Millions of years have passed since Plato last saw Akasha. Since then, he finally managed to merge the fourth profound mystery, but he was still unable to start fusing the fifth profound mystery. He encountered a bottle neck higher than before.
However, his strength as a seven-star fiend was enough for him to become an unparalleled expert in a hundred million miles. Even those highgods that trained in the edicts bowed to him reverently. Alas, Plato wasn’t satisfied. He couldn’t forget the overwhelming power Akasha displayed. he didn’t think he was Akasha’s opponent even after fusing four mysteries.
Would he be Akasha’s opponent if he fused five profound mysteries?
Suddenly a chuckled broke Plato out of these thoughts. He instantly scanned the area around his throne. Surprisingly, he saw the figure that disappeared millions of years ago in front of him. The most shocking things was that Plato couldn’t detect the other party’s existence with his spiritual power.
“What were you thinking for you to not even realize I was standing in front of you?” Akasha asked with a chuckle.
“My lord?” Plato asked. “What level of strength have you achieved?”
“Hm, let’s just say that even if all the highgods in the Infernal Realm attacked me, I can kill them with ease.” Although he hid it, Akasha still saw an expression of disbelief. However, Akasha didn’t reprimand him. Only those who became a Sovereign or saw a Sovereign’s power firsthand would understand. “Never mind, you’ll understand in the future. Anyway, I have something I want you to help me with.”
Akasha didn’t wait for Plato to respond as he held out a finger. Under Plato’s eyes, black gas erupted from the fingertip before condensing into a drop of black liquid. Even from afar, Plato could sense the immense power of the black gas, but all that disappeared when it transformed into that black liquid.
Plato stood up from his throne without realizing it. “This is?”
“Sovereign’s Might, a liquid drop of a Sovereign’s energy,” Akasha said. The drop floated from his fingertip until it stopped in front of Plato. Still, Plato didn’t dare to reach out and take it. “Go on, absorb it. Don’t worry, it won’t harm you.”
Plato hesitated. He glanced from the drop of Sovereign’s Might toward Akasha and gritted his teeth. He knew that if Akasha wanted to do something, he would be powerless, so he could only obey. The drop of Sovereign’s Might entered his body and a powerful aura exploded from Plato’s body, shrouding him in a layer of black energy. “T-This is?!”
“How does the energy of a Sovereign feel?”
Plato turned toward Akasha, gaze heated with desire. He actually believed part of Akasha’s word that he could fight all the highgods in the Infernal Realm now. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not perfectly control the Sovereign’s Might, and it soon dissipated off of his body.
“What do you need me to do, Lord Akasha?” Plato asked.
Desire took over his mind. Whatever Akasha asked, he would do as long as he could get a drop of Sovereign’s Might. Although he hadn’t used it in battle, he estimated that his combat power increased by a hundred times. Fusing a profound mystery would increase his combat power by ten times, and Plato guessed that using a drop of Sovereign’s Might gave him the power of a highgod who fused six profound mysteries.
Plato wasn’t completely wrong. Using a drop of Sovereign’s Might did elevate his strength to that of a Paragon’s, but that was under the condition that the Paragon didn’t use the power of Will.
“It’s nothing much,” Akasha said. “I just need you to find all the powerful experts nearby and show them the power of the Sovereign’s Might. After you’re done, go to the towering black pillar in a ten thousand years.”
“Black pillar?”
“Don’t worry,” Akasha said. “You can’t miss it.”
He waved his hand, and twenty-five drops of Sovereign’s Might condensed from his fingertips. He waved his hand, and the twenty-fivedrops floated to Plato, who held them above his palm like they were the most precious thing in the world. Which, to be fair, wasn’t exactly untrue for deities.
Plato looked up from his palm, only to see emptiness. Without him realizing it, Akasha had disappeared.
After a moment of hesitation, Plato searched for a container to store the Sovereign’s Might. He settled on a small bottle with a stopper. Only then did he summon his second-in-command. After arranging everything for his absence, he left to seek out the strongest experts he knew.
A few hundred years later, Plato arrived at an island with an active volcano. “Come out Pele!”
There was no movement for a while, and just as Plato started to gather blue divine power into his hands, the island quaked. Seconds later, the magma and ash spurted out of the volcano’s vent and transformed into woman over a hundred meters tall. “What do you want, Plato?”
Plato chuckled. “It’s nothing much, just a rematch.”
“Oh? You’ve improved from our last match?” Pele asked.
“Just watch,” Plato said as he charged toward Pele. A hundred thousand years ago, he fought Pele, but lost to her. It wasn’t because he fused fewer profound mysteries than her, but the fact that she was a Blastfell Titan. In terms of body, Pele had an overwhelming advantage over him, a Watersteel Giant.
Pele prepared herself, but no matter how hard she checked, she couldn’t see any major improvements from Plato. Suddenly, Plato exploded with a terrifying black aura and shot a beam of black ice at her. She instantly crossed her arms and raised her defense to the maximum, but it was useless.
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The black ice froze her lava arms, causing them to turn to stone and shatter. The ice continued and struck her chest, covering her in a shell of ice. Before the ice froze her core, Plato stopped and allowed the Sovereign’s Might to dissipate with some regret.
After a few moments of silence, the ice shell covering Pele started to shake. The ice shattered seconds after revealing the lava titan, only half as short. It was obvious that Plato’s attack had weakened her tremendously. “How’d you become so powerful? I sensed an aura of destruction from you. Did you somehow manage to train in the Edict of Destruction?”
“No, it’s because of this.”
Pele stared at the black drop of liquid in Plato’s hand. “What is that?”
