Leading the remaining members of the Four Divine Beasts clan toward the Forest of Darkness, Gislason continued pondering the clan's future as they traveled.
What had happened to Gaia made him realize that the Four Divine Beasts clan's internal and external troubles were far more severe than he had imagined.
If the Four Divine Beasts clan wished to stop its decline, there were only two possibilities.
The first was for them to seize one of the Sovereign sparks left behind by their fathers during this competition in the Yulan Plane, allowing the Four Divine Beasts clan to once again gain the protection of a Sovereign.
As long as they possessed enough Sovereign's Might, the Four Divine Beasts clan would once more become the terrifying superpower that had made every force across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes tremble over ten thousand years ago.
The second possibility was for the Four Divine Beasts clan to produce a Paragon.
If the clan were to produce a Paragon, then although it would be impossible for them to recover the glory they had enjoyed ten thousand years ago, they would at least be able to halt their continuous decline.
In fact, because a Paragon was not bound by the same restriction as Sovereigns that prevented them from attacking Deities, any other force that came into conflict with the Four Divine Beasts clan would probably tacitly keep their disputes below the Highgod level.
After all, they would also worry that once Highgods became involved, the Paragon would simply step in and kill them.
Although Paragons were known as "Little Sovereigns," they were still, in the end, merely Highgods.
However, Gislason also knew what kind of existence a Paragon truly was.
Over more than a thousand calendrical eras, excluding however many Paragons might exist among the Sovereigns themselves, the number of Paragons among ordinary Deities did not exceed the fingers on two hands.
The probability of the Four Divine Beasts clan producing a new Paragon was even lower than their chances of obtaining one of the Sovereign sparks and gaining another Sovereign.
At the very least, with their fathers' Sovereign sparks now placed by the Sovereigns within the Necropolis of the Gods in the Yulan Plane, they still had a glimmer of hope.
"Is that... the Four Divine Beasts clan?"
"The Four Divine Beasts clan has arrived."
"Oh? Leading them are Gislason, Feynman, and Gaia?"
When the members of the Four Divine Beasts clan arrived at the Forest of Darkness, they immediately caused quite a stir.
Over the past several decades, the Four Divine Beasts clan had searched throughout the Yulan Plane and clashed with quite a few Prefect-level experts.
However, because no one had actually found any Sovereign sparks, both sides had remained relatively restrained most of the time.
The Four Divine Beasts clan exercised restraint because they no longer had their Sovereign ancestors supporting them. Every drop of Sovereign's Might they used was one less they possessed, so they had to conserve it and use it only when absolutely necessary.
The other Prefects, meanwhile, were wary of the Four Divine Beasts clan's numbers.
It didn't take many.
Even three to five Six Star Fiends using Sovereign's Might simultaneously could overwhelmingly suppress a single Prefect-level expert.
With a few more...
They might even kill an ordinary Prefect before their Sovereign's Might was exhausted.
As for Seven Star Fiends...
Once they activated Sovereign's Might, any Prefect who lacked a Sovereign artifact had no choice but to avoid confronting them.
As for the strongest trio—Gislason, Feynman, and Gaia—if they used Sovereign's Might, then unless someone possessed a Sovereign artifact or also activated Sovereign's Might, an ordinary Prefect would be killed within only two or three exchanges.
This was why those Prefects without Sovereign artifacts had to confirm that the Four Divine Beasts clansmen had already exhausted their Sovereign's Might before daring to attack one of their teams.
Furthermore, when besieging Gaia, at least three Prefects empowered by Sovereign's Might were required just to hold her back temporarily while she herself was using Sovereign's Might.
The remaining two Prefects could then free themselves to deal with the rest of the clansmen, quickly killing the Four Divine Beasts clan's Six Star and Seven Star Fiends before turning their attention back to Gaia.
Judging from the way these people operated, they weren't obsessed with killing the strongest members of the Four Divine Beasts clan.
Instead, they were systematically slaughtering the clan's middle-tier combatants in large numbers.
No matter how powerful Gislason and the others were, Sovereign Emissaries wielding Sovereign artifacts could still keep them occupied.
Once too many of the Four Divine Beasts clan's Six Star and Seven Star Fiends had died, then even if the clan still possessed abundant Sovereign's Might, they would no longer have enough experts capable of reaching the Prefect level.
