Lord: Sequence Master

Killing Lyric wasn't particularly difficult for Rosen. The hard part was that standing behind Lyric was a true god.

Therefore, the place where Lyric had to be hunted had to be somewhere even a true god found difficult to reach.

After crafting a meticulous hunting plan, Rosen patiently waited for the right opportunity.

At last, he found it. Through surveillance of the mysterious sea, he pinpointed the exact moment when the mysterious angelic egg would hatch.

On that day, just as the egg cracked and hatched, Lyric, as usual, entered the mysterious sea as a soul projection.

Meanwhile, his physical body remained in the real world.

All angels are born as transcendent beings, and divine-blooded angels are naturally bestowed with holy authority from birth.

If humans have divine realm lords, then angels have divine realm angels.

Divine realm angels grasp domain skills as early as Sequence 6, directly merging their domains with their sea of consciousness, transforming it into a portable domain. If the divine realm territory is designed for the comprehensive development of a divine kingdom, then the domain of a divine realm angel is specialized to the extreme for faith and warfare.

Due to the fusion of the domain and the sea of consciousness, which exists simultaneously behind both the physical body and soul, divine realm angels can usually separate their soul from their body while keeping their physical body safe within their sea of consciousness.

But this time was different.

Lyric's soul projection had entered the mysterious sea of the spirit world.

If his body remained within his sea of consciousness, he wouldn't be able to return to reality from the mysterious sea.

Therefore, his physical body had to remain in the real world as an anchor for his soul's return. To protect his body during this period of separation, Lyric left behind a Sequence 3 avatar and even set up a Sequence 3 holy protection magic formation around his body.

With this double-layer protection, Lyric felt confident enough to project his soul into the mysterious sea.

Rosen activated data transmission and teleported directly next to Lyric's physical body through the Main God Network.

Under the concealment of the Wolf Totem, Lyric's avatar didn't notice Rosen's arrival.

Opening the Mysterious Study Room on the spot, Rosen entered and launched an attack on Lyric's body through the study room's window.

The holy protection magic formation, ironically, ended up blocking Lyric's avatar from coming to his rescue.

Rosen raised Dragon God's Wrath in his hand, directly locking onto Lyric's brow. The transcendent bullet, wrapped in a compressed world domain, enveloped Lyric's body. The bullet, infused with the roaring power of the dragon god, burned Lyric's body bit by bit until it was reduced to ashes.

Only then did Lyric's frantic avatar outside the formation begin desperately trying to disable the magic array.

He had no choice.

The holy protection formation prevented external forces from attacking inside, but those inside could attack outside freely.

If the formation wasn't lifted, Lyric's avatar could only stand outside and take a one-sided beating.

However, disabling the magic formation took time.

Rosen had already locked onto Lyric's avatar with Dragon God's Wrath. One by one, transcendent bullets enhanced with specialized psychic techniques flickered through the void, sealing off all escape routes from every direction.

The final transcendent bullet borrowed the power of Dragon God's Roar to unleash the skill Silence Hidden in Thunder.

Lyric's avatar, stunned by the divine consciousness-shaking Silence Hidden in Thunder, regained awareness only to find his entire body riddled with hundreds of transcendent bullets. The terrifying damage instantly shattered all passive defenses from his skills and transcendent artifacts, killing the avatar in an instant.

From the ambush to the kill, Rosen had taken less than two seconds.

However, the commotion from the instant kill of Lyric's avatar was considerable. Even now, angelic deities were arriving at Lyric's residence on Paradise Mountain to investigate.

Rosen didn't even have time to collect his spoils. After wiping away all traces of the battle with the Eternal Chronicle, he used data transmission to escape immediately.

Upon returning to the Radiant Kingdom, Rosen wasted no time activating the Sea God's Fragment Ring. His soul left his body and entered the mysterious sea.

At this moment, Lyric, who had just captured a newly born young angel, suddenly realized he could no longer sense his physical body.

Without his body as an anchor, how could his soul return to Paradise Mountain?

Lyric's first thought wasn't that other Sea God's Fragment Ring holders had raided him but rather that one of the angels he'd secretly captured for burial at sea had some powerful angelic deity backing them.

While Lyric was still racking his brain for a way back to Paradise Mountain, Rosen was already stealthily approaching under the enhanced concealment of the Wolf Totem.

Positioned directly behind Lyric, Rosen raised the barrel of Dragon God's Wrath and took aim at Lyric's head, charging up for a deadly strike.

