In the Blackcloud Mountains of the Skymount Prefecture, a black-haired man was staring lovingly at the jade-green box in his hand. Inside was a slip of green paper and nine green beads. He was Molde, the Lord Prefect of Skymount Prefecture and the Emissary of the Bloodridge Sovereign.
“You have quite the guts to keep it for yourself and not even report it to your Sovereign.” The voice was crisp and delicate, neither too high nor too low, and sounded extremely pleasant to the ears, but it nearly caused Molde’s soul to jump out of his body.
“WHO?!” He whirled around to see a black-robed figure with six crown-like horns sitting indolently on one of the chairs inside the room.
No matter how hard Molde tried, he couldn’t sense the smiling person sitting there. As an Emissary, he had rarely seen a Sovereign’s true body, but the few times he did were deeply imprinted in his memories. He immediately kneeled and knocked his head to the ground. “Greetings, Sovereign.”
Cold sweat dripped down his head. Why, why did he choose now of all days to admire the nine soul pearls? What if to silence him, the Sovereign decided to kill him?
“En,” Akasha said. With a wave of his hand, the jade box flew away from Mold’s hand and into his.
“Sovereign, please wait. I had planned to dedicate the contents to the Bloodridge Sovereign!” Molde said.
Akasha didn’t lose his smile. “You want to threaten me with Boson? Hahaha. Since that’s that’s the case, let’s have him come here too.”
Molde didn’t know who Boson was, but he soon did. A large amount of destruction-type Sovereign Power and condensed into a man with blood-red hair wearing gray robes. “Lord Akasha.”
The Skymount Prefecture Lord’s heart skipped a beat as he recognized the voice of his Sovereign. What did he say? What did he call the unknown Sovereign? Lord Akasha? Molde knew a little bit about the division of Sovereigns, but for the Bloodridge Sovereign to lower his status and address the other as lord? Then that existence could only be the strongest ruler of hell.
Molde felt as if he had been dunked into the Arctic Sea. He lost all sensation and by the time he regained his bearings, he repeatedly knocked his head into the ground. The tiles cracked, but his forehead remained perfectly unharmed. “Grand Sovereign, please forgive me!”
Boson looked at his Emissary. Did he do something to anger Akasha? But judging by Akasha’s expression, he didn’t appear angry.
“Take a look at his,” Akasha said as the jade box drifted from his hand and into Boson’s. “He said he wanted to dedicate it to you.”
Upon reading it, Boson’s expression turned furious. Even if Akasha didn’t kill Molde, he would. He sent the box back to Akasha as if he was holding a burning hot coal. “Lord Akasha, I have no intent of completing the Overgod Mission, please believe me!”
Akasha chuckled. “You don’t need to worry. With how long we’ve known each other, do you think I’m the type to kill you over this?”
“Molde, you dare try to harm me, you deserve death!”
“Sovereign, please wa—” Molde never finished his word as his body vaporized, leaving behind only a Sovereign artifact.
“Lord Akasha, do you need me to search for the pentametal crown or the red caltrop diamond?” Boson asked, reigning in his anger.
Akasha shook his head. “Forget it. The fewer people who know, the better.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll take my leave.”
After Boson left, Akasha remained in his seat. The nine beads floated from the box and in front of Akasha. A Sovereign’s power mostly came from their Sovereign Spark, and their souls didn’t qualitatively improve, so they were at the peak of deities.
Logically, the nine soul beads should have an effect on Akasha, but it didn’t. After admiring it for a bit, he swallowed the nine soul beads and Overgod decree. he wouldn’t be so stupid as to store it into his interspatial ring and allow accidents to happen.
Before leaving, he muttered, “If I had this when I faced the Fiend King, I would have not needed to worry at all
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In a vast plain of the Infernal Realm, two armies stood across from each other. Beneath them, magenta grass grew. The vegetation wasn’t naturally that color, but mutated due to the large amount of blood spilled from the constant battles and emitted a terrifying baleful aura that could kill weak Saints. As such, the plain gained another name, the Bloodshed Plain.
However, the Bloodshed Plain’s biggest feature wasn’t the actual geography but the main actors. At the head of the two armies were two highgods. One wore black clerical robes with gold accents and six crown-like horns grew out of his head, while bat-like wings sprouted out of the opposing man’s back. He also had horns, but only two, and an arrow-tipped tail.
Akasha stared at his foe, the legendary Fiend King and master of Fiend Castle.
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After he arrived in the Infernal Realm, Akasha wanted to immediately go to the Chaotic Sea and look for Wodred, but the problem was that he didn’t even know what continent he was, much less the direction to the Chaotic Sea. With Akasha’s current strength, it was impossible for him to search by himself.
He needed a force that would do his biddings. Akasha didn’t directly start building his own organization. Instead, he found a place to hide and furthered his understanding of the Edict of Destruction and the Elemental Law of Light. He also wanted to form another divine clone, but unfortunately, he didn’t have any talent in the other edicts or laws. It was only now that he realized how heaven-defying having four divine clones was.
No wonder Teresia, the Lesser of Sovereign of Wind, praised Linley.
Still, Akasha wasn’t without any gains. His light-type divine clone, too. During the years, Akasha had fused the Profound Mystery of Purification and Essence of Light. And, he was one step away from fusing the third profound mystery into them, the Profound Mystery of Lightspeed. His god clone of light should possess the power of a five-star fiend now.
