Multiverse: A Journey Through Worlds Beginning with the Supreme Sovereign

Number Twelve had remained asleep because she was the watcher and sealing vessel of the Cursed Soul.

Now that the Cursed Soul was gone, she too would awaken from her eternal slumber.

"Now, open your eyes. Become my wings, become my strength, become the servant under my command, Aurora Florestina!"

As Saigō's Word Spirit-like words fell, the Sleeping Beauty within the ice coffin finally opened her beautiful eyes.

What beautiful eyes they were—burning with blazing light like searing flames, radiating a rainbow brilliance more vivid and dazzling than any jewel in the world!

Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess!

"Kill everyone except our Princess!"

The Black Death Emperor's younger brother, a towering beastman whose name had been forgotten and who was known only as the Death Emperor's Brother, stood like a mountain and issued an order to his servants.

The dozen or so beastmen in Divine Beast Transformation let out furious roars. Barehanded, they charged at the group with unstoppable momentum.

Divine Energy swirled around their bodies. This mass of magic power, condensed from highly concentrated mana and utterly unusable by mortals, was a manifestation of a higher dimension.

Just as with these beastmen's Divine Beast Transformation, legends said that those capable of wielding Divine Energy freely were angels and gods.

Divine Beast Transformation granted these beastmen unimaginably powerful bodies. They needed no weapons, because they themselves were the sharpest blades!

Boom—

Every step the beastmen took left deep cracks in the ground, shaking the entire cavern and causing grains of sand to rain down from above.

Roar—

Their roars echoed through the cavern, making everyone's eardrums ache.

As a beastman swung his thick, fur-covered arm, a thunderous crash rang out. His arm struck the ground like a battering ram, smashing a deep crater into it.

"They're nothing but a pack of crude barbarians!"

Nangong Nayue snorted coldly and waved a hand. The Chains of Discipline emerged from the void, binding several Divine Beast Transformation beastmen tightly.

The beastmen roared desperately, their muscles bulging, but no matter how hard they struggled, they could not break free from chains that bound even gods.

After restraining the Divine Beast Transformation beastmen rushing toward her, Nangong Nayue waved her delicate hand again, and a complex magic circle appeared in the void.

The immense magic power surging from it made the air tremble. Then, a massive spatial rift suddenly appeared, nearly cleaving a beastman in two in an instant.

A horrifying gash ran from the beastman's left shoulder to his right abdomen. His internal organs could even be seen through the wound.

Even a vampire would suffer grave injuries from such a wound, let alone an ordinary person, who would have died long ago.

Yet this beastman seemed unaware of death or pain, continuing to roar as he charged at Nangong Nayue.

Nangong Nayue's expression finally changed slightly. She had not expected these beastmen to be so tough that even on the verge of death, they could still unleash such terrifying killing intent.

The Witch of the Void's face turned cold. Her petite, doll-like body flickered with spatial ripples as she evaded the beastman's descending palm.

Holding her parasol, Nangong Nayue appeared behind the beastman. With an elegant raise of her hand, black flames ignited across the body that had nearly been split in half.

This time, even the Divine Beast Transformation beastman seemed unable to endure the pain and let out a miserable wail.

His body began to age rapidly. Nangong Nayue drained away his vigorous life force, and even the Divine Energy wielded by "gods" could not stop the true essence of that aging.

Feeling the pleasure brought by taking his life, Nangong Nayue gave a self-mocking smile. "...I really am becoming more and more like a witch now."

"But I made a contract with a demon. I was a witch from the start."

She had dealt with one beastman, but Nangong Nayue showed no sign of relief.

To be honest, the strength of these Divine Beast Transformation beastmen had already made Nangong Nayue wary.

It was not that they could defeat her. They were simply far too troublesome to kill.

Nangong Nayue was a witch. Though she had learned many close-combat techniques from the String God Island security force, those techniques were a joke against beastmen.

She had no ability to brawl with beastmen, especially beastmen in Divine Beast Transformation.

As a witch, her body was frail. If she were truly injured by these beastmen, she would either die or be severely wounded. Even though she was currently using a doll body, she would be unable to influence this world again for a while.

