Two-Bodied Sovereign

The boundless Spatial Turbulence flowed endlessly with streaks of light in every color. Their dazzling radiance could destroy any object that fell short of Sovereign Artifact durability, making them a fearsome sight.

Among the connected Material Planes was a tiny, pure-white plane with an unusual aura: the Fate God Plane that Desterie had created. It clung tightly to the Mulan Material Plane.

Suddenly, Desterie, who had been waiting in peace within his Miniature Divine Plane, lightly cut open space and stepped through.

Xingyi was waiting outside. Far in the distance, at a safe range within reach of their divine senses, the Sovereigns had gathered to watch the battle.

When Desterie appeared, Xingyi raised his Sovereign Artifact halberd. "Desterie, swear the oath!"

Just then, Zijing also formed a projection clone and arrived. The two made the Fate Supreme God swear an oath to honor their earlier agreement concerning the Soul Stone and Supreme God Token. Once the oath was sworn, Zijing's projection clone dispersed.

The instant Zijing's clone vanished, Xingyi launched his attack. The Destruction Rule had always favored striking first!

His halberd glimmered with Starlight. Its point faced forward, while violet radiance shimmered along its razor-sharp edge. This was the Star Beast's Innate Divine Ability, "Armor-Piercing Star Radiance"! It could increase the power of a physical attack tenfold. Xingyi planned to seize the moment and take Desterie down in one fell swoop!

Desterie stood his ground without fear and smiled warmly. "What a pity, Xingyi. If you were holding Uthred's Supreme God Spear, you might have had a chance. But you risked your life fighting for him, and all you'll get in return is a miserable end."

Xingyi snapped, "With your physical defense, why would I need a Supreme God Spear to kill you? Besides, you're just a Fate Sovereign who hasn't reached Paragon. What makes you think you can predict my fate? Even Lord Orloff, a Fate Grand Perfection Overlord, wouldn't claim he could see the future!"

But in the next instant, as Xingyi's fierce attack came crashing toward him, Desterie simply raised his left hand and caught the halberd in his palm with ease. He didn't suffer so much as a scratch.

As Xingyi stared in disbelief, Desterie smiled with quiet conviction. "What I decide is the future!"

His strongest attack had done nothing. Xingyi panicked. "Impossible! Your defense just now was clearly—"

The Sovereigns watching from afar cried out in shock.

"Desterie's physical defense is obviously that strong. Why would Xingyi lie?"

"No, that can't be right. If Desterie really had the strength of an Overlord, Xingyi wouldn't risk his life fighting him! Something here doesn't add up." Diya, the Wind Sovereign, weighed in. As one of the two most skilled in physical attacks among the rules and laws, he had often spoken with Xingyi and had a decent relationship with him.

Orloff's smile faded slightly as well. Desterie had caught Xingyi's strongest attack without a scratch, as casually as if it were nothing. If he had no extra Willpower, did he really have a body on the level of a Sovereign Artifact?

After all, Desterie clearly had no other Sovereign clones, hadn't reached Paragon, and hadn't achieved a Ten-Win Streak in the Plane War. He couldn't have any extra Willpower.

"No, impossible!" Xingyi couldn't bear the thought of being judged to have lied about the situation and deceived and toyed with an Overlord. In desperation, he tried a soul attack without regard for the consequences. Two beams of starlight shot from his eyes and rushed unobstructed into Desterie's Soul Space.

But Desterie's white-cloud "Soul Protection" energy had already recovered. And at the same level, killing a Fate Rule Sovereign with a soul attack was extraordinarily difficult.

Xingyi merely infused his Soul Defense Sovereign Artifact with Willpower, and it blocked the entire attack without letting even a trace of its force through.

With both physical and soul attacks failing, Xingyi no longer cared whether he would incur Uthred's wrath. All he wanted was to get away from here and leave this dangerous place as quickly as possible.

But Desterie wouldn't let him escape so easily. He held fast to Xingyi's Sovereign Artifact halberd.

Seeing this, Xingyi acted decisively. He immediately abandoned the Sovereign Artifact in his hand and tried to retreat. His attempt to curry favor with Uthred had backfired spectacularly, and now he had offended both Uthred and Desterie. At worst, he could stay forever in the Material Plane where he was born and never venture out again.

"You've just witnessed a Star Beast's Innate Divine Ability. Now, Xingyi, experience my ultimate move!" Desterie smiled faintly. The moment Xingyi released his grip and turned to flee, the Companion White Jade in his Soul Space began to spin rapidly.

The jade blazed with light, shining Brilliant Starlight. The rays passed through Desterie's Soul Ocean and the crown of his physical body, making him seem divinely radiant.

Then, above Desterie's head, the starlight gathered into a strange "gate." It swung open, producing an immense suction force that instantly enveloped Xingyi.

Could a Fate Grand Perfection kill a Destruction Grand Perfection under normal circumstances? No. That was why Desterie had never planned to kill Xingyi by crushing him with his own soul attack.

The immense pull from the Strange Torrent beyond the gate swept Xingyi's consciousness inside in an instant, then swallowed it completely. His consciousness vanished, gone without a trace. Alas, the Star Beast could not receive the protection of the white jade's starlight.

To the watching Sovereigns, it appeared that the gate above Desterie's head opened, and Xingyi simply fell into a daze. Only Desterie could see the Strange Torrent swallowing Xingyi's consciousness.

Though Xingyi had lost consciousness, his soul remained intact, and his expression and movements stayed as they had been moments before.

Seizing the opportunity, Desterie immediately launched a soul attack. The Fate Sovereign Power condensed into countless white magnolia petals, which tore through Xingyi's body in a fierce, whirlwind rush. Without consciousness to wield Willpower and Sovereign's Might, a Soul Defense Sovereign Artifact alone couldn't possibly withstand a Sovereign's attack!

"Bang—" Xingyi died, his body bursting like fireworks in the wash of Spatial Turbulence.

Only the Destruction Intermediate Sovereign Spark remained. Desterie took control of it and immediately dripped his blood onto it.

"Stop—!" Uthred's divine sense voice rang out abruptly, but Desterie paid him no heed. Refining the Sovereign Spark of a Sovereign who had just died, in full view of all the other Sovereigns—that was probably his destiny.

In an instant, roaring, rampaging black light blazed with wild destruction, illuminating that stretch of Spatial Turbulence. At Desterie's will, his Destruction Divine Clone emerged from his Soul Ocean. Terrifying Destruction Sovereign Power, concentrated to its utmost, appeared out of nowhere, flowing in writhing black streams that circled and surrounded him, hailing him.

A new two-bodied Sovereign had been born!