"Hey—sir, may I ask what the odds are if I bet on Lord Locke to win?"
The moment Little White spoke, the gods crowding around the betting table all turned to look at him with strange expressions.
Tens of thousands of years ago, Vice City Lord Evan of Rockpeak City had once challenged Vice City Lord Ryan.
That battle had made one thing abundantly clear to the people of Rockpeak City:
the gap in strength between Highgods could be just as vast as the gap between a Highgod and a God.
A powerful Highgod crushing an ordinary Highgod was not only possible—it could be outright domination.
Evan's strength had already been considered terrifying among Gods, yet before Ryan, he hadn't even possessed the slightest ability to fight back.
From that day onward, everyone who had witnessed Ryan's power developed an almost blind confidence in him.
Some people even foolishly believed that, with Ryan's strength, he might one day defeat the City Lord himself and rename Rockpeak City as Ryan City.
At that moment, a God burst into laughter and pointed at Little White.
"Hahaha! Where did this country bumpkin come from? You don't even know how strong Lord Ryan is, and you want to bet on some Lord Locke to w—"
He suddenly blinked.
"…Lord Locke?"
A flash of fear crossed his eyes as he looked toward the young man standing with arms folded in midair opposite Vice City Lord Ryan.
Up to now, everyone only knew that someone was challenging Vice City Lord Ryan at the dueling arena.
And anyone worthy of Ryan's attention had to be a Highgod, just like him.
Yet now, a mere Demigod had casually spoken that challenger's name—and he'd almost mocked him?
Before anyone could react further, Locke's gaze drifted downward.
He didn't know what had happened at the betting tables, but Little White's aura—and the sudden surge of fear around the stalls—caught his attention.
"Hmm?"
At that instant, Locke's eyes met a particular gaze.
The lingering mockery in that person's eyes made Locke deeply uncomfortable.
Especially when, through the feedback of his soul, Locke realized that the ridicule had been aimed at him.
A spark of anger flared.
He had already left Rockpeak City—why had he come back?
Because he'd been ambushed by the Rockpeak City Guard.
He'd returned specifically to settle accounts.
Yet after all these twists and turns, Ryan had been dragged out to disgust him—
And now even a mere God dared to laugh at him?
Did they really think he was some sickly house cat?
Locke's pupils ignited with faint flames of the soul.
That thread of soul fire passed through his gaze and pierced directly into the God's soul.
The result was inevitable.
The God possessed neither a soul-defense artifact nor a constructed soul barrier. He had no way to resist Locke's attack.
In the next instant, the emotions within his soul were set ablaze.
"Sp—spare m—"
People quickly noticed something was wrong and retreated in alarm.
A few breaths later, the God's soul was completely incinerated. His body collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
"This…!"
"A soul attack?!"
A collective chill ran through the crowd.
Even the Violetjade Castle bookmaker felt his scalp go numb.
To gods lacking deep understanding of the soul, soul attacks were terrifyingly bizarre.
Without a soul-defense artifact, the only option was to pray that one's soul was strong enough to endure the assault.
Even gods who understood soul power well enough to construct law-based soul barriers would still be extremely wary of an enemy with powerful soul attacks.
To instantly annihilate a God's soul—
That meant this Lord Locke's soul attacks were unquestionably at Highgod level.
And to casually spend soul power killing a God before fighting Vice City Lord Ryan—
Did that mean Locke didn't even regard Ryan as a serious threat?
The Violetjade Castle bookmaker's heart lurched.
He suddenly felt that this betting table might ruin him.
A sense of panic surged, and he instinctively reached for the cloth covering the odds, intending to pull it away.
After all, because of his absolute confidence in Ryan, he had never believed Ryan could lose.
But since it was a wager, there had to be an option for Ryan's defeat.
And since it was "impossible," the odds were set absurdly high.
Ryan defeated: 1 to 5.
Yet the cloth didn't move.
Looking up, the bookmaker saw Little White staring at him with glowing red eyes.
"Shopkeeper," Little White said calmly,
"I'm betting on Lord Locke's victory. This is my stake."
With that, Little White dumped all the inkstones from Locke's spatial ring onto the Violetjade Castle's betting table.
One inkstone equaled one cubic centimeter.
A perfectly stacked block—one cubic meter—was exactly one million inkstones.
When a formation of inkstones two meters wide, five meters long, and forty-nine meters high appeared—
A total of four hundred and ninety cubic meters—
The entire dueling arena exploded.
Everyone present was at least a Demigod. Their divine sense easily swept hundreds of meters.
One glance was enough to understand just how much wealth this represented.
Most of them didn't even carry a few thousand or tens of thousands of inkstones.
Many would never again see such an amount in their entire lives.
Four hundred and ninety million inkstones.
If not for the faint thread of sanity reminding them that this was Rockpeak City—
that the owner of these inkstones was about to fight Vice City Lord Ryan—
The arena would have erupted into a bloodbath before the duel even began.
"Shopkeeper," Little White raised his voice, blocked by the towering pile of inkstones,
"that's four hundred and ninety million inkstones. All on Lord Locke to win. Please register it."
"Y-yes… right away."
The Violetjade Castle bookmaker could only force a bitter smile as he issued a betting certificate.
He had a sinking feeling that opening this betting table might be the stupidest decision of his life.
Four hundred and ninety million…
At five times the odds, that was nearly two and a half billion inkstones.
To cover that loss, the Violetjade Castle in Rockpeak City might need to hand over a hundred thousand years of profits.
And the worst part?
He couldn't run.
A shopkeeper of a city's Violetjade Castle inevitably had deep ties within the Violetjade Legion.
If he fled and damaged the Violetjade Castle's reputation—or the Violetjade Sovereign God's credibility—
Not only he, but everyone connected to him would be erased.
Receiving the betting certificate, Little White watched the shopkeeper store the inkstones away.
Suddenly, the shopkeeper felt countless hostile gazes settle on his back.
With a wry smile, he realized that if he dared leave Rockpeak City now, at least half the arena would follow him.
Never underestimate a god's greed.
Fortunately, as a Violetjade Castle shopkeeper, he didn't need to leave the city.
Every hundred years, he only had to hand over the profits to Sovereign Legion escorts.
Please… let Vice City Lord Ryan win.
If Ryan won, he'd be the hero who earned Violetjade Castle four hundred and ninety million inkstones.
If Ryan lost—
Owing two and a half billion inkstones in the Violetjade Castle's name…
Death would be the least of his punishments.
The two Gods fighting on the dueling platform hadn't noticed at first.
But as the spectator stands filled to capacity, they finally sensed something was wrong.
After exchanging a blow and pulling apart, both Gods looked up.
"That's… Vice City Lord Ryan?"
"And who's the one facing him?"
Anyone standing beside Ryan had to be a Highgod.
With one glance, both Gods knew that if they didn't end their match immediately, they'd spark outrage.
No one had come to watch them.
They leapt down from the platform without hesitation.
"Hmph."
Ryan flashed onto the dueling platform and looked up at Locke.
"Kid, you can still surrender now."
"At most, I'll imprison you for ten thousand years."
"But once you step onto this platform—don't expect mercy."
"Heh. Vice City Lord Ryan should weigh his own strength before saying that."
Water elements surged across the arena.
Locke vanished from his spot and reappeared instantly from within the water.
Highgod was the pinnacle of godhood.
Even Paragons were still Highgods.
In this era—before the mysteries of law fusion were widely understood—the most direct way to judge a god's strength was by the fluctuation of divine power.
"Arrogant!"
Ryan roared as his divine power erupted.
"BOOM!"
(End of Chapter)
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