"As for what happened during that period, I imagine everyone here probably isn't interested, so I won't elaborate further."
"The final result was that I was killed by Figaroa, a captain of Locke's Sovereign Army."
As Dunnington spoke, the expressions of Figaroa, Oakes, and Celes within Locke's Sovereign Army changed drastically.
Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Sovereign Army all stared at Figaroa in shock.
None of them had imagined that before Dunnington had grown to his current level, the future Paragon had actually once been killed by Figaroa.
"After cultivating to godhood within the Necropolis, I regained the memories of my previous life. Over these years, I cultivated while also gathering information related to Figaroa."
Outside Lotus Rock Island, among the gathered gods who had been drawn over by the descent of the Sovereigns, some people secretly nodded after hearing Dunnington's words.
They were all individuals who had crossed paths with Dunnington before, and they indeed knew that Dunnington had investigated information regarding Figaroa.
"When I was weak, I had nothing to say."
"But now that I possess sufficient strength, I wish to battle Figaroa, the captain under Chief Sovereign Locke's command, and settle the grudges of the past."
"I wonder, Chief Sovereign Locke, do you think my actions are wrong?"
"Your actions are not wrong."
On Lotus Rock Island, after hearing Locke's words, Oakes opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing.
However, from the way Oakes's fists were clenched tightly, one could tell what kind of state of mind he was in.
Fortunately, Locke's next words eased Oakes's heart somewhat.
"However, Dunnington, since you were able to grow to your current level, I imagine you aren't naïve enough to think this world is divided simply into right and wrong."
"There is an agreement among the Sovereigns that Sovereigns may not casually interfere with beings below the Sovereign level."
"But Dunnington, you must understand that killing members of a Sovereign Army is itself a provocation against the dignity of a Sovereign."
"At that time, in order to maintain the dignity of a Sovereign, I will take action against you."
"Even though you are a Paragon, if I wish to kill you, it won't be much harder than crushing an ant."
"Dunnington, are you truly willing to throw away your own life just to kill a mere Five Star Fiend?"
Within Locke's Sovereign Army, Figaroa, Celes, and Oakes all let out sighs of relief after hearing Locke's words.
They didn't believe that a Paragon would truly trade his own life for that of a Five Star Fiend.
"Heh, Roa, looks like you're going to become famous from today onward."
After learning that Figaroa's life was safe, Celes grinned shamelessly and said to Figaroa, "I don't even need to guess. You're probably the only god-level expert in the world who's ever killed a future Paragon."
"Scram!"
Hearing Celes' teasing, Figaroa couldn't help but curse in a low voice.
At this moment, Figaroa himself had only just slowly recovered from his terror.
He could never have imagined that over five hundred thousand years ago, when he and Celes had accompanied Mira and the others to a material plane to collect a piece of clothing for Lady Death Sovereign, he would end up killing a future Paragon.
It wasn't as if they hadn't heard of Dunnington's reputation within the Netherworld.
But only after Dunnington mentioned his origins earlier did Figaroa finally recall the Saint-level ant he had once killed in that material plane.
He still remembered that the clothing Lady Death Sovereign had needed back then had been obtained after he killed that Saint-level ant.
If he had known that the Saint-level ant from back then would eventually become a Paragon, then even if he didn't become close friends with him, he would at least have used a soul attack when killing him in order to completely annihilate his soul.
However, the three of them had forgotten one thing.
The current Dunnington had not come to Lotus Rock Island alone.
"Hahahaha, Chief Sovereign Locke, don't speak too absolutely."
The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wordred, rose from his throne, took several steps past Dunnington, and arrived before Locke.
"Indeed, for ordinary god-level beings, even Paragons, attacking members of a Sovereign Army can naturally be regarded as provoking a Sovereign."
"However, when a Sovereign Emissary attacks soldiers of a Sovereign Army, then it is no longer a provocation from a god-level being toward a Sovereign."
"Rather, it becomes a conflict between two Sovereigns, unrelated to god-level beings."
"Oh, and I forgot to tell you, Chief Sovereign Locke."
"Dunnington is now my emissary, Wordred's."
At this point, Chief Sovereign Wordred turned back toward Dunnington and said, "Dunnington, ever since you became my Sovereign Emissary, I have yet to assign you a Sovereign mission."
"There are some conflicts between Chief Sovereign Locke and myself, so I can't stand seeing that expression of calm certainty on his face."
"So now, right here, I shall assign you a mission."
"Go kill one or two captains from Chief Sovereign Locke's Sovereign Army to entertain me a little."
"Don't worry. You are carrying out my mission. If Chief Sovereign Locke wants to take action against you because of this, he'll first have to see whether I agree or not!"
"Waaah…"
The moment Chief Sovereign Wordred spoke these words, the gathered god-level experts erupted into uproar.
Especially Figaroa, whose face had already become deathly pale.
"Lord Chief Sovereign of Destruction, are you certain you wish to establish karmic ties with me because of Dunnington's matter?"
