The moment Locke said those words, the assembled Sovereigns were instantly enraged.
What did he mean by if they offended him, dying would be far too unjust?
He was nothing more than a mere Lesser Sovereign!
Among the Sovereigns present, however, Bloodridge Sovereign Pash was notably absent from those who were angered.
After all, Pash knew very well that Locke had mastered the Four Divine Beasts' fused innate divine ability.
With that move in hand, Locke alone was already equivalent to the Four Divine Beasts themselves—a Laws Chief Sovereign.
And not just any Laws Chief Sovereign, but the strongest kind—
the kind capable of slaying Chief Sovereigns.
"Hmph. How ridiculous."
"A mere Lesser Sovereign, yet you dare utter such arrogant words."
"What, are you a Paragon?"
At that moment, one of the Lesser Fire Sovereigns could no longer restrain himself and sneered at Locke.
"This Fire Sovereign… may I know who you are?"
"You'd better listen well."
"My name is Manlu, and like you, I am a Lesser Sovereign."
"What? Are you thinking of challenging me to a Sovereign battle?"
Sovereign Manlu raised his right hand.
Intense Fire Laws erupted in his palm, blazing like a miniature sun.
"No…"
Locke shook his head.
Then, under Manlu's disdainful gaze, he calmly said something that froze the Fire Sovereign's expression solid.
"I was only going to say…"
"Sovereign Manlu, your eyesight is excellent."
"I am indeed a Lesser Fate Sovereign Paragon."
"What?!"
The instant those words fell, the entire gathering in the spatial turbulence was thrown into shock.
Among the Sovereigns, the only Paragons so far had been a few of the Edict Sovereigns.
Every Sovereign present had long dreamed of becoming the next Paragon.
Yet none of them had broken through.
And now this newly ascended Fate Sovereign, Locke—
was already one?
A Lesser Sovereign Paragon.
According to the grading system proposed by the Death Sovereign, that placed him firmly in the third tier of Sovereigns, equivalent to an Intermediate Sovereign.
At once, most eyes turned toward Manlu.
The Fire Sovereign who had just proposed sparring with Locke now wore a completely frozen expression.
The Fire Laws in his palm had vanished without anyone even noticing.
An ordinary Lesser Sovereign wanting to fight a Paragon Fate Sovereign…
One could only say that, true to the explosiveness of Fire Sovereigns, he had guts.
As for Destruction Sovereign Wordred, upon hearing Locke reveal himself as a Fate Paragon, his expression eased slightly.
A Paragon Sovereign—
even merely a Lesser one—
was certainly worthy of a dedicated Sovereign Assembly.
"Of course…"
"If that were the full extent of my strength, there would indeed be no need to trouble the Death Sovereign into convening an assembly just so everyone could meet me."
Originally, Locke had intended to let everyone think he was merely a Paragon Lesser Fate Sovereign.
But after Wordred's remark, if he didn't reveal a little more—
if he allowed this special assembly called by the Death Sovereign to lose face—
even Locke himself wouldn't forgive that.
To the Sovereigns of the Coiling Dragon universe, much like Saints in the primordial worlds, power reigned supreme.
And among beings of this level, aside from strength, what they valued most was their prestige and face.
"So that all of you may know…"
"Besides being a Fate Paragon Sovereign…"
"…I am also a Water Paragon."
This time, every Sovereign's face turned green.
A slap to the face.
A complete and utter slap to the face.
Why had they fought and killed one another over faith power?
Wasn't it all for the sake of breaking through that final barrier and reaching the realm of Paragon?
And now?
Locke had only just become a Sovereign, yet here he was openly revealing a dual-element Paragon identity, as if becoming a Paragon were something effortless to him.
How were the rest of them supposed to face that?
"I want to kill him."
Those were the words of Light Sovereign Augusta.
As the clone of Fate Sovereign Orloff, Augusta himself had failed to become a Paragon.
Naturally, resentment lingered in his heart.
And after hearing Augusta's words, many Sovereigns silently nodded in agreement.
A dual-element Paragon.
It was simply too enviable.
Too maddeningly enviable.
"Of course, I'm not saying all this to show off."
"I'm merely giving everyone a chance to mentally prepare…"
"…for what I'm about to say next."
Aside from the Death Sovereign, all the other Sovereigns—including the three remaining Edict Sovereigns—quietly listened.
There was no helping it.
The revelation of Locke's dual-element Paragon status was simply too shocking.
Especially for Fate Sovereign Orloff.
After reaching Paragon in the Edicts of Fate, Orloff had once considered cultivating his Light clone, Augusta, to Paragon as well.
But unfortunately—
even with boundless faith power—
Augusta had still failed at that final threshold.
