open as blood drenched his face. Still, he didn’t stop and kept hitting his head against the ground with all his strength.

[You, who couldn’t even stop the enemies from desecrating my temple, think you have any authority?]

[The only thing you have is my blessing. The powers I shared with you. Yet, you couldn’t win against mere ordinary Sadarlans?] 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

[I should kill you for that sin alone. I don’t desire your arrogance or your unwillingness to acknowledge your weakness.]

"M-My lord! Please f-forgive me!"

Blaze didn’t say a word, but stopped forcing Xilo to punish himself.

[Get yourself fixed. I have something to do with you later.]