Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 40, A Battle of Chief Sovereigns
Augusta’s face was savage. Letting out a low growl, he slashed out with the Lightsaber in his hand in a circular arc. “CLANG!” The two Overgod weapons clashed.
The center of the collision created a terrifying series of ripples which spread out in every direction. Countless spatial rifts appeared as the nearby space cracked like the shell of a turtle. Augusta was knocked flying back by the collision. His body swayed in midair, then he once more found his bearings as he stared at Linley in some amazement.
“Linley, no wonder you dare claim you will kill me. So your power actually nearly doubled.” Augusta stared at Linley.
“I’ve grown more powerful, but you haven’t.” Linley said emotionlessly.
“Haha...who knows which one of us will live, and which one will die.” Augusta actually began to laugh. With a ‘crackling’ sound, Linley’s entire body became covered with those inky jade draconic scales. Those savage spikes jutted out as Linley instantly Dragonformed.
“Really?” Linley let out a cold laugh.
Linley’s entire body slowly transformed into a streak of light which shot at high speed towards Augusta, who was kilometers away in the sky. For Chief Sovereigns, traversing a distance of a few kilometers, in this sort of frantic battle, required less than a millionth of a second. From this, one could imagine how quickly the two were exchanging blows.
“Clang!” “Clang!” Two Overgod weapons clashed repeatedly against each other, and the surrounding space began to splinter and shatter. Each time, Augusta was knocked flying backwards. It appeared as though Augusta was at a disadvantage, but clearly, each time Augusta was able to hold on.
“You want to kill me? It won’t be that easy.” Augusta chortled. But there was no smile on Linley’s face.
“It’s about time,” Linley murmured to himself. From the beginning of the battle till now, Linley had only revealed a small part of his true power, because Linley was worried that if he unleashed his most powerful sword blow, if he didn’t succeed on the very first strike, the enemy would be so frightened that he would immediately flee. That would make things troublesome. After all...Linley’s attack power might have increased, but his speed hadn’t.
The fusing of the different profound mysteries had implications for his ‘Sword Intent’ technique, but in terms of speed, Linley hadn’t improved significantly.
“Die!” Linley growled in his mind. After the two exchanged yet another series of blows, Linley’s Life Overgod Sword once more tore through the sky like before, striking towards Augusta. That inky jade sword energy billowed forth in a slightly chaotic manner. As for Augusta, he blocked Linley’s sword attack in the same manner he had previously, but as the two drew close to each other...
The Life Overgod Sword’s rather disorderly, chaotic inky jade sword energy seemed to suddenly organize, like soldiers entering a formation, forming a beam of inky jade sword energy that was as thick as a man’s waist.
His most powerful attack exploded forth!
“BANG!” The sword energy flashed, striking heavily against the Lightsaber. Augusta’s face instantly whitened; he could sense an irresistible force crush down against his Lightsaber, knocking it against his body...
A golden light suddenly flashed. The surrounding area was reduced to nothingness, and Augusta himself had disappeared.
Had Augusta been reduced into dust?
“Eh? He was only heavily wounded?” Linley frowned. His fused divine sense allowed him to clearly see that Augusta, a large hole in his chest and his face ashen, had actually borrowed from the impact of their blows to flee at high speed into a rift in chaotic space. “I didn’t expect that Augusta would be able to take a blow from my most powerful sword attack without dying.” Not hesitating at all, Linley increased his speed to the limit as he too charged into chaotic space.
A battle between Sovereigns simply drew too much attention. Within the Divine Light Plane, four of the other Sovereigns sensed the battle; they naturally spread out their divine sense to encompass the entire Divine Plane, and thus they witnessed this battle.
“The Chief was nearly killed? Fortunately, that ray of sword light only blew a hole through his chest after expending some of its power on the defending Lightsaber. That’s the only reason why he was able to survive.”
“That sword attack is simply too powerful. Lord Linley, in the past, had been hiding his true strength. The power of that attack, just now...inconceivable.” The four Sovereigns of Light were completely stunned.
“Given the Chief’s ability in fleeing, I imagine it will take some time before they can determine who will live and who will die. I imagine that in this battle, one of the two will die. If the Chief dies, that will be a major event!” The four Sovereigns of Light, while chatting amongst each other through divine sense, all began to move as well.
