Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 18, Divine Beast, Sable Leviathan

“What? The combined innate divine ability of the four ancestors?” Linley’s eyes turned round.

And then, Linley stared towards the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, who stood there in the void. He mused, “Twenty thousand years ago, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction has obtained half of the divine beast blood essence from Grandpa Beirut. Right. Five thousand years ago, Gislason’s group of four loaned to the Chief Sovereign of Destruction a hundred Highgods of the Four Divine Beasts clan. Most likely, that was also for the sake of analyzing the innate divine ability of the Four Divine Beasts. And now, he has actually succeeded! Inconceivable. This Chief Sovereign of Destruction is indeed a terrifying figure.”

An innate divine ability could never be perfectly learned, but there was hope for mimicking a similar divine ability.

For example, someone like the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, if he analyzed it enough and also utilized the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts, he would still have a chance at mimicking it.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

For example, Linley; the ‘Amethyst Space’ of the Amethyst Godbeasts was a very special supreme technique. Under the intentional guidance of the Redbud Sovereign, Linley finally understood the principles behind it. Although the power wasn’t as great as when the Amethyst Godbeasts themselves used the technique, the power was still tremendous.

The ten Chief Sovereign level experts fell silent, staring into the distance at the upcoming duel between the two mighty Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.

“Crackle...”

A black light spread out to a thousand kilometers, and within the center of that black light, a blurry, sinister looking figure continued to hover there quietly.

“Orloff! I’ve borrowed from the innate power of a unique race that exists in the Infernal Realm, the ‘Tartarians’. After countless years, I’ve finally further perfected my supreme technique. This technique is now far more powerful than it was last time. This time, take another look at my most powerful attack.” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction’s voice echoed in the void.

“Oh? From the sound of it, it should be excellent. Make your move.” The white-robed, white-haired Orloff continued to simply smile.

His black robe fluttering, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction stared coldly at his opponent. His hand waved...and a pitch-black longspear emerged in his hand. The black longspear was nearly two meters long. Even though he hadn’t attacked with it yet, the fierce aura that it naturally emanated was causing the surrounding streams of chaotic energy to crumble.

Linley and the other distant spectators were all astonished.

Everyone understood that the longspear was a Destruction Overgod weapon!

“Rumble...” The vast amounts of black light in the surrounding area suddenly contract, completely merging into the body of the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.

This caused a true void to appear within a thousand kilometers, without any energy being left behind at all.

“Rustle...”

A strange sound was emitted from the mouth of the Chief Sovereign of Destruction. At the same time, behind the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, an enormous illusion appeared. The illusion was actually an awe-inspiring ten thousand kilometers in length. This was an enormous, coiling creature that was similar to a serpent. Its soft, coiling body was covered with black scales. In addition, it had more than ten thousand sharp claws.

Ten thousand kilometers, with ten thousand sharp claws, and more than ten thousand sharp wings.

At first glance, the countless scales, claws, and wings seemed to be made out of black steel.

This monster’s head was completely bald. It had only a pair of eyes, with one eye having white pupils and one eye having red pupils.

Linley, watching from afar, was completely stupefied. The true form of the Chief Sovereign of Destruction was simply too frightening.

“What is this?” Linley whispered.

Linley’s divine sense was constantly active. Because of his fused Sovereign power, others weren’t able to sense Linley’s divine sense at all. However, Linley himself was able to clearly see that after the Chief Sovereign of Destruction unleashed this technique, countless strands of spiritual energy were bizarrely swirling towards the Chief Sovereign of Fate!

The Chief Sovereign of Fate was like prey that had been trapped.

“You didn’t know?” The Chief Sovereign of Death glanced at Linley, then sent, “Wodred is the very first creature that was born in the Infernal Realm. He lives in the depths of the Chaotic Sea. He himself named himself the divine beast, ‘Sable Leviathan’. This innate divine ability is known as the ‘Soul Cage’.”

The Chief Sovereign of Death, being the first creature of the Netherworld, was of a similar age to the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, who was the first creature of the Infernal Realm. Of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, the two of them were the oldest.

“The divine beast, ‘Sable Leviathan’. Innate divine ability, ‘Soul Cage’?” Linley’s heart trembled.

Indeed, every single one of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts were formidable.

“However, this sort of ability won’t have much of an impact on the Chief Sovereign of Fate. Watch...” The Chief Sovereign of Death laughed softly.

