The Immortal Knight of the Tenth Empyrean World did not dare to be careless.
His aura was restrained deep within his body, compressed so thoroughly that not even a single iota leaked into the surrounding space. Even the laws around him failed to register his presence, sliding past him as if he were nothing more than empty air.
"It took an imnse amount of effort to reach this place undetected," Sozing murmured silently. "I cannot afford a single mistake now."
With extre caution, he advanced, passing through a narrow wasteland before finally approaching the outskirts of a town. The first step of his plan was infiltration, and a town was the perfect place to begin.
Or so he had thought.
The mont his consciousness spread outward, a deep frown appeared on his aged face.
"Why is there so much surveillance?" he wondered. "Did I stumble upon a secret location?"
Sozing carefully scanned the surface and the layers beneath it, extending his senses into hidden dinsions and folded spaces. Yet he found nothing unusual-no secret realms, no concealed fortresses, no hidden arrays.
That only deepened his confusion.
Despite its ordinary appearance, the town was wrapped in a web of surveillance so dense that not even an ArchDeity could slip through unnoticed. Every single person carried an invisible mark, seamlessly integrated with their soul. Sozing was certain that if even one individual went missing, alarms would ripple across the entire region.
His understanding of the Everstrife Empyrean World had ended with the fall of Azazel. While Markin had done a competent job gathering intelligence about the Scarlet King and his imdiate circle, he had obtained almost no aningful insight into the structure of the Scarlet Kingdom itself.
"If every population center is monitored to this extent," Sozing thought grimly, "then everything becos exponentially more complicated."
With surveillance on such a scale, it would be impossible for a new ArchDeity-or even a Prima Deity-to appear and approach Cain directly without raising imdiate suspicion. That ant Sozing would need to begin from the very bottom.
Fortunately, not everything was monitored.
His eyes sharpened as he observed cultivators leaving the town. The mont they passed beyond its boundaries, the surveillance thinned and eventually faded entirely. The Immortal Knight moved silently into the surrounding forests and cultivation zones, areas deliberately left unmonitored.
There, the brutal nature of cultivation was on full display.
Life-and-death struggles were common, and only those with sufficient killing intent, adaptability, and ruthlessness survived. It was precisely this environnt that forged warriors capable of standing against monstrosities like the World of the Root.
It did not take long for Sozing to find his target.
A man with short white hair stood atop a pool of blood, his expression cold as he gazed down at the lifeless couple beneath his feet.
"The price of provoking the wrong person," the man said flatly.
Before he could move, his eyes widened.
A hand had grasped the back of his neck.
In that instant, he lost control of his body entirely. Not a single
muscle responded. He could not scream, struggle, or even blink. "No bonds and solitary," a calm voice murmured. "Good. You are perfect."
That was the last thing the man heard before an overwhelming presence flooded into his being.
He did not die.
Yet he was no longer in control.
His mind, soul, and ego remained intact, but they were pushed aside,
reduced to passengers. He could not act, speak, or even form
thoughts of resistance. He was trapped within his own body.
The man's eyes glowed.
They no longer belonged to him.
Sozing clenched his fists lightly, nodding to himself. He then lifted his gaze, looking across countless kiloters toward the massive floating scarlet city at the heart of the Empyrean World.
"The talent is sufficient," he assessed. "If it suddenly increases, it will
not raise suspicion. Still, I need a valid reason."
He sifted through his mories and eventually his gaze shifted toward the distant ocean.
"That relic from the First Era should not have been detected yet," Sozing concluded. "It will be my opportunity to justify my rise and take a step closer to the Scarlet Crown."
He knew the path ahead would be neither simple nor fast.
Yet he was unafraid.
He had faced catastrophes far greater than the horrors of the World
of the Root.
"I cannot rush," he admitted quietly. "If I do, my cover will be blown. But that is acceptable."
A faint, almost nostalgic smile appeared on the Immortal Knight's face
as he glanced around.
"This will give a chance to see my old ho again... one last ti." With that, he turned toward the ocean and flew away.
Cain's guard had been raised to its highest level from the mont he learned of Markin and Kaizer's true intentions.
He had reinforced surveillance across the Everstrife Empyrean World and beyond, combining the full processing power of the [A.I. Module] with the omnipresent awareness granted by the Power of Chaos. Every fluctuation, every disturbance, every anomaly was monitored continuously.
Yet his opponent was the teacher of the ruler of the Tenth Empyrean World.
Even Cain's extraordinary abilities could detect nothing.
As far as the Scarlet King was concerned, no threat had yet reached
his ho.
At that mont, Cain stood within his throne room, his expression focused as he proceeded with the destruction and reconstruction of his body according to the principles of the Doomsday Art. Flesh
shattered and reforged, infused with the imnse life force and vitality harvested during the most recent incursion into the World of
the Root.
Suddenly, his body trembled.
A wide smile spread across Cain's face as a massive shockwave of
power and vitality erupted from him, so overwhelming that it made the entire throne room quake.
"Yes!" Cain exclaid. "Finally-I've completed the final level of the Doomsday Art!"
He could feel it clearly.
His flesh and bones alone now possessed the durability of the strongest Late Alpha-Oga Overgod Treasures. Power surged through him, refined, absolute, and terrifyingly stable.
A flash of exhilaration crossed his scarlet eyes.
He had grown stronger again.
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