"Yes."
The King of Natson Island nodded calmly.
"Break a Golden Branch, kill , and you beco the next King."
"That’s unnecessary," Rowan rcer replied with a faint smile. "There’s a simpler way."
He placed his hand against the Sacred Tree.
In an instant, an overwhelming surge of ntal force poured from him, crashing straight through the Tree’s outer layers and into its core.
The traditional rite existed for a reason. Breaking a Golden Branch and killing the reigning King allowed the Sacred Tree to select a successor who would inherit the accumulated will of every past ruler. Those chosen that way would serve the Tree and the kingdom with absolute devotion.
Rowan had no intention of inheriting anyone’s will.
If he followed that path, he would beco a vessel.
Instead, he chose dominance.
With his level of power, there was no need for ceremony. He drove his consciousness directly into the core, confronting the countless residual wills of forr kings head-on, forcing them into submission through sheer force of presence.
If this worked, he wouldn’t rule beneath the Sacred Tree.
He would rule above it.
Master of the Tree. Master of the kingdom. Free to understand every secret without restraint.
Truthfully, the mont Rowan sensed the Tree’s existence upon arriving on the island, he could have taken control of it outright and, by extension, the entire island.
But he wasn’t a conqueror.
No matter how flawed or backward Natson Island might be, it was still soone else’s ho. Invading under the banner of "civilization" was just theft dressed in fine words.
This ti was different.
The King herself had invited him. She had offered the throne willingly and stated clearly that if he could withstand the will of the past kings, the Tree and the divine domain were his to decide.
There was no reason to refuse.
"What are you doing?!" the King shouted.
The mont Rowan’s will pressed deeper, the ancient consciousness within the Sacred Tree reacted violently. Centuries of accumulated intent surged upward in resistance.
The clash sent tremors rippling through the palace.
Through the island.
The ground shook. The air warped. Even the Sacred Tree itself trembled.
The King stared in disbelief.
This man was fighting the collective will of the Sacred Tree... and slowly overpowering it.
That alone was unthinkable.
"Your Majesty!"
Nine figures materialized one after another, teleporting in from across the island.
The Royal Sentinels.
Sensing the disturbance, all nine had arrived at once.
When they saw Rowan forcibly subduing the Sacred Tree, their expressions changed instantly.
"Stop!"
"Protect the Tree!"
They attacked without hesitation.
Protecting the King and the Sacred Tree was their duty. To them, Rowan was attempting to destroy the island’s foundation.
The King did not stop them.
She wanted Rowan to beco King, yes—but through the Tree’s laws, not by crushing it outright. Even she hadn’t believed soone could actually do this.
The first strike ca from Alfonso, one of the Sentinels, an angelic mage who specialized in inherited light sorcery.
"Judgnt of Light!"
Radiant magic circles flared behind him as pillars of searing light tore through the air toward Rowan.
Almost simultaneously, Anthony moved.
"Thunderfall!"
Born of divine blood, he wielded lightning instinctively, calling down a roaring bolt aid straight at Rowan’s position.
Rowan didn’t even turn fully.
A thought was enough.
A massive column of light erupted from his side, far thicker and denser than Alfonso’s attack. It smashed through the incoming beams, rebounded, and struck Alfonso directly, blasting him off his feet.
Lightning surged around Rowan’s body, swallowing Anthony’s attack whole before collapsing inward. A darker, heavier thunder discharged in return, knocking Anthony unconscious in midair.
Divine lineage or not, this was power designed to counter gods.
Before either could hit the ground, another attack rose from below.
"Human Transmutation!"
Marcello, the alchemist among the Sentinels, sent streams of liquefied tal surging upward, attempting to bind Rowan’s limbs.
The tal twisted midair.
Then reversed direction.
In the next instant, Marcello was the one wrapped and immobilized, suspended helplessly above the floor.
"Kill him!"
"Devour him!"
"Crush him!"
Three more Sentinels charged in close.
One drew a blade and brought it down in a devastating arc, the pressure alone splitting the air.
Another swelled with multicolored energy as sothing ancient fused with his flesh, jaws opening wide as he lunged.
The third flared with glowing runes as her body expanded, strength and endurance amplified to monstrous levels, her punch carrying enough force to shatter stone.
Each of them was a legend beyond the island.
Against Rowan, it wasn’t enough.
"Ti stop."
The world froze.
Blades halted mid-swing. Muscles locked. Even the air seed to hold its breath.
Rowan calmly flicked each of them on the forehead.
Ti resud.
All three were launched backward simultaneously, crashing across the chamber.
The King’s breath caught.
So this was his strength.
Suppressing the Sacred Tree alone was already beyond imagination.
Doing it while effortlessly defeating six Royal Sentinels at the sa ti?
Every Sentinel was a top-tier combatant anywhere else in the world.
Here, they barely slowed him down.
"He’s... far stronger than we estimated," she whispered.
She had thought Rowan might rival the Haven’s leader.
This was sothing else entirely.
"Domain: Heaven."
The seventh Sentinel finally moved.
She was the oldest among them. The strongest.
Erica Huakina stepped forward, her presence heavy and absolute.
Reality shifted.
The mont her domain activated, consciousness itself was dragged inward.
Within Heaven, ti was aningless.
One second in the real world could beco years. Decades. Eternity.
And Rowan rcer was pulled straight into it.
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