As for the other Sovereigns, including the Four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts themselves, once their Sovereign true bodies were killed, then they were truly dead.
Even if they still possessed other divine clones, at most they would merely be somewhat stronger than ordinary Deities in the future.
In fact, even if they possessed a full set of three Sovereign artifacts, a Sovereign's divine clone would still be inferior to a Paragon.
For them to return to the ranks of Sovereigns again was virtually impossible.
In the eyes of the other Sovereigns, once a Sovereign true body died, that truly counted as death.
But what about Sovereign Locke?
Locke's Water divine clone currently possessed the power of an Intermediate Sovereign.
If the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, killed Locke's Fate Sovereign clone, Orloff was certain that in the very next moment, the Chief Sovereain of Death and Locke's Water divine clone would immediately storm into the Celestial Realm.
At that time, the Chief Sovereign of Death would tie him down while Locke's Water divine clone would directly kill the hidden Water Intermediate Sovereign, Bibo, whom Orloff had concealed within the Celestial Realm.
Once Locke's Water divine clone refined the Water Intermediate Sovereign spark, then with the six portions of Will contained within the Intermediate Sovereign spark, Locke's Water Sovereign true body would possess strength ten times greater than Orloff's.
Therefore, although he had attacked Sovereign Locke, Orloff had never once intended to kill Locke.
After all, the combination of the Chief Sovereign of Death and Sovereign Locke was something he truly could not afford to offend.
Before raising his body's toughness to the level of a Sovereign artifact, a Locke who had refined an Intermediate Sovereign spark together with the Chief Sovereign of Death both possessed the possibility of killing him.
It was merely that the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, had never expected Locke to hide himself so deeply.
Although he had not refined a Sovereign spark, Locke had once again achieved a breakthrough in the fusion of different types of Laws and Profound Mysteries.
With the wisdom of the Chief Sovereign of Fate, after realizing Locke's strength had advanced, and connecting that to the marriage between Locke and the Chief Sovereign of Death, Orloff immediately understood.
Sovereign Locke must have completed his breakthrough in fused Laws and Profound Mysteries several tens of millions of years ago. He had merely informed them of it in an obscure way.
Back when he first learned of the marriage between the Chief Sovereign of Death and Sovereign Locke, Orloff had also been puzzled.
Would a Sovereign as powerful as the Chief Sovereign of Death truly marry someone weaker than herself?
As expected, women were still women.
At that time, the Chief Sovereign of Fate had even felt fortunate that he was a Bula race lifeform, without gender distinctions, and thus free from emotional troubles.
Now it seemed that the Chief Sovereign of Death was still the Chief Sovereign of Death after all.
Even though she and Sovereign Locke had long been mutually in love, she had only married Locke after his strength had caught up to hers.
"Sovereign Locke, the reason I attacked you was because before that, I had already accepted Argenis as a Sovereign Emissary under my command."
Having obtained a chance to catch his breath, the Chief Sovereign of Fate naturally would not remain silent.
"Sovereign Locke, you acted against my Sovereign Emissary right in front of me. Does that not count as offending me?"
"Under such circumstances, me making a move against you and giving you a slight punishment does not count as violating the Sovereign Pact."
"On this point, I can swear in the name of the Overgods that when I attacked Sovereign Locke, I had no intention of killing you."
I merely wanted to take back that gray flame in your hands!
Naturally, the Chief Sovereign of Fate did not speak those final words aloud.
The exact nature of that gray flame was still unclear.
If given the opportunity, the Chief Sovereign of Fate naturally still wanted to seize it.
But from the current situation, Sovereign Locke was stronger than him. He no longer had much hope of obtaining that gray flame.
"After all, Sovereign Locke, you are different from the other Sovereigns."
"If other Sovereigns die, then they are dead."
"But if it were you, Sovereign Locke, then killing your Fate Sovereign clone would merely allow you, under the assistance of the Chief Sovereign of Death, to seize an even stronger Water Sovereign spark and return in an even stronger form."
The moment the Chief Sovereign of Fate spoke these words, all the Sovereigns whose divine senses were spread throughout the spatial turbulence suddenly felt their breathing stagnate.
That's right.
Sovereign Locke was different from trash like them who relied on Sovereign sparks to become Sovereigns.
Even without a Sovereign spark, Locke's Water divine clone already possessed the power of an Intermediate Sovereign.
No—after achieving another breakthrough in the fusion of different Laws and Profound Mysteries, Locke's Water divine clone now possessed strength comparable to a Laws Chief Sovereign.
Just as the Chief Sovereign of Fate had said, once they Sovereigns died, then they truly died. There was no opportunity to stand back up again.
But Sovereign Locke was different.
Previously, he had already been the husband of the Chief Sovereign of Death and enjoyed her protection.
If Locke's Fate Sovereign clone were killed, then there was a very high possibility that the Chief Sovereign of Death would help restrain the other Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, allowing Locke to kill the Water Sovereigns and complete a king's return for revenge.
