The Fall of the Four Divine Beasts

"This, how is this possible?"

Reding looked at Hope, unable to help but exclaim in an instant, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The corners of Hope's mouth curled into a hint of mockery, his tone remaining as plain and unremarkable as ever. His ice-blue battle armor radiated endless cold, and the longsword in his hand flowed with soft water ripples, making him look like an invincible god of war.

At this very moment, Reding finally fell into a panic. He could not understand how Hope could withstand their combined innate divine ability head-on twice. The first Sovereign of Fire, Prinhol, had personally admitted back then that even a Sovereign who had reached the Perfection could not withstand it twice; the Willpower from ten consecutive victories in the Plane Wars alone could not block it.

"A Perfection? Could it be that Hope has actually been a Perfection for a long time, possessing not only the bonus from ten consecutive Plane War victories but also the Willpower of a Perfection..."

Reding's eyes shook as he thought of a possibility, and he spoke in a somewhat dry tone:

"Hope, have you already reached the Perfection?"

Although he used a question, Reding spoke with absolute certainty, his expression turning incomparably grim.

"I was already a Perfection when the world was first created."

Hope narrowed his eyes and spoke indifferently, while simultaneously adjusting his soul energy to recover quickly.

Although the Four Divine Beasts' innate divine ability was not enough to kill him, taking it head-on twice still had some slight impact. However, for Hope, these minor injuries were nothing.

"What? Hope, you bastard, you hid this so deep!"

White Tiger Sovereign Lius was stunned upon hearing Reding's words, then snapped back to reality, his gaze toward Hope filled with fury.

Unfortunately, his anger was now merely the impotent rage of the helpless; it had no meaning.

Feeling the essence blood within his body drying up, Lius felt a sense of powerlessness, yet he was utterly helpless to change it.

"Big Brother, we..."

Vermilion Bird Sovereign Nimo's body trembled slightly, standing beside Reding in a daze. They had never imagined that the Sovereign of Water, Hope, would possess such strength, and that their innate divine ability could not kill him even after two attempts.

Reding was also incredibly anxious, desperately thinking of a way to break the deadlock, yet his face grew increasingly ugly.

Reding asked himself, over these many years, he had studied the Sovereign of Water, Hope, quite a bit, yet he had never imagined that Hope had hidden the strength of a Perfection.

Back then, when the Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta, completed the Supreme Artifact mission and the final token appeared, Hope had also discovered it. Yet, when he was about to clash head-on with Augusta, he took a step back. At that time, Augusta did not have a Supreme Artifact.

Because of this, almost none of the Sovereigns believed the Sovereign of Water was a Perfection. After all, if he were a Perfection, there would be no reason to fear the Chief Sovereign of Light. Only a few, like the Sovereign of Death, speculated that it might have something to do with Oufu.

In Reding's eyes, the Sovereign of Water, Hope, was an old-timer who had existed since the dawn of time. He had participated in the chaotic wars of the Sovereigns and had fought many of them, yet no one had ever discovered he was a Perfection, nor should he have been one.

"If it weren't to experience your innate divine ability and magic formation up close, to try and perfect my research, you wouldn't have had a chance to attack at all. You are far from being true Sovereigns! Now, it is my turn!"

Hope ignored the grim-faced Four Divine Beasts and spoke slowly after recovering his soul slightly. His figure suddenly transformed into a stream of cyan water, rushing toward the four of them with the momentum of surging waves. A massive sword glow flashed across the longsword in his hand, emitting a dazzling white light.

"Run! Go to Hell!"

After Reding finished speaking, he braced his body and transformed once again into his Azure Dragon true form. However, the cyan dragon scales that once radiated powerful pressure were now somewhat dim and lusterless, as if they had lost the bloodline of a divine beast.

"Roar!"

The Azure Dragon true form spat out a golden breath, which spread around the four of them, and the golden sphere constructed by the magic formation appeared once again.

"Sss-sss~~"

Lius and the others retreated while desperately mobilizing their final strength to inject Sovereign power into the magic formation to support it. As the sound of space shattering rang out, pale blue ripples appeared on the golden sphere, transforming into a blue defensive formation.

