So, what had all those years of persistence amounted to?
Just to survive a few seconds longer under someone else's attack?
"Die."
For anyone who dared raise a hand against him, Locke had never shown mercy.
He struck out with a single palm.
Boom!
This time, Evi had no defensive artifacts left to block the blow. His divine body—along with the remnants of his shattered armor—was obliterated in an instant.
With a casual reach, Locke drew in the Godhead and spatial ring Evi left behind. He stored the Godhead away first, then dripped a bead of blood onto the spatial ring.
As expected, there was no resistance.
Evi had no other divine clones.
Unfortunately, most of Evi's wealth had long since been poured into purchasing Highgod-level physical defense artifacts. All things considered, Locke's greatest gain from killing him turned out to be Evi's fire-aspected Highgod Divine Spark.
A Highgod Divine Spark—at this point in time—was an extraordinary treasure.
Even the lowest-quality one could fetch over twenty million inkstones.
Of course, Locke had no intention of selling it now.
He wasn't short on inkstones.
With this Highgod divine spark, it would be easy to recruit a God willing to serve him loyally.
Or perhaps he could capture a fire-aspected magical beast, bind it with a slave contract, and spend a thousand years or so nurturing it into a Highgod using divine sparks.
After all, over the years Locke had killed so many divine bandits that assembling a full set of fire-aspected divine sparks was hardly a challenge.
After summoning the metal lifeform, Locke checked his bearings and set course back toward Rockpeak City.
"Lord Locke!"
The moment Locke stepped out of the metal lifeform, he was immediately recognized.
The surrounding gods all lowered their heads in respectful greetings.
It was obvious that Locke's earlier battle with Vice City Lord Ryan had left a deep impression on Rockpeak City's inhabitants.
This reaction didn't surprise him in the least.
For gods, identifying someone was trivial.
As long as one recognized another's soul aura, there was no such thing as mistaken identity.
In the Coiling Dragon universe, divine forms could change endlessly—but soul aura never did.
Without a treasure capable of disguising the soul itself, most gods simply used their true appearance.
And to gods, appearance mattered little.
Strength was everything.
If you were powerful enough, even a body as grotesque as a Lovecraftian monstrosity would command respect.
After acknowledging the crowd with a nod, Locke walked straight into Rockpeak City.
Yes—cutting in line.
And no one objected.
After all, this was Lord Locke—the man who had defeated Vice City Lord Ryan. Anyone who complained would be courting death and dragging others down with them.
When Locke arrived at the City Lord's manor, both the Rockpeak City Lord and Ryan were already waiting at the entrance.
With their strength, sensing Locke's return—especially with his aura completely undisguised—was effortless.
"Lord Locke… may I ask about Evi—"
Once they were seated again, the City Lord finally spoke.
"He's dead," Locke replied calmly.
"Though I'll admit, that man had some ideas."
He then recounted in detail how Evi had refined eight Highgod-level defensive artifacts, explaining everything to the City Lord and Ryan. Both men listened in stunned silence.
"…This…"
Ryan scratched the back of his head, feeling as though his brain had just grown a little.
Normally, gods refined one offensive artifact and one defensive artifact.
Evi, however, had gone down a completely different path—refining eight physical defense artifacts.
True, this left his offensive power weaker than that of Highgods wielding attack artifacts.
But by rotating two defensive artifacts at a time, his survivability increased dramatically.
At the very least, Ryan was certain that if he fought an Evi like this now, he wouldn't be able to crush him as easily as he had hundreds of thousands of years ago.
"Sigh…"
Hearing of Evi's death, the Rockpeak City Lord let out a quiet sigh.
And upon learning of Evi's combat strategy, his sense of regret deepened.
Evi clearly wasn't stupid.
Against ordinary Highgods, such a fighting style would be extremely troublesome. Until all of Evi's defensive artifacts were destroyed, even the City Lord himself doubted he could easily disengage from Evi.
"Lord Locke," the City Lord said, "now that Evi is dead… what are your plans?"
"Hmm…"
That question made Locke pause.
What plans did he have?
When he first entered Hell, his goal had been simple—to find treasures that could restore his damaged soul so he could resume normal cultivation.
Now, his soul had fully recovered.
Even if he created more divine clones in the future, the inkstones he possessed were more than enough to purchase ample violet crystals for soul restoration.
Cultivate.
Advance.
Reach Paragon.
After a moment of confusion, Locke firmly settled on his next objective.
"Lord Locke," the City Lord continued, "Rockpeak City is currently missing a vice city lord."
"If you're willing, I can step down and serve as vice city lord instead, allowing you to take the position of city lord."
This offer came quickly.
Locke was the only being they had seen in countless years who could surpass Highgods while still a God.
Had their strength been greater, the City Lord and Ryan might even have been tempted to act against Locke for the secret behind his power.
But after Locke's battle with Ryan—especially that terrifying soul attack—neither of them believed they could withstand him.
Rather than risk death, it was far wiser to submit.
By following Locke, they might even uncover the secret to becoming stronger beyond the Highgod stage.
This was something the City Lord and Ryan had already discussed while Locke was pursuing Evi.
Hearing the proposal, Locke was momentarily taken aback.
At his current stage, what he needed was to comprehend the remaining two profundities of the Water Laws and find how they resonated with the others.
His minimum goal was to interlink six profundities before advancing to Highgod.
That way, even if he failed to reach Paragon, he would still possess peak Prefecture Lord–level combat power.
With no other pressing concerns, where he cultivated didn't really matter.
Still…
"Becoming the City Lord of Rockpeak City…"
"That does sound like a decent option."
Yet just as Locke was about to accept, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Ever since entering Hell, he had sensed that something was missing compared to the Hell he remembered.
After traveling through numerous cities, he finally realized what it was.
Fiend Castle.
According to legends from over a thousand epochs in the future, Fiend Castle had been founded by an incomparably powerful existence.
Its branches spread across Hell, forming a force no weaker than any Sovereign's divine legion.
No—its influence was said to surpass all the Sovereign' forces combined.
It functioned more as an intermediary, loosely governed.
Even the ranking system for Hell's experts—the Fiend Star ratings—originated from Fiend Castle.
As this image surfaced in Locke's mind, a terrifying thought followed.
If I were the one to establish Fiend Castle…
Would my fate converge with that predetermined founder's destiny—
or diverge entirely from the destiny that once belonged to "me"?
As Locke's thoughts expanded, the City Lord and Ryan suddenly felt a faint ripple of rule power emerge from his body.
Then, before their eyes, that power grew at a visible rate.
In less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea, it had surged to a level equivalent to ninety percent mastery of a law profundity.
The two exchanged shocked glances.
They could both tell—Locke had entered a state of enlightenment.
But even so, this rate of comprehension was absurd.
Even the most gifted Saint would need decades to advance an entry-level rule to this stage.
And Locke had done it right in front of them.
When Locke finally opened his eyes, light flowed within them. For a brief instant, both men felt as though every secret they possessed had been laid bare.
"Fate…"
Locke himself hadn't expected this.
After killing Vice City Lord Evi and stepping into the Laws of Fate, the mere thought of founding Fiend Castle had propelled his Fate comprehension to eighty percent.
Only twenty percent remained before his Fate Laws would reach godhood.
And more than that—Locke suddenly had a clear understanding of his future path.
When the first Fiend Castle was established, his Fate Laws would reach ten percent, elevating him to a Demigod of Fate.When Fiend Castle spread across one thousand cities, his mastery would rise to twenty percent—the level of a God.And when Fiend Castle encompassed an entire continent, he would become a Highgod, wielding forty percent control over Fate.
(End of Chapter)
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