"What on earth is this? Where did the Empire come from, and why is it so evil!" Xiaomo's face lost its usual playful smile; he hadn't been this serious even in the Mechanical Creation Furnace.

"They seem to be talking, let's listen."

Li Angxian stopped Morales from doing anything, and used Spiritual Enhancement to extend the spiritual hearing of the three.

"...Hmm, this batch is almost in the blueprint's state."

"No need to completely wrap it in flesh; his brain hasn't been covered by the Blood of the Annihilator, so he should understand what we're saying."

"I'll give it a try, Knight, respond to me."

The two researchers discussed, then started talking to the Annihilation Knights opposite them.

The expression of the Annihilation Knight, with skin ashen like a Frankenstein, changed. His neck and cheek muscles began to twitch, as if he was desperately trying to control them instead of letting them spasm under the Annihilator's power.

"...Roar..."

"Hmm, he can react."

"Knight, what is your name?"

The Annihilation Knight struggled for a long time and uttered a whole or half of a name.

"...Jack..."

"Jack, is it? Good, do you remember why you joined the Empire's glorious revival?"

"...For... my... siblings'... schooling..."

A researcher said in surprise: "The Empire would fulfill such a thing? How could I not know—"

"Idiot! Shut up! He can understand!" The other researcher, clearly the leader, angrily rebuked.

"Sorry, I forgot this new model would..."

The Annihilation Knight's expression suddenly froze, then violently twisted and collapsed, his entire being engulfed by the erupting Annihilator Flesh from his chest.

The purple-black flesh seemed to instantly start expanding endlessly, overflowing. Along with the knight's mutation, the body of the Annihilator within the Dimensional Rift twitched, as if summoned.

Li Ang frowned, he heard a certain voice.

After the battle at Mengze Island, he could confirm that this was Ivynis's voice.

But this time, she wasn't calling him nor did she appear; she was suffering due to Jenoside's change.

The confines of a Black Armor on the Annihilation Knight's body shattered, he transformed into a giant of flesh.

"Come here! All of you, come here!"

A researcher holding a crystal-like object shouted loudly, and several Black Armored Knights next to him swiftly surged with thunder, mercilessly wielding blades to chop down the mutated knight.

Amidst the onslaught of others, the flesh giant was quickly chopped to pieces and killed, turning into a puddle of rotten meat.

"Useless thing!"

The leader researcher cursed the one who spoke out of turn: "You incompetent fool, the Annihilator's power, Lord Apostle's power, and his own will, form a balance to have such a warrior, normally they have their senses blocked by helmets. Don't you know even this?"

The causing researcher turned pale, repeatedly apologizing.

"What's happening?"

A group of people approached from afar, and when their leader questioned, both researchers shivered all over and fearfully bowed their heads.

Xiaomo stepped forward half a step, Li Ang said to him: "This is the master behind the Empire, the 'Eye of God' organization."

"Not just them, there are people resembling Sky Knights among them," said the beast-eared youth.

Among the newcomers, the leader was indeed a cloaked Oracle envoy. It was too far for the system to capture, Li Ang couldn't determine if he was higher or lower in rank compared to the one from Mengze Island.

Upon his arrival, the researchers turned to bow, and Li Ang also saw the emblem of the Eye of God on their backs.

But just like the people outside the City of the Ship's Rudder borrowing the name of The Soul Apex, these people's respectful demeanor made it unlikely they're formal members of the Eye of God.

"We are terribly sorry, Lord Apostle. While checking the flesh's activity of the Annihilation Knight, this bastard blurted out, causing the knight's berserk."

"Terribly sorry."

"Oh."

The Oracle envoy finished speaking and raised his hand in a wave, a spell blade like brilliant starlight sliced across the sky, slashing the researcher who spoke out of turn in half at the waist.

"No need to keep trash."

The leader researcher trembled all over, kept his head down and dared not say anything.

"Continue your work, and then, these three are the Empire's partners, they're here to observe the assembly of the battleship."

The leader researcher raised his head, looking at the three Sky Knights opposite.

"These three, judging from the Magic Radiance of their equipment, should all be in the Excellence Realm, could it be—"

"You're not wrong."

Li Ang directly responded to Xiaomo's guess.

Following the Oracle envoy were three main members of The Soul Apex. Their equipment setup was coincidentally adjusted by Li Ang.

"Now, there shouldn't be anyone I know left in The Soul Apex, right?" Morales asked, devoid of any emotion.

"There's still Rams."

"Oh, him, of course he doesn't count. Haha, that's good, very good."

Xiaomo leaned against the railing, shrouded in shadow curtains, but already half his body was sticking out, wanting to see more clearly.

Li Ang also enhanced the three's visual spirituality. With their condition, it was visible, but now Xiaomo clearly wanted to see the appearance of those three.

"So it's them."

With widened vision, Li Ang immediately recognized these three members of The Soul Apex.

"Introduce them?" Xiaomo smiled faintly.

Li Ang knew he meant to ask how to get rid of these people.

"These three... let me think how to say..."

Coincidentally, there was indeed old grudges with Li Ang regarding these three.

Their power is not bad, enough in terms of Celestial Group members, passable in top strong individuals' eyes, so overall they count as figures.

Because of this, they're called bigshots in their respective hometowns and communities, and among the uninformed in the Holy City, anyone managing so would also not know their level deficiencies.

Precisely because these individuals are at such a level, Li Ang would generally receive sarcastic responses like "witch doesn't understand" when he went to offer advice, and their stubbornness was hard to persuade.

Of these three, the first is Boliya. He specializes in finding rationale for poor work he does himself, yet when others make mistakes, he won't let them go, persistent and relentless.

The second is Fres. There are obvious issues in combat technique and coordination, adjustments could improve things, but he refuses to change.

The third is Kleem, who normally takes on all responsibilities, but at crucial moments always breaks down; just like the first, with many excuses.

These are the kind of individuals that if their talent were slightly less, they could be considered tumors.

But due to the external positive opinions, communication is extremely difficult, being the tactical planner, Li Ang frequently clashed with them.

But does that mean they should assist the Empire?

Upon detailing their conducts, Li Ang sighed: "I thought it was just a tactical perceptive error; didn't expect they'd willingly serve as Rams' vanguard."

"One can only say, Rams recruited them for a reason. You're too busy with your affairs to consider such details," Xiaomo said while tossing a blade.

The three members of The Soul Apex approached the researcher: "Lord Apostle said we need to discuss some of the battleship's fittings with us."

The researcher nodded repeatedly.

"Also, we need to borrow these knights."

"They still require maintenance."

"Then hurry up."

The three urged the researcher to work, watching him instruct other knights to remove their helmets. With his colleague and subordinate's corpse still nearby, he dared not utter any words, only working with the device to infuse Annihilator Flesh.

This flesh was injected into the musculature within the knights' armor gaps, replenishing their depleted power.

"I heard, the knights later in the Empire will be increasingly obedient?"

The Soul Apex's Boliya asked.

"Yes, that's right, this batch is nearly there," said the researcher.

"That's good, since our leader is interested in exactly that," Boliya murmured while rubbing his chin, staring at the agonizing Annihilation Knight.

Fres casually tossed the helmet with his toe, juggling it like a ball before setting it on the head of a maintained Annihilation Knight.

"Do they have no thoughts? Find this perfectly natural? Am I crazy? Or is this the current Soul Apex?"

Morales put his hand on Li Ang's shoulder.