The red-haired girl raised a delicate brow and lazily leaned back on her throne. "They've been fooling around for so many years. How cruel would it be not to give them a chance to show what they can do? Let them fight."
As though she had thought of something, the red-haired girl's expression became even more amused, a lovely smile curling at her lips. "Someone probably wants them to fight even more than we do. It won't be too late to show ourselves once there's a result."
Then, the girl's voice turned faint and distant. "When the time comes, we'll see who gets what they want."
Heavenly Realm.
Augusta Garden. This was an extraordinarily mystical place in the Heavenly Realm, and also where one of the Four Great Rule Rulers, the Fate Overlord, resided year-round.
Inside a quiet room, the kindly-looking Ofu sat by a table, with the Light Overlord Augusta seated opposite him.
Light flickered in Augusta's eyes as he looked at Ofu and spoke directly. "Ofu, Lota suddenly making a move... do you think he discovered something?"
Ofu smiled mildly without answering Augusta's question. Instead, he said, "Lota is an Overgod, after all. Leiding and the others provoked him, so it's only natural for him to defend his dignity."
As he spoke, Ofu changed the subject and advised, "Since Lota has stepped forward, there's no need for you to act. Things are already chaotic enough among the Overgods. It wouldn't be good."
Augusta frowned and snorted coldly. "Leiding and the others have always opposed me. If they dare slaughter Lota's Fallen Angels now, they may not hesitate to kill my Bright Angels either. Must I, like Lota, wait until the last moment before striking back with a hidden card?"
"Hmph, I'm not Lota."
After a pause, Augusta narrowed his eyes slightly, clearly calculating something.
Seeing Augusta like this, Ofu felt somewhat helpless. Neither he nor Augusta could influence the other's thoughts. "If that's the case, then act according to the situation. Uthred and the others will probably show themselves when the time comes as well. But I'd wager no one will stand by and watch others gain something."
"After all, no one wants the current balance among the Overgods to be broken."
Ofu let out a sigh. It was impossible to tell who he was sighing for.
"Still, if you and Lota succeed, perhaps no one would care too much."
Ofu looked at Augusta, his voice calm.
In the eyes of all Overgods, neither Lota nor Augusta possessed Divine Clones. Even if they obtained an additional Sovereign Spark, it would not increase their strength.
"Hmm?"
Augusta's brows furrowed tightly as he looked at Ofu in surprise. "You think Leiding and the four people can't kill Lota?"
They all had a measure of how powerful the Four Divine Beasts were. Otherwise, they would not have placed the Four Divine Beasts among the ranks of Dominators.
Moreover, even among the Dominators, the Four Divine Beasts were second only to the Four Great Rule Rulers. Among the Law Overlords, no one was their match. At least openly, no one could withstand their Talent Divine Powers.
The main reason Augusta was confident he could kill Leiding and the four people was Ofu, as well as Ofu's Supreme Soul Defense Artifact.
Other than himself, he did not believe any Law Overlord could defeat the Four Divine Beasts.
But Ofu's words clearly suggested that Leiding and the four people might very well fall. Could Lota kill the Four Divine Beasts?
At the mention of Lota, Ofu's expression remained unchanged. "No Dominator is ordinary. You never pay enough attention to the others. You're too careless."
As he spoke, Ofu looked at Augusta and explained, "You should know very well about the battle among the eleven Dominators during the Beginning of Heaven and Earth."
"Which of the eleven of us had not fought the others?"
Ofu's tone was grave. "At that time, none of us had Supreme Artifacts, yet I had already reached the Grand Perfection Realm. Though my body was slightly weaker than Uthred's and the others', my strength was not much inferior."
"But do you know? I fought Lota many times, and Lota never once fell into a disadvantage. I even observed in secret that when Lota fought Uthred, he was not at a disadvantage either."
Ofu's voice was calm. He looked at Augusta with steady eyes, his tone barely fluctuating. "Uthred had already reached the Grand Perfection Realm then, and he was also a Super Divine Beast. His body was comparable to a Sovereign Artifact, making him the strongest among the Dominators at the time. Even if Uthred was restrained by people like us, that did not diminish his strength. Under such circumstances, Lota was not at a disadvantage. Do you still not understand what that means?"
Hearing Ofu's blunt analysis, Augusta's eyes suddenly sharpened. "You mean Lota may very well be a Paragon?!"
"At the very least, it can be confirmed that Lota's strength back then was not as simple as it appeared. He surpassed many people."
Ofu corrected him. "And with such strength, there is a high possibility that Lota is a Paragon."
"How is that possible?!"
Augusta could not believe it. "If Lota were a Paragon, why would he still fight me over faith in the Material Planes? He can't be a Paragon."
Faith was enormously helpful in an Overgod's Profound Mystery Fusion. That was why the War of Faith had erupted. Why were the Overgods of the Light and Darkness Systems fighting so fiercely over faith in the Material Planes if not to reach the Grand Perfection Realm?
