The highgod divine spark fell to the seafloor, but none of the highgod paid attention to it. For experts of their level, a single highgod divine spark was a dime in the dozen. Instead, they only increased their attack on Wodred. When he had to deal with Akasha, he couldn’t defend himself well and allowed tens of soul attacks to land. So although Wodred killed Akasha, he also paid a high price.
During the battle, the Extinction Abyss further weakened until it only had a tenth of its power. The speed of its weakening was also increasing, and it would not be long before the Sovereign spark would be born.
Wodred uncoiled himself and prepared to deal with the highgods. However, he discovered that Akasha had impaled his claws into his wounds, and it would take time to dislodge Akasha’s body from his own—time that he did not currently have.
Shiva's and the other asura-level expert’s eyes lit up. Although Akasha died, he still hindered Wodred, weakening his strength. Both of them knew could no longer hold back. If they wanted to obtain the treasure, they would have to go all out. Akasha’s death proved to them they couldn’t be the oriole watching the mantis stalk the cicada.
The other asura-level expert’s name was Gish, and he charged toward Wodred. Black divine power engulfed him as he transformed into a gigantic walnut-like tree. Hundreds of branches pierced toward Wodred with needle-like tips.
Since Gish unleashed a material attack, Shiva unleashed a soul attack. A translucent trident shot forth from him his weapon and struck Wodred first. Wodred found himself in an illusion of a dilapidated world. Everything broke down and disintegrated. Nothing, live or dead, could escape the ultimate destruction.
Wodred roared and broke out of the illusion, causing Shiva to suffer from the backlash of the failed technique.
However, he had achieved his purpose. Gish’s branches reached Wodred before he could dodge. The tips only left white marks on his scales, piercing only the scales broken by Akasha. However, damaging Wodred was secondary as the branches expanded and constricted around Wodred.
The branches tightened, causing Wodred to struggle against his bindings. He broke several branches, causing blood-colored amber to spill out, but more branches took their place. If this continued, the branches would imprison him in place, making him an easy target.
Wodred roared, and divine power surged from his body, creating a second skin that enlarged his body to ten thousand meters. The phantom Sable Leviathan gazed down at all the highgods present like a lofty overlord. It opened its mouth and roared.
All the highgods felt their soul stagger as the roar impacted them, but its main target was Gish. Countless strands of spiritual energy swirled around him in a bizarre manner. The vivacious vine slowed to a crawl as Gish resisted Wodred’s divine abilities with all his effort. Alas, he only managed to resist for a second longer before his soul dissipated.
This was Soul Cage, the divine ability of the Sable Leviathan. It was a single target attack on the soul, but ordinary highgods would immediately perish from the unintended ripples. Not even seven-star fiends were completely immune. Not even Akasha, a Genesis Wyrm with a powerful soul, had the confidence to survive Wodred’s all-out attack.
The ten thousand meters Sable Leviathan disappeared, revealed Wodred’s body wrapped by branches. With a coil, the branches snapped like age wood, freeing Wodred. As Gish’s corpse fell to the seafloor, Wodred roared and charged forward. He rammed into three highgods, killing them instantly.
The highgods surrounding Wodred felt his imposing aura, and fear entrenched itself deep into their souls. The thought of fleeing before Wodred could kill them like the three highgods appeared in their hearts. However, Shiva took this time to speak out. “Don’t be fooled by his acting! He was already injured by our joint efforts. Now that he’s unleashed his divine ability against Gish, he’s at his weakest point now. He can no longer use his divine ability. We only need to push him a little bit more and victory will be ours!”
Wodred snarled. Shiva’s analysis was almost spot-on. He could use Soul Cage again, but that would drain his remaining divine power and spiritual power, making it so that anyone of them could kill him with a soul attack. He could flee, but the thought never crossed his mind.
As the first lifeform of the Infernal Realm, he had his pride, that which must be defended at all cost. With a soul-shaking roar, he charged at Shiva. As long as Shiva died, the rest of the highgods would become like loose sand, unable to defend against him.
What followed in the next five minutes was the most brutal clash of the whole battle. More highgods perished than in the beginning of the battle, and even Shiva received a serious injury. However, Wodred wasn’t feeling well either. He was already injured and low on divine power and spiritual power, but Akasha’s clinging corpse dragged him down.
Both sides were on their last legs, but it was Shiva’s alliance of highgods that had the upper hand. After all, Wodred was only one person. Wodred also knew this, so he dived down, shocking Shiva and the highgods. Shiva’s face changed. “Not good! Chase after him, he’s after the treasure!”
That’s right, the Extinction Abyss had completely appeared during the battle, but no wondrous phenomena occurred with the treasure’s birth, so no one realized the treasure had finished. Wodred planned to flee with the treasure and wait to get revenge in the future.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
When Wodred’s eyes spotted the translucent gray crystal, he reached out to grab it. However, before he could grab it, the phantom of a giant dragon with four pairs of wings and six horns manifested above him. The Genesis Wyrm roared and unleashed its divine ability, Howl of Destruction. Ripples exploded wave after wave, attacking not only Wodred but also Shiva and the other highgods.
“You didn’t die?!” Wodred shouted, but he didn’t have time to linger in shock as he felt something pierce his body. Then, he felt something assaulting his soul.