Furthermore, after the Chief Sovereign of Fate swore in the name of the Overgods and the Four Overgods gave no response, everyone could tell that the Chief Sovereign of Fate's words were true.
His attack against Sovereign Locke may merely have been intended to punish Locke slightly. He had not intended to kill him.
After all, whether it was the Chief Sovereign of Death or a Sovereign Locke who returned after refining a Water Sovereign spark, neither would be opponents the Chief Sovereign of Fate could handle.
However, he had never imagined that Sovereign Locke's strength would exceed his expectations.
Although they had not convened a Sovereign assembly to officially elevate Sovereign Locke to the same status as the Four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, Locke's strength had clearly already reached—or even surpassed—the level of ordinary Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.
"Oh?"
Upon hearing the Chief Sovereign of Fate's words, Locke raised an eyebrow.
"Lord Orloff, even if you had no intention of killing me, you still launched an attack against me. Yet that still doesn't count as violating the Sovereign Pact?"
The reason he wanted to kill the Chief Sovereign of Fate was because Orloff's attack against him had violated the "Sovereign Pact."
But now, this fellow Orloff was claiming he had not violated the Sovereign Pact, causing Locke to lose his justification for killing him.
It seemed that Orloff knew very clearly that, with his strength inferior to Locke's, only the rules of the Sovereign Pact could save his life.
After all, after learning that the Chief Sovereign of Fate had attacked Sovereign Locke first, neither the Chief Sovereign of Life, Wawaya, nor the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wordred, had shown any further intention of helping Orloff.
"Sovereign Locke, during our discussion regarding Argenis's punishment, the matter only concerned retrieving the Sovereign artifact bestowed by the Nine Nether Sovereign and stripping Argenis of his status as a Sovereign Emissary."
"However, Argenis's Sovereign artifact had already been destroyed by me. The gray flame you extracted from Argenis's soul does not appear to be a Sovereign artifact, does it?"
"Although my strength may now be inferior to yours, Sovereign Locke, I am still confident that I would not mistake even a Sovereign artifact."
The Chief Sovereign of Fate had now truly gone all out.
If he could not obtain that gray flame himself, then he also could not allow Sovereign Locke to obtain it.
Locke's current strength was already ten times greater than his own. If that gray flame caused Locke's power to rise yet again, then the current balance among Sovereigns would be broken.
The situation would shift from four great powers standing in balance to one supreme power standing above four lesser great powers.
It was even possible that because the three Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts combined still would not be able to oppose Sovereign Locke, the title of the "Four Great Powers" would exist in name only and become meaningless.
"If my guess is correct, this gray flame is related to the spatial vortex that appeared in the spatial turbulence several hundred years ago."
"After all, back then, the aura I sensed within the spatial vortex was Argenis's aura."
"And it was precisely because I wanted to know the connection between Argenis and the spatial vortex that I summoned him from that material plane to the Celestial Realm and accepted him as my Sovereign Emissary."
"A gray flame related to the spatial vortex?"
Sure enough, after the Chief Sovereign of Fate finished speaking, not only the Chief Sovereigns of Destruction and Life, but even the Sovereigns whose divine senses filled the spatial turbulence all became energized.
Immediately, Sovereigns tore open spatial cracks from the Divine Planes and Higher Planes, entering the spatial turbulence to watch the spectacle.
Of course, these Sovereigns also knew that such a treasure had nothing to do with low-ranking Sovereigns like them.
Even if there was competition, only the Four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts—and now Sovereign Locke as well—were qualified to compete.
Even if people like them obtained that gray flame, they would not be able to keep it.
However, that did not affect their desire to watch the show.
As long as it did not involve them personally, then naturally they could simply remain spectators.
Seeing so many Sovereigns entering the spatial turbulence, Locke's Water divine clone and the Chief Sovereign of Death within the Netherworld also tore open a spatial crack and entered the spatial turbulence, arriving before the Chief Sovereigns of Destruction and Life.
"Sovereign Locke, you truly hid yourself deeply."
Seeing Locke, the gaze of the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wordred, became even gloomier as he spoke in a deep voice to Locke's Water divine clone.
Now everyone knew that Locke had achieved another breakthrough in the fusion of different Laws and Profound Mysteries. Naturally, the strength of Locke's Water divine clone had also risen with the tide to the level of a Laws Chief Sovereign.
There was no issue with the Chief Sovereign of Destruction addressing Locke's Water divine clone as "Chief Sovereign."
"Lord Wordred, please don't falsely accuse people."
Facing Wordred's questioning, Locke shook his head and refuted him. "I never intended to hide anything."
"Could it be that Lord Wordred, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, also believed that the Chief Sovereign of Death would marry someone weaker than herself?"
"Hmph!"
Faced with Locke's counter-question, Wordred let out a cold snort.
Indeed, several tens of millions of years ago, when the Chief Sovereign of Death married Sovereign Locke, Wordred had truly harbored such doubts.
But at that time, Wordred could never have imagined that it was because Locke's strength had already broken through.
(End of Chapter)
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