This was precisely why Augusta was saying all of this to Beirut.
He was taking advantage of the fact that Beirut had only just become a Sovereign and didn't yet know that when Sovereigns went to the Divine Planes to fulfill their duties, they were under the protection of the Edicts Chief Sovereigns. He was using that ignorance to threaten him.
Sure enough, when Beirut heard that becoming a Sovereign also meant having to fulfill a Sovereign's "duties," his heart skipped a beat.
But soon enough, Beirut laughed.
"Lord Augusta, you can't scare me."
"The Yulan Plane is my Home Plane."
"As long as I never leave this plane, it doesn't matter whether you're a Law Chief Sovereign or an Edicts Chief Sovereign—you won't be able to threaten me."
"As far as I'm concerned, offending Lord Augusta alone and being killed by the Edicts Chief Sovereigns for neglecting my duties amount to the same thing."
"Either way, I simply won't be able to leave the Yulan Continent."
"As long as I remain within the Yulan Plane, neither you nor those so-called Edicts Chief Sovereigns will be able to do anything to me."
That was right.
Faced with Augusta's threats, Beirut had completely resigned himself.
To be honest, if Augusta had approached the negotiations more tactfully, Beirut wouldn't have minded returning the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses.
But unfortunately...
Augusta's appetite was simply too great.
He wanted not only the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses, but also all four of their Sovereign sparks.
How could Beirut possibly accept that?
Although Beirut himself lacked affinity for the Water, Fire, and Earth Laws...
His three sons—or perhaps descendants born in the future—might very well possess affinities for those three elements.
If that happened...
Perhaps, like Locke's lineage, Beirut's descendants could one day become a Sovereign clan.
Beirut laughed heartily, congratulating himself on his cleverness.
However...
To his surprise, after hearing everything he had said, the Light Chief Sovereign didn't react with anger or humiliation.
Instead...
He looked at Beirut as though he were staring at a fool.
"Hm?"
That expression caused Beirut's heart to sink.
What had he overlooked?
Carefully recalling everything he had just said and the change in Augusta's expression...
Beirut finally realized something.
Augusta's gaze had changed after Beirut had said,
"As long as I don't leave the Yulan Plane, neither you nor those so-called Edicts Chief Sovereigns can do anything to me."
Beirut had already confirmed that the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta couldn't enter a material plane.
If Augusta had been able to enter one...
He wouldn't have wasted so much effort threatening Beirut earlier.
He would have simply entered the material plane himself and killed him.
That meant...
The reason Augusta now regarded him as an idiot...
Was because of the latter half of that sentence—
"...the Edicts Chief Sovereigns can't do anything to me."
Beirut's heart began pounding wildly.
Could it be...
That the Edicts Chief Sovereigns could directly enter material planes?
"How ignorant."
Seeing Beirut stop laughing, Augusta finally spoke.
"The strength of a Chief Sovereign exceeds that of Intermediate Sovereigns and Lesser Sovereigns by hundreds or even tens of thousands of times."
"But do you know why, over the course of one hundred million years, Chief Sovereigns spend the longest amount of time regulating the Laws within their own Divine Planes?"
Hearing Augusta's question, Beirut froze.
That's right.
This world was one where personal power reigned supreme.
Whether in material planes, Divine Planes, or Higher Planes...
The strong always commanded the weak to serve them.
Take the Prefects, for example.
Their existence was to maintain order within their prefecture cities.
But had anyone ever seen a Prefect personally patrolling the city every single day?
Of course not.
Wasn't it always the deputy city governors, Sovereign Army Commanders, captains, squad leaders, and ordinary soldiers beneath the Prefect who patrolled and maintained order?
Yet Beirut clearly remembered that when Augusta had spoken of Sovereign duties...
A Lesser Sovereign only had to spend two hundred thousand years regulating chaotic Laws.
An Intermediate Sovereign had to spend five hundred thousand years.
And a Chief Sovereign had to spend a full million years.
That completely defied common sense.
Under normal circumstances...
Shouldn't the Chief Sovereigns be doing nothing at all, while the Intermediate and Lesser Sovereigns spent ten, a hundred, or even ten thousand times longer regulating the chaotic Laws, including the work the Chief Sovereigns themselves didn't do?
To force even the Chief Sovereigns to obey such an unreasonable responsibility...
