Within the raging flames, Oakes' figure slowly appeared before Magrida.
"It's you?"
The moment he saw Oakes, Magrida couldn't help but cry out in shock.
Less than a hundred million years after the Seven Divine Planes had been established, the Fire Divine Plane was still recovering from the effects of the Planar War. Many Mightful forces had declined or perished, while some weaker forces had gained additional resources through the war and gradually risen to prominence.
Magrida was one of the countless individuals who rose from weakness to strength.
After realizing that his own strength had reached a bottleneck, Magrida stopped focusing solely on cultivation and instead turned his attention to developing a Power base, founding the Magrida clan.
As a Prefect-level expert, the clan established by Magrida had a Powerful expert like him overseeing it, but it still could not be considered a major power.
Just when Magrida was troubled by the clan's development, Oakes came looking for him.
Seeing Oakes again now, Magrida felt as though he had returned to the day he first met Lord Oakes.
It was also on that day that Magrida truly learned that Deities could become that powerful.
Although both were Prefect-level experts, Magrida had been utterly incapable of resisting Oakes.
For a period of time, Magrida had even believed that Lord Oakes was one of the legendary Paragons.
Of course, as Magrida's knowledge increased, especially after he had seen recordings of Dunnington's attacks, he learned that Oakes was not a Paragon.
A Paragon was more than a hundred times more terrifying than the strength Oakes had displayed.
Even so, despite having become a Sovereign Emissary himself, Magrida still did not believe he was Oakes' match.
"Lord Oakes, why have you appeared here?"
Although Magrida already had a guess in his heart, he still clung to a trace of hope.
"Heh, Magrida. Do you really not know why I'm here?"
Oakes folded his arms and shook his head at Magrida.
"I have to say, your courage is truly impressive. To actually dare do something like that."
"Right now, you have two choices."
"Either die here at my hands, or go back and fight Rockpeak, then die at Rockpeak's hands."
"Don't think about running, Magrida."
"Besides me, another Sovereign Emissary came here with Rockpeak. That person's strength is even greater than Rockpeak's. There's no way you'll escape."
"If you return and fight Rockpeak, at least you'll be able to preserve some dignity."
"But if you continue running, then the one taking action against you won't just be Rockpeak."
Magrida's heart sank.
He had never imagined that a mere price increase would provoke three Sovereign Emissaries.
Moreover, among those three Sovereign Emissaries, even the weakest, Rockpeak, had surpassed him in strength after obtaining a Sovereign artifact.
More importantly, all of Magrida's Fire Sovereign's Might had already been exhausted. Although he still possessed a considerable amount of Fate Sovereign's Might, Sovereign's Might incompatible with one's own affinity could only provide a hundredfold amplification.
From Rockpeak alone, Magrida knew that the Sovereign's Might granted by the Sovereign behind the three of them was perfectly compatible with each of them.
He wasn't their match under normal circumstances.
After using Sovereign's Might, he still wouldn't be their match.
More importantly, Magrida lacked confidence that the amount of Sovereign's Might he possessed exceeded what Rockpeak and Oakes carried.
Did this mean he was destined to die today?
"Lord Oakes, I am now also a Sovereign Emissary under Sovereign Botier. Aren't you afraid of offending a Sovereign by attacking me?"
Holding onto his final sliver of hope, Magrida asked Oakes.
"Hahahaha, Magrida, don't put such a high hat on me."
Oakes laughed.
"A Sovereign is such a noble existence. How could ants like us possibly offend them?"
"If Sovereign Botier personally descends, we'll immediately leave the Fire Divine Plane without a second word and never come looking for trouble with you again."
"But Magrida, are you certain Sovereign Botier would descend for the sake of a mere Deity like you and disappoint the Sovereign behind us?"
"After all, once our lord learned of your actions, he clearly said that clans like yours have no need to continue existing."
Fire Divine Plane.
Like the other Divine Planes, after the First Sovereign War, only three Fire Sovereigns remained in the Fire Divine Plane.
One Fire Chief Sovereign.
One Intermediate Fire Sovereign.
And one Lesser Fire Sovereign.
Botier was that Lesser Fire Sovereign.
As a Lesser Fire Sovereign, Botier only had two Sovereign Emissary slots.
One of those slots had been given to the Commander of his Sovereign Army.
That was mandatory.
After all, if even the Commander of a Sovereign Army didn't possess a Sovereign artifact, who would willingly serve a Sovereign?
As for the remaining Sovereign Emissary position, since Botier only had one slot left, he sought to maximize its value.
Thus, when selecting his second Sovereign Emissary, he didn't choose the strongest Prefect. Instead, he chose a Prefect who commanded a considerable force.
