Lilia nodded slightly.
What Locke said was essentially the same as what the Amethyst Sovereign had said.
Which meant—the Sovereign who had secretly given Sovereign's Might to Bella Kers was most likely either the Bloodpeak Sovereign, Pash, or Sovereign Muya.
"Locke, if you find out who gave that Sovereign's Might to Bella Kers… what will you do?"
"I don't know."
"After all, back then that Sovereign didn't personally step in and violate the Sovereign Pact. I can't kill them for that reason now."
"But… I might secretly beat them up to vent my anger."
Lilia shot Locke a look.
She had just been thinking about how to protect Locke if he intended to kill either Pash or Muya.
But it turned out Locke cared more about the fact that the other party hadn't personally violated the rules.
Still, she understood him.
If the other party was willing to abide by the rules, then Locke would also abide by them.
But if they didn't follow the rules, Locke wouldn't bother with them either.
Just like the pirate groups in the Nether Sea—those who slaughtered the inhabitants of the Nine Nether Islands.
The order Locke gave his Sovereign Legion was simple: return to them the same despair and slaughter.
Lilia snorted softly. Although Locke himself didn't care much about it anymore, she had no intention of letting the matter go.
She had chosen to retrace Locke's past precisely to settle the debts he had incurred along the way.
Even if it was millions of years late, the justice owed to him had to be repaid.
…
In the Netherworld, the Death Sovereign tore open a spatial rift and flew through the chaotic space toward Hell.
Upon reaching the spatial turbulence surrounding Hell, she extended her divine sense into the Chaotic Sea and contacted the Destruction Sovereign, Wordred.
"Wordred."
"You? What are you doing here?"
Hearing her voice, Wordred immediately sensed her presence outside Hell.
"Pash and Muya offended me. I'm going to beat them up. Just letting you know."
"What?"
Wordred was momentarily stunned.
Pash and Muya were merely Lesser Sovereigns—how could they possibly dare to offend the Death Sovereign?
As for the idea that she was lying, Wordred dismissed it outright. She wasn't that bored.
After informing him, the Death Sovereign spread her divine sense, quickly locking onto Pash's location. She tore open space and entered Hell…
That day, some Sovereigns noticed that the Death Sovereign had traveled from the Netherworld to Hell, stayed for about half an hour, and then returned—no one knew what she had done.
Correspondingly, for the next several million years, both Pash and Muya rarely appeared in person, relying mostly on their divine clones.
Rumors spread among the Sovereign Legions—some soldiers claimed to have seen Sovereigns with bruised, swollen faces, as if they had gained weight overnight.
But those who spread such rumors soon vanished mysteriously, and the whispers died out.
Still, those who needed to know… knew.
Many Sovereigns couldn't help but admire Pash and Muya.
To think they had dared to offend the Death Sovereign.
Fortunately for them, she had been merciful—only beating them up rather than killing them.
As for the two victims themselves, they couldn't figure out when they had ever offended her.
Even with a hundred times their courage, they wouldn't dare.
Most likely, someone had shifted the blame onto them.
Of course, they didn't dare step forward to claim the Death Sovereign had beaten the wrong people.
At this point, perhaps only the Amethyst Sovereign knew the truth.
After all, in a sense, she had indirectly sold them out.
Naturally, she chose to remain silent.
Thus, a world where only Pash and Muya suffered was achieved.
…
At this moment, Locke was still unaware that the Death Sovereign had already avenged him.
After finishing the local delicacies of Bloodriver Prefecture, he and Lilia went to the dueling arena.
Millions of years ago, Locke had stood on that stage and fought the Prefect.
Now, he and Lilia entered as spectators.
With their level of insight, the strengths and weaknesses of both fighters were obvious at a glance.
Yet they still watched with great interest.
Power was one thing. Combat ability was another.
In battle, what mattered more was adaptability.
Unless the gap in strength was overwhelming enough to end things in a single blow—
Even if one side was five times stronger, the weaker side still had a slim chance.
It was just that greater strength allowed for a higher margin of error.
