Chapter 24 – Nine Rounds

Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 24, Nine Rounds “Twelve-Winged Angel?” Linley let out a slightly relieved sigh. The lower the level an Angel was, the faster they would die. “It is very hard to birth a Twelve-Winged Angel. The Twelve-Winged Angels which exist have been slowly accumulated over the course of countless years. The Sovereigns of Light won’t casually dispatch Twelve-Winged Angels out to take on missions. Sometimes, a million years will pass without a single Twelve-Winged Angel being activated. Your mother became a Twelve-Winged Angel less than ten thousand years ago. The chances of her death are virtually negligible.” Beirut laughed. Only now did Linley completely relax. “Haha, Grandpa Beirut, your logical reasoning has calmed me down quite a bit.” Linley now felt more than enough self-confidence in his ability to rescue his mother. “Right. Grandpa Beirut.” Linley waved his hand, and an earth-type Sovereign spark, glowing with an earthen yellow light, appeared. “This is an unexpected reward that I acquired.” “A Sovereign spark?” Beirut was startled. Linley laughed and nodded. “Augusta and I went together to the Divine Light Plane. Who would have imagined that the Chief Sovereign of Lightning, Hurley, followed us in as well. Even the other five Chief Sovereigns of the Laws followed us from far away. When I attacked Augusta, Hurley suddenly sneak-attacked me, wanting to kill me and seize my Overgod artifact. I immediately hit him with a back-handed sword attack!” Beirut instantly started to laugh. “So, you acquired his Sovereign spark?” “Right. Hurley’s lightning-type Chief Sovereign clone fled quite quickly. I just wanted to teach him a small lesson anyhow, and so I destroyed his earth-type Sovereign clone.” Linley frowned. “Now, the question is, who should I give this earth-type Sovereign spark to? Grandpa Beirut, what do you think?” “The earth-type Sovereign spark…” Beirut frowned. “Bluefire can use it, but if we give it to him, his power will only rise slightly, to the Intermediate Sovereign level or so. It won’t change the overall strategic balance of power much. Ideally, we should find a Highgod. However, a Highgod who trains in the Laws of the Earth…it’s going to be quite hard to find such a person within your Baruch clan for now.” Linley laughed in resignation. The Baruch clan had quite a few Highgods, but they fused with divine sparks. A Highgod who had relied solely on himself to train to that level, and in the Laws of the Earth? There really wasn’t a single one yet. To fuse a Sovereign spark, there was just a single precondition. One had to have trained independently to the Highgod level. “What’s the rush?” Beirut laughed. “Just keep it for now. When the time comes, if there is a suitable candidate, you can hand it over then.” “Haha. Alright. I’ll just use this Sovereign spark to serve as a precious ancestral heirloom for the Baruch clan.” Linley laughed loudly. “Grandpa Beirut, make the notifications. Have the people of Dragonblood Castle who are willing to come to the Infernal Realm all come over.” Linley had now completely guaranteed the safety of his family and friends in the Infernal Realm. The Chief Sovereigns who were more powerful than Linley had no grudges against him. Even if they did, they wouldn’t be so shameless as the Chief Sovereign of Light, who had threatened him with the annihilation of his clan. “That might be for the best.” Beirut laughed and nodded. “During these past five millenia, they’ve been quite bored in the Yulan Plane. After all, in terms of experts, the Infernal Realm has far more, and there are also many more places to go adventuring in the Infernal Realm.” Linley was in no hurry to establish his divine plane of wind. He stayed in the Infernal Realm, bringing over his family and friends. During this period of time, Linley also focused on his training, and on merging and fusing the separate Laws. Occasionally, he would spend some time with his family and friends. The year after Linley and Augusta’s battle was also the year when Linley’s reputation expanded the most extravagantly. Linley had heavily injured the Chief Sovereign of Light, and with a single sword blow, killed the earth-type Sovereign clone of the Chief Sovereign of Lightning, Hurley, terrifying Hurley into instant, panicked flight. This battle prowess was naturally spread to everyone else by the five other Chief Sovereigns of the Laws. This information was simply too astonishing. Soon, virtually all the Sovereigns became aware of it. Linley’s status instantly eclipsed that of the other Seven Elemental Chief Sovereigns, and was only second to the four supreme