Some of them tore holes through reality and entered chaotic space, so as to use their divine sense to watch Linley and Augusta battle. Others immediately used the teleportation arrays to go to the other planes, so as to inform the Chief Sovereigns they had allied themselves with. It was only natural that they would report such a major affair.
Deep within the Chaotic Sea, there was an underwater city at the bottom of the ocean which was ten thousand kilometers in circumference. This city, ‘Sable Leviathan City’, was one of the three homes for the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred.
“Chief, Linley and Augusta have begun to fight. The two have already battled their way into chaotic space. By the looks of it, Augusta is probably going to die.” A Sovereign of Light had travelled to the Infernal Realm through the teleportation array, then immediately used his divine sense to notify the Chief Sovereign of Destruction regarding this matter.
The death of one Chief Sovereign guaranteed that another one would be born. If Augusta truly were to die, then a free High Sovereign spark would be created.
Within a cold, gloomy estate in the northern area of Sable Leviathan City.
“Linley and Augusta?” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, let out a sigh as his eyes lit up. “I didn’t expect that shortly after I informed Linley, he would immediately go kill Augusta. He really is quite mad.” At the same time, he waved his hand as though he were opening a curtain, tearing a rift in reality. His body flickered, and he entered chaotic space.
A black-robed Wodred stood there in the middle of chaotic space. He spread out his divine sense, easily discovering Linley and Augusta, who were currently battling each other. “By the looks of it, Linley holds an absolute advantage. Augusta seems to be in bad shape.” Wodred laughed. “Oh...Augusta has indeed decided to fly towards the Celestial Realm. However, Linley’s speed is slightly faster than his. Augusta probably won’t survive his attempt to reach the Celestial Realm.”
Within the multicolored bursts of chaotic energy. Linley and Augusta; one fled up ahead, one chased from behind. Linley held his Life Overgod Sword in his hands, his dark golden eyes staring coldly towards the front.
“Augusta’s life-preserving skills are quite formidable. He was actually able to receive two sword blows from me without dying.” Linley couldn’t help but sigh in amazement, in his heart. His attack power was far greater than his opponent’s; logically speaking, he should’ve been able to kill Augusta with one blow. However, whenever his sword energy struck his foe, Augusta would use his Lightsaber and a special life-saving technique to sacrifice the other parts of his body, while protecting his critical parts and preserving his life.
“In addition, just now, when I executed my innate divine ability, ‘Dragon Shout’, the impact on him was quite small.” Linley, by now, truly had to admit that in terms of soul defense, Augusta was truly too powerful. His ‘Sword Intent’ technique contained both a material and a soul attack component, and yet the soul attack component didn’t appear to do anything at all.
Still, the current Augusta was in quite a sorry shape.
“LINLEY!!!” Augusta, utterly enraged, bellowed angrily, “Don’t go too far. The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, owes me a favor. You should know this. If you force me to use it...then when I arrive in the Celestial Realm, you will definitely die.”
“I’m unable to defeat the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, but that’s only if he is here to save you. You have to at least escape to the Celestial Realm first. But you, Augusta...you want to escape from me and make it to the Celestial Realm? In your dreams!” Linley snickered. The distance between himself and Augusta was measurably shrinking. Very soon, Linley would give him yet another sword blow.
Augusta bellowed furiously, “I withstood your first two blows, and I’ll be able to withstand your third and fourth ones as well! You won’t be able to kill me.”
“Is that so?” Linley laughed coldly. “Augusta, I admit that your life-saving sword techniques are quite marvelous. You are actually able to guide away and dissipate much of my beam of sword energy. However, the difference in power is too great. No matter how marvelous your techniques are, it is useless. Enough. I already told you; you won’t be able to escape!” Linley was now extremely close to Augusta.
But the strange thing was, Linley didn’t attack!
“Eh?” Augusta felt puzzled and confused as well. But Linley just laughed coldly, continuing to draw close to Augusta. When the two were less than ten meters apart...
“Haha...” Suddenly, loud laughter rang out. To be precise, three loud laughs rang out. Linley’s body suddenly split into three. One was the Dragonformed Linley, the second was the blue-haired Linley, while the third was a green-haired Linley. Clearly, Linley was now completely unleashing the power of all three of his Sovereign clones.