The Four Divine Beasts' combined ultimate technique—Four Elements Water-type Azure Dragon Defense!

"Block it for me!"

Reding screamed desperately in his heart, simultaneously mobilizing his remaining strength to increase the defense. A layer of faint ice crystal defense covered the ice-blue sphere.

Having used their innate divine ability twice, the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns had almost exhausted all their strength. As the Sovereign of Water, Reding enjoyed a portion of Willpower from ten consecutive Plane War victories, making him the only one among the four with any combat power left.

To survive, he had to risk everything, using all his power in coordination with the last bit of divine power from the other three to activate the magic formation and launch a combined defense.

At this point, Reding could not care about much else. He only wanted to hold on temporarily and find an opportunity to escape to Hell. The Sovereign of Destruction would certainly not want them to be snatched away by other Sovereigns; only then would there be a chance to survive.

However, Reding's plan was sound, but the defense deployed by the four of them, now weak and exhausted, was far from enough.

"Hum~~"

As the spatial turbulence was scattered and the white sword glow descended, the blue sphere was torn apart instantly like white paper, landing directly upon the cyan dragon-scaled body.

"Awoo!"

The Azure Dragon spat out a blue light, as if letting out a final roar of unwillingness, but could only watch as the sword glow sliced through his body. His life fluctuations dissipated rapidly, and a pair of blood-red pupils gradually turned transparent.

Azure Dragon Sovereign Reding—fallen!

"Big Brother!!!"

White Tiger Sovereign Lius let out a roar, his voice filled with grief and indignation, his eyes fixed on Hope.

"I never expected that we would fall here!"

Vermilion Bird Sovereign Nimo spat out bright red blood, a look of despair appearing on her face.

Black Tortoise Sovereign Bowen also stared fixedly at Hope, not attempting to flee any further, for they knew it was meaningless.

The Four Divine Beasts were one; only then could they contend with a Sovereign. Whether it was their combined innate divine ability or their combined magic formation ultimate technique, each was indispensable. The moment Azure Dragon Sovereign Reding fell, they were merely low-level Sovereigns, with no possibility of contending with a Sovereign any longer.

Running was meaningless. Three low-level Sovereigns, even if they scattered and fled, could not escape a Sovereign's pursuit. Furthermore, without their big brother Reding, even if the three of them escaped, they would eventually just be treated as prey by other Sovereigns and slaughtered at will.

Hope did not care at all about the gazes of Lius and the others. From the dawn of time until now, everyone had experienced countless killings. He had seen the same look hundreds of millions of times; his heart had long since become as still as water.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Hope flicked his right hand, and a blue and white halo swirled across his longsword before transforming into three sword beams that erupted outward, flying toward Lius, Bowen, and Nimo respectively.

Having lost Reding, the Four Divine Beasts Sovereign's combined magic formation had failed, and the three of them could no longer unleash the power of Sovereigns, possessing only the strength of low-level Sovereigns; facing Hope's attack, they had no possibility of resistance.

"Hope! The Sovereign of Destruction will definitely slaughter you!"

Lius transformed into his white true form, his silver-white fur trembling as he desperately tried to resist.

However, it was all in vain; the blue and white sword beam easily sliced through the White Tiger's body, the red "King" character on the White Tiger's forehead instantly dimmed, and then it lost all signs of life.

White Tiger Sovereign Lius—fallen!

"Roar!"

"Screech!"

Vermilion Bird Nimo spread her wings, radiating scorching flames, while on the turtle shell of Black Tortoise Bowen, earth-yellow Sovereign power flickered incessantly, attempting to block the sword beam.

In the end, the two blue and white sword beams tore through the bodies of the Vermilion Bird and the Black Tortoise, and the scorching red light and the earth-shaking yellow halo instantly dissipated.

Vermilion Bird Sovereign Nimo—fallen!

Black Tortoise Sovereign Bowen—fallen!

Thus, the Four Divine Beasts Sovereign, who had dominated the Divine Planes for countless years and were comparable to Sovereigns, had all fallen.