Among the remaining sixty to seventy islands, the situation was no better. From a young age, the inhabitants had grown up witnessing the might of the Nine Nether Pirates, and for many, their childhood dream was to become powerful pirates just like them.
After millions of years, the entire Nether Sea had completely transformed into a pirate's world.
And the Nine Nether Pirates stood at its very peak.
Algenis was revered as the "Pirate Emperor."
Beneath the Nine Nether Pirates were four slightly weaker pirate groups. The leaders of these four groups were known as the "Pirate Kings," second only to the emperor.
Each Pirate King possessed strength at the Seven-Star Fiend level—supreme experts who had fought their way up from among countless pirates.
It could be said that across the eighty-one islands of the Nether Sea, there were only two kinds of people.
One kind consisted of powerful individuals who set sail and became pirates.
The other kind consisted of the weak—those who could only be slaughtered and plundered by pirates while remaining on the islands.
Of course, as the supreme ruler acknowledged by all pirates of the Nether Sea, Algenis understood that a force needed a steady influx of fresh blood to endure.
The inhabitants of the eighty-one Nine Nether Islands were precisely his reserve of future subordinates.
Thus, Algenis established a rule that all pirates were required to obey—
Any pirate who killed ordinary inhabitants of the Nine Nether Islands must, within a thousand years, capture and bring back three times that number of living beings from outside to replenish the island's population.
Any pirate who violated this rule would be hunted down by all others.
Because of this, pirates in the Nether Sea frequently collaborated with external bandit factions to abduct populations from across the Netherworld.
Locke withdrew his divine sense, his expression darkening slightly.
Since becoming a Sovereign, his perspective had broadened significantly.
The Coiling Dragon universe was, after all, a world where power resided within the individual.
In such a world, if Locke were to forcibly impose his will—creating systems to protect the weak and restrain the strong—it might indeed grant weaker beings a measure of peace.
But one must not forget: in the Divine Planes and Higher Planes, the weakest beings were already at the Saint level.
And Saints, so long as they were not killed, possessed eternal lifespans.
Locke could easily foresee the consequences—if he established a system guaranteeing the survival of the weak, then within less than a trillion years, the Netherworld would collapse under the pressure of unchecked population growth, descending into even greater chaos.
Even a universe had its limits.
Especially since the Coiling Dragon universe was merely a subsidiary universe of the Hongmeng universe.
When the number of living beings exceeded what the universe could sustain, it too would collapse.
Why did Hongmeng initiate a planar war every trillion years, sweeping across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes?
Because the population had approached the universe's carrying capacity. A massive war was necessary to reduce numbers, ease the burden, and preserve stability.
Thus, a certain level of conflict among Deities was tacitly permitted by the Sovereigns.
It also served as the only path upward for ordinary beings.
The descendants of great factions inherited resources and advantages.
Those without background or strength could only obtain resources through plunder.
As long as they avoided large-scale slaughter, ordinary bandits rarely attracted the attention of city guards, prefecture armies, or Sovereign Legions.
But the pirates of the Nether Sea had clearly crossed that line.
For them, as long as they accumulated enough wealth, they could purchase several times the number of lives they had taken, repopulate the islands, and continue their cycle of slaughter.
In essence, the pirate groups of the Nether Sea—and the forces abducting inhabitants across the Netherworld—had become festering parasites.
With Algenis' current power, unless a Sovereign intervened personally, even other Sovereigns' legions could do nothing against his forces.
But Locke's Sovereign Legion was an exception.
First, it was unquestionably the strongest Sovereign Legion known to the Death Sovereign.
Not only were its soldiers uniformly ten times stronger than those of other legions, but its magic formations were a terrifying weapon.
In the past, legion-scale battles were straightforward—soldier against soldier, commander against commander.
Once the strongest expert on one side defeated the strongest on the other, the battle was decided.
No matter how many weaklings gathered together, they remained weaklings—at most forcing the strong to strike a few more times.
But with magic formations, even ants could topple dragons.
Sending Locke's legion to subjugate the Nether Sea served two purposes.
First, Algenis' actions had already posed a grave threat to the survival of countless low-level tribes, drawing more and more factions into the abduction of Saint-level beings.
Second, the Death Sovereign believed that Locke himself wished to make the Netherworld a place that offered greater security.
After all, ever since becoming a Sovereign, nearly everything Locke had done aimed to create stability for the weak and reduce their fear of the strong.
Now, Algenis had become a nightmare for countless tribes.
Just as she expected, after sensing the situation in the Nether Sea, Locke's expression turned grim.
Locke acknowledged the existence of "bandits" as plunderers.
But he also believed that once someone took up the sword and chose to harm others, they must be prepared to be killed in turn.
The pirates' actions warranted an equal measure of retribution.
"I understand, Lilia."
"I'll inform Oakes immediately."
Nodding, Locke transmitted his command to Oakes, issuing the first Sovereign mission since forming his legion—
Enter the Nether Sea and wipe out the bandit forces across all eighty-one islands!
At the same time, Locke made his intent clear.
He wanted these pirates to experience the same terror and helplessness they had inflicted upon others.
When the soldiers of Locke's Sovereign Legion heard the mission, cheers erupted like thunder, startling even those training in the second safe zone.
For legion soldiers, beyond basic security, every completed mission brought generous rewards from their Sovereign.
What was trivial to a Sovereign was priceless to those below.
A single drop of Sovereign power had been driven to a price exceeding eight trillion inkstones, often impossible to obtain even then.
And yet, for legion soldiers, Sovereign power was the most common reward.
After all, if Sovereigns did not regularly grant it, how could their soldiers afford to use it in times of war?
That said, recruitment could not be halted. At least one squad had to remain behind to continue accepting new members.
To compete for the right to participate in the mission, the seven squads with captains engaged in chaotic battle.
The Eighth Squad and the incomplete Ninth Squad, lacking captains, had no qualification to compete—they were guaranteed to remain behind.
One week later, the Second Squad was defeated and annihilated in the competition, becoming the garrison force at the Netherworld Mountains.
The remaining five squads secured the right to deploy.
A fully staffed force of fifty thousand, under Oakes' command, departed from the Netherworld Mountains and flew toward the Nether Sea.
Their emergence shocked countless onlookers.
It was no secret that a Sovereign resided in the Netherworld Mountains, nor that a Sovereign Legion was recruiting there.
But this was the first time anyone had seen a legion composed entirely of Highgods.
And its commander—Oakes—was none other than the once-renowned Prefect of Shadowmoon Prefecture.
No one had expected that after disappearing for hundreds of thousands of years, he would return as the commander of a Sovereign Legion.
Even without a Sovereign artifact, Oakes had once contended for a spot among the top ten experts of the Netherworld.
Now, as a legion commander, he had undoubtedly received a Sovereign artifact.
In other words, he might now have the strength to compete for the top three.
Though this legion numbered only fifty thousand, its presence was no less imposing than a full-strength Sovereign Legion.
And they made no attempt to conceal their objective.
They flew directly toward the Nether Sea.
Along the way, whenever they encountered raiding groups targeting tribal inhabitants, the soldiers of Locke's legion showed no mercy, attacking immediately.
Before long, major factions understood—
This campaign was aimed squarely at the pirates of the Nether Sea.
However, few held much optimism.
Oakes was powerful, yes—but the Nether Sea also harbored experts of comparable strength.
Algenis himself, a Sovereign Envoy with a Sovereign artifact, might not surpass Oakes—but he would not be easily defeated.
At the very least, he could hold Oakes in place during battle.
(End of Chapter)
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