The moment the charge was complete, a transcendent bullet infused with numerous layered skills was fired through the Silencer of the Future. Even though Lyric instinctively tilted his head to dodge, the bullet, enhanced with Absolute Accuracy, still struck its mark.

Seeing that he was about to be shot in the head, Lyric hastily activated his domain to block the bullet.

Ordinary domains primarily amplify and weaken the power of rules and authorities. Defense is only a secondary function, far inferior to dedicated defensive skills.

However, the domain of a divine realm angel was different. Lyric's domain contained a Sequence 3 Miniature Paradise Mountain, equivalent to a Sequence 3 lord's fortress. The mountain continuously projected a holy barrier that fused with the domain, granting it formidable defensive power.

Unfortunately for Lyric, Rosen specialized in bypassing defenses with the Ashen Imprint's true damage effect.

Moreover, Rosen had activated the Innate Weapon Master skill's active attribute, which further enhanced the destructive effects of Dragon God's Wrath.

This destructive effect was devastating against defensive structures. Even though Lyric's domain, fused with the holy barrier, could easily withstand a full-power attack from a Sequence 1 transcendent, it was effortlessly breached by Rosen's transcendent bullet from Dragon God's Wrath.

The Absolute Accuracy effect was still active, and the transcendent bullets, now sped up by temporal acceleration, relentlessly pursued Lyric. No matter how he dodged, the bullets continued to tail him, gaining speed with each twist and turn.

As the bullets persistently curved to track him, they triggered Temporal Simplification, increasing their base speed dozens of times over. Lyric, already dodging frantically, realized he wouldn't last much longer. Left with no choice, he activated the Holy Shield Ring on his left hand, transforming it from a ring into the Sequence 1 transcendent artifact Angel's Holy Shield.

The destructive power of Dragon God's Wrath was terrifying, but it wasn't enough to break through the Angel's Holy Shield in a single shot.

However, Rosen's transcendent bullets didn't come in singles. Even while maintaining the charge for a deadly strike, he could still fire one bullet per second. If he abandoned the charge, wrapping the bullets in the Miracle Halo, he could fire hundreds of rounds per second.

If he discarded the Miracle Halo altogether, firing tens of thousands of bullets per second was entirely possible.

Ordinary transcendent bullets could already threaten a Sequence 3 opponent.

Bullets enhanced with the Miracle Halo could pose a threat to Sequence 2.

A charged deadly strike could even threaten Sequence 1 beings.

And this was before Rosen unleashed the Fragmented Arsenal skill for tenfold damage bursts.

In terms of raw destructive power, Dragon God's Wrath was already on par with Sequence 1.

Hundreds of transcendent bullets flickered in the void, forcing Lyric to fortify his position at Miniature Paradise Mountain.

Around the mountain, the angel troops Lyric had painstakingly cultivated launched reinforcements under the leadership of angelic heroes. But Rosen was no lone warrior. His divine realm territory had descended into the mysterious sea, colliding head-on with Lyric's domain.

Over a thousand Sequence 3 Dragonblood Naga, under the command of the Little Dragon Maiden, had already stormed Lyric's domain.

The Dragonblood Naga proved so formidable that the Little Dragon Maiden had been appointed the second hero of Rosen's territory.

Despite being only Sequence 3, her leadership of thousands of semi-divine Dragonblood Naga demonstrated strength on par with Sequence 1. Their overwhelming draconic war magic clashed fiercely with the angelic hero's tens of thousands of Sequence 4 angels, forcing a deadlock.

Neither side could achieve a decisive victory in a short time. The outcome ultimately hinged on the duel between Rosen and Lyric.

Though Lyric was only Sequence 2, his power far surpassed Sequence 1 master craftsman Pompeii.

As a divine-blooded being, Lyric had inherited Sequence 0-level skills and possessed far more transcendent artifacts than Pompeii. Every artifact he had used so far was at least Sequence 1.

Although the transcendent bullets had forced him into a frantic dodge, he hadn't sustained any real injuries.

As time passed, Lyric kept stacking various support skills on himself.

Additionally, being on Paradise Mountain gave him a significant advantage as his mastery over divine authorities such as holiness and light grew stronger.

Lyric even shifted from defense to seizing opportunities for counterattack.

He endured a wave of transcendent bullets without charge or Miracle Halo, taking the chance to pull out a Sequence 1 bow, Heavenly Judgment, and fired a Holy Judgement Arrow at Rosen, piercing through the world barrier of the divine realm and shooting straight at him.

