"Lord Locke's orders?"
Hearing Nanessa's words, Beirut's expression immediately changed.
Within the Yulan Plane, Beirut didn't place any Sovereign in his eyes.
Whether it was the Light Chief Sovereign or any of the Four Edicts Chief Sovereigns, it made no difference.
After all, so long as Beirut never left the Yulan Plane, neither the Light Chief Sovereign nor the Four Edicts Chief Sovereigns could do anything to him.
However...
He didn't dare show the slightest disrespect toward Chief Sovereign Locke.
There was no helping it.
After all, Chief Sovereign Locke was the one person capable of dragging him out of the Material Plane.
At the same time, Beirut was also extremely curious.
For Chief Sovereign Locke to dispatch a Paragon to the Yulan Plane solely to protect someone was enough to show how highly that person was regarded.
As for whether Nanessa was lying...
Beirut had no need to doubt it.
How proud were Paragons?
Although Paragons were still ten thousand times weaker than Sovereigns...
Their pride didn't diminish in the slightest because of the Sovereigns' strength.
With the restrictions jointly established by Chief Sovereign Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign, Sovereigns were forbidden from interfering in matters involving Deities.
No Sovereign dared violate that rule.
As a result...
The Paragons of today lived far more comfortably than Locke had in his own era.
As the first Paragon of the magical universe—and a dual-element Paragon at that—
Back when Locke's strength had yet to reach the Sovereign level, he had been nowhere near as carefree as today's Paragons.
Instead, he had been forced to do everything possible to conceal himself.
There was no helping it.
At that time, every Sovereign was desperately trying to increase their own strength.
Back then, the Sovereigns' world resembled a dark forest.
No one wanted to expose their strength and become another Sovereign's target.
After all...
Before one possessed sufficient faith energy to fully fuse the Profound Mysteries of the Laws, a Lesser Sovereign who had completely fused five Profound Mysteries already possessed strength comparable to that of a Law Chief Sovereign who hadn't fused even a single Profound Mystery.
Everyone was competing.
Even the Death Chief Sovereign herself had only completely fused four Water Laws Profound Mysteries at that time.
It was only after meeting Locke and witnessing the manifestation of Locke's perfected Water Laws that she experienced an epiphany, discovering the point where the five Profound Mysteries converged.
If news that Locke had already completely fused an entire set of Laws had become public...
The Sovereigns would likely have gone mad searching for him, hoping to learn the secret behind how he had accomplished it so quickly.
But what secret did Locke actually possess?
If the Sovereigns had captured him, the greatest help he could have offered them in fusing their Laws would have been the same technique he used when constructing his estate—manifesting perfected Laws for the Sovereigns to study.
Yet even that...
Would merely have increased their understanding of the Water Laws and the Edicts of Fate.
It wouldn't have allowed them to become Paragons.
But back then, with the Sovereigns nearly insane from their obsession with increasing their strength...
Would they have believed Locke?
Or even if they had believed him...
After seeing that someone who wasn't even a Sovereign had already reached the ultimate limit of Law comprehension while they themselves still relied upon faith energy to fuse their Profound Mysteries...
Their jealousy, envy, and resentment would only have made them target Locke even more fiercely.
They might even have acted out of the dark thought that if they couldn't achieve it themselves...
Then no one else should be allowed to either.
Perhaps they would simply have destroyed Locke altogether.
Fortunately...
Locke's luck had been good.
He steadily grew stronger until he reached a level that all Sovereigns could only look up to.
No Sovereign dared violate the rules established by Chief Sovereign Locke.
What reassured the Sovereigns most was that Locke himself also obeyed the rules he established.
Thus...
Not a single Sovereign dared break them.
After all...
No one knew whether, if they were the first to violate the rules, Chief Sovereign Locke would continue abiding by them himself.
The fact that Chief Sovereign Locke was still willing to follow the rules and allow them to participate alongside him was already their good fortune.
If one day Chief Sovereign Locke no longer wished to abide by those rules...
If he no longer wished to let them continue participating...
Then he could replace every single Sovereign at any time.
Although Sovereigns stood at the pinnacle of the world...
The overwhelming majority of inhabitants across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes were still Deities.
Precisely because of that...
As invincible Highgods, Paragons were effectively uncrowned kings throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
Whenever Sovereigns encountered troublesome matters that even their own Sovereign Emissaries couldn't resolve...
Paragons became their final hope.
One could say that even Sovereigns had to pay an enormous price to request a Paragon's assistance.
As for the sort of mission Nanessa had described...
Protecting someone...
No Paragon would normally be willing to accept such a task.
After all...
No one enjoyed serving as a nanny.
Especially one who had to protect someone from the shadows without interfering.
Furthermore...
The duration of the mission was another issue.
Who could possibly possess enough prestige to have a Paragon personally protect them?
Probably only if Chief Sovereign Locke personally gave the order would a Paragon agree.
Beirut himself was no exception.
If Chief Sovereign Locke assigned him a mission...
Beirut would dare send his own Sovereign true body to the Light Divine Plane and spit directly in front of the Light Chief Sovereign.
Even if the Light Chief Sovereign was so furious that his lungs exploded, he still wouldn't dare do anything to Beirut.
In fact...
The Light Chief Sovereign would have to consider what sort of reward Beirut might receive after completing Chief Sovereign Locke's mission, and whether that reward would affect his own suppression of Beirut.
In this world...
No Deity dared joke using Chief Sovereign Locke's name.
"May I ask whom Lord Locke has ordered you to protect?"
"I can only tell you that the person I'm protecting is connected to the little fellow who formed a contract with your junior."
"Linley?"
Beirut was startled before immediately relaxing.
Fortunately...
Bebe had already formed an equal contract with Linley.
Thus, although Beirut disliked Linley, it was impossible for him to intentionally harm him.
Otherwise...
Beirut felt he probably wouldn't have to wait another trillion years before being punished by Chief Sovereign Locke for ruining his plans.
"Oh, right, Beirut."
"I've heard about your situation from Chief Sovereign Locke."
"The one remaining in the Yulan Plane now is your Sovereign true body, correct?"
"That's right."
Hearing Nanessa's question, Beirut nodded.
He was still rather proud of the fact that he had managed to snatch the bodies and Sovereign sparks of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns right from under the Light Chief Sovereign's nose.
"The one standing before you now is indeed my Sovereign true body."
"That's wonderful."
Nanessa's eyes lit up.
"Ever since reaching the Paragon realm, it's been many years since I've encountered an opponent capable of truly interesting me."
"I wonder..."
"Would you be willing to let me see just how great the gap between myself and a Sovereign really is?"
...
(End of Chapter)
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