Of course, those with greater strength usually also had richer combat experience, having faced opponents with all kinds of techniques. Their adaptability was naturally superior, making victory more likely.
…
Afterward, Locke and Lilia traveled to the Water Divine Plane, visited the Azure Dragon Islands, and then returned to Hell.
This time, they arrived at Blackrock City.
This had once been the place where Locke had stayed the longest.
Later, through the efforts of Oakes' subordinate, Aman, Blackrock Tribe had been elevated into Blackrock City.
Entering the city, the most striking difference was the number of Saint-level beings bearing slave marks.
"Oh?"
Seeing this, Lilia glanced at Locke in surprise.
She hadn't expected that the place he once lived in would now have so many slaves.
Had the city lord gone against Locke's will?
But what puzzled her was that Locke showed no anger.
Instead, it was as if he had expected this.
This… wasn't like Locke.
Sensing her confusion, Locke explained:
"The current city lord, Aman, was once one of the leaders of a bandit group."
"And the rise of the Golden Turtle Tribe he came from was built on plundering nearby tribes."
"So, I placed a curse on that tribe."
"Any god-level member must serve as an enforcer in Hell for five hundred thousand years, hunting those on the Fiend Castle's bounty list."
"And any mortal from the tribe—once they leave—must endure two hundred thousand years of slavery."
"These slaves you see now… are likely people Aman brought out from the Golden Turtle Tribe."
"Within his own territory, he can use his status to protect them, even if they bear slave marks."
"I see."
Lilia nodded.
Aman had cleverly exploited the loopholes in Locke's curse.
After all, the curse only dictated that they must suffer slavery—it didn't specify where, or under what conditions.
Even Locke hadn't expected that Aman would find such a path forward for his people.
…
Before meeting the Death Sovereign, Locke had lived for less than five hundred thousand years.
So even retracing his life in a leisurely manner only took a little over ten thousand years.
Stepping out of a teleportation array, Locke held Lilia's hand and followed the path of his past—
Until they arrived at the place where they had first met.
The mist Locke had once set up still lingered, drawing adventurers who sought to explore it.
But back then, Locke had already been a Water Paragon.
The mist he created was no ordinary barrier.
Unless one was extraordinarily lucky—able to navigate even with their sense of direction distorted—they could never reach the water estate within.
Locke and Lilia entered the mist.
Unlike others, the soul-attacking properties of the fog had no effect on them.
Flying straight ahead, they passed through the mist in minutes and arrived at the lake.
The water estate Locke had constructed with water laws still floated quietly upon the surface.
Millions of years had passed, yet it remained unchanged.
Stepping onto the floating bridge, Lilia crouched down and touched it.
Back then, it was this perfectly harmonious expression of water laws that had allowed her to achieve a breakthrough.
Returning here now, even she felt as if she had stepped back into the past.
"…"
Locke exhaled softly.
Perhaps his destiny had truly begun to change the moment he met the Death Sovereign here.
Before that, he had been cautious in his pursuit of a Sovereign spark, terrified of being exposed and interrogated.
After meeting her, although he had been taken to the Netherworld Mountains, he gradually let down his guard.
In the end, with her help, he located and ambushed a Fate Lesser Sovereign—obtaining the spark and ascending himself.
Now, having retraced his journey together with Lilia, it felt as though she had truly lived through those years with him.
When Lilia stood up from the bridge, Locke took out a red box from his interspatial ring.
Then—
He knelt on one knee before her.
"Lilia… for the rest of my life, I want to stay by your side."
"Will you marry me—"
"To share honor and disgrace with me, life and death with me… destiny with me?"
At the peak of the Netherworld Mountains, the lightning chains that encircled the mountain suddenly began to writhe violently—
Contracting, expanding, twisting—
Unleashing destructive force across a thousand-meter radius.
The magical beasts within and around the mountain were terrified, fleeing in all directions.
In millions of years, the lightning had never behaved like this.
They didn't know what it meant—
But they knew one thing for certain.
They could not touch those lightning chains.
For the moment they did—
They would be reduced to ash.
(End of Chapter)
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon! Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims
Next Bonus Chapter at 1400 Powerstones