"Isn't that something you've already tested for yourself, Lord Ryan?"
Locke chuckled lightly.
"There's no need to doubt your judgment."
"I really am a God, through and through."
"It's just that… compared to ordinary Gods, I happen to be a tiny bit stronger."
As he said this, Locke raised his right hand and pinched his thumb and index finger together, leaving only the smallest gap—as if indicating a microscopic difference.
Unfortunately, this little joke was destined to go unappreciated. Locke was the only one who understood it, which made it rather anticlimactic.
"Heh, just a little bit stronger?"
Ryan didn't quite grasp what Locke meant by "a tiny bit," but he could clearly hear the modesty in his words.
Shaking his head, Ryan said in a deep voice,
"I'd say you're stronger by far more than just a little."
"If I don't go all out, I'm not even sure I could defeat you."
"Oh?"
Locke raised an eyebrow.
"Lord Ryan, after seeing that last move of mine, you still think you can beat me?"
"Watch your mouth, brat!"
Ryan flew into a rage at those words.
It was true that Locke's earlier strike posed a serious threat—but that didn't give him the right to look down on a Highgod!
"Every time a god advances a realm, they undergo a comprehensive transformation," Ryan roared.
"Your attacks may have reached a respectable level even among Highgods."
"But what makes a Highgod stronger than a God isn't just attack power!"
"Now let me show you just how vast the gap between a Highgod and a God truly is!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ryan's divine power erupted. His speed skyrocketed as he turned into a streak of yellow light, charging straight at Locke.
"Extreme Frostbound Domain!"
Locke's heart skipped a beat. He instantly unfolded his divine domain.
In a flash, the world around him transformed into a frozen hellscape of ice and snow.
Ryan's figure appeared within Locke's domain.
The sudden resistance upon entering allowed Locke to lock onto Ryan's position—but in the very next instant, Ryan unleashed his own divine domain, forcefully shattering Locke's domain apart.
His speed didn't drop in the slightest as he continued his charge.
"So fast!"
This was Locke's first true battle against a Highgod.
Earlier exchanges had made him underestimate Ryan slightly.
But now that Ryan fully displayed a Highgod's speed, Locke finally realized that the gap between Gods and Highgods could not be summed up with a simple "tenfold difference."
A God's speed usually hovered around 2,000 meters per second.
A Highgod—even one not specialized in speed—could easily reach 4,000 meters per second, twice that of a God.
Those proficient in speed could even reach 5,000 meters per second.
In battles between gods, what did it mean for one side to be twice as fast?
It meant your opponent could strike you twice before you even finished reacting to the first blow.
There would be no chance to fight back.
Fortunately, Locke's domain had delayed Ryan for just a fraction of a moment—enough to buy him precious time.
His soul power surged outward, quickly locking onto Ryan's position.
"Heaven Piercing Palm—Across a Thousand Miles!"
Locke struck with a palm. Guided by the profundities of Water Movement, the attack appeared instantly in front of Ryan.
Ryan's eyes flashed. The Earth Pulse profundity of the Earth Laws coiled around his massive blade.
"Shatterspace Slash!"
Boom!
Blade and palm collided, detonating with a thunderous roar. Countless spatial rifts burst outward from the point of impact.
The residual force of both attacks was swallowed by the spatial rifts before it could spread further, preventing additional destruction.
Ryan was forced back by the collision—but in the next moment, he shifted directions and launched another assault.
"Oh?"
Locke was mildly surprised.
Given his current strength, while he still fell short of a Five-Star Fiend, the might of four almost fully fused Law Mysteries allowed his attacks to brush against that threshold—enough to dominate among Four-Star Demons.
And yet, Ryan had merely been pushed back, not seriously injured?
Could it be that Ryan had already fused three Law Mysteries, making him a Five-Star Demon?
Doubts flashed through Locke's mind—but his attacks did not slow.
Boom boom boom boom boom—!
Ryan was twice as fast as Locke.
If he managed to close the distance, Locke would likely be defeated within a few breaths.
But unfortunately for Ryan—
Locke was no ordinary God.
The strength of his soul far surpassed that of his divine sense.
Even with Ryan deliberately obscuring himself, Locke's divine sense couldn't track him—
But Ryan's presence could not escape Locke's soul perception.