Under those circumstances, Magrida naturally caught Botier's attention.
On this day, Botier suddenly sensed that the distress scroll he had left with his Sovereign Emissary had been torn apart.
Instantly, his divine sense spread outward...
Rumble...
Looking at the scroll in Magrida's hand that was releasing powerful Sovereign's Might fluctuations, Oakes and the others were startled.
None of them had expected Magrida to possess a scroll containing a Sovereign's divine sense.
Oakes possessed such a scroll as well.
Although Sovereigns possessed tremendous abilities and could spread their divine sense across an entire Divine Plane with a single thought to locate people or investigate clues, they obviously couldn't spend all day continuously scanning entire Divine Planes.
Therefore, for those particularly close to them, Sovereigns would bestow scrolls containing a strand of their divine sense.
The moment such a scroll was torn apart, the Sovereign would immediately sense it and spread their divine sense over.
A vast quantity of Sovereign's Might gathered in the sky, condensing into an enormous face that radiated overwhelming pressure.
A Sovereign projection!
This was perhaps the image of a Sovereign that existed in the minds of most living beings.
After all, regardless of whether it was one of the Seven Divine Planes or Four Higher Planes, Sovereigns could not instantly arrive at the scene of an incident.
Their divine senses, however, could.
Thus, by using divine sense to gather Sovereign's Might into a projection carrying one ten-thousandth of the original body's Will, they could still kill anything below the level of a Paragon.
It was also the method Sovereigns most commonly used.
"Greetings, Sovereign."
"Greetings, Sovereign."
When the Sovereign projection descended, Oakes and the other two exchanged glances.
They did not continue attacking Magrida.
Instead, they maintained a triangular formation around him and respectfully bowed toward the Sovereign projection.
Although they were Locke's Sovereign Emissaries, they still did not dare show disrespect toward other Sovereigns.
"Sovereign Botier, please save my life!"
The moment he saw the Sovereign projection, Magrida's face filled with joy.
He immediately attempted to break out of Oakes and the others' encirclement.
However, the moment he moved, although Oakes and the others maintained their respect toward Sovereign Botier, they instantly shifted positions and continued keeping Magrida trapped in the center.
"It's you?"
As soon as Botier's projection fully formed, he saw his Sovereign Emissary Magrida being surrounded by three Prefect-level experts wielding Sovereign artifacts.
This immediately displeased him.
No matter what, Magrida was still his emissary.
How had he ended up being besieged by three Sovereign Emissaries?
However, when Botier saw one of the three, he couldn't help but cry out in surprise.
Upon recognizing that person, Botier completely ignored his own emissary's plea for help and instead asked Oakes:
"Oakes, shouldn't you be in the Netherworld? What are you doing in my Fire Divine Plane?"
"Hm? Sovereign, you know me?"
Being singled out by a Sovereign, Oakes was momentarily stunned.
Clearly, as the Commander of Locke's Sovereign Army, Oakes had no idea that he had already become someone remembered by the Sovereigns.
However, Oakes quickly reacted.
At the same time, he gained a better understanding of why Lord Locke had insisted on sending him along even though Rockpeak and Ryan alone would have been sufficient to wipe out the clan.
"Reporting to Sovereign, this time I came under Lord Locke's orders to exterminate those who offended Lord Locke and showed disrespect toward him."
"Hm?"
Botier's heart trembled.
The person being surrounded by Oakes and the others was his own Sovereign Emissary.
How exactly had this fellow offended Lord Locke?
Would Lord Locke vent his anger on him because of this man's actions?
Meanwhile, standing in the center of Oakes and the others' encirclement, Magrida was utterly horrified as he listened to the conversation between Sovereign Botier's projection and Oakes.
He had never imagined that after hearing his plea for help, the Sovereign he summoned would not immediately rescue him from Oakes and the others.
Instead, he was talking with Oakes.
When he heard Oakes mention that he had shown disrespect toward Lord Locke, Magrida immediately felt a chill spread throughout his body.
He knew that this Lord Locke was likely the Sovereign standing behind Oakes, Rockpeak, and the others.
Immediately, Magrida hurriedly shouted toward Botier's projection:
"I've been wronged, Sovereign Botier! I don't even know who Lord Locke is. How could I possibly have offended Lord Locke?"
"Heh, Magrida, playing little tricks on us is one thing, but now you're even trying to deceive a Sovereign?"
Hearing Magrida's words, Oakes sneered.
Then he turned toward Botier's projection and said:
"Sovereign Botier, three trillion years ago, this Magrida was selected by Lord Locke and became one of the people helping Lord Locke purchase natural treasures."
(End of Chapter)
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