There had to exist at least one supreme expert vastly stronger than the Chief Sovereigns themselves—someone capable of imposing such requirements upon them no matter how unwilling they were.
Then...
Who had established these Sovereign duties?
The Four Edicts Chief Sovereigns?
Or the Overgods?
If it was the Four Edicts Chief Sovereigns, that was one thing.
No matter what, they were still Sovereigns.
They couldn't enter material planes either.
But...
If it had been the Overgods who established these duties...
Then Beirut truly had no solution.
After all...
The Overgods existed everywhere.
Even if Beirut hid inside a material plane, when an Overgod chose to descend...
His location within a material plane wouldn't weaken their power in the slightest.
To an Overgod...
Spatial distance held no meaning whatsoever.
Gulp...
Beirut swallowed hard.
Several beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
"Could it be..."
"The ones who established the Sovereigns' duties..."
"Were the Overgods?"
Bitterness filled Beirut's voice.
He hadn't expected that after seizing a Sovereign spark and becoming a Sovereign...
Such a trial would still await him.
At the same time, however, Beirut also felt somewhat puzzled.
If the Overgods themselves had established these Sovereign duties...
Shouldn't they, like the prohibition against destroying planes, have directly embedded that information into the Sovereign sparks, allowing every newly ascended Sovereign to know their taboos and responsibilities?
"Not the Overgods."
"But for us Sovereigns..."
"It's more or less the same."
The corners of Augusta's lips twitched.
Although he was consumed with jealousy, envy, and hatred toward Chief Sovereign Locke...
Jealous of Locke's talent.
Envious of Locke's achievements.
And resentful that someone with such talent and accomplishments wasn't himself...
He had to admit...
Using Locke's name to pressure others felt rather satisfying.
"Chief Sovereign Locke?"
Beirut's eyebrows rose.
Several hundred cycledexes ago, for the sake of his three sons...
Beirut had entered the Netherworld's Mount Nether to compete for Netherfruits, hoping to improve Harry, Hart, and Harvey's strength.
Back then...
He had learned that the Sovereigns residing on Mount Nether belonged to Chief Sovereign Locke's faction.
At the time, however...
Beirut had no idea what status Locke's faction held among the Sovereigns.
Now...
Hearing that familiar name emerge from Augusta's mouth once more...
And seeing the unconscious trace of apprehension Augusta revealed...
Beirut immediately realized that Chief Sovereign Locke was even more terrifying than he had imagined.
Especially...
The way Augusta had described him.
"To us Sovereigns, Chief Sovereign Locke is practically the same as an Overgod."
Practically the same?
The Overgods existed everywhere.
Could Chief Sovereign Locke also exist everywhere?
Could he kill Beirut even if he hid inside a material plane?
Should he simply accept Augusta's conditions now?
Hand over the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses and Sovereign sparks...
And exchange them for Augusta overlooking the theft?
Countless thoughts flashed through Beirut's mind.
In the end...
He still abandoned any intention of reconciling with the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta.
At present, Beirut had only just become a Sovereign.
As such...
He knew very little about the affairs among Sovereigns.
Everything Augusta had told him so far...
Was merely Augusta's version of the story.
However...
Beirut also understood that even Sovereigns—beings revered above all Deities—would naturally form their own factions.
Just like...
The Four Divine Beast Sovereigns and the Light Chief Sovereign clearly belonged to opposing camps.
Otherwise...
They would never have fought one another.
Now...
Even if Beirut returned both the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses and their Sovereign sparks...
He had already kept one Wind Sovereign spark for himself.
Even if Augusta personally promised not to pursue the matter...
The Sovereigns belonging to Augusta's faction would never let Beirut off so easily.
By then...
His situation wouldn't be much better than it was now.
However...
If Beirut could find a faction opposed to Augusta...
And use either the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses or their Sovereign sparks as the price of admission...
The Sovereigns within that faction would undoubtedly welcome him.
Besides...
According to Augusta's own words...
He still had at least one hundred million years.
Although, from the perspective of someone who had lived for several hundred cycledexes...
One hundred million years would pass in the blink of an eye.
Even so...
When calculated properly, it wasn't exactly a short period of time.
If, after one hundred million years, he still hadn't found a Sovereign faction willing to accept him...
