The Death Ruler knew full well that Phanes had already begun to suspect that one of his incarnations had betrayed him. Once this battle ended, he would certainly eliminate all his incarnations just to be safe.
He would not bother investigating them one by one. Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty escape-that was how Phanes operated. To him, the four of them were merely clones he had formed, after all. At worst, he could simply form them anew.
Thus, the Death Ruler decided to strike first. As Phanes personally moved to seal the forbidden knowledge, the Death Ruler struck without hesitation, instantly piercing Phanes's heart. Terrifying forbidden knowledge erupted within his body.
Indeed, after thousands of years of research by King Deshret and then the people of Khaenri'ah, a rudimentary method of controlling forbidden knowledge had already been developed. That was why the Death Ruler had chosen to make contact with it.
Ever since the great battle with Nibelung, the Death Ruler had never shown his true strength before Phanes. In truth, with the combined enhancement from absorbing Nibelung's power of death and the power of forbidden knowledge, the Death Ruler, an incarnation, had grown even stronger than Phanes, his original.
And he had managed to wait for the perfect opportunity to ambush him. His thousands of years of patience had all been for this moment-to kill with a single strike.
Phanes, the mighty sovereign who had dominated Teyvat, had actually been turned upon and killed by his own incarnation. What an irony.
The sight of the Death Ruler assassinating the Heavenly Principles left the rulers and Archons present utterly dumbfounded.
The Space Ruler reacted first. Using spatial transference, she swiftly closed in, attempting to save her original. But the instant she touched the Death Ruler's body,