More serious still was the possibility of abandoning the Radiant Temple altogether and leaving the Wakanda Plane!
Now that Locke believed the Pope had underestimated him, it was the perfect opportunity to test the man in return.
Thus, instead of offering any explanation, the Pope of Light merely let out a chuckle.
"Locke, although you have already stepped into the Divine Realm, you must understand this—there are differences even among gods."
"Putting everything else aside, I achieved godhood over a hundred thousand years ago. You, on the other hand, have only just crossed the threshold of the Divine Realm. How could you possibly compare to me?"
"Oh?"
Locke raised an eyebrow. It seemed that he and this Pope of Light were, in fact, surprisingly in sync.
With a casual gesture, Locke summoned the water element to his palm, condensing it into a longsword.
"Your Holiness, this world isn't one where the older you are, the stronger you must be."
"You're right,"
the Pope of Light nodded, acknowledging Locke's words.
"But, Locke…"
"You seem to have forgotten the prerequisite for that statement—your talent must far surpass mine!"
"Boom!"
The moment those words fell, terrifying divine power erupted from the Pope of Light.
At the same time, an overwhelming force of restraint descended upon Locke, as if attempting to bind him in place.
"A Divine Domain?"
Locke let out a light laugh.
"Your Holiness, aren't you underestimating me a little too much?"
A Divine Domain was the most absolute trump card a god possessed against all beings below the divine level.
Divine grace vast as the sea, divine might like a prison—
that was precisely what described a god's Divine Domain.
However, among gods themselves, unless there was a clear disparity in rank, a Divine Domain was virtually useless against another god.
After all, one Divine Domain could just as easily negate another.
With a single thought, Locke released his own Divine Domain.
Endless water elements surged forth, driving away the light elements around him and instantly shattering the Pope of Light's Divine Domain.
"Divine Judgment!"
The Pope of Light pointed skyward. Golden holy radiance gathered in the heavens, condensing into a colossal golden sword a hundred meters long, crashing down toward Locke with unmatched might.
"Heh…"
Seeing this attack, Locke snorted coldly.
It seemed the Pope of the Radiant Temple truly had not taken him seriously at all.
Only after becoming a Demigod did Locke truly understand just how vast the gap was between gods and those at the Sanctuary level.
Even ignoring differences in profundities of laws, the disparity in their energy systems alone was immeasurable.
Below the Divine Realm, cultivators used magic power or battle qi—energy refined from absorbing the elements of heaven and earth.
By drawing in those elements and integrating them into their techniques or spells, they could greatly amplify their destructive power.
But for gods, divine power itself was formed from countless condensed elements of heaven and earth. A single thread of divine power contained more energy than the elemental forces gathered by a Sanctuary mage casting a forbidden spell.
Under such circumstances, any attack initiated with divine power by a god naturally possessed might surpass that of a forbidden spell.
Yet now, when the Pope of Light attacked Locke, he had actually used the ambient elements within his Divine Domain to condense what was essentially a forbidden spell.
Though he had employed divine power to guide those elements—making the attack several times stronger than a Sanctuary mage's forbidden spell—such power was laughably insufficient against a Demigod.
For a divine-level expert, this was nothing short of an insult.
After all, the true source of a god's strength lay in the laws.
Forbidden spells might carry traces of law-based attacks, but those laws were incomplete.
The difference between completeness and incompleteness was something no god could possibly be ignorant of.
It was clear that this strike from the Radiant Temple was nothing more than deliberate humiliation.
And only then would Locke respond with his true strength—forcing the Pope of Light to see him clearly.
"Then I'll grant your wish."
Locke raised the longsword in his hand. Divine power surged, blue radiance enveloping the blade.
"Boom!"
"Crack—crack—!"
The collision between Locke's sword and the hundred-meter golden blade formed by Divine Judgment was effortless. The so-called forbidden spell was instantly shattered.
"Bang!"
The massive golden sword disintegrated into countless motes of golden light.
In the next instant, Locke transformed into a streak of blue radiance, appearing before the Pope of Light in a blink. The longsword in his hand, blazing with blue divine power, slashed downward.
Facing the attack, the Pope of Light flipped his hand, a golden spear appearing instantly as he thrust it toward Locke's blade.
"Clang!"
Spear and sword collided, erupting with a deafening crash.
The tremendous force sent both Locke and the Pope of Light skidding backward.
This time, the Pope of Light's expression changed.
In that clash, he had failed to gain even the slightest advantage.
He had been a god for over a hundred thousand years.
During that time, through countless sacrifices of pure souls to Lord Augusta, the other five profundities of the Light Laws he cultivated had all successfully entered the introductory stage.
For a god who had already fully comprehended one profundity of law, once another profundity reached the entry stage, it was only a matter of time before it could be refined to the peak of the Sanctuary level.
Unfortunately, even Lord Augusta whom he worshipped could only help him reach the entry stage. The bottleneck of true mastery still had to be comprehended by himself.
That was why, after more than a hundred thousand years, the Pope of Light had yet to break through to the level of a mid-tier god.
There was no helping it—there were only two great thresholds in comprehending a profundity of law.
One was entry.
The other was mastery.
At these two thresholds, one might cross them in the very next moment—or be trapped before them for an entire lifetime.
There were even many Sanctuary experts who remained stuck at the Sanctuary peak for millions of years without breaking through.
Of course, most Sanctuary experts, after failing to advance to godhood for over ten thousand years, would try every means possible to obtain a divine spark and refine it to become a god.
Still, despite failing to break through to godhood after more than a hundred thousand years of cultivation, the Pope of Light had gained significant rewards from Lord Augustus through repeated sacrifices.
At the very least, his soul had been greatly strengthened.
When absorbing divine power from the Sea of Divine Power, he could already dive more than ten meters beneath its surface.
In other words, aside from the strength of his law profundities, the Pope of Light's overall power should have been twice that of Locke's.
And yet—
In that exchange just now, the two of them had been evenly matched!
"Your divine power…?"
At this moment, as the Pope of Light looked at Locke, his eyes were filled with astonishment, shock, disbelief—and jealousy.
(End of Chapter)
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