Coupled with the near-instantaneous manifestation of Palm of Heaven—Across a Thousand Miles, Ryan was repelled again and again before he could get close.
Ryan's attacks were varied—gravity, shockwaves, raw force…
He wielded the six profundities of the Earth Laws with masterful versatility.
Yet through these exchanges, Locke noticed something crucial.
Ryan had not fused his Law Mysteries.
He was, in essence, still a normal Highgod.
However—perhaps due to a unique race—Ryan's physical body was terrifyingly powerful.
That granted him enormous boosts to both material offense and defense.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that with his body alone, Ryan possessed strength on par with the upper echelon of Four-Star Fiends.
Even an ordinary Five-Star Demon would struggle to defeat him quickly.
But this was also Ryan's limit.
A powerful body could greatly amplify a god's physical offense and defense—
Yet unless that body was refined to the level of a divine spark, or even a sovereign artifact, it would still be nothing more than a sturdier punching bag against someone who had fused Law Mysteries.
Just like, over a thousand yanji later, Linley's contracted beast Bebe, the Devourer Mouse—after devouring divine spark essence and raising his body to divine-spark level—
Well… his overall strength still wasn't overwhelming.
Strictly speaking, aside from his innate divine ability, Bebe wasn't that strong—but unless faced with Paragon-level material attacks, he simply couldn't be injured.
Once Locke understood Ryan's limits, a glint of light flashed in his eyes.
His soul power surged into Ryan's soul, forming a pitch-black curtain that enveloped it completely.
"Celestial-Dance Treasure Wheel!"
"Five Senses—Deprivation!"
In an instant, Ryan lost all five senses, standing dazed in midair, relying only on instinct.
"Palm of Heaven—Across a Thousand Miles!"
Locke didn't hesitate.
His hands moved in rapid succession, hundreds of palm imprints blooming around Ryan before slamming down.
Boom!
Boom boom boom boom boom—!
Endless explosions echoed as slender spatial rifts spread outward from Ryan's body.
Crack—crack…
In the blink of an eye, Ryan's Highgod-level material defensive artifact was shattered into dust.
Palm after palm crashed into his body. Even with Ryan's terrifying physical strength, his body was torn apart under the relentless assault.
"Argh—!"
Ryan's soul was powerful—after all, it supported divine power three times stronger than that of an ordinary Highgod.
Though Heaven-Dancing Treasure Wheel had temporarily deceived his soul and severed his senses, the sheer terror of imminent death forced his soul to break free of the illusion and reconnect with his body.
But when Ryan regained control, his heart nearly stopped.
His divine body had already suffered heavy damage.
More than a dozen spatial rifts crawled across his flesh.
If not for his extraordinary physical strength and vast divine power constantly grinding away and repairing the rifts, his body would have already been riddled with holes.
"Oh?"
Ryan breaking free from the illusion surprised Locke slightly.
It seemed that while his soul power was sufficient to affect Highgods, in true life-and-death situations, a Highgod could still forcibly break through his illusions.
Unless Locke himself advanced to the Highgod realm—allowing his soul to undergo another baptism by the laws and achieve a qualitative transformation—
Only then could Heaven-Dancing Treasure Wheel truly manifest illusion as reality, completely stripping a Highgod of their five senses.
Locke extended his hand.
The Rising Sun Spear appeared in his grasp.
Since Palm of Heaven—Across a Thousand Miles alone wasn't enough to secure victory, he would have to use something stronger.
Four Law Mysteries converged at the spear's tip.
The terrifying power caused a black dot to appear in the space before the spear.
That was—
A spatial void, even more destructive than a spatial rift.
Immense power shattered space, creating the void, while simultaneously releasing energy to erase it.
The clash of these forces caused the void at the spear's tip to swell and shrink like a black bubble—sometimes as wide as ten centimeters, sometimes no thicker than a fingertip.
"Wait—this battle is my loss!"
Just as Locke was about to strike, Ryan—who had barely finished repairing his mangled body—spoke up and conceded defeat.
At that moment, Ryan looked at Locke with an indescribably complex expression.
As unbelievable as it was, he had truly been defeated by a God.
And after that battle, Ryan fully understood why.
From Locke's attacks, he could clearly sense more than one Law Mystery—
(End of Chapter)
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