Nangong Nayue excelled at using the mobility of Space Control magic in battle, but at this moment, she could not use the fighting style she was best at.

The main reason was that Saigō seemed to be locked in a stalemate with the Cursed Soul. If she left her position and allowed the beastmen to reach Saigō's side, things would become even more troublesome.

"Hurry up, you demon."

Nangong Nayue said irritably, yet she remained where she was, using her small and delicate body to prevent the beastmen from crossing a single step beyond her.

"Aya, leave these beastmen to you."

Nangong Nayue turned to the Scribe Witch and called out.

Unable to use her preferred fighting style and unable to move aside, Nangong Nayue could rely most on Sendou Aya at a time like this.

"Leave it to me, Natsuki... Hold those demons back for me. Give me a little time, and I will deal with all these ugly creatures."

Sendou Aya smiled with dignity, holding a Grimoire as she began constructing a massive barrier.

As the Scribe Witch, Sendou Aya possessed the ability to record every spell in the world, though each spell had to be recorded again after being used once.

And as the Grand Scribe of LCO, she had the authority to access the vast majority of Grimoires in the world.

Thus, within the Scribe Witch's unique domain, she had mastered most of this world's magic, even magic that could only be used once.

It was precisely this trait that allowed Sendou Aya to become the leader of LCO.

In the past, even if Sendou Aya had recorded most of the world's magic, she had been limited by her mana and unable to use many spells, especially large-scale ones.

But things were different now. Having formed a contract with Saigō, she possessed an infinite reserve of mana. She could now use any spell in this world, so long as she had time to construct it.

"This is..."

Feeling the magical runes being inscribed in the void, Nangong Nayue sensed an exceedingly mysterious and strange power pouring from them.

She murmured in surprise, her tone carrying admiration for Sendou Aya.

The Scribe Witch was using the world's most mysterious type of time-control magic—a time-based barrier.

Once Nangong Nayue realized what technique Sendou Aya was using, she relaxed.

Though Sendou Aya had little combat experience, she was not a witch who could not fight. The spell she had chosen now was exactly right.

Anyone present could see that these Divine Beast Transformation beastmen were defective products created through some secret technique.

As long as they stalled for time, the beastmen would inevitably destroy themselves.

Nangong Nayue and Sendou Aya were forced to hold their ground mainly to "protect" Saigō from harm.

In that case, deploying this kind of defensive barrier was the best choice at present. It could buy time to eliminate the enemy while perfectly protecting themselves.

As one of the few pure-blooded witches in the world, Sendou Aya might not match Nangong Nayue in talent for battle.

But her abilities were far more bizarre and versatile.

"Leave this to me, Aya... Until your spell is complete, I'll protect you."

Nangong Nayue's petite and beautiful body stood before Sendou Aya. Holding up her parasol, she remained composed, ensuring that no matter how the beastmen roared and charged, they could not cross the line where she stood.

The only thing worrying Nangong Nayue was the Death Emperor's Brother, who had yet to act. She had no idea what that overly clever beastman was planning.

Liana stayed beside Nangong Nayue, firing occasional shots from her Curse Gun without placing herself in any danger.

The heir to the Kingdom of Aldegia was furious as she rebuked the Death Emperor's Brother.

"...A secret technique that is obviously incomplete may grant tremendous power for a short time, but it will also rapidly take these beastmen's lives."

"Is this how you treat your own people, Death Emperor's Brother?!"

Liana was furious mainly because these Divine Beast Transformation beastmen reminded her of the incomplete secret technique that had always been passed down within the royal family.

The technique called Imitation Angel used special methods to deify humans, granting them Divine Energy and the power of angels from a higher dimension.

However, this secret technique was too flawed and inhumane. In the end, it had merely been preserved in the royal library as a secret technique and was never further developed.

Clearly, the secret technique imposed upon these Divine Beast Transformation beastmen was similar to the Imitation Angel ritual.

But this spell was obviously only a half-finished product. It had not truly transformed the beastmen into divine beasts, merely stimulating their powerful life force for a brief period to force their evolution.

