Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Chapter 667: Divine Emperor

The man sighed.

He shook his head, his lips parting slowly to give the answer.

“I surrender!”, two words came out of his mouth. His tone sounded defeated.

His final decision was both expected and unexpected.

It was expected because Liora had already found a loophole in his very existence and was able to plunder the faith he was relying on.

It was unexpected because of the man’s status.

Like Elaouthr, he had supposedly been a Rank 13 being in his previous life.

Moreover, unlike what Elaouthr previously claimed, Liora believed that this person was far more threatening.

Not in terms of strength. Rather, the man in front of her was far more mysterious than Elaouthr, who appeared to be all muscle and little brain.

Despite all of this, however, Liora did not find his decision surprising.

She had already anticipated this, which was why she had been upfront about it.

Her interactions with Elaouthr and the mysterious soul in the Heavenly Armor Pavilion had already given her an understanding of the previous-Era beings.

“These people have already gone through the destruction of their Era once. It’s perhaps because of the severance of all things that bound them or simply a fear of death, but they’ve completely shed the ‘meaningless’ aspects of their existence.”

“Now, they merely exist to grow stronger. Or rather, to survive the incoming Era’s destruction.”

Shame. Dignity. A will to go against the heavens.

These qualities, which all apex powerhouses possessed, seemed to have vanished from these people. They looked ready to do whatever was necessary to achieve their goal of surviving.

Even surrendering without a fight was no exception.

With that in mind, Liora remained calm.

She nodded imperceptibly at the man.

Then, she moved her hand, reaching toward him through the air.

The Human Emperor figure behind her mimicked her movements, its massive hand extending and looking ready to wrap around the cultivator.

“Don’t resist.”

Just when he was about to instinctively dodge, Liora’s cold voice rang within his mind.

Even though he sensed danger and his instincts screamed for him to run, the man ultimately gritted his teeth and let the slender palm envelop him.

Much to his surprise, the hand caused no material harm.

It only touched him for a brief second before a large amount of righteous energy poured into his unstable body.

Countless murmurs rang within his ears. The images of humans praising the Human Race and the Human Emperor flashed in his mind.

For a moment, he seemed to experience the light of human civilization.

These phenomena did not last for long.

Before the man could react, the righteous energy seeped into the center of his very being, transforming into an azure mark and imprinting itself onto him.

The murmurs immediately vanished, as did the images and the warning signs in his heart.

Yet the man found no reason to be happy.

With a single glance, he discovered the true meaning of the mark on his body.

It was a restriction, directly connected to Liora.

As long as she had a thought, she could directly detonate it and reap his life regardless of distance or time.

The man’s expression darkened.

Giving someone control over his life was the last thing he wanted to do.

But just as his expression was becoming increasingly grim and his thoughts were wandering, a voice forcefully brought his thoughts back to reality.

“What’s the point of acting like this? This is not your real body after all.”

Without him noticing, Liora had closed the distance between them and stood a few feet away.

Seeing his dark face, she lightly shook her head.

“No. It would be inaccurate to say that you’re that cultivator at all.”

“It would be more accurate to say that you’re the creature born out of the faith of his remaining believers.”

“I can feel that you’re not the primary backup for his eventual resurrection. At best, it’s a preparation half a level higher than the fortress itself.”

“I doubt you are what he is truly relying on.”

Her words caused the man to completely forget what he was pondering.

His pupils violently contracted.

He had never expected Liora to be able to see through his true identity.

At most, he believed she could use the Human Emperor status to interfere with his faith.

As for being able to explore his true identity? He thought that it was impossible.

Elaouthr’s surprise upon hearing Liora’s words further reinforced that idea. Even this Rank 13 demon had not noticed anything!

But when the cultivator took a quick glance at the Human Emperor silhouette behind Liora that was gradually returning to her body, he came to accept this.

It made sense. The Human Emperor could not be judged according to common sense, after all.

“You’re right.”, he readily admitted without hesitation.

“I’m not the true body’s most important preparation. However, you’re also somewhat wrong.”

He then went on to continue.

“I am still me. Until another one of ‘my’ backups succeeds in their recovery, I’ll remain the true Divine Emperor.”

“Even if one of them does, they’ll have to be stronger than me before I yield.”

“It has nothing to do with backups. Only the strongest version of ‘me’ is qualified to be ‘me’.”

Divine Emperor…

Liora murmured this title secretly, feeling it was quite apt to describe him.

As for the rest of the words, she only half-believed them.

She wouldn’t fully trust the words of such an old monster.

Perhaps they were meant to set a trap for her in the future. At most, she would listen to them casually until she had any concrete evidence.

Unwilling to talk about this any longer, she suddenly changed the topic of the conversation.

“I don’t believe that this place was left behind merely to assist your creation. What other purpose does this golden prison serve?”, Liora questioned, though she already had a faint guess in her mind.

The Divine Emperor didn’t keep things a secret.

“You’re right. My birth is actually an incidental event. You can say that ‘I’ would be happy if I were born, but ‘I’ wouldn’t care even if I failed.”

“As for what purpose this so-called golden prison serves…”, the Divine Emperor paused briefly.

“I believe you have already sensed it. Calling it a prison is misleading.”

“For me and the other beings of this world, it would be more accurate to call it the Kingdom of God.”

“As for its purpose…”