In the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen used the Omniscient Magic Eye to overlook the Continent of Kings from a god's-eye view.
Right now, the core region of the Continent of Kings remained intact, but the outer regions had been ravaged by the fierce battles of dozens of kingdoms, riddled with wounds. At first, the King's Game could still repair them, but now it had completely given up on mending any scars.
This forced the remaining kings to protect their territories and continue fighting in the void.
Now, four victorious empires had emerged: the Sky Empire, the Sword Empire, the Holy Spirit Empire, and the Pseudo-human Empire.
The Sky Empire was the first to emerge, as all of the Sky King's avatars willingly accepted death.
The Sword Empire followed soon after—no king could escape the killing shot of that crossbow.
The Holy Spirit Empire was the strongest among the four. It was a rare theocracy where divine authority outweighed royal authority. Every citizen of the empire was a fanatical believer, and astonishingly, every single noble was a saint.
You must understand—saints are the most devout followers of the gods, putting divine will above all else in thought and action.
Even if a god told a saint that an apple was an apple one moment and then said the next moment it was actually an orange, the saint would not question it in the slightest. Because gods are never wrong, and each saint was no less valuable to their deity than a divine avatar.
Usually, if a true god gained a single saint in ten thousand years, they would be overjoyed.
Yet the Holy Spirit Emperor commanded hundreds of thousands of saints.
While other kingdoms gradually rose to empire status by conquering others, the Holy Spirit Empire achieved it through sheer pious prayer by countless saints—without any external aid—forcing the Holy Spirit Kingdom to evolve into the Holy Spirit Empire.
The last one, the Pseudo-human Empire, was anything but simple.
From the emperor to the nobles and citizens, not a single one was human—they were all of other races.
Countless non-humans used unknown methods to disguise themselves as humans and formed the original Pseudo-human Kingdom together.
If not for the strength of the opponent they faced during their ascension to empire, their disguises might never have been exposed.
Each of the four empires guarded its own territory, inching through the void toward the core of the shattered Continent of Kings. When Rosen destroyed the last kingdom, he sensed the awakening of the nine emperors from the original empires.
Nine ancient empires—and five newly risen ones.
In terms of numbers, the five new empires didn't stand a chance even if they joined forces.
Originally, the situation wouldn't have been this dire. Out of the 112 kingdoms, normally at least eight to ten empires should have emerged.
Only five had formed—because each of them was exceptional.
Rosen's Holy Grail Empire alone destroyed 31 kingdoms. Those destroyed kingdoms should have birthed at least two empires.
As for the remaining Sky Emperor, Sword Emperor, Holy Spirit Emperor, and Pseudo-human Emperor—none of them were pushovers. If the five of them worked together, they might be able to stand against the nine ancient empires. But Rosen knew well that the five new empires could never unite.
The Sword Emperor was wary of him and would never conspire with him.
The Holy Spirit Emperor and Pseudo-human Emperor seemed to have a deep enmity.
And as for the Sky Emperor—he was always prepared to stab someone in the back.
When stripping the game permissions from the Black Iron, Silver, and Gold Kings, Rosen discovered that one of the empires' emperors had also been replaced. He just didn't know whether the impostor or the Sky Emperor held dominance.
As the thirteen empires besides the Holy Grail Empire gathered at the core of the Continent of Kings, Rosen revealed himself as well.
Even if he had stayed hidden, these emperors still wouldn't have been able to do anything to him.
But that would have only pushed them to unite and drive him out of the game, leaving him with no chance to destroy another empire.
Then he would be left watching from the Mysterious Study Room as the number of empires dwindled while their power grew.
The Holy Grail Empire's territory had been destroyed, but while Rosen was destroying other kingdoms, he had also taken over many new ones.
When the permissions for the outer regions of the Continent of Kings weakened, Rosen took the opportunity to detach and seal off the new territory of the Holy Grail Empire.
Now, with the Holy Grail Empire no longer hiding, the emperors of the other empires revealed themselves above their own lands.
Even with distances of tens of millions of miles between them, such space posed no obstacle to the great true gods communicating.
The next step was to decide how to end the King's Game, and the fourteen emperors would certainly come up with a solution.
But in truth, there was no need for discussion—Rosen already knew how it would end.
All were empires now. Even with disparities in strength, the differences weren't overwhelming.
The weakest feared being targeted, while the strongest feared being ganged up on by the others.
Once a free-for-all between the fourteen empires began, no one could predict how many empires would join forces to attack them.
So the best solution was actually the simplest: drawing lots.
Pairing up the empires two by two would mean no need to worry about backstabbing, no need to fear the weakest meeting the strongest, and no need to be concerned with the proverb "a tall tree catches the wind." It was the fairest and least risky method.But that was only the simplest method. Once seven victors were determined, everything would change.
