A Journey Through the Multiverse Beginning with the Supreme Sovereign

Under the tense, furious, and wary gazes of the crowd, Saigō walked up to the crystalline ice coffin, beautiful as a jewel.

Inside the ice coffin lay a beautiful Sleeping Beauty, resting quietly.

The girl lying within the ice crystals looked young, no more than fourteen at most.

She was petite, with features so flawless that not a single imperfection could be found. Resting quietly within the ice crystal, she resembled a princess waiting for a prince's kiss.

Through the translucent ice crystal coffin, one could see the sleeping girl within. The white radiance gleaming from her skin was so tender and soft that it seemed brewed from water and honey.

The girl wore a simple spaghetti-strap dress, exposing her snow-white shoulders.

Though her figure was flat and lacked some feminine charm, she possessed a strange Demonic Nature that drew men's gazes.

Most astonishing of all was her magnificent hair, which was a pale rainbow-gold like a rainbow.

From different angles, her hair shimmered with seven-colored rainbow light, more magnificent than even nature's most breathtaking wonders.

Dodekatos, one of the Vessels of the Fourth True Ancestor known as the "Night Lord of Blazing Light," was designated Number Twelve.

The designations of the Fourth True Ancestor's Vessels had nothing to do with their strength; they merely represented the order of the Familiars. Each of the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiars possessed different abilities.

Their sole similarity was that they were all disasters incarnate. Without control, they could bring catastrophes great enough to destroy cities and nations.

Gazing at the beautiful humanoid before him, lost in slumber, Saigō slowly extended his hand.

The moment his hand touched the surface of the ice coffin, an incomparably frenzied and powerful curse traveled from his fingers up his arm and burrowed into Saigō's body.

The curse carried hatred and killing intent toward all living things as it rushed toward Saigō's mind and soul, as though it wished to completely turn him into its puppet and a tool for walking the earth.

Its name was "Primogenitor." Though it was not the original Fourth True Ancestor, it was one of the Fourth True Ancestor's souls.

In order to obtain the Fourth True Ancestor's power, Nangong Nayue and the others had conducted the most thorough investigations over the past several years.

Though the specific events from thousands of years ago remained unclear, through the efforts of Nangong Nayue and Sendou Aya, they had gained a detailed understanding of the Fourth True Ancestor.

After all, throughout the past millennium, many of the Fourth True Ancestor's Vessels had awakened. Every awakening caused the Familiars to run wild, leaving behind the scars of disaster.

To those who did not know the truth behind those disasters, those scars were regarded as "Holy Annihilation," thus giving rise to the legend of Holy Annihilation.

The Fourth True Ancestor was said to have no blood relatives or followers. Alone, seeking no dominion, she was the world's strongest vampire, wielding twelve incarnations of calamity.

Legend said that the Fourth True Ancestor had been created jointly by the Celestial Tribe and three True Vampires for the purpose of destroying Sin God Cain.

She had been born to be used as a weapon.

To ensure that this strategic weapon, the Fourth True Ancestor, would obey, the Celestial Tribe had left behind means within her body to restrain and control her.

This was the prototype of the curse before them: the "Cursed Soul" known as Primogenitor!

It was under the Cursed Soul's control that the Fourth True Ancestor had killed Sin God Cain, the progenitor of demonkind.

What exactly had happened thousands of years ago, and whether this was true at all, was likely known only to the three True Vampires. In the end, it was merely a surviving legend.

But one thing was certain: the Cursed Soul truly existed, and now Saigō and the others had witnessed this terrifying curse.

At first, Nangong Nayue and the others had hesitated over how to deal with this curse.

It was simply impossible to obtain the Fourth True Ancestor's power while bypassing the curse.

Yet if they did not bypass it, this crystallized curse created by the Celestial Tribe to control the Fourth True Ancestor could never be easily resolved.

Even Nangong Nayue had no confidence that she could withstand the curse's invasion. She would inevitably lose herself to it and become a Vessel for the Cursed Soul.

And once someone became the Cursed Soul's Vessel, Primogenitor would revive within them and, in the identity of the Fourth True Ancestor, command those calamitous Familiars.

In the end, Saigō had volunteered to handle the curse himself.

Nangong Nayue and the others had never expected that, upon discovering the Fourth True Ancestor's first Vessel, they would also find the Cursed Soul.

This showed that Number Twelve itself was the sealing medium for the Cursed Soul!