Linley had already seen it!

As the Chief Sovereign of Destruction has unleashed his innate divine ability, ‘Soul Cage’, he also swept over with his Destruction Overgod weapon at a speed so fast, it was akin to teleportation, as he charged at the Chief Sovereign of Fate.

“Rumble...”

The black spear shadow instantly transformed into countless spear shadows, covering an area of a thousand kilometers. They were like countless venomous vipers that spat outwards. Every single spear shadow spat out a ray of black light, and the countless spear shadows actually once more swirled around the Chief Sovereign of Fate. And then, the countless spear shadows seemed to flood towards and deluge the Chief Sovereign of Fate.

“Boom!”

All of the spear shadows vanished.

A single sword shadow pierced straight towards the head of the white-robed elder, the Chief Sovereign of Fate!

His most powerful, supreme attack...

Exterminatus!

From start to finish, the white-robed elder, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, simply faced it all with a smile. He didn’t even fight back. His body was surrounded by countless rays of black light and was under extremely great compression.

“Heh heh.” The Chief Sovereign of Fate chuckled slightly, then stretched out his right now.

Strangely, although his entire body was covered and compressed by rays of black light, when he lifted his right hand, he seemed to be moving in a very normal manner. With the flip of his hand, the surface of his entire palm became covered with a strange golden light. His palm rose from his side and simply slapped against the sides of the black longspear. With just a low, rumbling striking sound...

“Whoosh!” The Overgod weapon was knocked flying back.

“How terrifying.” Linley had been stunned by the Chief Sovereign of Destruction’s attack. Now, he was stunned by the Chief Sovereign of Fate’s simple yet strong deflection.

“Your Excellency, how is it that the Chief Sovereign of Fate can use his hand to strike against an Overgod weapon?” Linley couldn’t believe what he had just seen. He couldn’t help but speak mentally to the Chief Sovereign of Death.

The Chief Sovereign of Death laughed softly. “Orloff has an additional portion of Will compared to the rest of us to begin with. Naturally, his foundation is superb! But that isn’t the most terrifying thing; what’s truly terrifying is that Orloff is a madman.”

“Madman?” Linley didn’t understand.

“Right. Him and I have known each other for countless years, and I understand him very well.” The Chief Sovereign of Death sighed. “He has no desire to fight or struggle against others, nor is he greedy, nor will he abuse the weak...in short, he can be described as a man with an extremely good temperament.”

“If he’s so good-natured, why is he a madman?” Linley didn’t understand.

The Chief Sovereign of Death sent with a laugh, “Linley, you tell me. He already stands at the peak, but instead of enjoying the fruits that being at the peak brought to him, he only enjoys a single hobby. That hobby is...increasing his strength!”

“Increasing his strength?” Linley didn’t understand. “How?”

“Research!” The Chief Sovereign of Death sighed. “This old fellow became the Chief Sovereign of Fate shortly after the universe was created, and became a Paragon as well. From then onwards, he began to research various unique races, research various innate divine abilities and innate powers. He analyzed where these abilities came from, and then...he used many of them on himself in order to increase his own power through such methods!”

Linley, hearing this, was completely stupefied.

“He can research innate divine abilities?” Linley felt speechless.

“Don’t think it strange. All races and creatures are formed from a soul and a body. Innate powers are generally linked to the blood and to the soul. This old fellow, over the course of countless years, has spent his time analyzing various souls in depth.” The Chief Sovereign of Death sighed. “He is a madman. Do you know? His body’s strength was originally quite ordinary, but through his research, he has made it so that his body’s strength isn’t any inferior to mine.”

Linley felt shock in his heart as he heard this.

“A person who has, for countless years, absorbed himself in research. Who never relaxes or slackens, and who never enjoys any form of entertainment, and who never fights with anyone. You tell me, if he isn’t a madman, what is he?” The Chief Sovereign of Death asked.

After listening to this, Linley couldn’t help but turn to look at the distant white-robed, white-haired elder.

“He has neither a wife nor any kids?” Linley asked.

“None!” The Chief Sovereign of Death shook her head. “I told you. His only goal is to increase his strength.”

“He...really is a madman.” Linley couldn’t help but say to himself.

Even Linley himself would, at most, make his clones train hard. He would at least have his original body accompany his wife, his family, his friends. Although he, too, dreamed of reaching the peak, in his heart, his family and friends were equally important. But this Chief Sovereign of Fate?