With seven empires, they couldn't be paired off evenly. Even if one was excluded, three remaining winners would still be unmatched.
So, when seven victors emerged, three possible outcomes could occur:
The four strongest empires could unite and eliminate the three weaker ones first, allowing for clean one-on-one matchups among themselves to determine the strongest empire.
Alternatively, the four weakest empires might ally and eliminate the three strongest first.
And finally, the third possibility—complete chaos. A free-for-all with no rules, no boundaries.
Sure enough, after a brief debate, the Sky Emperor made a proposal.
"I suggest we split into seven pairs. Each pair fights to the death based on their own strength," the Sky Emperor declared confidently.
"That proposal's not bad, but for fairness, it's best to assign matchups randomly."
"I agree. We can discuss the rest later."
"I don't like this method. Since when did the survival of an empire become such a joke?"
"If there's disagreement, we'll vote. Minority obeys majority."
Some of the fourteen emperors agreed with the Sky Emperor's suggestion, while others voiced their opposition.
After all, not every emperor was confident they were stronger than their opponent.
The vote concluded quickly: nine in favor, five against.
Even those unwilling had no choice but to accept the decision at this point.
However, when it came to group assignments, every emperor had their own opinions. Everyone wanted the most advantageous outcome for themselves, and all tried to cheat in secret. After all, it was obvious that matching the strongest with the weakest drastically improved one's chances of winning. These old rivals had a pretty good idea of each other's strength levels.
In the end, they voted again and decided to base matchups on the outcomes of their divine avatars' battles.
Each emperor's divine avatar would have to battle the avatars of all the other emperors.
The seven avatars with the most wins would then take turns choosing their opponents from the seven losers.
On the surface, it seemed like the seven strongest choosing from the weakest would be at a disadvantage.But in reality, a powerful divine avatar didn't necessarily mean a powerful original body. The strength of a divine avatar often depended on how much power the emperor was willing to bestow upon it. If an emperor lacked confidence in their original self's strength, they could choose to grant their avatar more power.
So, while not everyone was happy with this method, the majority still approved it in the end.
Seeing the results, apart from Rosen and the Sky King, the three newly risen emperors didn't look pleased.
Because before becoming emperors, their avatars had been at least a tier weaker than those of the veteran emperors.
So in a contest of avatar strength, they were naturally at a disadvantage.
But there was no helping it—going against the majority decision at this point would only result in everyone else turning on them.
After some consideration, Rosen decided to send out his Bronze Dragon avatar.
Each person could only send one divine avatar, and it would need to fight thirteen consecutive battles.
If the early fights inflicted too many injuries, they'd surely lose to later opponents.
So survival ability and endurance mattered more than raw power.
Rosen's Bronze Dragon avatar was only a god, whereas the other emperors' avatars were all True Gods.
Even the Sword Emperor was no exception—it wasn't easy to raise an avatar to the same level as the original.
But Rosen wasn't worried about the Bronze Dragon avatar losing. Even though it was just a god, it belonged to the Immortal Sequence. Its divine power was not inferior to that of a True God. Not to mention, Rosen could let it temporarily wield a Primordial Divine Relic.
If that still wasn't enough, he could also equip it with the Hellish Evil Eye and the War Chess Board.
If even that couldn't secure victory, then the other avatars must be equipped with several god-demon level transcendent artifacts themselves.
Since every divine avatar would be fighting thirteen rounds, there was no need to schedule matchups.
The Sky Emperor's divine avatar directly challenged Rosen's avatar.
Both sides retreated from the core region of the King Continent and began fighting directly in the void without a single word exchanged.
The Bronze Dragon clone, who wielded control over time and space, transformed into a dragon form and streaked through the void at superluminal speed, never pausing for even a moment.
As it moved, time accelerated. Wherever it passed, the power of space was enveloped by the spacetime domain. In the blink of an eye, a collapsing spatial storm formed around the divine clone of the Sky Emperor, which then turned into a spacetime black hole, shredding everything in its path.
The divine clone of the Sky Emperor was also a winged being. Facing the incoming spacetime black hole, he unfolded his Heaven-Draping Wings.
The Heaven-Draping Wings transformed into the sky itself, with countless stars falling from above.
The moment those stars fell, they formed a magic array. The spacetime black hole was forcibly disintegrated by this magic array.
At this moment, the Bronze Dragon clone merged with the Hell Evil Eye in his right eye, instantly locking onto the Sky Emperor.
The void around the Sky Emperor distorted as he was about to be forcibly dragged into a remnant realm of hell.