“Swish!” “Swish!”
His wind-type Sovereign clone and his water-type Sovereign clone pincer-attacked Augusta from the side. They were no slower than Augusta himself.
Suddenly, a ray of sword light flashed out from the Life Overgod Sword in the Dragonformed Linley’s hands. That thick pillar of sword light carried an extremely fierce power, and Augusta was forced to slow down, so as to focus his energy in dealing with the attack. The Lightsaber in his hand slashed out in a marvelous arc...
“Bang!” The beam of sword energy once more pierced through the right side of his chest, and even his shoulder blade was completely shattered.
“Not good.” Augusta looked around himself; indeed, Linley’s wind-type Sovereign clone and water-type Sovereign clone, along with his Dragonformed original body, had formed into a triangle, trapping him within.
Because he had slowed down slightly when blocking Linley’s sword attack, Linley had enough time to surround him.
“Augusta, where can you go, now?” Linley laughed coldly at him. Augusta looked around himself; very suddenly, he stabbed out with his sword towards Linley’s wind-type Sovereign clone, attacking so quickly that he was like a ray of light flashing through the darkness.
“Clang!”
Within the hand of the wind-type Sovereign clone appeared a Sovereign weapon; the Bloodviolet sword. It clashed viciously against the blade of the Lightsaber.
Augusta’s body trembled, and his face couldn’t help but change.
“Still want to run?” Linley laughed coldly. Last time he had fought Augusta, Linley had been forced to rely on his Life Overgod Sword in order to fight Augusta to a standstill. Back then, Linley hadn’t dared to use his other Sovereign clones to block Augusta; those other clones didn’t have any Overgod artifacts, and so they definitely would’ve been killed by Augusta with one blow each.
But now...
Even without Overgod artifacts, Linley’s Sovereign clones were still able to just barely withstand Augusta’s blows.
Augusta’s formerly savage, berserk, bedraggled appearance suddenly changed. He became icy calm.
“Linley.” Augusta swept Linley’s three Sovereign clones with his gaze. “Why must you go so far and force me to such a state? Last time, you came to ask me to grant your mother her freedom back, and I released her, even though my soul was badly damaged, and gave her will back to her. I truly didn’t imagine that less than a thousand years later, you would actually come kill me.”
Linley laughed. Laughed from utter rage. “Your soul was badly damaged? You gave my mother her freedom back? Augusta, at a time like this, you still are as shameless as to make this claim?” Linley snickered.
Augusta raised an eyebrow...then laughed as well. “Oh, so you actually already knew.” Augusta’s laughter was so bright. “You are able to laugh, at a time like this?” Linley sent out his fused divine sense, stretching it out as far as he could. He saw that there were at least six Sovereigns within chaotic space, watching this battle through their own Sovereign sense.
“Linley, aren’t you curious as to why I’m able to withstand your most powerful sword blow?” Augusta laughed. At the same time, a golden aura of light appeared on his body, and his revealed skin slowly took on a golden hue.
“Golden?” Linley’s heart trembled. He couldn’t help but think back to the battle between the Chief Sovereigns of Destruction and Fate. The Chief Sovereign of Fate had relied on his right hand, covered with golden light, to block the Overgod weapon attack from the Chief Sovereign of Fate. But of course...that was also because the Chief Sovereign of Fate had tremendously powerful Will and a deep understanding of the profound mysteries as well.
“Last time, when I collected the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts from you, I knew that there would come a day when you would return for revenge.” Augusta laughed softly. “I also knew that it would be very hard for me to become a Paragon. Thus...I made a trade with the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff. I used the favor he owed me and the blood essences, exchanging them for him teaching me his ‘Golden Samsara Body’ technique, his supreme defensive technique which he had spent countless years researching. Lord Orloff, who now already possesses the supreme technique, ‘Spacetime Paradox’, no longer cares as much about his ‘Golden Samsara Body’ technique as he once did.”
“Originally, I didn’t want to reveal this technique.” Augusta laughed as he looked at Linley. “But Linley, you increased in power by far too much.”
“Just because your body is tough, you think you can withstand my Life Overgod Sword?” Linley let out a disdainful laugh. “Not even the Chief Sovereign of Fate wouldn’t dare to use any other part of his body to withstand a blow from an Overgod weapon.”