Inside the Sky King's Hall, the Sky Emperor's expression was anything but pleasant.
Too much time had passed, and the other two groups of emperors still hadn't produced a victor.
This was far from normal. He had finally realized that all the emperors had just been putting on a show—every one of them was trying to be the fisherman reaping the benefits. In the end, everyone had the same idea. That meant he had spent months hosting the Holy Grail Emperor in the Sky King's Hall for nothing.
During these months of waiting, hoping the other emperors would destroy each other, the Holy Grail Emperor had shown absolutely no restraint.
The eating and drinking could be tolerated—but the imperial concubines and maidens offered by the empire to the Sky King's Hall were almost all defiled by the Holy Grail Emperor.
The once-lively Sky King's Hall had become a ghost town after just a few months.
The Sky Emperor had let the Holy Grail Emperor do as he pleased in his hall, all in the hopes of subtly weakening him. Any weakening, no matter how slight, was worth it. After all, once the moment came to reap the rewards, it would be less likely that the Holy Grail Emperor would challenge him for the final prey.
But all that investment was now for nothing. No wonder his face looked terrible.
A few days later, the six emperors all gathered again in the Sky King's Hall.
None of them felt even the slightest embarrassment—only regret that they'd all missed the chance to swoop in and steal the victory.
Since everyone wanted to play fisherman, it was clear that this time, there could be no more fake battles—it would have to be a real fight.
This time, the Sky Emperor didn't choose Rosen. Instead, it was the Sword Emperor who locked his gaze onto Rosen.
In the end, the Sky Emperor and the Flash Emperor flew off into the void, while the Judgment Emperor and the Blazing Eye Emperor also retreated to another corner of the void.
Everyone was in a rush—because the opportunity to fish for benefits still existed.
As long as they could defeat their opponent quickly and absorb the spoils swiftly, there was still a chance to ambush another emperor and seize even more.
Rosen thought the same. So as soon as both sides released their imperial territories from within their domains, a full-scale imperial war began.
The Sword Emperor held in his hands a transcendent artifact of the Immortal God-Demon level—the Star-Shot Ballista. The moment he locked onto Rosen, he fired a ballista bolt.
The Star-Shot Ballista used divine power as ammunition—enough to pose a mortal threat to even Great True Gods.
But if stellar bodies were used as bolts, it could threaten even Immortal God-Demons.
Even among Immortal God-Demons, the Star-Shot Ballista was among the top-tier transcendent artifacts.
Rosen had no intention of probing or testing. He wanted a swift and decisive battle.
Using a taboo curse painting he had long prepared of the Sword Emperor, he directly sent the curse of an Immortal Evil God his way.
After cultivating the Evil God statue, he obtained the Hell Evil Eye. Although this Origin Fruit didn't contain the Evil God's power itself, all that power had been intercepted by the Eternal Root and transformed into paint pigments through its root tendrils.
With such paint, the resulting taboo curse painting was enough to give the Sword Emperor an unforgettably bitter experience.
The curse immediately corrupted the Sword Emperor's godhood. With no other choice, he had to rely on his King Sequence to shift the damage away.
However, the Immortal Evil God's curse, enhanced by the taboo miracle trait of life and death recursion, clung like a bone-deep parasite.
The King Sequence could divert the effects of the curse—but not the curse itself.
In the blink of an eye, countless citizens of the Sword Empire had been corrupted and turned into Evil God's followers.
Sensing the chaos erupting within his empire's flame of civilization, the Sword Emperor activated the Star-Shot Ballista and fired a stellar bolt.
The crimson-red arrow, formed of divine solar flames, faintly revealed a string of hundreds of stars inside it. These stars were all ordinary stars—but nearing the end of their lifecycle, just on the verge of becoming red giants. Though not transcendent stars, they still carried horrifying destructive power.
Faced with this incoming stellar bolt—which could destroy even Great True Gods—Rosen, who had originally intended to take the hit, instead manifested the Golden Crow Starship.
The stellar bolt, capable of annihilating Great True Gods, was swallowed whole by the Golden Crow Starship. Though the starship's body nearly melted on the spot, it managed to endure and suppress the red giant stars within the bolt.