Rosen could have dodged. The arrow was mostly a probing attack by Lyric.

Yet Rosen reached out with his left hand and allowed the arrow to pierce straight through it.

With the condition for Vengeful Judgement fulfilled, Rosen ceased shooting and began charging up Dragon God's Wrath.

Lyric noticed Rosen preparing a devastating strike and seized the moment to enhance Heavenly Judgment with various skills.

Almost simultaneously, both unleashed their full-power attacks at each other.

Lyric's arrow flew first, and he immediately focused all efforts on reinforcing the defense of the Angel's Holy Shield.

Rosen, however, unleashed a charged Deadly Strike, stacked with Miracle Halo, numerous other skills, Vengeful Judgement for bonus damage, Food Chain and Fate Mark for additional damage, Ashen Imprint, and finally the damage burst from Fragmented Arsenal, firing a Dragon God's Roar Bullet.

Yet Rosen made no move to defend.

Instead, at that critical moment, he took out the Void Sketchbook, locking onto a pre-drawn image of Black, activating skills such as Living Mannequin.

Living Mannequin forcibly controlled Lyric's soul, while the Ashen Curtain projection disoriented Black's psyche.

Rosen completely abandoned defense while ensuring that Black couldn't mount an effective one either.

In that instant, the Dragon God's Roar Bullet struck Lyric, while the Holy Judgement Arrow hit Rosen.

Rosen's heart was instantly pierced, countless rays of holy light erupting from his body, ravaging him inside and out, leaving him gravely wounded.

Yet his state remained unaffected—he wore the Crown of the Holy Grail, which locked his health at a fixed value.

Lyric, wrapped in the world domain of the Dragon God's Roar Bullet, suffered a devastating blow that breached his defensive limits, severely wounding his divine essence.

In a desperate move, he hastily activated Angel's Resurrection, a Sequence 0 skill inherited from his Father God, instantly returning to full health. The fierce exchange ended with both sides gravely wounded, only for each to recover to peak condition thanks to their respective restorative abilities.

Rosen, with his health locked by the Crown of the Holy Grail, completely abandoned defense, pouring all his strength into offensively wielding Dragon God's Wrath.

Faced with Rosen's increasingly fierce attacks, Lyric realized it was impossible to both defend and counterattack. Left with no other choice, he too abandoned defense and met Rosen head-on in an exchange of life-for-life attacks. In this brutal clash, the winner would simply be the one who outlasted the other.

The savage battle raged for several hours.

Rosen's Crown of the Holy Grail failed to maintain its effect after a while.

However, he still had Instant of Time to reverse injuries, Void Shadow Realm to evade damage, and the combined support of Farrah and the Holy Grail Knights to share his wounds.

Bit by bit, he exhausted Lyric's cards, depleting even his reserves of divine power.

Lyric's final arrow was intercepted mid-air by a transcendent bullet.

A mere Sequence 3 Rosen had surpassed Lyric in divine endurance.

The key lay in Rosen's two powerful self-portrait avatars, several demigod pets, and mastery over the Stomach of Gluttony, which allowed him to rapidly replenish and recover his divine energy.

This was how he managed to defeat Lyric against all odds.

The final transcendent bullet struck Lyric, and the halos on the bullet transformed into Nightmare Shackles.

Bound and sealed layer by layer by the Nightmare Shackles, Lyric was despairingly banished to the Void Divine Realm, where he was imprisoned indefinitely.

Several hours later, Rosen, fully recovered, plucked the Sea God Fragment Ring from Lyric's hand.

The moment he placed it alongside his own, the two Sequence 2 Sea God Fragment Rings began to merge.

As expected, the Sea God Fragment Ring advanced to Sequence 1.

Its overall attributes remained unchanged, but there was a significant upgrade to the Sea Burial miracle property.

Rosen could now distinctly feel that he had gained control over the mysterious sea.

He could decide whether the mysterious sea would dissolve flesh, and he could even bring physical bodies into the sea. The entire mysterious sea had become his secret base within the depths of the spirit world.

As time passed, Rosen continuously interrogated Lyric's soul.

Bit by bit, as Lyric's memories were unearthed, Rosen finally uncovered more secrets about the Sea God Fragment Ring.

The Sea God Fragment Rings originated from the great true god, the Sea God, who had once ruled over the vast oceans of the entire main world. However, the Sea God was so powerful that he ultimately fell for unknown reasons, leaving behind numerous Sea God Fragment Rings.

