"Hah, the strongest person in Bluewing City, the Bluewing City Lord himself, is only a Six-Star Fiend."
"Although, for Loran's growth and development, we deliberately didn't give him a Sovereign artifact..."
"The offensive divine artifact and material defense divine artifact I prepared for him were both forged from divine spark essence."
"Although they're only Demigod-level divine artifacts, their hardness is enough to rival Sovereign artifacts."
"With those two divine artifacts protecting him, even ordinary Highgods won't be able to harm Loran."
Indeed, relying on the toughness of his divine spark weapon and divine spark defense artifact, although Loran was only a Demigod, he could still preserve his life against ordinary Highgods.
In fact, even a Five-Star Fiend who had completely fused two Profound Mysteries would be unable to break a divine spark defense artifact.
However, a divine spark weapon was ultimately not a Sovereign artifact. It had never been nurtured by Sovereign power and thus lacked the characteristic of Sovereign artifacts that allowed them to perfectly protect their users.
A Five-Star Fiend indeed could not destroy a divine spark defense artifact, but the tremendous force carried by their attacks could still pass through the artifact and shake Loran to death.
Of course, as Loran's strength increased and his ability to withstand such impacts grew stronger, the effectiveness of the material defense artifact would likewise become greater.
If Loran reached the level of a Prefect or Commander, then the might displayed by the divine spark weapon and divine spark defense artifact in his hands, while perhaps not equal to a Sovereign artifact, would still be enough to contend against one and withstand its attacks.
"Besides, Lilia, have you forgotten? We're inside a city."
"Other than the battle arena, fighting is prohibited everywhere else in the city."
"These are rules established by the 'Sovereigns.' Any living being who violates them will be hunted down by the Sovereigns."
"You should have some confidence in the rules you helped establish."
Hearing Locke say this Lilia rolled her eyes at him.
Under normal circumstances, she naturally wouldn't believe anyone would dare violate rules established by Sovereigns.
But when it concerned her child, how could she entrust Loran's safety to other people's willingness to obey the rules?
"Relax, Lilia."
"Although I haven't spread out my divine sense, I did give Little Black a scroll and told him to tear it open if he encountered danger."
"If Loran runs into trouble, then with the scroll acting as a marker, I can instantly teleport him to our side, or teleport us directly to his side."
"Fine, you're always the one with all the reasons."
Hearing Locke say this Lilia shook her head and stopped arguing.
The one accompanying Locke was only her water divine clone. Unless Loran remained within the range of her divine sense, she wasn't confident she could save him the instant danger appeared.
As for her true body as the Death Chief Sovereign, since she had already touched upon the higher Law above the Death Edicts, naturally she should seize this period when inspiration was strongest and continue comprehending those higher Laws.
After all, according to Locke, the higher Law above the Death Edicts was on the same level as the spatial Laws that stood above the earth, wind, water, and fire Laws.
The Death Chief Sovereign was well aware of how powerful the spatial Laws were.
Locke had only comprehended ten percent of them and was already comparable to a Lesser Sovereign.
According to Locke's analysis, each of the four Edicts—Life, Death, Destruction, and Fate—should be capable of touching twenty-five percent of this higher Law.
In other words, if the Death Chief Sovereign could completely comprehend the portion of the higher Law accessible through the Death Edicts, then at a minimum, her Chief Sovereign body would gain power equivalent to an additional two and a half portions of Will.
Of course, during this period, Locke had also discussed with the Death Chief Sovereign the issue of the soul bearing Laws.
According to their deductions, because the Death Chief Sovereign possessed a Sovereign spark, once she comprehended ten percent of this higher Law of the Death Edicts, that Law would be directly engraved into her Sovereign spark.
Back then, Locke's soul had been enhanced by the assistance of the Laws of the universe because, on one hand, his original body's soul did not contain a divine spark capable of bearing Laws, and on the other hand, because his soul had already reached the level of a "Soul Golden Core." Only then had the Laws of the universe directly strengthened it to the "Soul Nascent Soul" level and engraved the spatial Laws directly into Locke's soul.
If, back then, Locke had used his water divine clone to comprehend ten percent of the spatial Laws instead of receiving that ten percent as a divine beast through the Laws of the universe, then Locke guessed his soul realm likely would not have advanced.
Instead, that ten percent of the spatial Laws would have been engraved into his water divine clone's divine spark, upgrading it into a fused "Water-Space" Sovereign spark.