Rosen retrieved the Golden Crow Starship, a swirl of confusion welling up in his heart.
He understood the concept of the universe. He had once believed that beyond the New World lay the vast cosmos filled with infinite celestial bodies.
But when the Eternal Root created the Origin Seed, and his divine consciousness transcended the New World and crossed into the universe, he discovered that outside the New World, there were no galaxies, no countless stars—only endless world origins.
Ever since then, he had been deeply puzzled. Did the Blue Star of his previous life, and the vast cosmos beyond it, truly exist?
If they didn't exist at all, how could one explain the layout of the Mysterious Study Room? How could the nuclear bomb that had once appeared in the Spirit World be explained?
Perhaps it was because he had lived too long in this life, and the brief years of his past life had grown smaller and smaller in his memory.
At times, he couldn't help but doubt whether those past-life memories were real or fake.
But now, seeing this stellar arrow, he realized the answer might lie in the Sword Emperor.
Because whether in the New World or the Old World, the suns and stars here were all transcendent celestial bodies.
The core of the sun here was the Law of the Sun, and the flames burning on its surface were divine solar fire—not nuclear fusion reactions at all.
But the countless stars inside this one stellar arrow were all stars exactly like those he had known in his previous life—all the same type of stars that had never appeared in the New World. If he wanted to know where these stars had come from, then it seemed absolutely necessary to capture the Sword Emperor alive.
At that moment, seeing his first arrow blocked, the Sword Emperor fired a second—a black hole arrow—heart aching all the while.
This arrow was formed by chaining multiple black holes together. Inside, the gravitational fields of the black holes combined into a special space-time sealing formation.
This formation transformed the black hole's force into the raw power of space and time—the purest form of force, rather than any kind of law.
In truth, laws were born later. Laws were products of order.
When Rosen's divine consciousness had traversed the universe, he hadn't discovered any laws at all. In the universe overflowing with endless world origins, there was no structured order—only the most basic forces. It seemed only with the birth of a world would laws come into being.
At this moment, although this raw power of space-time was inferior in quality to actual space-time laws, it had a staggering advantage in quantity.
So this black hole arrow was terrifyingly fast—so fast that even with his mastery of space-time laws, Rosen could only barely manage to actively deploy the "All Laws Invulnerable" ability of the Radiant Throne.
It had to be activated manually—because the black hole arrow was faster than the automatic defense response of "All Laws Invulnerable."
On the defensive barrier projected by the Radiant Throne, faint mirages of Rosen's various territories could be seen shimmering.
Then the black hole arrow struck—and all the damage was instantly transferred away.
To the naked eye, Rosen's body cracked inch by inch, inside and out.
Among all his domains, the ones with the strongest defense—aside from the Mysterious Study Room—were his divine territory fused with the Dragon Realm, which had become his own body.
Other territories were hard to repair if damaged. Only his physical body, if destroyed, could be repaired more easily.
When he first obtained the Radiant Throne, Rosen had considered whether to simply take attacks directly with his body and skip the damage transfer, which might seem redundant.
But after careful research, he realized that the same attack, when transferred through "All Laws Invulnerable," would be significantly weakened.
First, one must understand: All damage caused by Great True Gods contained laws, immortal will, and other such forces.
These were the truly troublesome parts—like being cut by a blade coated with tetanus: the bleeding wound was easy to staunch, but if the rust wasn't handled properly, it could cause persistent harm or even death.
When the Radiant Throne transferred damage, it only transferred the base damage.
As for the laws and immortal will embedded within the damage, they were all filtered out by "All Laws Invulnerable."
Rosen, feeling his body shattering like fragile porcelain, was still shaken by the sheer power of the black hole arrow.
Without "All Laws Invulnerable," two or three arrows like that could've easily killed him.
Fortunately, with laws and immortal will filtered out, the surface damage was no longer a major threat. He only needed to become one with all matter and reconstruct his body to return to normal—though that process still consumed quite a bit, and couldn't be done casually.
Though he wasn't afraid of the Sword Emperor's attacks, Rosen still acted shocked, turning and fleeing in panic.
The Sword Emperor gave chase relentlessly, firing one cosmic-body-forged arrow after another. In a matter of moments, Rosen's body looked like shattered porcelain barely holding together—and even the Mysterious Study Room had sustained noticeable damage.
