Void Horizon—the place hidden between the Three Supreme Heavens. Even Exalted Gods and Godkings wouldn't dare to enter here carelessly. Void Essence was so concentrated here that Demi-Gods wouldn't survive for longer than an hour, and even Major Gods would have their power restricted to the level of a mortal. At this time, an unprecedented event was happening at the center of the Void Horizon.

On a floating island called Horizon Sanctuary, ten individuals gathered around a single grain-like seed that radiated golden light and floated a meter above the lustrous ground. If anyone knew the identity of those ten people, they would be shocked senseless. Each of them was a mighty Overgod—a supreme existence in the Omniverse. Only the youngest two of the Overgods were missing from this peculiar gathering.

"Immemorial Destiny Seed!" an extremely tall and muscular man in a royal gown exclaimed. His deep blue eyes didn't leave the small item before him. His pitch-black dragon tail waved in excitement, and even his two curved horns seemed shook just a tiny bit.

"Are you sure, Deep Abyss Sovereign?" a woman asked in a sensual tone. Her looks matched the Seed very well—her whole existence consisted of gentle white light. Be it her long waterfall hair that reached the ground, her seductive eyes with vertical pupils, her pair of dragonfly wings, or her peerless dress that barely hid her beautiful curves—everything was the color of the harvest moon.

"He's the oldest of us but not senile," a third voice added. It belonged to a devilish middle-aged man in stylish glasses and a tuxedo. "I can confirm his words, Moonlight Diva."

Despite their status, everyone present couldn't hide their astonishment at the revelation. Each of the ten was an old monster with unrivaled power. And yet, the treasure before them was priceless even to people of their caliber. The one who took hold of it would gain an insurmountable advantage over everyone else.

Unsurprisingly, the Overgods started to discuss who should receive the Seed. They were ready to trade anything they owned for this treasure—be it an Ancient Relic or a prosperous Major World. And yet, no one had enough wealth to appease the other nine competitors. It would be a different matter if they needed to bribe only a few of them.

In the end, the Overgods were split into three camps, each hoping that their leader would get the prize and then reward them splendidly. Despite being the oldest and arguably strongest of the ten, Deep Abyss Sovereign had only one Overgod taking his side. Moonlight Diva, on the other hand, was the richest, and so two Overgods close to the top in the ranking chose to support her. The last camp was led by All-Seeing Devil Sage—with his smooth words, he made the four weakest Overgods into his allies.

Even though there was a numerical difference between the three camps, their actual battle strength was roughly equal. If their groups fought, it would be hard to determine a winner.

Before the three camps could clash to determine the treasure's owner, an uninvited guest descended on the scene without anyone's notice. When Devil Sage discovered the unwanted presence, the Seed had already disappeared into the newcomer's Inner Space.

"W-what?!" the mighty Overgod, who looked more like a butler, exclaimed for the first time in the past four millennia. The last time had been when his mother-in-law arrived at his home without prior notice while he too focused on playing erotic video games. Naked.

"What is the meaning of this?!" bellowed Abyss Sovereign.

Soon enough, everyone's eyes gathered on the person who was casually standing in the middle of them where the Seed had been just moments before. This daring newcomer had an appearance of a young man in his mid-twenties with a rather plain face, short black hair, and green eyes. He was wearing a simple azure t-shirt, dark blue shorts, and black slippers. If anything, he looked like a mortal youth in casual clothes. Of course, his presence in the Void Horizon proved that he was anything but a mortal. At this place, even an Immortal Monarch would disintegrate to nothingness in a matter of seconds.

"Be a good boy and give me the Seed," Moonlight Diva whispered seductively to him and then winked. Of course, this simple action contained her Divine Dao and would make even a Godking into her obedient thrall, even if temporarily. Obviously, it had no effect on the mysterious youth.

"Why would I give you something that belongs to me in the first place?" the youth replied with fake bewilderment. "Well, maybe I'd gifted it to you if you asked to become my concubine, but my wife will never agree. Sorry, but I'm a rather devoted husband. I'd rather have the best woman in the world as my wife than having a harem of third-rate women."

"Oho-ho," the Moon Overgoddess chuckled, not offended in the slightest. It was the third time in the ten million years of her life that someone even implied that she wasn't attractive enough, and yet it didn't shake her at all. "So the rumors that the youngest Overgod in history is a jokester were indeed true."