Akasha couldn’t help but envy Linley. Only after fusing the profound mysteries himself did he know how monstrous Linley’s talent was. How long did it take him to fuse four profound mysteries and step into the asura-level? Less than three thousand years! It took him over ten millions year to reach his current level. He felt like he was a waste in comparison.
However, Akasha had the most confidence in his destruction-type clone. Although it couldn’t compare to Linley’s talent, he estimated he currently had the power of a six-star fiends.
After reaching his level, he left hiding and searched for prey. Aside from comprehending the mysteries of the world, the other method of strengthening himself was devouring other destruction-type and light-type divine beasts. It was a faster method, but it also had greater danger.
After some investigation, Akasha chose a highgod named Alspirit. His divine ability was to split himself into over a hundred avatars. Although each avatar only had a portion of his strength, each carried part of his soul and blood. Even if only one avatar survived, Alspirit only needed some time and treasures to restore himself to peak power.
This divine ability didn’t have any outward relationship with the Edict of Destruction, but Alspirit was a highgod of destruction. According to Akasha’s observation, all divine beasts had a natural talent to one of the four edicts and elemental laws. This inclination also correlated with their divine ability.
So Akasha aimed for Alspirit, and as he suspected, Alspirit's divine ability was related to the Edict and Destruction, so Akasha successfully devoured Alspirit and gained control of Alspirit City. From there, Akasha began to target the surrounding forces and absorb them into his own. If he found a divine beast or ability that he fancied and could devour, he would secretly kill them.
After so many years, Akasha estimated that his territory was around the size of a prefecture described in the book. Not only that, his body became comparable to a highgod artifact. Even if he only had the strength of a seven-star fiend, based on this and his divine ability, Akasha wasn’t even afraid of an expert at the asura-level.
Still, after developing to this point, he met his match in the Fiend King. This was the same Fiend King who established Fiendking City that he heard about when he first arrived in the Infernal Realm.
The Fiend King didn’t have a divine ability, but he wasn’t a regular human, either. Akasha didn’t know what kind of beast the Fiend King was, but he definitely had an innate ability. From their repeated clashes, he learned that the Fiend King trained in the Edict of Destruction and the Elemental Law of Fire.
At this, Akasha had to sigh in amazement. Although he was surprised by the Fiend King’s attainment in the Edict of Destruction, he was more surprised by the Fiend King’s attainments in the Elemental Law of Fire. This wasn’t the world trillions years later, where practically everyone knew about fusing the profound mysteries. Most deities still thought that becoming a highgod in the elemental laws was the end. In his frequent clashes with the Fiend King, Akasha faintly detected that the Fiend King had started to fuse the profound mysteries of darkness.
Sure enough, no one in born during this time was average. Luckily for Akasha, the Fiend King didn’t spread word of it. Like him and probably others who discovered that the fusion of profound mysteries, every one of them wanted to hide and accumulate power themselves.
If possible, Akasha really wanted to devour the Fiend King. Alas, he didn’t have the confidence to kill the Fiend King. If Akasha failed and the Fiend King escaped, then news of his true abilities might spread. It wasn’t just a matter of affecting his plans of becoming a Sovereign, but also after.
Akasha knew how powerful his innate ability was. If the other Sovereigns knew of it, they might band together against him, preventing him from increasing his strength.
“Fiend King, have you made a breakthrough?” Akasha asked. “Last time we fought, you were suppressed by me.”
The Fiend King snorted. “That was over a million years ago. I’ve made large improvements. I hope you’ve also grown. Otherwise, I’ll be sorely disappointed.”
“Big words,” Akasha said.
“Enough talk, let’s fight!” The Fiend King charged at Akasha. Black divine power shrouded his body and increased the ferocity of his demonic visage.
Not one to show weakness, Akasha also charged forward. Black armor made of scales appeared over Akasha’s body, with tuffs of fur around his joints. Were it the deities of the later generation, they might mistake Akasha as a mutated member of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
Akasha slashed forward with his claws. Black divine power trailed behind wherever he slashed and condensed into blades of destruction. In response, black divine power swirled around the Fiend King’s fist like a maelstrom. Claws and fist clashed, and for a brief moment, time seemed to stand still.
Then, a thunderous crack echoed for kilometers. Two blades of destruction shattered, and the rest cracked. However, in comparison, the black maelstrom around the Fiend King’s fist dispersed and lacerations ground down his arm into a stump. The collision sent both flying apart from each other. The only difference was that the Fiend King was pushed back twice as far as Akasha.
Upon seeing this, the deities on Akasha’s side all cheered in triumph. However, they did not cheer for long.
The Fiend King quickly healed his injured arm with divine power and stared at Akasha. “Compared to before, the power of your attack increased by fifty percent. Not bad.”
Akasha raised an eyebrow, not that anyone could see in his dragon transformation state. “Stop acting high and mighty. Only the strong have the right to judge the weak.”
Instead of showing anger, the Fiend King showed a smile. “You’re right.”
Another figure jumped out of the Fiend King’s figure. It was an exact copy of the Fiend King only instead of black, his horns, wings, and tail were a devilish red. Flames shrouded the red Fiend King and distorted the surrounding air. Both divine clones looked at Akasha. “Time for round two!”