Despite clearly holding the upper hand, the Sword Emperor felt an ever-deepening unease in his heart.
The number of Star-Shot Ballista arrows in his hand was limited. By the time he had fired the third, he'd felt that Rosen was about to die.But now he had fired dozens of arrows, and Rosen was still holding on, refusing to fall?
The Sword Emperor had already realized—Rosen's defense and vitality were both terrifyingly strong. He looked like he could die at any moment, but that might be nothing more than a ruse to lure out more Star-Shot Ballista arrows.
If this went on, before Rosen was even shot dead, the curse of the evil god inside the Sword Emperor would have already fully corrupted the people of the Sword Empire.
Gritting his teeth, the Sword Emperor loosed his final three arrows. The last three white dwarf star arrows struck the barrier around Rosen.
Under the pull of an endless gravitational field, the "All Laws Invulnerable" barrier was finally torn apart.
Or rather, Rosen actively dispelled the barrier himself.
The instant his body was completely torn to pieces, he willingly transformed into all things.
The world his body transformed into spread outward, not only enveloping the Sword Emperor, but also swallowing the territories of both the Sword Empire and the Holy Grail Empire—until in the end, it became an immortal world suspended in the void like an egg.
As the Eternal Root from within his Eternal Divinity flowed into this world, it began to take root, sprout, bloom, and bear fruit.
Since he had to transform into a world to heal anyway, why not take the opportunity to use the power of the Eternal Root to further evolve his physical body?
Countless roots pierced through the immortal world. With the power of accelerated time, and Rosen's full cooperation, the entire immortal world was drained of all its essence by the roots, leaving behind only residue. And that wasn't all—the Mysterious Study Room was also wrapped up in the roots at that moment.
Rosen transferred most of the damage to the Mysterious Study Room, causing it to suffer great trauma as well.
But for Rosen, this was an excellent opportunity—a chance to completely destroy and absorb the Mysterious Study Room into himself.
After all, the Mysterious Study Room was an immortal world created by the Apocalypse. No matter how good someone else's world was, it was still inferior to one's own. So he decided to take this chance to devour the Study Room as well.
As the roots absorbed enough nutrients, they began to sprout, bloom, and bear fruit.
At last, a pair of hands tore open the root-fruit, and Rosen crawled out from within it.
His body, now reshaped by the Eternal Root, was completely different from before.
His divine territory remained, now fused with the lands of the Sword Empire and the Holy Grail Empire, all integrated into the Ancient God's Heart.
As for the Mysterious Study Room—it didn't disappear. Instead, it fused into his sea of consciousness.
Rosen had always been most concerned about his sea of consciousness. His physical body, fused with an immortal world, had unmatched defense—but his sea of consciousness and Eternal Divinity obviously lacked that same level of protection. Now that the Mysterious Study Room had fused with his sea of consciousness, his defenses no longer had a weak point.
The result was very good, yet Rosen still felt a bit dissatisfied.
He had expected a full fusion, but clearly the Eternal Root power he controlled wasn't strong enough yet. The root-fruit it produced was only able to further integrate the Mysterious Study Room with himself—it couldn't fully break the Study Room down into nutrients via root absorption.
After the fusion of the Mysterious Study Room and the sea of consciousness, Rosen no longer needed to use doors or windows to enter it.
With a mere thought, he could transfer his body from outside into it.
Rosen carefully sensed the Ancient God's Heart—while he could understand why the Study Room, being too strong, hadn't been fully converted into nutrients by the Eternal Root, he was puzzled as to why the territories of the two empires hadn't been fully broken down either, and had instead merged with the divine territory to occupy the Ancient God's Heart.
Upon closer sensing, he discovered—the land inside the Ancient God's Heart had merged with far more than just those two empires.
The game privileges he possessed, and the very origin of the Eternal Game itself, had all merged with the divine territory. They had transformed into a miniature King's Continent and King's Game that now occupied the Ancient God's Heart—but this world and the King's Game within it were entirely under his control.
It was as if, with the help of the Eternal Root, he had fully digested all the gains he had made in the King's Game over the years.