experts, Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. And so, in the span of a single short year, more than ten Sovereigns had come to pay their respects to Linley. When Sovereigns met, they too would eat some fruit, drink some wine, and casually banter. Roughly a year after the battle with Augusta. The Infernal Realm. Bloodridge Province. Indigo Prefecture. The Skyrite Mountains. Linley’s Sovereign estate. Within this quiet, secluded estate, soft grass covered the ground. Linley was dressed in a long, loose robe. He sat in the meditative position as the wind blew past him, brushing against the strands of his hair. A figure slowly took form in front of Linley, as though it had teleported there. Linley opened his eyes. He saw that this person was a man dressed in long, blood-red robes. It was the Bloodridge Sovereign, Boson. He laughed, “Boson, why have you come to my place?” Not long ago, Boson had met with Linley, and at that time, Linley had wanted to address him as ‘Mr. Boson’, but no matter what he said, the Bloodridge Sovereign refused to be addressed like that. He even wanted to address Linley as ‘Lord’. After all, Linley’s power, even amongst the Chief Sovereigns, was extremely great. In the end, both took a step back. They viewed each other as friends, and so addressed each other by name. “Must I have a reason for coming?” The Bloodridge Sovereign smiled as he sat down next to him. “Actually, today, I really did have an important reason for coming.” “Speak.” Linley listened attentively. The Bloodridge Sovereign laughed. “You still have no Emissaries, right?” “Uh…why are you thinking about this?” Linley didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “How is it your business, Boson, if I choose to accept Emissaries or not?” “That’s not it.” The Bloodridge Sovereign shook his head. “To tell you the truth, every trillion years, there is a session of the Planar Wars, and each of the Planar Wars have a total of five rounds! Three rounds have already passed, and roughly six hundred years in the future, the fourth Planar War is going to begin.” “Which two planes are doing battle?” Linley asked, curious. “Our Infernal Realm and the Celestial Realm.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said solemnly. “Linley, the upcoming fourth round of the Planar Wars is extremely important. Because…in the nine previous competitions, the Celestial Realm won nine rounds in a row.” “What?” Linley was startled. Linley understood that after becoming a Sovereign, there were three ways for gaining an additional portion of Will. The first was to fuse with another Sovereign spark. The second was to become a Paragon. The third was for one’s side, in the Planar Wars, to win ten times in a row. But of course, another method was to become a Soul Mutate like Linley. Only, this sort of unique situation wasn’t applicable to all Sovereigns. “If I remember correctly, long, long ago, the Celestial Realm won ten rounds in a row already.” Linley said with a frown. “Exactly.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said hurriedly. “The seven Sovereigns of Fate have already received a reward, and so the other Sovereigns don’t want them to see them receive a reward again! In particular, we don’t want to see the Chief Sovereign of Fate increase in strength yet again. He’s already strong enough.” Linley nodded slightly. “Ever since the creation of the universe, every time one side wins nine times in a row, all of the other planes will join together to prevent them from winning a tenth time.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said. “Generally speaking, when all the other planes join forces, the chances for success will be extremely high. Over the course of countless years, however, there was one failure. That time, the Celestial Realm won, and thus the seven Sovereigns of Fate received the reward.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said solemnly, “This time, no matter what, we can’t let them win again. This is the order that came from the Chief Sovereign of Destruction himself.” Linley couldn’t help but laugh. Most likely, as far as the Chief Sovereign of Destruction was concerned, his only real opponent was the Chief Sovereign of Fate. “What does not wanting him to win, have to do with finding Emissaries?” Linley laughed. “If we don’t want him to win, then our side needs to find enough experts.” The Bloodridge Sovereign shook his head. “But many experts already know how extremely savage this particular Planar War will be. It will be absolutely berserk! Thus, many commander-level experts are not willing to participate in it.” Linley laughed and nodded. All of the planes would be going all