After all, even a Five Star Fiend using Sovereign's Might would only become comparable to a Seven Star Fiend.
But Seven Star Fiends...
Were merely younger brothers before Prefects, beings that could be casually killed.
These people were destroying the Four Divine Beasts clan's war potential, ensuring that the clan could never rise again and reclaim its former glory.
Although the magical universe was a transcendent world where personal strength reigned supreme, before one's strength reached a sufficiently high level, sheer numbers remained one of the greatest trump cards any force could possess.
Take the Four Divine Beasts clan as an example.
Before the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns fell, why had they been able to dominate the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes?
Why, despite being the sole super clan standing above all others, did their elders only need the strength of Six Star Fiends, just like the elders of other major powers?
For other great powers, Six Star Fiends could become elders because even throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes, Six Star Fiends were already far from weak.
The Six Star Fiends of the Four Divine Beasts clan, however, also received allocations of Sovereign's Might.
Whenever necessary...
Every elder of the Four Divine Beasts clan could instantly become a Prefect-level expert, overwhelming all races beneath them.
Massacring the clan's Six Star and Seven Star Fiends was therefore equivalent to weakening the Four Divine Beasts clan's capacity for war.
No matter how powerful Sovereign's Might was...
Someone still had to use it.
Without experts of at least Six Star Fiend level to wield Sovereign's Might, combatants whose greatest strength was only comparable to Seven Star Fiends would have no decisive influence whatsoever in conflicts between major powers.
"It seems..."
"The Four Divine Beasts clan isn't quite as determined to obtain the Sovereign sparks this time as the rumors claimed..."
After seeing the Four Divine Beasts clan's forces, some Prefects who had no particular stake in the matter quickly reached a conclusion.
Perhaps the rumors had been wrong.
The Four Divine Beast Sovereigns had not prepared a path for their descendants before their deaths.
Otherwise...
The ones who came to compete for the Sovereign sparks wouldn't have been only the patriarchs of the Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise clans.
All four patriarchs of the Four Divine Beasts clan would have come.
After all, no matter how difficult the Four Divine Beasts clan's current situation was, as long as they obtained a single Sovereign spark and gained another Sovereign, everything would immediately reverse, allowing them to regain their former glory.
After Gislason selected an area to serve as the Four Divine Beasts clan's temporary camp, the nearby experts silently moved farther away, avoiding any friction with them.
At this moment, those two hundred-plus Six Star Fiends of the Four Divine Beasts clan appeared, in everyone's eyes, no different from two hundred-plus Prefect-level experts.
That number alone accounted for nearly one-fifth of all the Prefects currently gathered on the Yulan Continent.
Boom!
Just after the Four Divine Beasts clan finished setting up camp, an intense surge of divine power suddenly erupted from Gaia's body.
Immediately, Gislason and Feynman rushed to her side, releasing their own auras as well.
Seeing the patriarchs react this way, the clan elders immediately gathered behind the three siblings and formed a battle formation, ready to unleash a devastating attack at any moment.
The Four Divine Beasts clan's reaction startled all the nearby experts, many of whom almost fled on the spot.
However...
When they leaped into the air, they discovered that they weren't the only ones frightened by the Four Divine Beasts clan's actions.
Immediately, those Prefects suppressed the urge to flee.
Instead, they released their own auras, confronting the Four Divine Beasts clan head-on.
When one was alone, there was no shame in fleeing or begging for mercy.
But once others were present, and the situation hadn't yet become one of life and death, Prefects still had to preserve their dignity.
If word spread that they had fled simply because they were intimidated by the Four Divine Beasts clan's aura...
How could they ever continue making a name for themselves in the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes?
For a time, the opposing auras generated violent hurricanes throughout the Forest of Darkness.
"Little Sister!"
Gislason's draconic eyes shone with icy light as he swept his gaze across the experts in the sky before asking in a low voice,
"What happened?"
"No..."
"It's nothing, Big Brother."
Gaia took a deep breath.
Slowly withdrawing her aura, she shook her head.
"Nothing?"
Gislason frowned.
Judging from her earlier reaction, it clearly wasn't "nothing."
Could it be...
Suddenly, Gislason's expression changed.
"Little Sister..."
"Did you find the people who ambushed you?"
In Gislason's opinion, only that possibility could have caused Gaia to lose her composure.
