The Blood Skull army is now doing something similar to what the gem people did when they circumvented the normal process of selecting a Sovereign. They are circumventing the process of selecting a new Sovereign by stealing the power of the Sovereign.
The gem people had used a loophole to make the person they wanted to become the next Sovereign, but the Blood Skull army was taking things further by directly stealing the power and the right to pick a new Sovereign from the world.
This is throwing out the selection process entirely and taking control of the strongest power of the realm. So the domain of Ethera will be the true Sovereign. Other Sovereigns will be the fake ones that it appoints to share its power with.
After the Sun King died, all the power that he had released into the world was taken by the domain. This empowered the domain and weakened the sword spirit of Aries. This was why they wanted to kill the Sun King in the domain, not outside of it.
The domain could have used the power of the Sun King to elevate the two new Sovereigns, but the Ethera tree used the power for more important things.
The power that the domain gained was so great that the domain began to spread on its own. This and the lack of a Sovereign on the side of Aries to resist them signified the impending defeat of the world spirit of Aries.
The people of the world didn't know that the Sun King had died because there was no aurora in the sky to indicate his death. But the world spirit of Aries knew that he had died. She felt the loss of power and connection to him. This made her both sad and angry.
As the world spirit cried for her loss, her tears fell like rain. The rain covered the entire world and fell for a long time.
Everyone who the droplets of the rain touched had their emotion influenced by the rain. They felt sad for no reason. They felt as if they had lost something important. Even the invaders felt the pang of sadness brought about by the rain.
As the rain fell on Arthur, he felt pity for the world. He could only shake his head and said, "The lamentation of the weak. It is a pity that you were not strong enough to defend yourself. If only you were stronger."
He had deactivated the Overclock mode and stopped using the heavenly lightning of the Lightning Vessel Sigil technique. This allowed his body to quickly recover from his injuries in peace.
He was sitting on the ground resting because his mind was too tired to sustain flight. His mind isn't the only thing that is exhausted because of his recent exertion. The glowing marks on his forehead have also dimmed because of his extensive use.
Both his body and mind have been exhausted. The last time he was this exhausted was when he was ambushed in the Green Forest back at home. His first dog had died during that experience, and he had nearly died too.
Right now, his exhaustion was caused by himself, not someone trying to kill him. He could have stayed away from the fight and watched from safety. But he didn't do that because of revenge.
He was the one who decided to join the fight and who decided to push himself to his limit. But no matter how hard he had tried, he still failed to kill the Sun King.
But his failure to kill the Sun King didn't make him downcast. Far from being sad, he was elated by the outcome of the fight.
He said to himself, "If I had a choice, I would do it all over again."
He won't hesitate to repeat his actions because he has no reason to regret what he did. Not only can he heal all of the injuries that he sustained, but he also became stronger by advancing to the fourth transformation of the fourth mortal coil.
If he had injuries that he couldn't heal or would be difficult and expensive to heal, he might have regretted risking his life the way that he did.
Fortunately for him, this can't be a reason for him to regret his actions because he cultivates the Everlasting Wood Art, which granted him the ability to heal himself ever since he formed his life seed at the second mortal coil.
So he can heal himself, and he can do so easily without external aid. Not only that, the combination of the Lightning Vessel Sigil technique and his Overclock talent allowed the heavenly lightning he was using to fight to also temper his body and golden core during the fight.
A normal golden core cultivator who has learned the Lightning Vessel Sigil technique can only use the heavenly lightning to fuel their spells. This is because they lack the Overclock talent.
Only those with a superior foundation and a perfect core cultivated with the Divine Lightning Armament technique possess the Overclock talent and can use heavenly lightning to enhance their power.
The possession of a perfect core is the most important factor here. This is because without a perfect core, the golden core won't be able to bear the strain of the heavenly lightning and will crack.
Since his core didn't have any imperfections, it was able to bear the strain of heavenly lightning and even advance in strength. Not only did his strength improve, but he also learned that heavenly lightning can be converted into cultivation with the right arrangements.
Those who have learned the Wood Vessel Sigil technique can use life force to increase their cultivation, but he couldn't do this because his golden core contained both wood and lightning and needed the two of them to advance.
Since heavenly lightning couldn't be used to cultivate, he had given up on the idea of combining the Wood Vessel Sigil technique and the Lightning Vessel Sigil technique to cultivate. But now that he knew that his core could withstand heavenly, he decided to give the combination of the two vessel sigil techniques for cultivation another try.