If Lota had already reached Grand Perfection, he could not possibly value the Power of Faith so highly.
Of course, Augusta also felt somewhat unbalanced inside. He had always been the strongest among the Law Overlords. The Four Great Rule Rulers standing above him had already left him dissatisfied.
If Lota were a Paragon, his status would even be slightly higher than Augusta's. How could Augusta possibly accept that?
Ofu smiled and raised his head slightly to look outside, his tone inscrutable. "The Supreme God only spread word that the Power of Faith could promote Profound Mystery Fusion. But when did the Supreme God ever say that the Power of Faith could promote the Grand Perfection Realm?"
"Could Grand Perfection really be attained through the Power of Faith alone?"
A faint smile appeared at Ofu's lips before he slowly looked back at Augusta. "If that were true, every Overgod would already be a Paragon."
Augusta's mind rumbled.
He—or rather, most Overgods—seemed to have overlooked this point.
Grand Perfection had never been something that could be achieved through the Power of Faith.
In truth, when Ofu had explained it earlier, Augusta had already believed him. He simply had no choice now but to accept Ofu's speculation.
"Perhaps Lota only fought over faith to conceal himself. Or perhaps it was for the Fallen God Angels. Only he knows the reason."
Seeing Augusta's poor expression, Ofu did not pay much attention to it and added, "As for why no one has ever been able to determine the level of Lota's soul, I suspect that a Dark Law Paragon may possess some technique of concealment beyond our understanding."
"After all, no one in this world has truly reached the Grand Perfection Realm in the Dark Law."
Ofu spoke leisurely.
There were fewer than thirty High Gods in the world suspected of having reached Grand Perfection, and the key word was suspected. Excluding Divine Clones of Overgods and certain exceptionally powerful beings, there were at most twelve or thirteen true Paragons.
And among those twelve or thirteen Paragons, there was not a single Dark Paragon High God. Naturally, no one knew anything about the circumstances of a Dark Paragon.
"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"
Augusta's tone was dissatisfied.
He and Ofu had made a Supreme God Oath. Unless it was the final stage, they would not probe each other's souls. Otherwise, Augusta would have guessed Lota's situation long ago.
Ofu did not mind Augusta's tone. He merely shook his head lightly and said, "I only confirmed it recently. Before this, I merely knew that Lota was very powerful. I wasn't sure whether it was due to Lota's realm, his body, or his techniques, so there was naturally no need to say more."
"Then why are you certain now that Lota has reached Grand Perfection?"
Augusta narrowed his eyes slightly.
In his view, Ofu likely had evidence now. Lota, you hid yourself well.
"Not certain. Eighty percent, perhaps."
Ofu nodded casually and continued, "You should know that Lota sent twelve commander-level Fallen God Angels to slaughter members of the Four Divine Beast Family in the Dark God Realm."
Augusta nodded. It was precisely because of this matter that the Overgods had begun paying attention to the Darkness System Overgods and the Four Divine Beasts. "Does it have something to do with that?"
Ofu smiled. "After hearing about the battle in Kalu City of the Dark God Realm, I paid attention to those Fallen God Angels. After all, according to many accounts, the power of that move was a little too great."
"Later, I discovered that among those twelve Fallen God Angels, one called Christine was somewhat different."
Ofu's eyes glimmered, and he clearly held some admiration for Christine. "Christine could easily resolve her opponents in every battle. Judging from the techniques she used, she had fused at least Five Profound Mysteries. More importantly, the five Profound Mysteries fused into those techniques were not fixed."
As he spoke, Ofu looked at Augusta. "To achieve that, there is a fifty percent chance that Christine has fused six Profound Mysteries. You should understand very clearly that how many Profound Mysteries a God Angel can fuse is also influenced by the Overgod."
"Therefore, there is at least an eighty percent chance that Lota has reached the Grand Perfection Realm."
Ofu's tone became much more certain, and his eyes were filled with admiration. "For Lota to use the Rebirth Pool to create a God Angel of this level... such fortune is truly enviable."
Ofu knew the situation of God Angels very well.
Before her death, Christine had been a being with the potential to reach Grand Perfection. For Lota to find such a soul, his fortune truly defied the heavens. The odds were so small that they were second only to Lota reaching Grand Perfection himself.
If the Light God Angels had a God Angel of this caliber as well, Ofu was confident he could win another Ten Consecutive Victories in the Plane Battlefield.
But acquiring such a God Angel was far too difficult.
Not to mention the rarity of such souls, Augusta himself was not a Light Paragon. He simply could not fuse six techniques.
"This Lota..."
Augusta's gaze flickered.
"Since Lota has revealed Christine, he likely never intended to keep hiding himself."