The terrifying curse invaded Saigō's mind and soul. His body remained perfectly still, maintaining the posture of touching the ice coffin.

Meanwhile, amid rippling fluctuations, his outward form alternated between that of a human and black flames, making it clear that he was likely resisting the curse.

Everyone stared at Saigō, waiting for the outcome.

Just then, the many orc mercenaries who had been persuaded by the Princess and lowered their weapons suddenly raised their magic firearms and aimed them at Saigō.

Nangong Nayue was the first to react. Her expression changed, followed by a surge of fury as she rebuked them in her slurred voice, "...A bunch of fools courting death!"

Following Nangong Nayue's sharp shout, a magic circle appeared in the void, and dozens of metal chains shot out from it.

These chains were the divine artifact of the gods, the Chains of Discipline. They were exceptionally sturdy and difficult to destroy, and they were Nangong Nayue's favored weapon.

Seeing the orc mercenaries attempting to ambush Saigō, Nangong Nayue felt her rage rising by the second.

She feared that these orcs would interfere with Saigō's "battle" against the Cursed Soul and cause him irreversible harm.

Dozens of chains bound the orcs' wrists.

Before they could pull their triggers, the tremendous force of the Chains of Discipline twisted their arms, leaving them unable to control either their limbs or their firearms as their bodies warped into grotesque shapes.

The Witch of the Void was no kind and benevolent person. Her formidable reputation had been built on decisive slaughter.

Showing mercy when an enemy revealed killing intent would be a betrayal of oneself and one's companions.

More than ten magic circles appeared in the void again, each one positioned at an orc's chest.

Nangong Nayue, who excelled in Space Control techniques, could do far more than merely use spatial magic for travel. She could even sever space itself, cutting through all things.

Even though orc bodies ranked among the toughest of demonkind, they could never withstand the blade of spatial severance.

At the same time, La Folia and Sendou Aya reacted as well.

The Curse Gun in the First Princess's hand blazed with dazzling golden light as special bullets fired from its barrel.

This Curse Gun was one of the Kingdom's crystallized creations, and every one of them required immense resources to forge.

Thus, even within the Kingdom of Aldegia, these Curse Guns were quite rare. It was also one of the First Princess's weapons.

The special Curse Bullets could easily shatter even a vampire's immortality, let alone an orc's vitality.

La Folia fired several shots in succession, unconcerned with wasting the costly Curse Bullets as she shot at the orc mercenaries.

Sendou Aya and La Folia coordinated seamlessly. The Scribe Witch did not intervene in the fight against the orcs.

The Japanese beauty narrowed her gorgeous fiery eyes and revealed an enchanting yet cold smile.

A Grimoire appeared in her hand. The one she guarded against was Liana, the vampire from the War King's Domain, as well as Akaya Castle, who stood nearby protecting his children.

Sendou Aya found it hard to believe that the orc mercenaries would suddenly attack without orders from Liana and Akaya Castle.

Yet Liana and Akaya Castle now wore bewildered expressions as well, as though they too had no idea why the orcs who had already surrendered would suddenly launch an ambush.

"What's going on?"

At that moment, Sendou Aya heard Nangong Nayue's startled cry. She hurriedly looked over, and her fiery eyes widened in disbelief.

She had thought those orc mercenaries were weak enough to be dealt with in a single exchange before Nangong Nayue.

But contrary to expectations, even the technique capable of severing space had failed to kill them, leaving only wounds deep enough to expose bone.

For orcs, such injuries amounted to no more than light wounds.

The bodies of several large orcs changed again, swelling in size until they transformed into beasts in a short time.

As though they had lost all reason, the orcs howled madly while strange patterns emerged across their skin.

At the same time, Divine Energy, that highly condensed form of magic power, appeared within the orcs' auras!

Divine Energy was said to be a power only gods could wield. Ordinary people and demonkind found it difficult to compress magic power to such a degree.

It was said to involve the body's "spiritual center," the chakra of Indian culture.

Since humans possessed only one spiritual center, ordinary humans could not gather Divine Energy.

It was precisely the emergence of this Divine Energy that prevented Nangong Nayue's lethal "spatial severance" from accomplishing its task.

"This is... Divine Beast Transformation?"

Nangong Nayue's face darkened as she looked at the orcs before her.

Divine Beast Transformation was a technique that only a small number of high-ranking orcs could master.

