Urban Plundering: I Corrupted The System!-Chapter 475: The Worm in the Apple

Parker made his way to a building that shouldn’t exist in any normal architectural sense—a crystalline structure that existed in folded space, hidden within the palace grounds but somehow containing more volume than the palace itself. This was where he’d been keeping his collection.

The automatic doors slid open with a whisper, revealing a vast chamber filled with beings who had once been human but were now something else entirely. The corrupted blessed—champions created by divine arrogance, weapons forged by fear, now tools for cosmic justice.

At the center of the group stood the Shadow Bearer, no longer the desperate street criminal who’d terrorized Manhattan. Parker’s power had refined him, elevated him, turned him into something that radiated dark authority. His form seemed to shift between solid matter and living shadow, tendrils of darkness coiling around his arms like loyal serpents. When he moved, reality bent slightly around him, shadows deepening in his presence.

"My lord," the Shadow Bearer said, his voice carrying harmonics that made nearby lights flicker. "We await your command."

Near him stood Cassiel, the young girl whose healing light had been corrupted into something far more complex. She still wore her signature hoodie, but now it seemed to be woven from captured starlight, the fabric shifting between mundane cotton and cosmic radiance. Her small hands glowed with soft silver light that could heal or destroy with equal ease. When she spoke, her childlike voice carried the weight of someone who’d seen too much.

"Uncle Parker," she said quietly, "Mama says the bad gods are scared now."

Parker’s gaze moved to Elena (another Elena), the broken mother who’d once summoned spirits in desperation. She stood protectively near her daughter, but there was nothing broken about her now. Spirits of every description orbited around her like a personal constellation—not the tortured souls she’d once called, but warriors of light and shadow who served willingly. Her eyes held depths that reflected multiple realities, and when she gestured, the very air shimmered with spiritual energy.

She had decided to take in the innocent girl as her own.

"The realm above is vast," she said, her voice carrying the wisdom of someone who’d learned to command forces beyond mortal comprehension. "Ten times Earth’s size, with pantheons ruling like separate continents. The gods have grown complacent in their isolated paradise."

Behind them stood others Parker had collected:

The Fallen Priest now radiated divine authority that had been stripped from corrupt gods and redistributed. His words could bind reality itself, and when he spoke, concepts like truth and justice bent to his will.

The Artist (not the Painter—a different blessed), whose reality-shaping abilities had been refined to surgical precision. She could paint doorways between dimensions, create pocket realities, or edit existing space with brushstrokes that rewrote physics.

Thane, the former Gladiator Slave, now stood seven feet tall with muscles that seemed carved from compressed starlight. His very presence made weapons sharper, armor stronger, and warriors braver.

Vera, the Silent Assassin, existed in temporal flux—simultaneously in multiple moments, making her effectively untouchable. When she moved, time itself stuttered around her.

All of them bore the mark of Parker’s power. They were no longer the corrupted, desperate humans the gods had tried to weaponize. They were Immortal—beings who had transcended mortal limitations and been rebuilt according to Parker’s will.

"You know why you’re here," Parker said, his voice carrying the weight of absolute authority. "The gods created you as weapons to use against me. Now you’re going to return to sender."

He raised his hand, and Omni energy pulsed outward from him in waves that made reality itself sing. Each of the blessed beings suddenly blazed with power that dwarfed their previous abilities. The Shadow Bearer’s darkness deepened until nearby light seemed to flee in terror. Cassiel’s healing light became so pure it could resurrect the permanently dead or burn corruption from existence itself.

Elena’s spirits multiplied into legion numbers, each one a fragment of her elevated will.

"ETERNAL ASCENSION," Parker intoned, and the words rewrote their very existence. They were no longer enhanced humans or corrupted champions. They were forces of nature wearing human shapes, each one capable of challenging gods directly.

The power boost wasn’t gradual—it was instantaneous and absolute. Marcus’s divine authority suddenly rivaled that of pantheon leaders. The Artist’s reality-shaping became so refined she could edit fundamental concepts. Thane’s warrior essence transformed him into a living embodiment of victory itself.

With a gesture, Parker opened a portal that led not to any earthly location, but to the realm above—the vast divine world where Olympus and other pantheons ruled like continents on a world ten times Earth’s size. The portal was lightless, a tear in reality that led to shadows and possibility.

"Your mission is simple," Parker said, his smile sharp as cosmic justice. "Infiltrate. Integrate. Multiply your power. The divine realm is full of lesser beings—spirits, demigods, immortal servants, divine constructs. Many of them are already dissatisfied with their gods’ rule. Establish a base."

The Shadow Bearer stepped forward, darkness swirling around him like a living cloak. "And when we’ve established our foothold?"

"Lay low. Grow stronger. The divine realm’s energy will accelerate your power development beyond anything possible on Earth. Feed on it. Absorb it. Become part of the cosmic ecosystem." Parker’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. "Like a worm eating an apple from the inside, without the apple knowing it’s already hollow."

One by one, the Eternals began moving toward the portal. Marcus blessed their passage with words that made success inevitable. The Artist painted protection sigils that would hide them from divine perception. Thane led the way with the confidence of someone who had never known defeat.

But as Cassiel started to follow, Parker held up a gentle hand.

"Not you, little star. You and your mama stay here."

Cassiel looked up at him with those too-wise eyes. "Why, Uncle Parker?"

"Because," Parker said, kneeling to her level, "someone needs to tell me when the apple starts to rot."

Elena nodded understanding, her spirits already reaching into the divine realm through the portal, gathering intelligence. "We’ll monitor from here. Guide them when needed."

The Shadow Bearer paused at the portal’s threshold, looking back. "How long until you join us?"

Parker’s smile was all teeth and cosmic promise. "Not long. I have a wedding to crash first, and some financial empires to destroy. But when I arrive..." His voice carried harmonics that made reality shiver. "When I arrive, we’re going to remind every god in existence why they should have stayed in their lane. Make me proud, yo."

The Shadow Bearer’s grin matched his master’s before he stepped through the portal, followed by the other Eternals. The gateway closed behind them with a whisper of displaced space.

In the divine realm above, gods continued their political maneuvering and damage control, completely unaware that their greatest enemies had just been delivered directly into their home.

The worm was in the apple.

And Parker Black Nyxlith was just getting started.

___

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