Beirut was annoyed that he had discovered his junior a step too late, allowing it to form a contract with a human.
Naturally, he wanted to vent his anger on Nanessa.
Immediately, Beirut spread his divine sense toward Nanessa, launching an attack.
Boom!
No matter what, Nanessa was still a Paragon who had completely fused the Laws of Lightning.
Her soul was protected by Will.
Even if a Sovereign attacked a Paragon using a Sovereign projection, it would achieve little.
Much less Beirut, who hadn't even used a Sovereign projection condensed from Sovereign's Might and had merely attacked with his divine sense.
Such an attack would have been enough to annihilate the soul of an ordinary Highgod.
But against Nanessa...
It had no effect whatsoever.
Although it caused no harm, Nanessa naturally sensed it.
"Who?"
She let out a sharp shout and flew out from the forest as her Paragon-level divine sense spread in all directions.
Very quickly, her divine sense, infused with Will, discovered Beirut's own divine sense.
"Will?"
"Is this a Paragon, or a Sovereign's divine clone?"
Sensing the Will contained within Nanessa's divine sense, Beirut was startled.
Although Beirut had already become the Wind Lesser Sovereign, he had remained confined to the Yulan Plane.
Aside from communicating through divine sense with the Blood Peak Sovereign Pash and the Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred, he knew very few of the other Sovereigns.
Likewise, although Beirut knew that Paragon-level experts existed throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes, when he had traveled through them in the past, he had deliberately avoided making contact with Paragons for fear of being killed by one.
"Is this Beirut of the Yulan Plane?"
Compared to Beirut, who knew almost nothing, Nanessa knew far more.
Although she knew Beirut had become a Sovereign, she certainly wasn't going to let the matter drop after he attacked her for no reason.
Besides...
She also wanted to know exactly how great the gap between herself and a Sovereign still was.
Beirut was an excellent test subject.
With that thought, Nanessa didn't hesitate.
Transforming into a bolt of lightning, she flew toward the Forest of Darkness.
Seeing Nanessa fly directly toward his location, several black lines appeared across Beirut's forehead.
In Beirut's opinion, Nanessa had to be either a Paragon or a Sovereign's divine clone.
Only someone of that level would know he had become a Sovereign within the Yulan Plane.
However...
Aside from Chief Sovereign Locke, Beirut feared no outsider.
After all, no other Sovereign could enter the Yulan Plane.
The strongest expert capable of entering was, at most, a Paragon.
Within the Yulan Plane, so long as Chief Sovereign Locke didn't come...
He was invincible.
That said...
Beirut was still quite curious about why a Sovereign's divine clone or a Paragon had come to the Yulan Plane.
Now that Nanessa had come looking for him, he didn't put on any airs.
Although he had become a Sovereign, Bayer's earlier willingness to give up a Sovereign spark rather than become a Sovereign had already demonstrated that among Sovereigns, Lesser and Intermediate Sovereigns seemed to enjoy lower status than Paragons.
...
"Beirut?"
Lightning flashed as Nanessa appeared before Beirut and addressed him.
"That's me."
"May I ask who you are, Your Excellency?"
Since he didn't know Nanessa's background, Beirut remained extremely cautious.
"Heh."
"You didn't even know who I was, yet you attacked me first?"
"Beirut, it seems that after becoming a Sovereign, you've truly started treating yourself as the master of the Yulan Continent."
Naturally, Beirut heard the mockery in Nanessa's tone.
However, after already offending the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta, he had no desire to make yet another enemy.
Thus, he explained to Nanessa.
"My apologies, Your Excellency."
"I had just discovered that one of my juniors had formed a contract with a human."
"So I suspected you might be the one behind it."
"But now it seems..."
"I acted too rashly."
"One of your juniors formed a contract with a human?"
Hearing Beirut's explanation, Nanessa paused for a moment.
Because she had been protecting Doehring Cowart, whose soul resided within the Coiling Dragon Ring, she had also been paying attention to Linley, the ring's current owner.
If she remembered correctly...
Just before Beirut attacked her, Linley and that Shadowmouse had indeed formed a contract.
However...
It hadn't been Linley who initiated the contract.
Rather, the Shadowmouse had voluntarily formed an equal contract with Linley.
"Beirut..."
"Are you saying that the Shadowmouse who formed a contract with Linley is your junior?"
"That's right."
Beirut nodded.
"However, my junior isn't a Shadowmouse."
"Like me, he's a divine beast—a Godeater Rat."
"I see."
With that explanation, Nanessa immediately understood.
Within this universe, divine beasts were all creatures born naturally by the world itself.
The more powerful divine beasts were unique existences.
There was no need to question the strength of the Godeater Rat.
It could devour the divine sparks of opponents at the same level and absorb the essence of those divine sparks to strengthen its own body.
Among all the divine beasts of the magical universe, the Godeater Rat unquestionably ranked among the top ten.
For a divine beast of that caliber...
It was already extraordinarily difficult for the universe to produce a second one.
Much less a divine beast like Bebe, whose bloodline had awakened through direct ancestral reversion from Beirut's own lineage.
One could say that, in terms of bloodline...
The relationship between Bebe and Beirut was even closer than the relationship between Beirut and his three sons—Harry, Harvey, and Hart.
"Thank you for your understanding, Your Excellency."
"May I ask—"
Beirut nodded slightly to Nanessa before once again asking for her identity.
"I am Nanessa, a Lightning Paragon Highgod serving under Lord Locke."
Although she was only a Paragon, Nanessa didn't bow to Beirut.
Beirut paid no attention to that.
Even the gatekeeper of a prime minister's residence in a Material Plane held the rank of a seventh-grade official.
A Paragon serving under Chief Sovereign Locke was someone who might one day reach the Sovereign realm through cultivation alone.
Therefore, Beirut certainly didn't dare underestimate Nanessa.
"So it's Lady Nanessa."
"May I ask whether your visit to the Yulan Plane is connected to some instruction from Lord Locke?"
"Yes."
After all, Beirut was the Sovereign of the Yulan Plane.
With Nanessa's current strength, she still couldn't contend against a Sovereign.
Therefore, if she wished to complete the task Locke had entrusted to her within the Yulan Plane, she absolutely couldn't allow Beirut to stand in her way.
Thus, she didn't conceal anything from him.
"I have come to the Yulan Plane under Lord Locke's orders to protect someone."
"During this time, I ask that Lord Beirut refrain from interfering with my mission."
(End of Chapter)
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