However, at that very moment, the Sky Emperor had already become one with the Heaven-Draping Wings and the starry sky magic array composed of countless stars.
Even the Hell Evil Eye couldn't easily drag the Sky Emperor away.
Realizing he couldn't capture the Sky Emperor, Rosen immediately ignited the Hellfire of Retribution.
In recent years, with one kingdom after another perishing, the lives taken by these emperors numbered in the trillions. The karmic slaughter they bore was vast as the sea. At this moment, the Hellfire of Retribution ignited the karmic blood debts, instantly setting the Heaven-Draping Wings ablaze.
The true body of the Sky Emperor looked grim. The Heaven-Draping Wings were merely a Transcendent artifact at the level of a Great True God.
But the Holy Grail Emperor's clone had clearly just used a Transcendent artifact at the level of an Immortal God-Demon.
Continuing this battle would be a losing game. Although he was confident that he could sacrifice his clone to severely wound the Holy Grail Emperor's clone—
It would also mean both he and Rosen would be ranked at the bottom.
"I concede."
The Sky Emperor spoke, and his true body personally stepped in to retrieve his clone.
Soon, the other emperors' clones had also determined winners and losers. Rosen swiftly attacked the next victorious emperor—Judgment Emperor.
If he hesitated even slightly, the Sword Emperor would've come for him first.
Although the title was "Judgment Emperor," it would be more accurate to call him the "Execution Emperor."
The entire Judgment Empire had extremely harsh laws; even the lightest violation warranted beheading.
The Bronze Dragon clone was fast, but the divine arts of the Judgment Emperor were even faster.
In the instant they clashed, a noose from a gallows suddenly appeared around the Bronze Dragon clone's neck, and a guillotine in the void chopped off his head—only for time to reverse in the next moment, completely restoring all injuries.
The Bronze Dragon clone rampaged toward the Judgment Emperor, constantly being executed by various punishments along the way.
Yet no matter how brutal the punishments were—even if all his dragon scales were ripped off in a moment and he was flayed alive—they could not stop the clone from recovering in the next instant. All the emperors watching were shocked.
To reverse injuries using the Law of Time, the injuries themselves must not contain other Laws.
Otherwise, the interference between opposing Laws would prevent time reversal from fully restoring the damage.
But the Bronze Dragon clone's time reversal was completely unaffected, meaning that his mastery over the Law of Time had overwhelming dominance over the Execution Law of the Judgment Emperor—indicating that the Holy Grail Emperor's foundation was far stronger than that of the Judgment Emperor.
The strength of a Law was first determined by its innate hierarchy; the Law of Time was clearly much stronger than, say, the Law of Music.
Then, the divine essence of the wielder amplified the power of the Law.
Finally, the total area of the Law also mattered. A deity controlling the Law of Music over a 10,000-kilometer radius would definitely be stronger than a True God controlling the Law of Time over just a 1,000-kilometer area. Thus, the size of an empire's territory greatly influenced how much area an emperor could control with their Law.
Rosen's Holy Grail Empire was far smaller than the Judgment Empire in terms of territory.
However, he also had the True Realm of the Ancient Gods, a divine realm territory, the divine body formed from the Dragon Realm, as well as the Miracle God Nation within the War Chess board and the Eternal Chronicle. With control over so many powerful worlds, the cumulative strengthening effect made the Time Law he wielded vastly superior to that of the Judgment Emperor.
As the Bronze Dragon clone closed in, the Judgment Emperor—who was not adept at melee combat—conceded without hesitation.
Rosen continued to avoid the Sword Emperor, prioritizing battles with the other emperors' clones.
He wasn't aiming for first place, but he had to at least place in the top seven.
Otherwise, the Sword Emperor would definitely choose him first, and Rosen still wasn't confident in achieving a total victory against him just yet.
Soon, thirteen battles ended in succession. Rosen won eleven and lost two, placing third.
He had conceded in both of his losses. The only undefeated contestant was the Sword Emperor. The only one defeated by the Sword Emperor was the Holy Spirit Emperor. While the Sword Emperor relied on external power like a crossbow at the level of an Immortal God-Demon, the Holy Spirit Emperor relied entirely on absolute individual strength.
Among the top seven victors, aside from the Pseudo-Human Emperor, four were newly risen emperors.
This made the old-generation emperors look a bit grim—they had clearly underestimated the strength these newcomers possessed.
When it came time to choose their opponent for the national war, Rosen—who had third pick—chose the Judgment Empire.
After the selection, the Judgment Emperor immediately detached his empire's territory from the King Continent. Rosen and he then each moved their territories to the edge of the continent. Only after fully distancing themselves from the other empires did they connect their empires' territories in the void.
(End of Chapter)