Gaia remained silent.
But often...
Silence itself was an answer.
Taking a deep breath, Gislason immediately prepared to activate his Azure Dragon Transformation.
However, Gaia suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Big Brother."
"The clan comes first!"
The moment she uttered the words "the clan," Gislason immediately came back to his senses.
He had never expected that before arriving at the Forest of Darkness, he had been the one reminding his little sister to remain calm, telling her that the clan's greatest priorities were obtaining a Sovereign spark and recovering the remains of their father and uncles.
Yet now...
After discovering the enemies who had ambushed her...
It was she who had to calm him down instead.
As for Feynman...
Being the youngest of the four siblings, he had long since grown accustomed to following behind his elder brothers.
Whether Gislason chose to avenge their little sister immediately...
Or to endure for now and increase their chances of obtaining a Sovereign spark...
Feynman would follow behind him without hesitation, becoming the sharpest blade in his brother's hand.
"Haa..."
Looking at Gaia, who was even calmer than he was, Gislason felt his heart ache.
When...
Had his lively and adorable little sister become someone capable of enduring the sight of her husband's killers swaggering around before her for the sake of the clan's future?
"Little Sister..."
"I swear."
"Every one of those people..."
"I'll exterminate every last one of their clans to avenge my brother-in-law."
As Gislason slowly withdrew his aura, he made this solemn promise to Gaia.
"Mm."
After seeing the patriarch withdraw his aura, the other members of the Four Divine Beasts clan also gradually suppressed theirs and resumed organizing their encampment.
After all...
Lord Sovereign had already announced that the Necropolis of the Gods would not open for another ten years.
In other words...
Unless something unexpected happened, they would be living here for the next decade.
Once the Four Divine Beasts clan withdrew their auras, the surrounding Prefects likewise restrained theirs.
They had no problem confronting the Four Divine Beasts clan through sheer aura under everyone's watchful eyes.
But if they were truly asked to fight the clan at this moment...
Not a single one of them was willing to make the first move.
There were only around twenty Prefects in the surrounding area who had been alarmed by the Four Divine Beasts clan's actions.
If they truly went to war...
Ordinary Prefects without Sovereign's Might or Sovereign artifacts would undoubtedly be the first to die.
...
"They know their place."
Within the Forest of Darkness, Beirut watched the Four Divine Beasts clan's actions and nodded slightly.
Although Beirut had inherited the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' legacy and become a Sovereign, and although the Azure Dragon Sovereign had entrusted him with looking after the Four Divine Beasts clan whenever possible...
That didn't mean Beirut intended to completely side with them.
After all, Beirut himself was a supreme expert who had lived for more than a hundred calendrical eras.
During his travels throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes, he had dealt with members of the Four Divine Beasts clan countless times.
His impression of them wasn't particularly favorable.
It could only be said that...
Without the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns supporting the clan from behind and supplying them with Sovereign's Might without restraint...
No one would have found it surprising if the Four Divine Beasts clan had been destroyed long ago.
Furthermore...
The Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding's request had merely been for Beirut to preserve the Four Divine Beasts clan and prevent it from being completely exterminated.
Presumably, even Redding himself understood that because of the Overgod Oath he had signed with Chief Sovereign Locke, the downfall of the Four Divine Beasts clan had already become inevitable.
The only reason Redding still retained a sliver of hope was because the one who had broken his oath back then hadn't been his original body...
But merely one of his divine clones.
He himself had endured for over a thousand calendrical eras before finally dying from the oath's backlash.
Perhaps...
If the Four Divine Beasts clan could gain the protection of another Sovereign...
They too might continue existing for some time longer.
Whether or not they remained the greatest clan was unimportant.
What truly mattered...
Was that the bloodline of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns continued to be passed down.
Out of respect for the Azure Dragon Sovereign's final request and the legacy bestowed upon him by the Four Divine Beasts...
Beirut was indeed willing to set aside his prejudice toward the Four Divine Beasts clan.
However...
At most, he would only lend them a hand when they truly stood on the brink of extinction.
He had no intention of doing anything beyond that.
If the Four Divine Beasts clan intended to ignite a great war among the Prefects within the Forest of Darkness...
Then Beirut wouldn't mind showing them the gap between himself and a "suspected Paragon."
(End of Chapter)
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