Inside the castle where the Destruction Sovereigns resided, Uhtred glared fiercely at his own Sovereign Emissary.
It was one thing for others not to help Ignis—but even his own subordinate refused to assist.
If that person failed to become a Overgod, then once they left the Amethyst Mountains, Uhtred would definitely teach him a lesson.
Naturally, the other Sovereigns had noticed the scene. Those who were not aligned with Uhtred silently mocked him in their hearts.
Especially Augusta, who had long been at odds with Uhtred. Seeing infighting within Uhtred's faction, he burst out laughing.
The trial continued.
Although this group had exchanged the Divine Spark beads they held, the Divine essences they possessed were still insufficient to fully infuse their divine power.
So, they had no choice but to return to the Mist Zone.
Within the mist, the strength of the Amethyst Beasts had increased even further over time. Fortunately, after refining some Divine Spark essence, the participants had grown stronger as well. Dealing with the beasts shouldn't be a problem.
Soon, people began leaving the platform and flying into the mist one after another.
Inside the mist, Ignis had already slain many Amethyst Beasts and acquired a decent amount of Divine Spark essence.
After making a rough estimate, he realized he still needed a significant amount more to completely infuse his fused divine power.
This was primarily because he was a Triple-Elemental Soul Mutate. His total fused divine power was naturally much greater than others, making his progress slower.
However, Ignis' kill speed was incredibly fast. He could slay an Amethyst Beast with a single strike. He had even split off divine clones, each of which was actively hunting beasts.
As he continued slaughtering Amethyst Beasts, someone suddenly appeared not far from him.
Though divine sense was compressed to only a one-meter radius, and the mist obscured vision, Ignis still sensed the nearby figure.
Instinctively assuming it was an Amethyst Beast, he immediately struck with his sword.
As the sword light slashed down, the sound of metal clashing rang out—it wasn't an Amethyst Beast.
"Who ambushed me?! The Gatekeeper clearly said that fighting is forbidden. Are you trying to get disqualified?" the person shouted.
Fortunately, he had a material-defense Sovereign artifact, or else he would've died from Ignis' strike.
"Apologies. I thought you were an Amethyst Beast. It was a mistaken attack."
When the man heard Ignis' voice, he didn't dare act arrogantly and instead turned to head in another direction to hunt Amethyst Beasts.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Ignis. The Gatekeeper had only said not to fight in her presence.
So now that she wasn't around…did that mean the rule didn't apply?
The more Ignis thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
And besides, if he just kept hunting Amethyst Beasts, even if a whole year passed, he still might not finish infusing his fused divine power.
That would count as a failed trial.
In that case—why not go all the way?
Murderous intent surged in Ignis' eyes. Gripping his Sovereign artifact tightly, he rushed forward.
That Highgod never expected Ignis to be so audacious—he didn't even prepare a defense.
From the earlier strike, Ignis had already confirmed the man possessed a material-defense Sovereign artifact. That meant a material attack likely wouldn't kill him in one blow.
So—it was better to use his strongest soul attack instead.
Thankfully, Ignis's fire element was also powerful, and his soul attacks were extremely potent.
He unleashed a five-fusion technique through his Sovereign artifact and slashed toward the Highgod who was just turning to flee.
But their strength gap was too great. Escape was impossible.
The red sword light entered his body. That person disintegrated on the spot—his body reduced to ash. Once his soul crumbled the attack disintegrated his body. This happened almost instantaneously. Two Highgod sparks and a spatial ring fell to the ground.
Ignis grabbed the ring, ignoring the Divine Sparks entirely.
He dripped blood onto the ring. As the blood seeped in, Ignis opened it and, seeing the Divine Spark essence inside, couldn't help but smile.
There was quite a bit of Divine Spark essence he could refine.
As expected, killing and looting was much faster than beast hunting.
Outside the Amethyst Mountains…Augusta immediately sent a divine message to Sadius.
That Highgod soul mutate who had just been killed was someone Augusta had personally brought in.
"Milord, Ignis violated the rules. He should be disqualified from the trial!" Augusta was furious.
That soul mutate was the only Destruction-type soul mutate he currently had under him.
In the past, Augusta had found several soul mutates.
After all, as the Lord of Light, worshiped by countless Light Church followers across the planes, many had voluntarily helped him gather soul mutates.
But when Orloff said he needed soul mutates for experiments, Augusta had handed all of them over.
This one soul mutate had been found in the material plane. He was Augusta's only remaining one.
Though he and Orloff were technically the same being and shared many subordinates, Augusta was still unwilling to let it go.
"Cough, cough… Augusta," Sadius replied, "the rules only said not to kill in front of Eunice. She can't see what happens inside the mist."
Augusta wanted to argue, but Orloff stopped him. He could only let it go.
Back in the mist, after killing that Highgod, Ignis realized his trial qualification hadn't been revoked. He instantly knew he'd made the right bet.
As expected, as long as he didn't kill in front of the Gatekeeper, he wouldn't be punished.
Excited, Ignis thought:
"All these trial participants—each only had one Sovereign artifact.
If someone had a material-defense artifact, he'd just use soul attacks.
If they had a soul-defense artifact, he'd go with material attacks.
If they had an offensive Sovereign artifact—then killing them would be even easier."
Ignis began roaming the mist again. No matter what creature he encountered, whether it was an Amethyst Beast or not, he'd unleash his strongest material attack.
Soon, Ignis encountered a second soul mutate.
This time, the other party didn't even have time to react— Ignis killed him instantly.
After binding the spatial ring with blood, Ignis discovered it had very little Divine Spark essence inside.
Clearly, this soul mutate had good relations with others and had traded away most of the Divine Spark essence he didn't need.
Looking at the measly number of usable Divine Sparks, Ignis sighed.
Then he continued his hunt through the mist.
Not long after, he encountered a third soul mutate.
But after killing this one, only a single Divine Spark and a spatial ring dropped.
Clearly, the man still had a divine clone active somewhere.
Back at the second trial's platform—A pale-faced Highgod approached Eunice.
"Gatekeeper, that Ignis violated the rules and killed my divine clone during the trial. I request that his trial qualification be revoked!"