There was no helping it. Although Locke had been a Sovereign for tens of millions of years, he had rarely left Mount Nether. As a result, the only commander-level expert he currently had at his disposal was Oakes.
Moreover, due to his own ambitions, Locke was unwilling to entrust certain important tasks to people he did not know well.
Ryan and Rockpeak had followed him for tens of millions of years—they were subordinates he could trust.
At present, Oakes had already become the commander of Locke's Sovereign army. Following Locke's earlier orders, he had led the army into the Nether Sea to eliminate the pirates of the Nine Nether Islands.
Now, the war between Locke's army and the pirates of the Nether Sea had dragged on for tens of millions of years.
Originally, Oakes had intended to swiftly wipe out the pirates and complete the task entrusted to him by Lord Locke.
However, under the leadership of the Nine Nether Pirate Crew—composed of one emperor and four kings—the pirates had stubbornly resisted, dragging the conflict into a protracted stalemate for millions of years.
At present, of the eighty-one islands in the Nether Sea, Locke's army had liberated and secured sixty-three, while eighteen remained under the control of the Nine Nether Pirates.
During his battles with the Pirate Emperor, Argenis, Oakes discovered that, in addition to possessing an offensive Sovereign artifact bestowed by the Nine Nether Sovereign, Argenis also wielded a gray flame.
This gray flame could burn Deities to nothingness, feeding back into Argenis and granting him astonishing regenerative abilities.
Even injuries to his soul could be rapidly restored.
It was precisely by relying on this offensive Sovereign artifact and the powerful regeneration granted by the gray flame that Argenis had been able to withstand Oakes' attacks.
Even when Oakes used Sovereign's power, he was unable to gain any real advantage over Argenis.
What puzzled Oakes even more was that, according to prior intelligence, Argenis should have exhausted all of his Sovereign's power during the previous war against the Life Divine Plane.
Yet when Oakes activated Sovereign's power, Argenis did the same—resulting in their battle ending in a draw.
As for the other four pirate kings, they led their respective forces in fierce battles against the five divisions of Locke's army, matching them blow for blow.
Over tens of millions of years, Locke's soldiers had grown increasingly proficient in magical battle formations, steadily improving their overall combat strength. They had slain countless ruthless pirates while suffering minimal losses themselves.
However, as long as the four pirate kings remained alive, they could quickly gather tens of thousands of subordinates and resume fighting against Locke's army.
Under such circumstances, every time Oakes left for several hundred years to visit the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes—collecting divine beast blood essence and natural treasures gathered by Locke's hidden forces—Locke's army would be placed in a precarious situation.
The first few times Oakes departed, the pirates suspected a trap and did not dare launch an attack.
But if this continued, the pirates would eventually realize that Oakes disappeared periodically for hundreds of years—and would undoubtedly seize that opportunity to strike.
In fact, if Oakes hadn't personally reported the situation, Locke would have assumed that the Nether Sea had already been pacified.
After learning of Oakes' concerns, Locke extended his divine sense into the Nether Sea and observed the battle between Oakes and Argenis.
Only then did he realize that the gray flame on Argenis' body was very likely one of the Overgod mission tokens—
Bloodshadow Flame.
Having discovered a second Overgod talisman, there was no way Locke would let it slip away.
However, after watching the battle, Locke also understood the problem.
With both sides using Sovereign's power, Argenis could not break through Oakes' material defense Sovereign artifact to harm him.
At the same time, any damage Oakes inflicted was swiftly healed by Argenis through Sovereign's power and the Bloodshadow Flame.
Their battle was essentially meaningless—a stalemate.
At this point, Argenis' strength was nearly on par with a top-tier expert wielding two Sovereign artifacts.
This was precisely why Oakes had been unable to defeat him, resulting in the prolonged stalemate between Locke's army and the Nine Nether Pirates for millions of years.
Coincidentally, the Netherworld Sovereign's Netherworld Fruits had just finished maturing. Locke had taken the opportunity to request two from Lilia, elevating Ryan and Rockpeak's strength.
Of course, if Ryan and Rockpeak had refused to use the fruits, Locke would not have held it against them.
On the contrary, he would have admired their determination to continue striving forward.
But now that they had consumed the fruits and reached the commander level, Locke had no intention of letting them sit idle.