Ofu guessed, "If Leiding and the others had thought more carefully, or if they knew of the strength Lota displayed during the battle of the Dominators, perhaps they would not have come into such conflict with him."
After a pause, Ofu changed the subject and continued, "If Lota goes all out, the possibility of Leiding and the others falling is no lower than if you acted personally. When the time comes, it won't be so easy for you to obtain the Sovereign Sparks."
Augusta unconsciously narrowed his eyes. Only after a moment did he say, "Don't worry. Now that I know Lota's strength, I'll be wary."
"If Lota wants to kill Leiding and the others, he'll have to see whether he can move faster than I can."
Augusta added another sentence.
Though Lota's realm had shocked him, it only left him somewhat dissatisfied.
In terms of strength, Augusta possessed a Supreme Artifact, and his soul had an additional portion of Willpower Might. Those two points alone were enough to erase the gap created by Grand Perfection. Furthermore, his body was only slightly weaker than Ofu's and was also close to the level of a Sovereign Artifact.
He did not believe Lota's body could be stronger than his.
With that alone, even if Lota appeared and fought him, while Augusta might not be able to kill Lota, Lota would not be able to snatch the Sovereign Sparks from his hands either.
As for Leiding and the others?
He had never cared about them.
Dark God Realm, Darkness Prefecture.
Phantom Mountain.
For most God level experts, they did not know that Phantom Mountain was where an Overgod resided. The reason so many God level experts gathered here was because the phantoms surrounding Phantom Mountain could produce an incomparably precious treasure—the Phantom Shadow Bead.
Phantom Shadow Beads were somewhat similar to Soul Gold Beads and were also supreme treasures that replenished Soul Power, except they were jet-black in color.
Most importantly, Phantom Shadow Beads replenished Soul Power more than a hundred times faster than Soul Gold Beads. For the weakness caused by a soul splitting into two parts after External Godhood, Phantom Shadow Beads had an extremely powerful restorative effect.
Thus, in the Dark God Realm and even in other planes, Phantom Shadow Beads had always been priceless treasures unavailable on the market.
Naturally, Phantom Mountain, which produced Phantom Shadow Beads, attracted countless God level experts.
Of course, Phantom Mountain was not a safe place. The phantoms here were extremely dangerous. Once one entered their range, Spiritual Sense would be greatly restricted, and one would continuously suffer a special kind of "Soul Attack."
At first, this Soul Attack was not very powerful. Even an ordinary Middle God could easily endure it. But most strangely, the Soul Attack seemed to continuously stack over time.
It was said that even a powerful Seven-Star Shadow Walker could not remain continuously within these phantoms for more than one hundred years!
Besides that, Phantom Mountain possessed a special kind of "lifeform"—Phantom Beasts.
In the eyes of many God level experts, Phantom Beasts were not lifeforms at all. They had no bodies. Like the phantoms covering the outside of Phantom Mountain, they were "shadows" attached to the ground, except these shadows could leave Phantom Mountain for a certain distance.
Strangely, these "shadows" could form a kind of Soul Attack and actively attack any life they encountered.
One or two were nothing much, but once a Phantom Beast tide appeared, with tens or even millions of Phantom Beasts emerging, it became terrifying. Even High Gods could fall if they were careless.
"Sigh, it's been one hundred years, and I haven't even seen a single Phantom Shadow Bead."
A Minotaur God could not help complaining to his companion.
"Alright, it's only been one hundred years. I've been here for five hundred years, and haven't I gotten nothing too?"
The strong man beside him spoke. "Look on the bright side. We may not have found any Phantom Shadow Beads, but we haven't encountered a Phantom Beast tide either, have we? How many unlucky fellows came here only to encounter a beast tide and die in their first year? Our luck is already quite good."
"Uh... when you put it that way, it does seem true."
The Minotaur God scratched his head.
But the next moment, the Minotaur God asked in confusion, "Could it be because we're too far from Phantom Mountain? I heard some time ago that the closer one gets to Phantom Mountain, the greater the chance of finding Phantom Shadow Beads. We're almost out of the Dark Mountain Range here, aren't we?"
The Dark Mountain Range was the collective name for Phantom Mountain and the countless mountain peaks surrounding it.
"Cough, cough."
The strong man coughed dryly twice before speaking. "That may be true, but I'll still say the same thing: this place is safe. Do you want to safely search for Phantom Shadow Beads, or find one only to encounter a beast tide afterward? Or fight other people over the Phantom Shadow Bead?"
The Minotaur God froze briefly before nodding. "You're right."
Just then, a figure flew rapidly over from the distance, charging directly toward the two of them.
At first, neither of them noticed the newcomer. After all, a Middle God's Spiritual Sense did not extend very far, and when they were not fighting, it was sometimes even less useful than their eyes. By the time they noticed the person, the newcomer had already arrived not far from them.
A High God!
Before you continue