Sequence 2 Sea God Fragment Rings could connect to the mysterious sea.

Sequence 1 Sea God Fragment Rings granted control over the mysterious sea.

If a Sequence 1 ring bearer ascended to Sequence 0, they could sense other mysterious seas through Spirit World Messengers, leading to endless battles for dominance over the rings.

If one could hunt down nine deities bearing Sequence 1 Sea God Fragment Rings, they would gain direct mastery over a true-god-level Sea God Fragment Ring.

Finally, if the nine holders of true-god-level Sequence 0 Sea God Fragment Rings ascended to true godhood, a final battle for supremacy would ensue.

Should the nine Sea God Rings ultimately merge, it would result in the formation of a complete Great Sea God Ring, potentially elevating its bearer to the rank of a great true god.

However, here's the problem—excluding casualties below the level of deities, at least 72 gods and eight true gods would have to die for this process to be completed.

In the end, it would all be for the sake of one person's ascension. The death toll was terrifying even by true god standards.

Moreover, even if someone obtained the complete Sea God Ring and inherited the Sea God's legacy, the Sea God was already dead. The other true gods of the main world would never stand by and watch a second Sea God emerge.

Thus, even if someone managed to acquire the Sea God Ring, it would only lead to their doom.

This wasn't mere speculation—the Sea God Ring had once been reassembled, only to be shattered by other true gods.

Since then, neither gods nor true gods had paid attention to the Sea God Fragment Rings.

The rings had instead become exotic treasures valued only by beings below deity level.

The mysterious sea held immense value for such individuals, and any ring holder who knew the truth would abandon the Sea God Fragment Ring upon ascending to Sequence 1.

Rosen shook his head in regret. The Sea God Fragment Ring was an incredible artifact—too incredible, in fact.

So incredible that the gods themselves couldn't tolerate the birth of a new Sea God, leading them to seal off all information related to the ring.

In the Void Divine Prison, Rosen fired a shot, killing the gravely wounded Lyric.

Under the power of Vengeful Judgement, Lyric left behind three black loot spheres after his death.

Crushing them revealed no transcendent artifacts—Lyric had already stripped himself of those in advance.

Instead, the three spheres yielded a pair of Sequence 2 Angel Wings transcendent materials, a Sequence 2 skill crystal, and a Sequence 3 Angel Rebirth Pool troop nest.

Rosen stored the Angel Wings, then examined the skill crystal and promptly refined it into a hunter sequence skill without hesitation.

[Angel's Resurrection: Divine Authority Skill]

[Passive Attribute]: Grants mastery over resurrection divine authority, automatically returning to full health after receiving a fatal injury.

[Active Attribute]: Large-scale resurrection of allied life forms.

This was a Sequence 0-level divine authority skill, and one of the most powerful resurrection abilities in the main world.

Without his mastery over Hunting Divine Authority and Vengeful Judgement, Rosen wouldn't have been able to convert this angel-exclusive skill into a hunter skill at all.

Finally, Rosen picked up the Angel Rebirth Pool and fused it directly into his noble sequence without hesitation.

[Angel Rebirth Pool: Troop Nest]

[Level]: Sequence 3

[Attributes]: Consumes holy materials to transform believers into angel troops up to Sequence 3.

[Divine Authority Trait]: Resurrection – All angel troops can revive in the Angel Rebirth Pool unless their divine essence is destroyed.

The Angel Rebirth Pool was an exclusive troop nest of the angel race and rarely circulated outside their ranks.

Although believers transformed into angel troops weren't quite as powerful as pureblood angels, they were still formidable.

Even aside from their offensive capabilities, angel troops possessed formidable support and healing abilities.

The key advantage was their appealing appearance, which provided tremendous assistance in cultivating devout believers.

Lyric's death had directly enraged the true gods of the angel race.

For many days afterward, Rosen sensed numerous prophecy-based techniques targeting him.

However, since Lyric had died within the Void Divine Prison, and Rosen had been in the Mysterious Study Room with the Void Gallery, the study room had significantly masked his presence.

Coupled with the innate fortune of true god-level fate, the angelic true gods were ultimately unable to pinpoint the culprit.

Nevertheless, if Rosen ever deployed angel troops, it would be as good as confessing to the crime.

Therefore, he sent all the converted angel troops to the Ancient God True Realm.

Since these angel troops had been transformed from deceased believers, their presence greatly increased the piety of church followers across various regions.

(End of Chapter)