A Meeting of the Darkness Sovereigns
The attendant heard him and stopped trying to block him, but he showed no fear or unease. He simply asked Lincoln to wait while one of the attendants hurried inside to report. They couldn't tell whether someone was a Sovereign unless he revealed his aura, but they believed no Sovereign would dare lie to Orf.
Before long, Lincoln saw Fate Sovereign Power gather before him, forming an Energy Avatar: an old man in a white robe.
"Greetings, Chief Sovereign!" Lincoln immediately bowed.
Orf stroked his beard and smiled. "When they told me just now that Lincoln had become the Dark Sovereign, I was quite surprised. I even discussed it with Dark. It seems the Darkness Sovereigns have finally all gathered." As he spoke, he invited Lincoln inside. "I'm conducting research, so I can only receive you through an Energy Avatar."
Orf was undeniably easy to get along with, but Lincoln knew who he really was and didn't dare trust him.
After following Orf along the winding paths of the August Garden, they finally entered a room. It had eight seats: two at the head of the room, and three on each side below. Orf asked Lincoln to sit in the first seat on the lower right, then took his own place at the head. Looking at the arrangement, Lincoln thought it over.
Sure enough, a moment later, six Projection Clones appeared in the room. They were the six Dark Sovereigns. Each took a seat, and one sat beside Orf—though technically beside him, he was set slightly off to the side and farther forward.
"Today is a joyous occasion, so I specially invited Dark, the Darkness Chief Sovereign, and the other Darkness Sovereigns to join us. It's been many years since all the Darkness Sovereigns gathered together. Lincoln, I hope you don't mind!" Orf said with a smile.
"Actually, I'm quite pleasantly surprised!" Lincoln replied with a smile. What choice did he have?
At that moment, a female Low-Sovereign, seated third on the left, offered her congratulations. "Congratulations, Lord Lincoln, on becoming a Sovereign."
"This matter is very strange. I heard about it from Lady Vivian before, but I truly discovered this Sovereign Spark for the first time in a Material Plane. No Sovereign ever gave it to me. I swore an oath to the Overgod of Destruction about all this in Lady Vivian's presence." Lincoln explained slowly, making sure to invoke Vivian's name.
The Sovereigns were at a loss for words. With a Supreme God Oath and Vivian as a witness, there was clearly nothing suspicious about it.
"He secretly refined my Sovereign Spark, and you're saying that doesn't count as offending me?" Augusta insisted. "Besides, we already have a set of Defensive Supreme Artifacts. I don't understand why you still insist on honoring the Sovereign Pact. Just kill those three Chief Sovereigns!"
"Enough. When are you going to calm down?" Orf stopped him. "When did he ever offend you? If you attack him, you'll be violating the Sovereign Pact!"
A Paragon Chief Sovereign was one thing, but a Paragon Intermediate Sovereign was in an awkward position when dealing with Chief Sovereigns—neither powerful enough to stand above them nor weak enough to stand below them.
Lincoln gave an awkward smile. "Although people outside say I may be a Paragon, I'm ashamed to say that even after refining a Sovereign Spark, drawing on endless Faith Power, and creating a Creation Divine Plane, I still haven't broken through to the Paragon level. As for the degree of fusion of my other Divine Clones, they're not as far along as my Darkness Divine Clone." He truly hadn't become a Paragon through Faith Power or by creating a Creation Divine Plane.
Orf possessed both a material and a Soul Defense Supreme Artifact, giving him an innate advantage that made him virtually invincible. Even if the other Chief Sovereigns could match his attacks, Orf could simply abandon defense and go all-out on offense. The others couldn't do the same; once he caught them off guard and landed a hit, they would eventually perish. Moreover, they had all been born in the Supreme Planes and had no home Material Plane to flee to.
The Sovereign seated third on the right was a bald, noseless old man. He asked in confusion, "You may be a Paragon? Then may I ask, Lord Lincoln, have you already reached the Paragon level?"
"I just heard Feibu say that you used to be the Life Sovereign's Sovereign Envoy, yet you refined the last Dark Intermediate Sovereign Spark. But I remember very clearly that years ago, Lord Augusta killed Aikes and took his Sovereign Spark. Could it be that Lady Vivian asked Lord Augusta to give it to you?" Aridona was a handsome, tall man, and it was said he was a Blood Clan member.
"I still haven't figured out what happened. The spatial ring that held the Sovereign Spark is still intact, and so is the box inside it. The seal on the box is still there. No one but a Sovereign could open it, so I don't understand how the Sovereign Spark inside disappeared!" Augusta roared. "Orf, why don't I just kill Lincoln and take the Sovereign Spark back?"
Hearing them, Lincoln matched each name to a face. Aurore and Tartarus' positions were still unclear, while Feibu and Riddle were clearly aligned with Dark. Whether Dark was a Paragon determined whether he could speak for the Darkness Sovereigns; Aikes had been a cautionary example.
As for Aridona...
There you are! Lincoln looked at Aridona. He was clearly on Orf's side.
The small, thin Sovereign seated second on the left also smiled. "I've long heard that the Life Sovereign's Sovereign Envoy may be a Paragon. I didn't expect that by the time I met you, Lord Lincoln, you'd already become an Intermediate Sovereign. Congratulations!"
At that point, Orf interrupted. "Don't just sit there chatting. Lincoln, the ones who just spoke were Aurore, Feibu, Riddle, and Tartarus, in that order. They're all Darkness Low-Sovereigns. The one beside me is Dark, the Darkness Chief Sovereign, and the one across from you is Aridona, the Darkness Intermediate Sovereign."
Everyone nodded. Becoming a Paragon was indeed difficult. The Sovereign beside Lincoln spoke up. "If you're going to feel ashamed over that, then only Lord Orf and a handful of the Sovereigns here have any right not to feel ashamed!"
Only Orf and Augusta were speaking through Soul Transmission.
"Augusta, what happened to you? How could you lose a Sovereign Spark?"
Orf sighed. "Augusta, you don't understand. This world is like a cage... Don't try to take Lincoln's Sovereign Spark again. For someone to remove it from your spatial ring, I suspect the Overgods were responsible. Perhaps they won't tolerate Sovereign Sparks lying unused for too long..."
Augusta fell silent for a moment. "I understand, but I don't see why. The Overgods have never interfered in Sovereign battles. As for this Sovereign Spark, if you say to leave it alone, then I will. But I won't let that brat get away without paying any price!"
The Soul Transmission between Orf and Augusta took no more than a few breaths. Aridona spoke again. "Lincoln, it seems rather inappropriate for you to visit Lord Orf using an ordinary Divine Clone! And if Lord Orf hadn't invited you, when were you planning to pay your respects to Lord Dark?"
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