"Karmic ties?"
"Heh heh…"
Wordred waved his hand, and a black Sovereign artifact spear appeared within his grasp.
The spear pointed directly at Locke as a terrifying aura erupted from Wordred's body, pressing the god-level experts on Lotus Rock Island to their knees.
"Locke, I've wanted to fight you for a very long time. Unfortunately, you've always brushed me aside with one excuse or another."
"This time, I'd like to see whether you'll continue to evade me like before."
"Come battle!"
Glancing at the furious Oakes, whose eyes looked ready to split apart, Locke gently shook his head. Then he looked toward Dunnington before tearing open a spatial crack in the Netherworld.
"It seems that if we don't settle things with a battle today, you won't let this matter rest."
"In that case, let's head into the spatial turbulence."
"I'll be waiting for you."
After speaking, Locke turned and stepped directly into the spatial turbulence.
"Good!"
"Excellent!"
Seeing Locke agree so readily this time, Chief Sovereign Wordred burst into laughter. With a tear of his hand, he ripped open the space before him and stepped into the spatial turbulence as well.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
After Locke entered the spatial turbulence, he immediately saw streaks of multicolored light rapidly distancing themselves from the region outside the Netherworld.
Clearly, the moment the Sovereigns heard that Chief Sovereign Locke and Chief Sovereign Wordred were about to fight, they realized that this was not a battle they could observe from close range.
Thus, they immediately retreated farther away, afraid that the aftershocks from the battle between two Chief Sovereigns might implicate them.
Otherwise, if they died, they would probably become the laughingstock of the other Sovereigns for countless years.
Rip!
A spatial crack opened within the spatial turbulence a hundred meters before Locke.
Chief Sovereign Wordred stepped into the spatial turbulence while holding his Sovereign artifact spear.
Ever since Locke's fused Water-Fate Laws had broken through, Wordred had known that there was a certain gap between their strengths.
This had already been demonstrated during the previous battle between Chief Sovereign Locke and Chief Sovereign of Fate Orloff.
The strength displayed by Chief Sovereign Orloff after revealing that extra portion of willpower was not the slightest bit weaker than Wordred or Chief Sovereign Wawaya.
Yet despite that, Orloff had still been heavily injured by Chief Sovereign Locke.
Therefore, when facing Locke, Wordred did not dare be careless in the slightest. He had already drawn out his Sovereign artifact spear in advance, maintaining himself at his peak condition.
Of course, what truly gave Chief Sovereign Wordred confidence to battle Locke was his body, which had already reached the level of a Sovereign artifact.
A Sovereign artifact-level body only provided a tenfold increase in close combat attack power, equivalent to a portion of willpower.
However, in terms of defense, a Sovereign artifact-level body was vastly stronger than defenses reinforced by a single portion of willpower. While it might not quite compare to the hundredfold defense granted by two portions of willpower, it could at the very least reach around eightyfold defensive power.
Take the Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding, for example. Relying on his Sovereign artifact-level body, he had become the strongest among the Lesser Sovereigns.
Even Intermediate Sovereigns found it extremely difficult to kill Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding.
More than a thousand cycled eras later, Beirut would refine White Tiger Sovereign Eus' wind-element Sovereign spark and become a wind-style Lesser Sovereign.
Yet by relying on a body comparable in toughness to a Sovereign spark, he would still be able to barely contend against Intermediate Sovereigns for a period of time instead of being instantly killed.
After entering the spatial turbulence, Locke did not waste words with Wordred.
He immediately struck out with a palm.
"Thousand Mile—Heaven-Reaching Palm!"
A gigantic pale blue palm formed from Locke's fused Water-Fate Laws appeared before Wordred and smashed toward him.
"Excellent!"
This wasn't the first time Wordred had seen Locke's move.
Although this time Locke had only sent out a single palm strike, and its might was nowhere near as terrifying as when he attacked Chief Sovereign Orloff by clapping both palms together like swatting a fly, it was still not something that could be underestimated.
Black Destruction Edicts condensed around the tip of Wordred's spear.
Because he understood the gap between himself and Locke, over these years Wordred had begun creating techniques that concentrated all of his power into a single point, and he had achieved considerable success.
After all, as a supreme expert who had cultivated to the Paragon level, creating techniques wasn't particularly difficult for Wordred so long as inspiration and time were available.
The difficult part was how to increase the might of those techniques to surpass tenfold or even hundredfold attacks beyond his own base strength.
Chief Sovereign Wordred thrust out with his spear.
The terrifying power condensed at the spear tip shredded the surrounding spatial turbulence before colliding head-on with the incoming palm from Locke.
BOOM!
The spear tip and the palm collided as the fused Water-Fate Laws and the Destruction Edicts violently clashed, erupting with world-destroying might.
The terrifying shockwave completely annihilated the spatial turbulence between Locke and Wordred, scattering countless fragments of spatial turbulence in every direction.
(End of Chapter)
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon! Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims
Next Bonus Chapter at 2200 Powerstones