"Don't flirt with me, please!" the youth said as he feigned fear. "My wife will be suspicious! It would be just too sad to lose such a capable Overgod over petty jealousy."

"So this youngster is the famous Primal Devourer?" Abyss Sovereign sneered. "Not only are your looks painfully plain, but you are also the first henpecked Overgod since immemorial times. I guess it's an achievement of its own."

Ignoring the petty insult from someone who was supposed to be the most ancient existence in the Omniverse, Devourer waved his hand dismissively. "I prefer my Ouroboros Slayer title. It's way cooler. Better yet, you can call me by my name—Ardex Di Radex. Nice to meet ya all!"

At the sound of his name—his True Name—the whole Sanctuary shook. Some of the weaker Overgods felt a child running down their spines—something usually impossible. Even big shots like Abyss Sovereign, Moonlight Diva, and Devil Sage couldn't help but feel threatened from his True Name Pressure.

"Hmph!" Abyss Sovereign glared at Ardex. "Do you think you are a big deal only because your True Name is somehow special? I, Barathrum Furio Dius, am not afraid of anyone. Definitely not of a little hatchling like you. How old are you again? Fifteen centuries? Bah!"

True Name of the Sovereign shook the floating island yet again, though its pressure was still weaker by a certain degree. Those who'd noticed this fact found it hard to believe. Just like Barathrum, they assumed that there was some kind of trick involved.

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"Not bad!" Ardex said with a bright, almost innocent smile. "It seems that my efforts weren't for naught after all. You are not too weak!"

Barathrum really was offended at that point. "Not too weak?! I'm the strongest existence in the Omniverse!"

Ardex shook his head. "Nah, it would be me. Or my wife when she's on her period."

Despite being the most ancient Overgod, Abyss Sovereign wasn't known for his wisdom or self-control. On the contrary, his arrogance and cruelty were infamous. While other Overgods could suppress him if they join their hands, they, at most, would manage to seal him for some millennia. Maybe for a dozen or even a hundred, but for him, it was nothing but a blink. And when he recovered, they would face his fury one by one. In fact, something like this had already happened twice. Each time the result had been that half of the attackers were killed—freeing some Overgod Thrones—and the other half paid generous tribute to him. For this reason, he'd never put anyone in his eyes—even the two Overgods who had the same level of influence and ruled the other two Supreme Heavens.

"So, you don't want to give me the Seed?" Barathrum said in a voice that contained an unhidden threat.

"Who knows?" Ardex scratched the back of his head. "It's my treasure in the first place. I only used it to gather you guys together. It would have been a hassle to do this any other way. Well, if you manage to defeat me, the Seed is yours."

"Hahaha, you are right, boy!" Barathrum exclaimed. "If you are dead, everything you own is mine—"

"Hey, Abby," Moonlight Dive interrupted him. "Don't act like you are the only person here."

Abyss Sovereign ignored the female Overgod and activated his Origin Dao—Boundless Abyss. A black hole the size of a chicken egg appeared before his outstretched hand. If they were in a Lower and Higher Heaven, this ability alone would destroy dozens of Major Worlds. Even in Supreme Heavens, it would lead to devastating results. Here, in the Void Horizon, the power of the Boundless Abyss was contained to the extreme. This was the place where Overgods fought to solve conflicts between each other without involving innocent bystanders.

The nine observing Overgods hadn't expected that Barathrum would use one of his strongest abilities from the get-go. Only four of them had the confidence to defend against this Dao Manifestation on their own, but even they wouldn't be left unscathed. As for Ardex. . . he just raised his hand at the sphere of absolute darkness, as if he was just playing catch.

What happened next differed very much from what the observes had expected. When the black hole and the hand met, the former was sucked inside the latter, not vice versa as it usually should be. This devastating attack that made even other Overgods afraid was made to disappear just like this.

"Oh, not bad!" Ardex laughed light-heartedly. "I've absorbed just one Manifestation and already feel energized!"

Everyone, including Abyss Sovereign, was completely lost at the sudden development. They couldn't help but reevaluate the young Overgod. Perhaps the Rankings among them should be changed.

"I-it's you!" one of the Overgods shouted. He was known as Iron Blood Emperor. He allied himself with Devil Sage and was eighth in power.

"Have we met before?" Ardex raised his brow at the sudden exclamation. Devil Sage also gave his ally a questioning look.

