A flash of murderous fury crossed Uthred's eyes. He clenched one hand, and a black spear radiating the aura of an Overgod appeared, pressing down on the space around it. He pointed it at Desterie!
Desterie was a Sovereign, yet he had dared to kill a Destruction Sovereign right before Uthred's eyes and refine the Sovereign Spark. The matter was also closely tied to Uthred himself. To Uthred, it was nothing short of a public humiliation!
But Uthred was simply too far away. He could only watch helplessly as Desterie smiled faintly and strolled calmly into the Mulan Material Plane. Uthred's physical attack truly couldn't harm him yet, but Desterie had no intention of revealing that he had completed the Supreme God Mission for Destruction a second time.
Watching Desterie slip beyond his reach, Uthred could do nothing. He could only strike the surrounding Spatial Turbulence in fury, carving out a colossal spatial rift more than ten thousand miles long.
Just then, Orloff and the other two arrived. Lilith glared at Uthred and reminded him, "Uthred, don't forget: the pact was made first. This battle between Desterie and Xingyi was to decide both victory and defeat, and life and death!"
Uthred seethed. "But his strength is clearly at the Sovereign level!"
Orloff shook his head with a smile. "Desterie has indeed kept saying that he has Sovereign-level strength, but you and Xingyi never accepted it. You can't use that as a valid reason to attack him."
Many Sovereigns had followed the four Overlords and arrived in the area around the Mulan Plane. At that moment, a spatial rift opened in the barrier around the Mulan Plane. A divine sense reached out, controlling a vast amount of Sovereign Power of Destruction to form an Energy Avatar.
As long as they weren't in a Material Plane that wasn't their homeland, Sovereigns could imbue their energy projections and giant-face projections with Willpower.
Desterie's Energy Avatar smiled. "I just saw Lord Uthred charging over in a fury. I had no choice but to hide in here. I hope the esteemed lords won't take offense."
Uthred's gaze remained icy as he quickly pieced together the whole sequence of events in his mind. He said sharply, "There's no way Xingyi would risk his life and attack an Overlord without cause. When he stopped you from returning to the Material Plane through the Teleportation Array, did you deliberately pretend your physical defense was weak to lure Xingyi into attacking you and seize the Destruction Sovereign Spark?"
Desterie gave a cold laugh, his tone deliberately mocking. "Supreme Overlord of Destruction, even if I didn't deliberately lower my guard—and even if I had—would that give Xingyi the right to show disrespect, belittle an Overlord, and kill one?
"If I'm an Overlord, then he showed disrespect to an Overlord. If I'm not, then this was a fight between equals. Xingyi came after me. Are you saying the Overlord of Destruction won't even let me defend myself? I already spared the Four Divine Beasts once. If I spare Xingyi this time too, what use is this so-called 'Overlord rank'? Wouldn't the Sovereign Pact established by the four lords become a joke?"
"That's right, Uthred. Xingyi brought this on himself!" Lilith chimed in.
Uthred glanced at Lilith, then suddenly turned to Orloff. "Lilith, it seems your relationship with him really is close. Orloff, do you think so too?"
Orloff understood what Uthred meant. Desterie was a special Sovereign who held the Sovereign positions for Fate and Destruction and had also obtained a Supreme God Token, yet he was closest to the Sovereign of Death. He was a major unpredictable factor.
But judging Desterie now would be pointless to Orloff—they couldn't pass judgment on a Sovereign inside a Material Plane.
Besides, given the Supreme God Token and Iluka, he still didn't want to fall out with Desterie. So he said, "Uthred, if Xingyi's actions were justified, then in the future, could Hullei or Augusta claim they'd misjudged your strength and mine, belittle us, show us disrespect, or even attack us—and then use mistaken identity as an excuse to escape punishment?
"You were deceived by Xingyi too. Why keep sticking up for him?"
Uthred was at a loss for words. He hadn't expected to find himself so completely without support.
"Desterie, I'll be waiting for you to take over the Starry Fog Sea!" Seeing that he was outnumbered, Uthred fixed Desterie with a cold, murderous glare, then floated away. There was no reason for him to stay. Given the other three Rule Overlords' current attitude toward Desterie, taking him down would be extremely difficult. And either Orloff or Lilith might win Desterie over. Desterie would never choose to hand the Supreme God Token to Uthred!
As Uthred departed, the other Destruction Sovereigns and those who had followed him also left.
The Four Divine Beasts naturally followed close behind, but their faces were troubled and grim. From their perspective, Desterie and Orloff had almost certainly formed a secret alliance. That meant they were already in danger. The threat posed by Orloff, the Sovereign of Fate, wasn't something the family could solve by giving birth to an ordinary new Sovereign. More important than killing Polk, they now had other urgent matters to attend to!
Leiding raised his head and looked toward Uthred, who was far ahead. Uthred was their only hope.
Meanwhile, seeing the three Rule Overlords still lingering outside the Mulan Plane, all the Sovereigns knew they must have something to discuss with Desterie. One by one, they took their leave.
"Orloff, I hope what you did today really will earn you the Supreme God Token in Desterie's possession!" Just as Orloff was about to speak, he suddenly heard a distant, indistinct transmission. It was Uthred, still unwilling to accept what had happened.
Orloff smiled, then turned to Desterie. "Desterie, my offer still stands. If you wish, I can give you the method for strengthening your body."
He was asking partly to test him. If Desterie showed no interest at all in the method, that would mean there were other ways to improve physical defense at the Sovereign stage.
Desterie smiled. "Lord Orloff, Lady Lilith, Lady Vivian, thank you all for standing up for me today. But Lord Orloff, although I'm eager to obtain a Sovereign Artifact Body, I'm not willing to give up the Supreme God Mission.
"Besides, though I've obtained this Termination Bead, all three of you have helped me a great deal. It's hard to choose just one of you. So, esteemed lords, whoever finds either of the other two Tokens of the Supreme God of Destruction before I do can have the Termination Bead. You won't need to pay anything in return."
Before you continue