By transforming their bodies into divine beasts, they could temporarily wield Divine Energy and greatly enhance their strength.

Back in Europe, Nangong Nayue had encountered one or two orcs capable of Divine Beast Transformation.

After those orcs transformed into divine beasts, their strength increased enormously. Ordinary vampire Familiars could not harm them at all.

Even the ancient vampires of the previous generation had to proceed cautiously against orcs using Divine Beast Transformation. If they carelessly allowed the orcs to get close, even immortal vampires would be killed or severely injured.

These orcs capable of Divine Beast Transformation were exceptionally difficult to deal with. Killing them was extremely hard; they were simply too tough.

"But high-ranking orcs are rare, even rarer than vampires of the previous generation. How could more than a dozen appear here?"

Nangong Nayue gritted her teeth. She had already realized that there was another conspiracy at work.

"Judging by the curse marks on these orcs' skin, this may be some technique developed to force orcs into Divine Beast Transformation."

La Folia's expression was equally grave. The Curse Bullets she had fired earlier had only left several holes in the transformed orcs' bodies, rather than taking their lives.

"Even after undergoing Divine Beast Transformation, orcs do not lose their sanity. But all the orcs before us have lost their reason. Those curse marks are more likely some kind of suicide weapon."

Sendou Aya's attention was drawn to the orcs as she spoke in a low voice.

"Hahahaha, Scribe Witch, you're right. These are merely my experimental subjects. Their Divine Beast Transformation is time-limited and deeply flawed; they can only use it once in their lives before dying."

"...But at critical moments, they are still useful weapons, and this is precisely such a critical moment!"

A third faction appeared within the cavern. It was an orc dressed in luxurious high priest robes, holding a bone staff, with several other orcs following at his side.

Besides those orcs, Undead Creatures surrounded him in great numbers.

"Death Emperor's Brother? The younger brother of the Black Death Emperor's leader?"

Nangong Nayue and the others recognized the terrorist before them at a glance.

He was the vice leader of the terrorist organization that had used Orc Supremacy to attract many orcs and commit countless crimes across the European continent.

"That's right, it's me!"

"...It seems my luck is rather good today. Not only did I find a Vessel of the Fourth True Ancestor, I can also capture two Witches and the Princess of the Kingdom of Aldegia in one stroke."

"I wonder what benefits I can obtain after capturing you."

The orc known as Death Emperor's Brother laughed heartily, yet coldly and cruelly.

Saigō's battle against the Cursed Soul had reached its final stage.

"Give me your body. I am Primogenitor, the one who shall bring the greatest calamity to this world!"

"...Surrender your body, and I shall grant you a painless death. The Fourth True Ancestor shall truly revive through you!"

The Cursed Soul let out a piercing scream. The sound alone was enough to shatter an ordinary person's will.

But Saigō remained unmoved and used his Divine Nature to suppress it completely.

As one of Zoroastrianism's Six Great Devils, Saigō himself possessed the status of Third Rank.

The reason he could not wield the power of a Third Rank was that he had not yet received enough growth and nourishment.

But the essence of his Divine Nature was unquestionably Third Rank.

This was why Saigō dared to confront the Cursed Soul directly and did not fear letting it enter his body.

With the absolute gap between their Divine Natures, it was impossible for the Cursed Soul to seize ownership of his body. He did not believe that a mere Cursed Soul could possess Third Rank strength.

If he truly stumbled and encountered trouble, Saigō had prepared an escape route.

He could return directly to the dark space. That dark space would not allow uninvited living beings to enter.

If the darkness regarded the Cursed Soul as a "non-living being," then Saigō, upon entering the dark space, would become the Second Rank Mother of Evil Gods. Suppressing a mere soul would be simplicity itself.

If the dark space regarded this soul as a "living being," it would expel it from the dark space, forcing it out of Saigō's body and leaving Saigō in no danger whatsoever.

It could be said that Saigō had already calculated everything. Nothing could go wrong.

But now, it seemed he did not need to enter that dark space at all. Relying only on his Third Rank Divine Nature, he could already completely suppress this cursed soul.

However, Saigō did not destroy the soul. Instead, he sealed it in a corner of his own soul.

As the Celestial Tribe's safety mechanism for controlling the Fourth True Ancestor, Saigō could now use it to command the Fourth True Ancestor's power by controlling the Cursed Soul as though it were an operating system!

As Saigō took away the Cursed Soul, the seal on the ice coffin was also lifted.