“He...probably views increasing his own power as a form of amusement.” Linley mused to himself.

This sort of stubborn, eccentric madman who had spent countless years doing nothing besides raising his own power...how terrifying must he now be?

“Thanks to Orloff’s influene, quite a few Sovereigns have begun to research and analyze some races with unique innate abilities. Only, how could doing this sort of research be easy? It requires both ability and patience. You might spend countless years, only for all of your efforts to result nothing.” The Chief Sovereign of Death sent mentally. “The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, is excellently patient. He has spent countless years deep within the Chaotic Sea. This time, he has come up with a truly supreme technique, and he wishes to truly defeat Orloff for once.”

“A truly supreme technique.”

Linley understood that this should be the attack that was similar to the supreme technique of the Four Divine Beasts.

“Not bad.” The white-robed, white-haired Chief Sovereign of Fate had the aura of a judge evaluating an entry. “Wodred, this ‘Exterminatus’ technique of yours, by borrowing from the power of the Tartarians...mm, this technique of yours is nearly three times more powerful in terms of attack power than it was last time. Very well done! Alright...unleash the supreme technique you’ve developed!”

The white-robed elder truly did seem to be an eccentric madman who had seen something he liked. His blazing gaze was focused on the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.

The sinister, black-robed Chief Sovereign of Destruction cracked his lips in a grin. “Indeed, I still have to use that technique in order to be able to threaten you.” With a flip of his hand, the longspear within the Chief Sovereign of Destruction’s hand vanished, and then a similar black longspear appeared. Only, this longspear was slightly longer.

“Sovereign weapon?” Linley said, puzzled. Why had the Chief Sovereign of Destruction put away his Overgod artifact and changed it to a Sovereign artifact?

Although he didn’t understand, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction and the Chief Sovereign of Fate were making their moves against each other once again.

The ten Chief Sovereign level experts all focused their attention as they watched. Everyone knew that a terrifying scene was about to appear.

“Orloff.” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction said in a slightly smug voice, “This technique of mine was developed after I spent nearly twenty thousand years analyzing the blood essence of the Four Divine Beasts. In addition, I was extremely lucky to suddenly have a flash of insight. If it hadn’t been for that bit of luck, I probably would’ve spent countless years fruitlessly. But the power of this technique...”

The Chief Sovereign of Destruction laughed as he looked at the distant Chief Sovereign of Fate. “You must be careful.”

“Just come.” The Chief Sovereign of Fate’s eyes were shining.

The black-robed Chief Sovereign of Destruction immediately raised his head and let out a thunderous roar...and around his body, four phantoms suddenly appeared. An Azure Dragon Phantom, a Black Tortoise Phantom that appeared akin to a Dragonturtle, a Vermillion Bird Phantom that appeared akin to a Phoenix, and a White Tiger Phantom!

The four phantoms were only roughly two or three meters long, but their bodies swirled around the Chief Sovereign.

The Vermillion Bird Phantom was above his head. The Black Tortoise Phantom was beneath his feet. The Azure Dragon Phantom was to his left. The White Tiger Phantom was to his right.

“Rumble...”

The surrounding space within a thousand kilometers suddenly began to tremble!

In this moment...

Within a thousand kilometers, the flowing streams of energy in chaotic space suddenly, completely froze. The constantly fracturing and shattering spatial tears also froze.

“This...!” Linley was shocked.

“Impossible!” The faces of the Chief Sovereign of Death and the others all changed.

The ten Chief Sovereign level experts all sensed that the surrounding area had been completely locked. The ten of them were only affected by the remnant power, and yet all of them felt bound, making their movement speed lessen drastically. From this, one could imagine what sort of situation the Chief Sovereign of Fate, who had suffered 99% of the power from this, was in.

A translucent ray of light shot out at terrifying speed, diving into the Chief Sovereign of Fate’s body.

The Four Divine Beasts, all Lesser Sovereigns, were able to threaten Chief Sovereigns with this innate divine ability.

How powerful, then, was the Chief Sovereign of Destruction when he used this technique? Although it wasn’t the complete, perfect Four Divine Beasts fused innate ability, the power of this technique wasn’t much weaker.

However, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction didn’t relax at all. After releasing this technique, immediately afterwards...

“Swoosh!”

The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, wielding that black longspear, immediately charged towards the Chief Sovereign of Fate, stabbing directly towards the white-robed Chief Sovereign of Fate with his spear.