out, and the Celestial Realm would be going all out as well. One could completely imagine how savage this battle would be. Unless one was completely confident in one’s powers or unless one was tired of life, one probably wouldn’t participate. “How is it that the commanders know how important this battle is?” Linley said, puzzled. The reward for winning ten battles should be a secret amongst Sovereigns. “Based on past precedence.” The Bloodridge Sovereign let out an awkward laugh. “In this sort of berserk battle, both sides will go all out. They will come up with any and all measures that can allow their side to grow more powerful, in a manner which does not violate the Pact of Sovereigns. Thus! Both sides will bestow every single participant in this Planar War with Sovereign’s Might! Every single person will receive two drops!” Linley was stupefied. Mad! They had all gone mad! If every single person who entered the Planar Battlefield was bestowed with two drops of Sovereign’s Might, then even a commander-level expert, upon suffering an attack from ten Highgods, would probably perish. “Although these commanders don’t know about the secret behind the ten consecutive battles, they do know that all of the Highgods who are participating will be bestowed Sovereign’s Might. How many commanders would dare participate?” The Bloodridge Sovereign laughed bitterly. “Originally, we didn’t want to hand out that much Sovereign’s Might either. But if we don’t and the other side does…doesn’t that mean that we will lose for sure? There’s nothing that we can do!” Linley understood the predicament they were in. The Sovereigns all knew that giving each participant two drops of Sovereign’s Might was simply too insane, but they had no choice. “In the battles in the Stellar Corridors, a group of commander-level experts, especially armed with Sovereign artifacts, will be extremely effective.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said solemnly. “Thus, what the Chief Sovereign of Destruction desires is for you to acquire six Emissaries. According to the rules, a Lesser Sovereign can take on two Emissaries, an Intermediate Sovereign can take on four, and a Chief Sovereign can take on eight. Since you have three Lesser Sovereign clones, you can take on six.” Linley nodded to acknowledge that he understood. “But I haven’t even made any Sovereign artifacts yet.” Linley said helplessly. “Sovereign artifacts, to us, are something that we can create every ten thousand years or so. They aren’t that important.” The Bloodridge Sovereign laughed. “Almost all of the Sovereigns have lived for hundreds of millions of years. Only, the Pact of Sovereigns forbids Sovereigns from giving their Emissaries more than a single artifact, so as to maintain balance amongst the Deities.” “Linley, if you don’t have any Sovereign artifacts, I can give ten or so to you as a gift.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said disdainfully. In the Infernal Realm, there were many Deities who made their living by forging divine artifacts. It was the same principle. To Sovereigns, forging Sovereign artifacts was something that only required a bit of time and effort. “Fine. Since you’ve said all these things, fine.” Linley laughed, then nodded. But then Linley said, puzzled, “Boson, I truly don’t understand. Given that all of these Sovereigns are joining forces, why are we worried about the Celestial Realm winning? How can they possibly win?” The Bloodridge Sovereign nodded. “The Celestial Realm has always been the most powerful of the Four Higher Realms. In addition, the Edicts of Fate have strange, bizarre attacks. Thus, during the Planar Wars, the Celestial Realm often gains victory. Normally, we don’t care that much, but once there are nine victories in a row, then we cannot be careless.” “For the sake of this tenth battle, based on what we know, they have already prepared an extremely powerful tactic.” The Bloodridge Sovereign laughed bitterly. “In addition, the chances of success for this tactic are extremely high.” “What sort of tactic?” Linley said, puzzled. “The Chief Sovereign of Fate will go ask the Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta, for assistance. He will borrow large numbers of Twelve-Winged Angels.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said solemnly. “Linley, you should know that in the battle above the Stellar River, the main reason one side loses is due to a lack of morale; one side is routed. Anyone with a consciousness is susceptible to fear, can be routed.” Linley nodded. He knew that an army being routed was like a mountain toppling. When two sides were fighting in the Stellar Corridor, given the width of the corridor, only so many soldiers could battle at once. Once one side was routed, even if the soldiers in the back had yet to even fight, they would still be affected. “But Twelve-Winged Angels are different. They are absolutely devoted to the Chief Sovereign of Light. When the Chief Sovereign of Light gives the order, even if the order is for them to throw their lives away, they won’t hesitate at all.