Una resolved to make her sister's wish a reality and to protect her, but it became all the more difficult as time passed.
The land that could be occupied was reduced.
The once fertile lands were lost.
Resources became scarce, and the remaining lands became greatly overpopulated.
Outbreaks became more frequent.
Power struggles became far more rampant among the people over the smallest of things.
The biggest power struggle existed between the church and the royal family, which had the biggest of differing opinions on how things should be done.
The pontiff of that time was a weak man who could not stand up to the royals.
The royals had the belief that everyone should serve them and that defying them was a great crime.
They were self-serving people who would sacrifice anyone if it meant preserving their own lives and getting what they wanted.
With the nobles backing them, it made them even more of a problem for the church to ignore.
The pontiff ended up giving in to each demand, and that resulted in Deux being used by the royals.
Deux was no longer able to aid those she wished to truly help and who were in the most need.
She ended up becoming a tool for the nobles and royalty to make demands through the Pontiff.
Una had seen how her sister was being used and pushed to work so hard that it was becoming too much for her.
It was wearing her sister down each time, and it broke Una's heart to watch it.
So many lives were lost, but that was just the beginning of the horrors that awaited.
Invaders came, trying to steal the lands for themselves after losing their own lands.
They came from distant islands seeking a new place to settle, but found that the island was already occupied.
Some came to Empirica with the intent to slaughter and claim the land.
Others arrived in more subtle and tactical ways as they tried to integrate with those of Empirica or find ways to cooperate.
The problem was that many were already dying, and the problems had yet to be resolved.
More people being added was not good, and it was especially bad when the nobles were allowing it to continue.
It was especially bad when such people came with more sinister intentions and were just biding their time to seize the lands for themselves.
Despite Deux wishing to keep going and trying to help those she could for the sake of saving Empirica, the events that unfolded could not be stopped.
Both Una nd Deux ended up being pulled into the middle of the power struggles and being used in various ways.
They were targeted and used in all kinds of ways until it finally became enough for Una.
The king of Empirica took in many concubines, who ended up becoming a large harem made up of people of high status within Empirica and from islands that had lost their homelands and came to arrive in Empirica.
He was a man with many appetites and ambition, but he was often swayed by the words of others quite easily.
It was easy to manipulate him into taking certain actions that aligned with his appetites and ambitions if he was given a subtle suggestion.
One of the concubines who had been the biggest influence on him had suggested that Deux should be brought into the harem and be used for the sake of creating an eternal empire where its rulers would never die.
Upon finding out the details of Deux's abilities, their greed could no longer be restricted to the land itself and holding such high status over it.
Ruling over it all could last so much longer if Deux fell under their control.
That was why marriage was ordered upon Deux for the sake of chaining her to the royal family so that they could continue to exploit her.
Despite the church having to give up one of its most valuable resources and supporters, the Pontiff gave in to such a demand.
An imperial decree could not be ignored, even if he was the Pontiff.
That was the time when things started to take a more dramatic turn, as Una could no longer endure the situation any longer.
That was when she was sick and tired of everything and was willing to go as far as killing the Pontiff to seize power through force alone.
She had suppressed herself for far too long for the sake of trying to keep the peace and to try to fulfil her sister's wishes.
She could endure so much, but not when she knew how much her sister was sacrificing and would continue to be sacrificing.
There was no way that she would allow her sister to be used like that and be subjected to such humiliation at the hands of the king, his concubines and any others who would seek to exploit her in such a manner.
That was when she resolved herself to begin taking some real action.
She had already become the captain of the paladins of the church during such a time, so she was already well respected and had quite a large following.
With those who were grateful for the help of Una and Deux, it was not too difficult to rally enough supporters to seize the power of the church.
It was around then that the battle over Empirica had truly begun.
The commoners who were tired of the situation and had hatred toward the royals, nobility and the outsiders had eventually reached their peak, resulting in a revolution.
To deal with the growing problems that came from within Empirica and the threats outside of it, Una had to make one difficult decision after another to try to protect her sister and to make her sister's dream a reality.
She could not give up on either of the two, so she had to step up in ways that caused her to have to get a lot of blood on her hands.
She had to make the tough choices that nobody else would during those times.
That became an even bigger problem for her the more she had to deal with it, resulting in her having to hide her sister away to let others believe that she was dead and would be forgotten by the rest of the world.
It was when she started rising to greater power and had wiped out the nobles that the purge of power began, followed by a purge of outsiders.
As the difficulties of ruling over so many people kept appearing, she had to make more decisions to help to protect people from illness, starvation, fighting and being invaded.
A selection process started as only those of Empirica birth would be allowed to remain there, and the isolation began around that time.
All who did not meet that criterion were chased out of Empirica, or they were purged in various ways, whether it was actively hunting them down or cutting off support to such people, giving them no other choice but to leave or suffer until they died.
The population problem, along with everything else, was still very poor, as Empirica had not been able to recover as a result of the efforts of Una and Deux.
The effects of the damage that had been caused by the sudden change and losses had been difficult enough to recover from.
The way that others in power dealt with the situation only made it worse, and the war waged by Una had made things more difficult to recover from.
Getting the land fertile with enough food for everyone would not happen right away, and there were so many mouths to feed, while there still existed various problems that could get in the way of such progress.
The desperation of the people often led to riots and looting, resulting in most resources being reduced and the efforts of others going to waste, as there were more setbacks.