Then negotiating with Augusta at that time wouldn't be too late.
After all...
Judging by Augusta's current attitude...
He seemed to value the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses—or perhaps their Sovereign sparks—extremely highly.
With that thought...
Beirut said coldly,
"As for Chief Sovereign Locke..."
"And what will happen to me a hundred million years from now..."
"I won't trouble Lord Augusta to concern himself with those matters."
"For now..."
"I ask Lord Augusta to leave the Yulan Plane."
"You are not welcome here."
"If Lord Augusta insists on remaining..."
"Then don't blame me for offending you."
"Beirut, you...!"
Seeing that he had already made such concessions, yet Beirut remained completely unmoved, Augusta finally became furious.
However...
Thinking back to how Beirut had dispersed his Sovereign Projection immediately after becoming a Sovereign...
Augusta knew that if he remained any longer, Beirut would likely disperse this Law clone as well, causing him to lose even more face.
With a cold snort...
The Light Chief Sovereign dispersed his Law clone within the Yulan Continent and returned with a dark expression to the Light Divine Plane.
This operation against the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns had indeed succeeded in killing them.
According to their agreement...
Wind Chief Sovereign Tia would become the second Law Chief Sovereign under Augusta's command.
However...
The most important objective—
The Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses and Sovereign sparks—
Augusta hadn't obtained a single one.
Without the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses...
He had no way to explain himself to Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.
Without their Sovereign sparks...
He had lost the opportunity to gain four additional Sovereigns under his command.
During the Planar Wars...
That would have meant four Sovereign Armies, greatly increasing the Light Divine Plane's chances of victory.
...
Within the Elemental Plane...
Locke remained completely unaware that the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns had already been slain by the Light Chief Sovereign...
Or that Beirut had obtained one of their Sovereign sparks and become a Wind Lesser Sovereign.
At this moment...
Locke's consciousness had long since fused with the elemental essence surrounding him, silently comprehending the mysteries of the elements.
The Space Laws of the Magic Universe had originally been constructed by Hongmeng using Hongmeng energy to evolve Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire.
Thus...
A being who completely comprehended the Magic Universe's Space Laws could likewise reverse the process through the Space Laws themselves and gain mastery over the four elemental Laws.
After remaining within the Elemental Plane for so long...
Locke had completely grasped the mysteries behind the fusion of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire into the Space Laws.
Slowly opening his eyes...
Locke extended a hand.
A white sphere of spatial energy appeared above his palm.
Then...
He manipulated the spatial energy within that sphere, gradually transforming it into the four elemental essences of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire.
Earth essence condensed into continents within the miniature space.
Water essence formed vast oceans.
Fire essence became molten magma buried deep beneath the earth.
Wind essence wandered throughout the space, driving the circulation of all the elements.
Rumble!
Bolts of lightning exploded beneath the blazing sun.
Endless darkness surged upward from the deepest layers of the space.
Brilliant white radiance gathered in the heavens to form a blazing sun, piercing through the darkness.
The four elemental essences collided with the elements of Light, Darkness, and Lightning...
Unleashing terrifying power.
Black spatial tears began appearing throughout the tiny world within Locke's palm.
Using the Magic Universe as his template...
Locke was attempting to construct a miniature Magic Universe.
Taking the Space Laws as the foundation...
He used them to reverse-engineer the four elemental Laws of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire as the universe's fundamental matter.
Then...
He reversed the Time Laws into the three elemental essences of Light, Darkness, and Lightning.
Through this process of universal evolution...
He hoped to find the point of convergence between the Space Laws and the Time Laws...
So that the two could ultimately fuse into the Space-Time Laws.
As the conflicts between the various Laws inside the miniature universe within Locke's palm intensified...
In the end...
Rather than merging together and successfully evolving into a true universe...
The increasingly violent conflicts between the Laws overwhelmed the space itself.
Unable to withstand the power raging within it...
The miniature space exploded.
BOOM!
The space within Locke's palm shattered.
The force of its destruction directly blasted through the barrier of the Magic Universe itself...
Tearing open even the fabric of the Elemental Plane and leaving behind a massive hole nearly one meter across.
Beyond that opening...
Countless streams of gray energy surged inward...
Seeking to annihilate everything nearby.
(End of Chapter)
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