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said helplessly. “In addition, these Twelve-Winged Angels all have at least the power of a Seven Star Fiend. Some are even close to commanders in strength!” “Think about it. This is a group of powerful experts who have no fear of death at all. In addition, they are able to form into all sorts of battle formations and work together in extremely marvelous ways. They don’t harbor any trace of individual desires within them at all. How astonishingly powerful then would an army like this be in the Planar Wars?” The Bloodridge Sovereign sighed. “Fortunately, the birth of every single Twelve-Winged Angel is a laborious affair. To accumulate sufficient Twelve-Winged Angels requires an extremely long period of time. In the past, the Chief Sovereign of Fate asked the Chief Sovereign of Light twice to borrow these Angels. He didn’t want to borrow them too often, because it is simply too hard to create a Twelve-Winged Angel.” Linley couldn’t help but nod in acknowledgment. Fearless. Selfless. Good teamwork. Powerful. In the Stellar Corridor, due to their fearlessness, there was no way that they would be routed. If you wanted to win, you had to annihilate every single Twelve-Winged Angel. This sort of army was indeed terrifying! “Because of this, the Chief Sovereign of Fate has, in the past, owed the Chief Sovereign of Light two favors.” The Bloodridge Sovereign laughed calmly. “In the past, the Divine Light Plane, since it didn’t have many experts, won fairly rarely. Those Twelve-Winged Angels are simply too rare, and so they can only be used as trump cards, and can only be used once or twice. Thus, Augusta isn’t able to use them for himself. He chose to instead exchange them for favors from the Chief Sovereign of Fate.” The Bloodridge Sovereign sighed, “All I know is that once, he called in one of the favors to ask the Chief Sovereign of Fate to help him. It was because of the Chief Sovereign of Fate’s help, along with his own luck, that he was able to acquire that Overgod weapon.” Linley now understood. “So the Chief Sovereign of Fate actually owed him two favors. One was used up, while the other remains.” Linley now completely understood. It seemed as though the Chief Sovereign of Light hadn’t lied to him at all. Originally, if he truly had chased into the Celestial Realm, the enraged Chief Sovereign of Light probably truly would have asked the Chief Sovereign of Fate to kill him. “However, this time, the Chief Sovereign of Fate is going to end up owing him yet another favor.” The Bloodridge Sovereign laughed calmly. “Over the course of countless years, Augusta has accumulated yet another batch of Twelve-Winged Angels. Most likely, he will go participate. Augusta truly is lucky; he took over both of the Angelic Resurrection Pools which are able to give birth to Twelve-Winged Angels. In addition, he accumulates pure souls from the material realms. By patiently waiting, he is able to slowly build up an army of Twelve-Winged Angels. Alas, this army of fearless, Deity-level Angels…they truly are troublesome.” “Oh, yes, they are quite troub-…” Linley was laughing, but suddenly… Linley’s face froze, and then instantly turned ashen! “Linley, what is it?” Boson saw that Linley’s face was looking strange. “You, you said…he would accumulate a batch of Twelve-Winged Angels, and then, send them to the Planar Battlefield?” Linley stared at Boson.” “All of them?” “Yes, essentially all of them.” The Bloodridge Sovereign said, puzzled. “What is it? That look on your face…?” “I’m, I’m fine. Boson, I need to calm down. You can go back now.” Linley’s mind was currently in a state of complete chaos. “Oh.” Although puzzled, the Bloodridge Sovereign didn’t ask any more questions, instead leaving. Within the vast, empty courtyard, Linley was the only person remaining. “When virtually every member in this batch of Twelve-Winged Angels is sent to the Planar Battlefield…in the midst of that wild, savage battle, most likely nearly all of them will perish. It would be amazing if even 10% survived.” Linley’s mind was in a state of chaos. “My mother, she…she should be amongst them. If she is sent to the Planar Battlefield…” Linley was terrified. “What should I do?” Linley was in a state of complete chaos.