“This is a drop of Sovereign’s Might. By using it, my strength increased by one hundred times.” Plato could already see Pele’s question, so he didn’t whet her curiosity. “I received it from Lord Akasha. He wanted me to gather as many experts as possible and go toward the black pillar.”
Pele didn’t know who this Lord Akasha was, but to give Plato the magical Sovereign’s Might, he must not be simple. Furthermore, since Plato called the other party lord, then they must be far more powerful even with the drop of Sovereign’s Might. However, she still had one question. “What black pillar.”
The moment she finished speaking, a powerful aura appeared in the distance. Both she and Plato turned their head to see a towering pillar of black reaching the sky. Plato licked his lips. “That one.”
After recruiting Pele, Plato visited seven more experts who had the power of a seven-star fiend. He could visit more, but the ten thousand years deadline was coming up, so he led the eight highgods toward the black pillar. Upon arriving, he saw a floating landmass shield by black winds. Underneath it was a massive whirlpool larger than the floating island’s circumference. Outside of it, he saw over a hundred thousand deities. Only around ten thousand were highgods.
Plato grabbed one of the highgods to question. The highgod resisted, but he was just an ordinary highgod and not Plato’s opponent. After some questioning, he learned that all these Deities appeared here thinking a wondrous treasure of heaven and earth was going to be born here.
All the deities tried everything to cross the black winds, but without fail, anyone who tried trespassing would perish. They thought that the black winds would only disappear when the treasure was born, or someone with enough power forced their way through. However, no one met these two conditions.
Two thousand years ago, a demigod suddenly appeared outside the black winds. After some questioning, the deities present learned that the demigod was actually a saint that lived inside the island. However, after becoming a demigod, he found himself outside the black wind without any warning.
Plato guessed that it wasn’t a treasure being born, but Akasha’s actions from behind the scenes. The more he discovered about the latter, the more unfathomable Akasha became.
“What should we do?” Pele asked.
“The ten thousand years haven’t come yet,” Plato said. “Let’s wait a few more years.”
Some of the seven experts he fought with frowned. A few of them tested the black wind barrier, but after no result, they could only wait, like Plato said. When the deadline arrived, the black winds vanished without a trace. Tens of thousands of deities rushed in to grab the treasure, while a few sensed the discrepancy and waited.
“Let’s go,” Plato said as he and the eight highgods behind him flew onto the island.
Once the barrier disappeared, everyone could sense a powerful aura at the center of the island. Upon arriving, everyone saw a giant black stele. On it was a blueprint for a massive city with a castle in the center. Under the blueprints was an exchange list.
What caught Plato’s and the experts’ eyes was that one trillion inkstones could be exchanged for a drop of Sovereign’s Might? And what were inkstones? They were the currency paid to the builders of the city.
After all the deities arrived and saw the stele, a massive amount of black Sovereign power condensed in the sky, attracting everyone’s attention. The Sovereign power condensed into a face that Plato recognized as Akasha’s.
“Welcome, my builders.”
Instantly, a highgod roared in anger. “Who are you to dare call us builders?!”
The giant face didn’t show any frustration, and instead showed an amused smile. “Me? I am a Sovereign, one of the Seven Rulers of Hell.”
Seven Rulers of Hell? Did he mean the Infernal Realm? Akasha’s words ignited the dissatisfaction of all deities present. However, he continued to explain the exchange system and what Sovereign’s Might was without care. “One last thing, the better the materials used to construct the city and my palace, the more inkstones you will be given. Any questions?”
“Hmpf, are you afraid of us attacking you and robbing you of Sovereign’s Might?” an arrogant voice called out.
Upon hearing this, the giant face chuckled. “You can try. As long as you can defeat me, you will receive an endless amount of Sovereign’s Might.”
The highgod who spoke those words looked at his companions. They were the partners and subordinates he gathered before the black winds disappeared. He wasn’t stupid. He could feel the overwhelming difference in the quality of energy. Under his lead, hundreds of highgods and gods charged at the giant face.
Akasha simply stared at them, and before the spectator knew what happened, all the deities charging toward him plummeted to the ground. Once the bodies hit the ground, hundreds of divine sparks fell out of them. Horror appeared in all the deities who saw this.
If Akasha had shown some effort in dealing with the hundreds of deities, they might still have the heart to resist, but all Akasha did was looked at them, and they died. How could resistance rise in any of their minds?
Akasha scanned the ground, and only a few highgod dared to stare back. Finally, he settled on Plato. “Plato, I’ll leave the construction to you.”
“As you wish, my Lord Akasha.”
Akasha frowned. “Address me as Sovereign from now on.”
Plato stilled and lowered his head. “Yes, Sovereign.”
Just as the giant face formed from Sovereign power began to disappear, a voice behind Plato called out. “What if we don’t want to construct the city and leave?”
The giant face, which had begun to lose its integrity, re-condensed. Akasha said nothing and stared at the highgod. A second later, the highgod fell to the ground, and a divine spark fell out of his corpse. Akasha scanned the other deities present. “Anyone else want to leave?”
This time, all the deities lowered their heads, not daring to meet Akasha’s gaze. Although everyone thought Akasha was too arrogant, too tyrannical, they were helpless. With his dominance established, the giant face disappeared without interruption.
After Akasha left, all the deities stared at Plato. Plato could feel some unkind gazes, but he was helpless. Still, with Akasha’s deterrence, he was afraid of none of them. He began to issue orders to the highgods and start the construction project. To facilitate the management and efficiency, he summoned all his subordinates over.
Millions of years later, the Infernal Realm’s greatest city finished construction. Its name was Arcadia.