In the air outside Arcadia stood two figures. One was a bipedal insectoid with a metallic red exoskeleton. Across from Stryke stood Plato in all his glory. His face had returned to his original appearance and his dark blue armor became grander and more embellished.
“Mr. Plato, be careful,” Stryke said.
Plato only laughed. “The Grand Sovereign might have strengthened your body, but I don’t think you can rely on body to defeat me.”
As one of the first deities to fuse the profound mysteries, Plato had already fused five profound mysteries of water. Unfortunately, he reached a bottleneck. No matter his efforts, he couldn’t find the intersection for the final profound mystery. Still, the number of asuras did not exceed ten in the entire Infernal Realm, so Plato was still an invincible expert among deities.
Stryke knew this, so she wasn’t polite and attacked first. Compared to before her mutation, her speed had decreased by thirty-eight percent, but the increase in strength and defense more than made up for it.
Plato raised a palm in defense. Blue divine power condensed into a miniature whirlpool just in time to receive Stryke’s bash. Plato’s eyes narrowed as he felt the tremendous strength behind the attack.
On the other hand, Stryke felt as if her pincer had entered a quagmire. No matter how much strength she exerted, she couldn’t speed up at all.
“Good strength!” Plato said. “But not enough.”
Stryke fell forward as she felt the resistance disappear. However, she didn’t hit Plato, and slid around and flew past him. She swiftly reoriented herself and stared at Plato. Not willing to admit defeat so quickly, Stryke attacked again.
However, the same thing happened each time. Upon closer observation, Stryke noticed that Plato had cocooned himself in thin streams of water-type divine power. Every time she attacked, he would control the flow and control her movements.
“I want to see how many attacks you can deflect at once!” Stryke shouted and attacked again. This time, many copies of her pincers appeared and attacked Plato simultaneously.
Plato grunted under Stryke’s assault. A clear bubble materialized around him, but distortions appeared all around it because of Stryke’s continuous pincer bashes. When Plato’s figure could no longer be seen, Stryke used all her strength for one last attack.
Like shattered glass, the bubble around Plato cracked into countless shards. The shards trailed behind Plato’s hand, and then he pointed at Stryke. Before she had time to react, the shards slammed into her body, and she felt hundreds of powerful punches slamming into her.
Plato sighed when he saw Stryke stabilize herself hundreds of meters away. “Even if your body hasn’t reached the level of a Sovereign artifact, it shouldn’t be far. I’m quite envious.”
Stryke looked down at her body and only saw a few scuff marks and tiny dents. They were inconsequential and would heal within the week. “It’s all thanks to the almighty Sovereign.”
“It’s still your strength in the end. Although you haven’t fused enough mysteries, your attacks have reached the asura-level thanks to your body. Should you still fused seven or eight mysteries, your strength will eclipse mine,” Plato said.
“How can it be that easy? I can’t find the intersection with the seventh mystery,” Stryke said. “However, I feel that my talent in the Elemental Law of Earth should have surpassed my talent in the Elemental Law of Wind after my mutation. Since that’s the case, I plan to focus on fusing the profound mysteries of earth first.”
Plato nodded. “Alright, enough talk. The Sovereign wants to see your full power. You already demonstrated the limit of your speed and power. Now hit me with your divine ability.”
“Be careful,” Stryke said. A terrifying power exploded off her red exoskeleton, and she charged forward.
Plato frowned. He hadn’t planned to flee, but he felt the surrounding space constrict him a slightly. Water flowed out from the openings in his armor and formed an additional layer of armor, one that made him look like a human-shaped whirlpool. He raised both hands in front of him and a circular shield of water appeared. “Come!”
Stryke wasn’t polite and appeared in front of the circular shield. She reared one of her pincers back, its jaws wide open and saturated with collapsing force. The pincer struck the circular shield and clamped down.
The moment the pincer closed, Plato felt that the surrounding space condensed, as if it wanted to crush him into a ball. His circular shield shattered into nothing, and the whirlpool armor broke into divine power. Not even his armor was spared. Cracks littered his armor and blood leaked out from the wounds that covered his body.
“Powerful.”
“Are you alright?” Stryke asked. The improvement of her divine ability exceeded all her expectations. At most, she expected it to equal the Blazewing Fiend’s Searing Edge.
“I’ll need some time to heal, but there is no danger to my life,” Plato said. What he didn’t say was that if he took another one of Stryke’s divine ability, he would likely die.
“Not bad. Leet’s call you divine ability Spatial Crusher.”
Both Stryke and Plato turned toward Akasha and kneeled. “Thank you, Sovereign.”
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Akasha nodded. The more he looked at Stryke, the more pleased he became. Suddenly, his smile disappeared and a serious expression replaced it. Simultaneously, a suffocating atmosphere blasted the two highgods. “Stryke, are you willing to become my emissary?”
Stryke’s breathing quickened. Although she had never met a Sovereign’s emissary, she had heard of them. Once you become an emissary, you would receive a Sovereign artifact. If a seven-star fiend received a Sovereign artifact, they would instantly become asuras. If an asura received a Sovereign artifact, they would become a king among asuras!
“I’m willing!” Even if Stryke wasn’t willing, she didn’t have a choice. Only Paragons could reject a Sovereign.
Plato glanced at Stryke in envy. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he had known the Sovereign the longest, but he had never received a Sovereign artifact. He was just the commander of the Chaotic Sea Army and wasn’t eligible.
Originally, Plato wanted an offensive Sovereign artifact. He felt that his defense was strong enough, but his attack was lacking. However, he knew that his defense wasn’t unbreakable anymore. If he met another highgod with an offensive Sovereign Artifact, he might fall at a disadvantage again.