"W-we fought before. . ." The so-called Emperor's face didn't look that good.

"Interesting," Devil Sage noted. "So, what can you say about him?"

"I-I don't know. . ." Eight-ranked Overgod hesitated before continuing, "He. . .he defeated me. . ."

"But you should have at least estimated his strength?" Devil Sage found the other Overgod's reaction quite strange.

After swallowing deeply, Iron Blood Emperor made a confession—shameful for him and absurd for everyone else. "H-he was. . . back then, he was just a Godking."

His words dumbfounded everyone present other than Ardex. Even Abyss Sovereign gave the emperor a strange look. Each of them clearly knew the difference between the last two big realms of cultivation. To match even the weakest Overgod, cooperation of fifty peak-level Godkings was required. Of course, if the top ten strongest Godkings allied themselves, the same result could be achieved. But the key word here was "compete", not "defeat".

"Oh yeah, you are this arrogant guy who tried to hit on my wife!" Ardex slapped his thigh. "Didn't you promise to find me and get your revenge for the humiliation of that day? I have a piece of good news for you, then!"

"I'm s-sorry for offending you!" Iron Blood Emperor exclaimed, his face even paler than usual. "I won't ever dare to take what is yours or seek revenge! Mercy!"

"Relax,"—Ardex waved his hand dismissively—"of course, I'm not going to kill you. In the first place, I don't even plan to fight you one-to-one. Haven't I said it already? I gathered all of you here for a reason."

Ardex spread his arms and declared. "I challenge all of you in a battle. Please, don't hold back and fight me at once! Now that I reached the peak, I want to see how I fare against other Overgods. Don't worry about injuring me. If worst comes to worst, I'll just escape. I promise that if you manage to force me into retreat, I'll give you the Immemorial Destiny Seed."

Ardex cracked his knuckles. "So, should we begin?"

***

One hundred years had passed since the event known as Devourer Dominance. At the Sanctuary of the Void Horizon, ten old Overgods fought against one young one and were defeated.

It was the only thing that was released to the public, but only the participants themselves knew that what had happened there couldn't be even called a fight. They were totally crushed by their invincible opponent. Even when Deep Abyss Sovereign, Moonlight Diva, and All-Seeing Devil Sage joined their hands for an ultimate all-out attack, Ardex Di Radex remained unscathed. Despite his overwhelming power, Devourer hadn't killed anyone in this battle. But he did something, perhaps, even more cruel. He sealed the Sanctuary and forced the Overgods to fight against him for three months in the belief that they weren't going all out. When the three months passed, each of the ten old Overgods was morally and physically devastated. As for Ardex. . .

"I'm so bored. . ." the one now known as Supreme Overgod murmured as he sat on his throne inside the Ouroboros Palace—a World Castle he'd taken from the monster which gave him the best fight of his life. How many times had Ardex regretted actually killing the old snake? It could be a great opponent if it ever managed to climb to the Overgod realm.

For the last hundred years, other than spending time flirting with his cute wife, Ardex had fought the Overgods over and over again. Of course, for this to be any challenge to him, he was forced to restrict his cultivation to the Godking realm. For some of the weaker Overgods, he even needed to fall back as far as the early stages of Godking. And with each battle, he understood his opponents better and better. He also grew stronger and stronger, while the Overgods felt more and more fear towards him, holding them back. At this rate, Ardex'd need to restrict himself all the way to Exalted God to fight the weakest of Overlords. It was absurd, even to him.

"What should I do? Everyone is so weak. . ."

Devourer was fed up with fights that required him to hold back. He wanted a real challenger, a real opponent. Even his wife didn't quite hit the mark, though he believed that she would catch up with him eventually, perhaps in ten millennia or so. He didn't want to wait for so long, though. He wanted to battle against his equal, and none of the old Overogds were even close. And, honestly, he didn't want for his only real opponent to be his lover, either.

Ardex decided to think of a solution to his problem. And as a mighty Overgod, it'd taken him only a moment to consider all the possibilities. In the end, he found the idea with the highest success rate. At the same time, it was something that could get rid of his boredom even before that.

Ardex stood up from the throne, excited like a little child who had just found a new toy. With his two hearts beating like drums, he hurried to teleport to the kitchen where his caring wife was currently cooking—she needed to know of his plan.

Ardex only hoped that his favorite woman wouldn't scold him too badly for trying to sneak out from her. . .