Facing Liana's rebuke, the Death Emperor's Brother replied indifferently, "...They should be proud to offer their precious lives for the beastmen's great cause."

"...This is a great cause that will change the destiny of our entire race. As the finest race in this world, we beastmen should rule over both you feeble humans and those vampires."

"What does sacrificing one's life matter in order to accomplish that goal? It is the duty of every beastman."

Hearing the Death Emperor's Brother's shameless words, Liana knew there was nothing more to say. He was simply a terrorist.

The Death Emperor's Brother was in no hurry. He had not brought only the people before them.

Outside the ruins, his magical unit was still constructing a Great Barrier.

Once the barrier was complete, the people before him would be nothing more than turtles trapped in a jar.

Their appearance was an unexpected delight.

He had learned that Liana had discovered the Vessel of the Fourth True Ancestor, so he sent beastmen disguised as mercenaries to join this archaeological group.

At first, he had only intended to wipe out the vampires and the archaeological team, then seize the Fourth True Ancestor's Vessel and complete his objective.

But who could have expected to encounter a witch and the Kingdom's Princess here?

The witch was of no use to the Death Emperor's Brother, so he intended to kill her outright.

But Liana was different. As the heir to the Kingdom of Aldegia, if he could capture her, he could exchange her with the kingdom for even greater benefits.

At this moment, the Death Emperor's Brother felt certain of victory.

He had already begun considering whether, after obtaining the Fourth True Ancestor's Vessel, he should destroy it outright or use the Fourth True Ancestor's power against those arrogant vampires.

"Skoll, Hati!"

On the other side, Liana summoned her Familiars—two transparent wolves. One radiated sunlight, while the other radiated moonlight.

They were Liana's two Familiars.

At the same time, Liana's final Familiar formed a barrier, protecting Akaya Castle and his two children within it.

Liana had been willing to do anything to restore her family's former glory, but she was not an evil person.

At the very least, her protection of Akaya Castle and his children at this moment was utterly dutiful.

But Liana was not an especially powerful vampire. She was neither a True Vampire nor one of the first- or second-generation vampires.

Facing this group of artificially enhanced "divine beasts," her Familiars were unable to cope and could only barely maintain the situation.

Awooo—

With a wolf's howl, one of Liana's Familiars was torn apart by a beastman.

A vampire's power lay entirely in their Familiars. With one dead, Liana had effectively lost a third of her strength.

The other wolf was unable to hold out alone and was soon torn apart by the frenzied beastmen as well.

The beastmen rushed to Liana's side, howling as they tore off one of her arms and stuffed it into their mouths to chew in great bites. The scene was utterly horrifying.

"Ahhh—!"

The vampire let out a scream. Vampires' immortality only meant they would not die of old age; it did not mean they could not be killed.

For an ordinary vampire, losing an arm and so much blood would not be fatal, but it was still a serious injury.

Nangong Nayue frowned. Seeing Liana about to be completely torn apart and devoured by the beastmen, she casually summoned the Chains of Discipline, binding those beastmen and saving her life.

"Alright, the barrier is complete. It's time to reap the fruits of victory!"

Suddenly, the Death Emperor's Brother spoke. Holding a staff of withered bones, the beastman burst into laughter.

Nangong Nayue then discovered that her Space Control magic had temporarily lost its effect. It seemed the magical unit brought by the Death Emperor's Brother was quite elite, capable of temporarily countering spatial magic.

Just as Nangong Nayue grew impatient and considered ignoring that demon for the moment to deal with all these beastmen, the temperature within the vast cavern suddenly plummeted.

The moisture in the air turned into ice crystals, and even the distant cavern walls became covered in thick layers of frost.

Crack—

A fracture appeared in the beautiful Fairy Coffin.

As the crystal cracked inch by inch, the Sleeping Beauty lying within the ice opened her Eyes of Blazing Light. She rose from the remaining fragments of ice and stood beside Saigō.

Rainbow hair, a captivating figure, blazing eyes, pale and tender skin.

Her flawless features and unfathomable aura left everyone present speechless for a moment, and they all unconsciously turned to look at the Sleeping Beauty.