"I am a soul mutate."
"Of course, many of you Sovereigns may not know what that means."
"So, allow me to explain."
At that, Locke extended both hands.
Though he was clearly a Fate Sovereign, one hand manifested Water Laws, while the other summoned the Edicts of Fate.
The gathered Sovereigns felt as though their minds were about to short-circuit.
But Orloff's eyes lit up.
The simultaneous use of different divine powers and different Laws—
if that were possible—
As if sensing Orloff's thoughts, Locke immediately fused the Water Laws and Fate Edicts in his hands.
"The greatest strength of a soul mutate…"
"…lies in the ability to use fused divine power and fused Laws."
"When two types of divine power are fused, the strength of that divine power increases tenfold."
"And when two different Laws are fused…"
"…the fusion of two different profound mysteries is equivalent in might to the fusion of three mysteries of the same Law."
"I imagine by now, everyone has already guessed it."
The fused power in his hand dissipated as Locke narrowed his eyes.
"My Water Laws and Fate Edicts…"
"…have already reached the point where three Water profound mysteries have been completely fused into Fate."
"In other words…"
"…the power of my fused Laws is comparable to the strength of nine fully fused profound mysteries of a single Law."
Hiss—
The moment Locke finished speaking, every Sovereign stared at him in horror.
Nine fused profound mysteries of a single Law.
What kind of concept was that?
Every additional mystery fused increased one's strength by ten times.
Aside from Paragons, all Sovereigns present had only fused five profound mysteries.
Locke had fused four more.
That meant in terms of pure Law strength alone, he exceeded them by ten thousand times.
Even subtracting the Paragon enhancement and Paragon Will required to count as Intermediate Sovereign level—
Locke was still one thousand times stronger than an ordinary Intermediate Sovereign.
Previously, the Sovereigns had placed Locke in the second tier, equivalent to Intermediate Sovereigns.
But now?
With the power of these fused Laws revealed—
he had already reached the level of a Laws Chief Sovereign.
No—
he was even ten times stronger than an ordinary Laws Chief Sovereign.
"Now then…"
"Does anyone still feel that it was inappropriate for the Death Sovereign to convene this assembly specifically for me?"
"No…"
Destruction Sovereign Wordred's gaze turned solemn.
"With what you have achieved…"
"…you are absolutely worthy of the Death Sovereign convening a Sovereign Assembly for you."
"And Locke…"
"What you said earlier was correct."
"If there hadn't been a special assembly to announce your existence…"
"…then any Sovereign who offended you truly would die far too unjustly."
That single sentence from Wordred directly affirmed the weight of Locke's strength.
The other Sovereigns, too, could not help but feel fortunate that they had attended this assembly.
Indeed—
as Locke had said—
judging purely by Sovereign spark rank, he was merely a Lesser Sovereign.
Yet by sheer ability, he had forcibly stepped into the ranks of the Laws Chief Sovereigns.
Had they missed this assembly and remained ignorant of his strength—
dying at his hands later would truly have been an unjust death.
Locke smiled.
"You flatter me too much, Destruction Sovereign."
"I'm still far from matching the three of you."
After replying to Wordred, Locke turned his gaze toward Light Sovereign Augusta.
"And this must be the Light Sovereign?"
"I believe I just heard you say you wanted to kill me."
"How about the two of us fight right now?"
"It'll liven up this Sovereign Assembly a little."
Augusta's face instantly darkened.
Was this a joke?
Locke had already laid out his strength clearly.
Even based solely on what he had revealed, he was already at least Augusta's equal.
And someone capable of becoming a dual-element Paragon—
No, the fusion of heterogeneous Laws was obviously far more difficult than same-element fusion—
could someone like that possibly not possess a trump card capable of multiplying his strength tenfold?
Augusta even suspected Locke might have techniques capable of increasing his power by a hundredfold.
Fighting him?
That was suicide.
So, in the face of Locke's blatant provocation, Augusta said nothing at all.
He simply moved a few steps closer to Orloff and stood behind the Fate Sovereign.
"...Tch."
Seeing that, Locke immediately understood.
Augusta would likely never dare provoke him again.
"Hahaha, who would have thought…"
"…that a Deity could cultivate to such an incredible level as Sovereign Locke?"
"Death Sovereign."
"I, Orloff, in the name of the Fate Sovereign, acknowledge that Sovereign Locke possesses the strength of a Laws Chief Sovereign."
"He may be formally listed in the third tier as a Laws Chief Sovereign."
"Ah, and I, Wawaya, in the name of the Life Sovereign, also acknowledge that Sovereign Locke possesses the strength of a Law Chief Sovereign."
(End of Chapter)
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