Akasha nodded, and a bracelet appeared in his hand. It was black and looked incredibly simple with no embellishment, and under his control, the bracelet flew toward Stryke. “In terms of material offense and defense, you have no weaknesses. However, the Elemental Laws of Wind and Earth don’t specialize in soul defense, so I will give you this soul protecting artifact.”
“Thank you, Sovereign,” Stryke said as she returned to her human form. She dripped a drop of blood onto the bracelet and bound it. In actuality, she wanted an offensive Sovereign artifact, but a soul protecting Sovereign artifact was good, too. More importantly, she didn’t dare request the Sovereign for a change.
Akasha nodded as the oppressive atmosphere vanished, like it had never existed.
Later, they returned to the Akashic Palace’s throne hall. Both Plato and Stryke kneeled under the monolithic throne.
“Stryke, I want you to take a brigade of the Chaotic Sea Army and go to the Locach Plane,” Akasha said. “There’s been some particularly stubborn heretics there, so I want you to eliminate them.”
Heresy referred to religion that sprouted in material planes not dedicated to Sovereigns. Or, in this case, dedicated to Xulei, the fusion Sovereign.
“Yes, Sovereign.”
“Don’t think you can kill those heretics easily,” Akasha warned. “There are four seven-star fiends there, and each one carries drops of a special type of Sovereign’s Might that is more powerful than normal Sovereign’s Might.”
Stryke pursed her brows. Special Sovereign’s Might? What did that mean?
She didn’t have time to contemplate as Sovereign power condensed in front of her to form fifty drops of Sovereign’s Might. Stryke’s breathing quickened. She already received a Sovereign artifact, something far more precious than Sovereign’s Might, but it couldn’t directly increase her strength. Unlike Sovereign’s Might.
Even Plato felt envious of Stryke.
“Alright, go,” Akasha said.
Stryke and Plato bid Akasha farewell and left.
Akasha rested his chin on his knuckles as she entered her own mind. Most of the planes worshipping Xulei had already been taken over except the Locach Plane. Only the Locach Plane stubbornly persisted, making Akasha and the other Sovereigns suspect that this was Xulei’s birth material plane.
However, no one had seen a hair nor hide of Xulei, and Sovereigns couldn’t enter material planes. Perhaps the Locach Plane was nothing more than bait to draw their attention, and Xulei actually hid in a material plane already conquered. After all, no deity could discover a Sovereign if they didn’t want to be found.
For now, the Sovereigns adopted a swarm strategy. They wanted to waste all the fusion Sovereign’s Might in the hands of the highgods guarding it.
Akasha was no different. He even felt a hint of urgency. The other Sovereigns might not know the rewards for becoming a Paragon, but he did. If Xulei fused all the profound mysteries in a single law, then he would be unstoppable.
Alas, Akasha could do nothing but wait. If Xulei continued to hide in a material plane until he became a Paragon, the only thing he could do was to become a Paragon first.
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The teleportation array leading to the Infernal Realm lit up, and once the light died down, Stryke and the three thousand members of the Chaotic Sea Army appeared.
“Welcome my lord,” the plane overseer quickly walked forward to greet the newly arrived army. Unlike other plane overseers, his job was to welcome and explain the situation of the Locach Plane.
“Okay, relay the current situation,” Stryke ordered.
The plane overseer obeyed. He had stayed in the Locach Plane for many years, watching batches after batches of highgods arrive, only to flee in terror. He was lucky. The rulers of the Locach Plane knew that killing him would do nothing, so they just ignored him, allowing him to survive.
“My lord, do you want to dispatch a few scouts?” one captain of the brigade asked. Among the seven elemental laws and four edicts, the Law of Darkness didn’t have any outstanding material or soul attacks, but it was the best at concealment.
Stryke shook her head. “No need, just kill them all.”
Of the three thousand highgod soldiers she brought, most of them were ordinary highgods, but there were four seven-star fiends and a hundred six-star fiends. Moreover, these hundred plus fiends were bestowed Sovereign’s Might. Coupled with her presence, they didn’t need to fear the Locach Plane’s heretical deities.
Stryke led the three thousand brigades toward the main continent of the Locach Plane. After numerous assaults, most of the land in the Locach Plane had disappeared into the water. Now, most life lived on the remaining islands.
The Chaotic Sea Army was noticed as soon as they arrived. Once they flew toward the plane center, the heretical gods appeared. They numbered less than a hundred, but each of them had gone through countless battles and each one revealed a baleful aura. Four highgods with the strongest auras led this group.
“Hmpf, after your last disastrous defeat, you still haven’t learned your lesson?” the leading highgod asked.
“Isn’t that better for us? The more they come, the more we can earn!” After this, the hundred or so gods laughed. Despite being overwhelmingly numbered, their combined momentum faintly overshadowed the Chaotic Sea Army.
“Audacious!” Stryke said, her voice spreading throughout the thousand of kilometers. “Not only are you heretics not repenting, but dare to take light of the Sovereign’s army? You deserve death!”
Without wasting another breath, Stryke attacked. She appeared in front of the highgod that first spoke. She instantly absorbed a drop of Sovereign’s Might and a terrifying aura erupted from her body. The targeted highgod still hadn’t reacted yet, but Stryke had already activated her divine ability, Spatial Crusher.
A divine spark fell out of the highgod’s corpse, which also plummeted to the waters below. Stryke grabbed the fallen deity’s interspatial ring and dripped her blood onto it. Once she bound it, she inspected it with her spiritual power, and upon seeing several drops of dark green Sovereign’s Might, elation filled her.