Fear appeared in Wodred’s eyes for the first time as he felt impending death. He roared in pain as he felt something taking over the blood in his body and devouring his soul. He struggled like a crazed beast. His body hit the ground many times, cracking it. “Stop! Stop, I won’t fight you for the treasure anymore! Let me go! Let me go!”
No one answered Wodred’s plea for mercy. Still, he continued to plead. He threw away the pride he had cultivated since his birth as the overlord of the Chaotic Sea, but no matter how much he pleaded, there was no response.
As the Genesis Wyrm above his body continued to roar, the light in his eyes dimmed. Conversely, an overwhelming aura of vitality rolled off his body. Finally, the light vanished forever from Wodred’s eyes and a black divine spark fell off of his body.
When the phantom of the Genesis Wyrm disappeared, light returned to the Sable Leviathan’s eyes, but the highgods who fought life and death against him knew that it wasn’t Wodred. Instead, they felt a familiar aura they thought dead.
Cracks and pops emanated from the serpentine body. The scales shifted, revealing something wriggling beneath the skin. Under everyone’s eyes, the serpentine body shorted. The wings and claws merged into the scales, three pairs of wings sprouted from its back as two arms and legs grew.
At this time, a shadow streaked across the seafloor. The transforming serpent roared and charged toward the black translucent crystal. The sudden change awoke the highgods from their stupor as they also charged forward with their eyes on the prize.
Unfortunately for them, Akasha reached the crystal first and grabbed it. Without giving them a chance to say anything, a drop of blood fell onto the crystal. A dense aura of destruction exploded from the High Sovereign Spark of Destruction and colored the sky of the Infernal Realm gray.
Strands of energy darker than the abyss, destruction-type Sovereign power, swirled around Akasha. A black-robed Akasha appeared out of the transforming body and merged with the Sovereign spark. The highgods could do nothing as the immense pressure weighed down on them like a mountain, imprisoning them. They could do nothing but watch as the changes occurred on Akasha’s body.
Just as fast as the skies changed, so, too, did it revert to normal. Even though the pressure weighing down on them disappeared, none of the highgods dared to move.
Chunks of flesh and scales fell off the transforming serpent until a six-horned, six-winged dragon of five hundred meters remained. Akasha smiled as the dragon transformed into another black-robed Akasha, and the two merged into one once more.
“Congratulations, Lord Akasha,” Shiva said as he stepped forward with a fawning smile.
Akasha glanced over, still with the same smile. However, Shiva felt his heart stop beating for a brief moment. Even without battling, he already knew that none of the people present could match Akasha. Even if they returned to their peak power, and with the addition of Wodred, none of them could defeat the current Akasha.
“Hmm, thank you,” Akasha said, obviously in a good mood. “I wouldn’t have been able to become the High Sovereign of Destruction without your help.”
Shiva didn’t know what a Sovereign was, but he that didn’t stop him from praising Akasha. “No, we only played a minor role. It’s still Lord Akasha’s wisdom and power that played the biggest role.”
After Shiva finished speaking, Akasha glanced in another direction. Shiva also looked over to see one highgod attempting to escape. Shiva was about to attack to show his usefulness, but to his shock, the highgod suddenly crashed into the ground, and a divine spark popped out of his body.
Shiva snapped his head back to see Akasha raising an eyebrow. If he guessed correctly, Akasha killed the highgod, but how!?
He knew that Akasha had become far more powerful than before, but he could never imagine that Akasha would gain the power to kill that highgod with but a look. True, the highgod wasn’t in his peak condition, but his intuition told him it wouldn’t matter in front of Akasha’s power.
Shiva lowered his posture even more. The rest of the highgods did the same. Akasha’s action told them that they have become powerless in front of Akasha. A few wanted to resist, but the moment they did so, they froze midair, only able to move their eyes.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Shiva asked. He still had some confidence in surviving. Even if Akasha became so powerful, a subordinate as strong as him should still be rare.
“There is something you can do for me.”
Shiva smiled, hope shining in his eyes. “What is it, Lord Akasha?”
“I need your life.”
Before Shiva or any of the highgods could react, Akasha turned into a serpentine creature around two meters long. He shot toward Shiva and burrowed into his body. Shiva didn’t even have time to feel pain or react before Akasha devoured. Akasha didn’t stop there as Shiva's body compressed into a wyrm and shot toward the other highgods.
All these highgods were divine beasts, so Akasha wanted them all. In less than a second, Akasha devoured the remaining highgods. Not even the remains of the dead deities like Gish were spared. Although Akasha couldn’t devour their souls, thus not gaining their divine abilities, it still helped strengthen his saint clone.
After everything, the only physical changes on his body was the red slit between his glabella.
Next, Akasha flew out of the Chaotic Sea. Wherein it would have taken months with Akasha’s previous strength, now, it only took a second. After reaching the sky, Akasha’s Sovereign power engulfed the entire Infernal Realm. He was unsure of the highgods present had clones or not, but to keep his secret, he must not leave any witnesses.
That day, countless deities saw a giant face hundreds of meters long appear all over the Infernal Realm. Under their shocked and frightened gazes, the giant face killed several highgods with but a glance. Thus began the Sovereign’s legend.