The body Sadius was using only carried a small amount of Aether origin essence.
Although he possessed the power of an Overgod, it was merely at the lowest level among Overgods.
But Orloff—Though he was only an Overgod of the Edicts, and his true body's power was weaker than Sadius', this avatar of his carried over half of the Fate origin essence.
This allowed him to fight at nearly peak strength, making him far more powerful than Sadius' avatar.
Sadius was repeatedly repelled by Orloff.
Even Linley and Olivier joined the battle, but they had to maintain the stability of this spatial region, so the amount of origin essence they could draw upon was extremely limited.
The three of them continued to clash fiercely with Orloff in this sealed region.
No one else could even approach.
"Lord Ignis, please assist Sadius and the others!"
The Redbud Sovereign pleaded to Ignis.
Among the remaining three Overgods, Ignis was the closest to Sadius—After all, Ignis had been the first to become an Overgod following Sadius, and Sadius had offered significant help on Ignis's path to Supremacy.
"I can't interfere in this," Ignis replied bluntly.
"Orloff clearly came prepared."
With the amount of Fate origin essence Orloff carried this time, even if the other six Overgods joined forces, they likely still wouldn't be a match for him.
Orloff, alone, was fighting three Overgods yet remained perfectly composed.
To him, Sadius and the others seemed no more than children.
"Sadius, just give up. So, what if one universe collapses? Our main universe is unharmed. As long as I can catch even a glimpse beyond the cosmos, I will transmit the image back to you. When you return to our universe, you can pass it on to my true body."
"You're still so deluded!"
Another round of fierce battle erupted.
Even with all three fighting in concert, they could only stall Orloff—prevent him from shattering the universe.
How long they could keep this up was uncertain.
Their attacks had no effect on Orloff, whereas Orloff's counterattacks easily repelled all three.
"Olivier, let's use the Spacetime Grand Barrier!"
Linley called out.
This was a joint ultimate technique only the Overgod of Space and Overgod of Time could perform—Its power was astounding.
Likewise, the Overgod of Life and Death could also perform a joint ultimate technique, which was no less powerful.
Of course, Overgod rarely had the chance to use such techniques.
But this time, it was necessary.
Linley and Olivier joined forces, unleashing their technique.
The surrounding space and time became warped and restricted.
Orloff's movements slowed drastically, while Sadius' actions remained unhindered.
"Father, now's your chance!"
Linley shouted.
Sadius immediately activated his entire origin essence, charging straight at Orloff.
But Orloff responded by activating his Reincarnation Golden Body, taking Sadius' sword strike head-on.
With the Reincarnation Golden Body active, Orloff was no longer affected by the Spacetime Grand Barrier.
"My Reincarnation Golden Body, thanks to your research on Immortal Daos, has long since become an Overgod-level divine ability. I kept it hidden so you wouldn't discover it. Now that you're trying to stop me from breaking the cosmos, I have no choice but to kill you all!"
Orloff charged straight at Sadius.
"Today, you'll all perish beneath my strongest technique—Transcending Reincarnation!"
Unexpectedly, in this life, Orloff had also developed the technique to transcend reincarnation—and from the looks of it, his power was already sufficient to shatter a subsidiary universe.
"Orloff, isn't your goal to find out how to transcend the universe itself? Then I'll tell you. If you want to leave our universe and seek the truth beyond it, there is only one way."
Orloff immediately became intrigued.
So did everyone else present.
"In the original Coiling Dragon Universe, as long as one's soul had mutated into Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind, and refined four matching Sovereign sparks, fusing the powers of all four elements—one could transcend, shatter the universe with a wave of the hand, and pass into the world beyond, completely unharmed."
"Isn't Linley just such a four-way mutated soul? He even refined four High Sovereign sparks. Why hasn't he transcended?"
Orloff demanded.
"That's because our universe has evolved from a subsidiary universe into a main universe. A new element—Aether—has emerged. So now, to transcend, one must at least be a five-elemental soul mutate:
Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, and Aether—and refine five matching Sovereign sparks."
"Five-elemental soul mutation? That's complete fantasy!"
"Perhaps. But what if it's not five elements…What if it's a pseudo-five-element mutation—Four-elemental mutation, plus an Aether Dao Body?"
Orloff suddenly understood.
Linley was already a four-element mutate.
If he successfully cultivated an Aether Dao Body, he would essentially be a pseudo-five-element mutate, and might just achieve transcendence.
"What does that have to do with me? I only want to see what lies beyond the universe. I'm not going to wait around for your uncertain theory."
"Then at least wait to see if Linley fails at transcendence before doing anything rash!"
Sadius and the others were already at a clear disadvantage.
Their only hope now was to convince Orloff.
"An interesting theory," Orloff said flatly.
"But I don't accept it."
At that moment, Sadius tossed a fragment of Aether Law Soul Essence to Linley.
"Olivier, take Linley and flee into time! Linley, before Orloff breaks the barrier, you must form a Dao Body!"
Sadius fully activated his origin essence, creating a new sealing barrier.
With his strength, he could at least trap Orloff temporarily.
Now, the most important task was to give Linley enough time to form the Aether Dao Body.
Perhaps then, they would still have a chance.
Olivier didn't hesitate.
He took Linley and entered the temporal void.
As the Overgod of Time, Olivier was naturally skilled in manipulating time.
However, this universe lacked time-based laws, so Olivier had to burn his own origin essence to maintain his ability.
In the void of time—Linley began cultivating his Dao Body using the fragment of Aether Law Soul Essence.
As a Sovereign, he could naturally perceive the entirety of the Aether Edict.
Once he succeeded in forming his Dao Body, he would reach the perfected Golden Immortal level in the Aether Law.
As for attaining the rank of Immortal King, that wasn't something he could achieve on his own…Perhaps Hongmeng, out of goodwill, might bestow him the Immortal King title, allowing him to transcend.
As Linley cultivated in the temporal void, Sadius had completely fused himself into the barrier, sealing Orloff inside.
Of course, he could only buy time.
"I can't just sit and wait! Linley's transcendence is still uncertain. I must find another way to defeat Orloff!"
Sadius began to ponder..
He realized that he had made a mistake—he had allowed Orloff to exploit a loophole.
If only he had required everyone to swear an Origin Oath before coming to this universe, none of this would've happened.
The Origin Oath was something only Sadius knew of so far. It was overseen by Hongmeng himself.
"Linley is creating a Dao Body to transcend. Then what if I create four Dao Bodies? Might I also have a chance to transcend?"
As soon as the thought struck him, Sadius acted.
He immediately summoned four soul essence fragments.