"Ryan, Rockpeak."
"Lord Locke."
The two men bowed, awaiting his orders.
"Ryan, I want you to join my Sovereign army and serve as vice commander of the Locke Army."
"It would be my honor, Lord Locke."
Although joining the Sovereign army meant sacrificing some personal freedom, Ryan accepted without the slightest hesitation.
"Good."
Ryan's attitude pleased Locke.
"Ryan, a portion of my army is currently fighting the pirates in the Nether Sea."
"Previously, Oakes was the only top-tier expert in the army. Now that you've joined, it's time to bring this war—one that has lasted tens of millions of years—to an end."
"Next, you will head to the Nether Mountains and lead five divisions to the Nether Sea to reinforce Oakes."
"Tell him this—the gray flame on the pirate leader must be brought back to me."
"Understood, Lord Locke."
"Rockpeak."
"Lord Locke."
After assigning Ryan's task, Locke turned his gaze to Rockpeak.
Once, Rockpeak had been the strongest among Locke's subordinates, even serving as a city lord.
Later, after Locke introduced Ryan to the concept of fusing Profound Mysteries, Ryan's strength surged ahead, eventually surpassing Rockpeak and becoming Locke's strongest subordinate for a long time.
Now, after consuming the Netherworld Fruit, Rockpeak had become Locke's third commander-level expert.
"I want you to take over Oakes' previous duties. At regular intervals, travel to the other Divine Planes and Higher Planes and deliver all the divine beast blood essence and natural treasures collected by my hidden forces to me."
"As for who these forces are and how to coordinate with them, Oakes will explain everything to you once he returns."
"Under normal circumstances, remain in the Infernal Realm and monitor the situation of the Four Divine Beasts clan for me."
"Yes, Lord Locke."
After Ryan and Rockpeak departed, a graceful figure entered the hall through a side door.
"Well? Have you arranged everything?"
The only person who could speak to Locke this way within his Water Palace was none other than the Death Sovereign.
"Mm."
Locke stood, took Lilia's hand, and sat down beside her before replying:
"With Ryan leading five divisions of the Sovereign army, the pirates of the Nether Sea will certainly be destroyed."
"However, whether Oakes and Ryan can capture Argenis… that's another matter."
Back when Locke had not yet become a Sovereign, he had categorized the strength of commanders and Paragons into clear tiers.
The fifth tier consisted of the weakest commanders—those who had fused five Profound Mysteries or seven wind-element mysteries but had yet to develop powerful ultimate techniques.
At least eighty percent of the commanders across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes belonged to this tier.
The fourth tier included commanders with powerful ultimate techniques or innate divine abilities, often favored by Sovereigns and appointed as Emissaries, each possessing a Sovereign artifact. They could easily defeat those in the fifth tier.
The third tier comprised commanders who possessed two Sovereign artifacts or whose physical strength rivaled that of a Sovereign artifact.
Some individuals in this tier were not weaker than those in the second tier—but lacking a third artifact left them with critical weaknesses. Against a countering opponent, those weaknesses could prove fatal.
The second tier included Sovereign avatars and commanders equipped with the full set of three Sovereign artifacts.
These individuals had no weaknesses whatsoever.
Neither soul attacks nor material attacks could harm them.
Even Paragons without Sovereign artifacts would have no choice but to banish such opponents into spatial turbulence to defeat them.
The first tier required no explanation—
The invincible Paragons.
They stood at the absolute pinnacle of Deities.
A Sovereign projection could kill any being below the Paragon level with willpower alone—
but could not kill a Paragon.
Even before Sovereigns, Paragons carried their own pride, and Sovereigns themselves would treat them as equals in recognition of their complete mastery over a Law.
In terms of raw strength, Oakes—who had fused eight wind-element Profound Mysteries and possessed both a material defense Sovereign artifact and fused divine power—had reached the level of a commander wielding both offensive and defensive Sovereign artifacts, placing him in the third tier.
Argenis, on the other hand, possessed only a single offensive Sovereign artifact, placing him in the fourth tier.
However, the gray flame granted him extraordinary regeneration, effectively compensating for his lack of a defensive artifact.
It allowed him to ignore all of Oakes' attacks.
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