Of course, while the Death Chief Sovereign's Chief Sovereign body was busy, her Life Sovereign body was not.
After all, when Locke had used Mirror Flower, Water Moon to allow her to recultivate, the primary target had been the Death Edicts. As for the Life Edicts, the Death Chief Sovereign was still trapped forever one step away from Paragon, with no possibility of advancing.
Whenever Lilia worried about Loran, she could simply have her Life Sovereign body spread out its divine sense and observe Loran's situation.
...
"So, this is the Fiend Castle."
Just like the Fiend Castle of the Infernal Realm, the Fiend Castle here in the Netherworld also had a gigantic Sovereign-face statue standing outside.
Because it had been entirely forged from inkstones and contained a trace of Sovereign power, every living being who gazed directly upon the statue would feel their heart tremble.
Little Black looked up at the Sovereign-face statue.
In that instant, he sensed the might of Sovereign power. The terror of a lower lifeform encountering an apex predator surged into his heart.
This intense sense of life-and-death danger immediately caused him to recall the instructions given by his young master's father.
If danger appeared, tear open the scroll immediately!
Yet strangely enough, the moment the image of his young master's father appeared in his mind, that terrifying sensation instantly dissipated.
It was as though, compared to his young master's father, the terror of the giant-face statue wasn't worth mentioning at all.
As for Loran, although he also glanced at the giant-face statue, he did not experience what Little Black felt.
At most, he sensed a trace of danger.
"Let's go, Little Black. We're heading in."
Calling out to Little Black, who had finally recovered his senses, Loran entered the Fiend Castle together with him.
By the time they emerged from the Fiend Castle, they had already completed registration as probationary Fiends.
All that remained was to wait for an examination mission to be assigned. Upon completing it, they would officially become One-Star Fiends.
"Little Black, do you know any fun places in Bluewing City?"
"Father and Mother spend all day acting lovey-dovey. I don't want to go back so early."
Although Loran could feel the love his father and mother had for him—
The longer he stayed with them, the more he felt that his parents were true love, while he was merely an accident.
"Fun places?"
Little Black scratched his head.
Truthfully, before meeting Loran, he had only been a Saint-level magical beast.
Although he had managed to survive in the perilous wilderness through his instinctive sense for danger, his knowledge of cities was limited to knowing they were places only Deities could enter.
Without a Deity to lead them, Saints weren't even qualified to step inside.
"Master, look over there. It seems like a lot of people are heading somewhere. Why don't we go take a look?"
At that moment, Little Black noticed a crowd streaming into a large hall and immediately brightened up.
"Alright, let's go see."
Following the crowd into the hall, Loran noticed two entrances.
Most people entered through the busier passageway, while the other entrance was relatively empty.
Loran's eyes rolled.
"Little Black, you take this side. I'll go through the other one."
"Whichever of us gets in first can save a seat for the other."
With that, Loran left the crowded queue and entered through the less-populated entrance.
Among those in the larger line, many revealed expressions of anticipation after seeing Loran enter through the other entrance.
Every day, there were people who came to join the excitement without understanding what this place was.
Then, before long, they themselves became the entertainment everyone came to watch.
Because this place—
Was the Battle Arena!
The crowded entrance was for spectators.
The less-crowded entrance was for combatants participating in arena battles.
Anyone entering through the combatant passage would have to fight at least one battle before being allowed to leave.
Otherwise, if just anyone could enter the combatant entrance, wouldn't the battle arena become complete chaos?
At this moment, Loran had no idea he had entered the Battle Arena.
When the registration clerk saw a small child arrive, he had initially been somewhat puzzled.
However, after Loran directly reported his name and title, the clerk assumed he was a regular arena participant who was merely visiting Bluewing City for the first time.
Little did he know that Loran was simply imitating what the people before him had done.
Only after entering the waiting room and seeing the arena outside, along with the countless spectators surrounding it, did Loran realize that he had probably wandered into a dangerous place.
Especially when he saw that every person whose title was called would appear on the arena stage to fight.
Only then did Loran fully understand his situation.
"This is troublesome..."
How could Loran fail to realize now that he had become one of the upcoming combatants?
What worried him even more was the auras of the people around him.
Among the dozen or so registered participants, he was the only Demigod.
Could it be that his opponent would be one of these Gods?
Loran had been born as a Deity.
During the more than ten years he had spent traveling after being brought out of Mount Abyssal by Locke and Lilia, almost all of his opponents had been Saint-level magical beasts.
(End of Chapter)
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