Time continued to advance.
Merely 300 years later, the first Nightman reached the Eighth Realm.
As expected, the gulf in power only widened.
This Nightman was so powerful that he could defeat over 90% of all the Shields in Starbreaker Base.
Kiran kept giving them what they wanted, but he also constantly reminded them that he didn't need to do that.
He did that to form a good relationship between the two sides.
Compared to the last era, the Nightmen actually had a permanent leader.
That leader hadn't been elected by them.
He had simply become their leader because he was the strongest.
Naturally, Kiran and Nick had secretly chosen that leader and had granted him plenty of advantages.
This Nightman was especially intelligent, and he could tell that cooperation would give him more resources than just taking them.
He knew that the Nightmen needed the Extractors.
Without them, there would be no Zephyx.
If all of the Extractors just stopped working, they would run out of Zephyx.
However, while the Extractors could survive without any issues in this case since everything was covered in Prephyx, the same thing wasn't true for the Nightmen.
They needed Pure Energy to survive, and without Zephyx, they couldn't make Pure Energy.
Nick had also shown himself to the Nightmen's leader.
Officially, Kiran was still the Emperor, but secretly, Kiran and the Nightmen's leader were on the same level.
They were working together as colleagues to steer Starbreaker Base in the right direction.
The leader was called Daniel, and his title was the Night Emperor.
For now, this title would remain secret.
In the future, the Nightmen would take control of Starbreaker Base, and then, the title would become official.
Another 400 years passed.
Daniel reached the Mid Eighth Realm, and he was more powerful than any Shield, except for Kiran.
Due to Kiran's base ability, he could fight Daniel evenly.
However, Kiran was already a Peak Shield, while Daniel was only in the Mid Eighth Realm.
While Daniel was growing more powerful, his followers were also growing rapidly.
There were over 200 Nightmen in the Eighth Realm by now.
A century later, Kiran became the first Savior.
The first level nine Extractor.
He had already worked with Nick in the past, but that didn't matter.
Nick had already changed the rules to such a degree that he could basically make anyone advance by working with whatever Specter.
He just needed to excite the Zephyx Synchronizer, and that wasn't difficult.
Kiran reached an incredible level of power.
Yet, he still could only draw with Daniel, who had reached the Late Eighth Realm by now.
The brutal increase in power by reaching the highest level an Extractor could reach was only enough to equalize the power increase Daniel received by a minor breakthrough.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, the number of Heroes had increased drastically.
Yet, they still hadn't managed to give birth to a Protector.
If there had only been one Fallen haunting humanity, they might have already created their first Protector.
However, Nick had already activated the second Fallen, making it much harder for humanity.
It also didn't help that Nick kept deleting important research data.
Another 200 years passed.
Daniel reached the Peak Eighth Realm, and it finally happened.
Despite Kiran's incredible power, he was helpless in front of Daniel.
Daniel and Kiran put on a public display, and Daniel came out victorious.
The Nightmen were no longer the inferior race.
Now, they were on top.
However, instead of subjugating the normal humans, Daniel decided to share leadership.
Kiran's title was changed to Day Emperor, while Daniel officially assumed the title of Night Emperor.
As Daniel's first act after becoming Night Emperor, he declared that the forbidden Containment Unit would be opened.
Everyone knew about the forbidden Containment Unit.
Inside the forbidden Containment Unit was an ancient Specter from the past era.
It was one of the most powerful Specters in existence, and it was incredibly dangerous.
Nobody had ever dared to venture inside due to all of the warnings plastered across the Archive.
Daniel and Kiran both entered the Containment Unit.
Sounds of battle made the Containment Unit shudder for several seconds.
Then, Daniel and Kiran came back out, exhausted.
It was difficult, but they had managed to win.
The Specter was not intelligent, which was why it attacked anyone.
But with sheer power, they managed to force it into compliance.
All of the Shields were called over.
From now on, they would be working with this Specter.
The Specter inside the Containment Unit was a grotesque amalgamation of flesh, and it caused any human who entered to live artificial lives of suffering.
Naturally, all of this had just been an act.
The Specter was just Nick.
From this day forth, Nick worked with hundreds of Shields every single day.
Occasionally, the Emperors closed the Containment Unit.
That was just to let Nick deal with his tasks on the surface.
Zephyx production shot through the roof, and the Nightmen advanced even faster.
200 years passed, and Kiran approached the end of his natural life.
But something like this didn't matter anymore.
The longevity rule for higher levels had been artificial from the very beginning.
It was just a certain instability and degeneration of the Zephyx Synchronizer.
By fine-tuning it a bit, Shields could live for over 5,000 years, and Saviors could live for up to 20,000 years.
The Nightmen didn't have such issues.
The Night Emperor, based on his biology, could live for up to 100,000 years.
As Nick kept working with the Extractors, he noticed that he was about to advance to become an Early Eternal.
Naturally, he couldn't allow that to happen.
The aliens might notice.
So, he just dispersed all the Zephyx he was gathering.
This increased the Zephyx generation for the Extractors significantly.
200 years later, Kiran became an Early Savior, and three more Saviors were created.
However, something else happened.
Daniel reached the Ninth Realm.
The biology that Nick had meticulously created for the Nightmen had become almost perfect.
The power boost Daniel had received after advancing was incredible.
As Nick looked at Daniel, he felt mixed emotions.
'He's more powerful than me,' Nick thought.
'In a fight, I would not win.'
This was the first time.
The first time Nick was weaker than somebody who was at the same level as him.
He was no longer the strongest in his league.
From now on, Nick could no longer forcefully control the city.
If Daniel betrayed them…
All hope might be lost.
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