Even the real King's Game outside couldn't reclaim the part he had completely seized.
If Rosen won the final victory of the King's Game, he could even completely integrate both the King's Game and the King's Continent into his Ancient God's Heart. At that point, the world within his Ancient God's Heart would essentially become a complete King's Game.
Rosen activated the Omniscient Evil Eye and looked toward the other battlefields, discovering that the Sky Emperor was also close to a final outcome.
Clearly, the Sky Emperor shared the same idea as him, both wanting to quickly resolve the battle of life and death and then act as the fisherman who reaps the spoils.Thus, the Sky Emperor directly went all out against the Flash Spirit Emperor, willing to risk his own death to drag the Flash Spirit Emperor down with him. The Sky Emperor had control over game privileges, allowing him to resurrect, while the Flash Spirit Emperor, if killed, would die for real.
Rosen didn't seize the opportunity to attack the Sky Emperor. With a few lives remaining, the Sky Emperor wouldn't be so easy to kill.
He quietly made his way toward the battlefield of the Judgment Emperor and the Blazing Eye Emperor. At this point, while both of them also wanted to quickly win, their strengths were relatively balanced, and neither could do much to the other. Moreover, they seemed to have a mutual intent to stop and cease fighting.
Clearly, they had sensed that a battle in the distance had come to a halt.
This caused Rosen to lose his chance for a surprise attack. Just a moment later, when the Sky Emperor's battle had ended, the Judgment Emperor and Blazing Eye Emperor completely ceased fighting. It seemed their divine consciousnesses had communicated something, and the two emperors actually began to fuse.
The Judgment Emperor and Blazing Eye Emperor became one person, and the territories of the Judgment Empire and the Blazing Eye Empire merged into one.
Rosen was certain that they weren't the same person, so this fusion wasn't like a split body merging with its main body. Instead, through some secret technique, they had merged their bodies, with both consciousnesses sharing control over one body.
One day, these two emperors would have to fight to the death for the control of the body at the level of soul and divine essence.
So, the fusion now only delayed the inevitable battle for their lives.
Then, through this fusion, they could join forces to fight against the other emperors.
Indeed, the prey that survived to this point was never simple. Even in a deadly situation, they found a way to survive.
If their fusion had been just a little slower, and the Sky Emperor had arrived in time, Rosen wouldn't have minded teaming up with the Sky Emperor to take down each of them. Now, with the three groups of emperors quickly ending their wars, the next step was to release the Holy Spirit Emperor for a final showdown.
Rosen and the others tacitly distanced themselves, each digesting their victories and turning them into power.
After his Ancient God's divine body was reshaped by the Eternal Root, his life essence surged by 165 points to the max, and his divine essence also grew to 164 points, leaving him just one point away from becoming a Great True God.
However, this wasn't his greatest gain. The greatest reward was that the four King cards were finally complete.
The four King cards had now merged into a single King card.
[Immortal Emperor: Miracle Tarot Card]
[Level: Immortal God and Demon]
[Miracle Attribute: The Immortal Emperor can create and control all Tarot cards]
[Miracle Characteristics: Immortal Crown, Immortal Scepter, Immortal Holy Sword, Immortal Holy Grail, Immortal Coin, Immortal Empire, King's Game (sealed), One with Heaven and Earth, Eternal Immortality]
Except for the final Miracle Characteristic, "King's Game" being sealed, all other abilities were activated.
With a mere thought, the Immortal Crown appeared on his head, the Immortal Scepter appeared in his hand, the Immortal Holy Sword hung from his waist, the Immortal Coin appeared in his pocket, and the power of the Immortal Emperor began to spread into the Ancient God's Heart, transforming the Holy Grail Empire into the Immortal Empire.
The only function of the Immortal Scepter was to transform the extraordinary bodies of both enemies and allies into Immortal soldiers.
These Immortal soldiers were essentially units of the King's Game that could continually resurrect.
The Immortal Holy Sword allowed the wielder to control the laws of kingship and emperorhood, though it still couldn't control the legendary strongest laws of imperial authority.
However, now that the Immortal Holy Sword inherited the power of the Sword King, it could enhance the all-around combat strength of the Immortal soldiers.
Then, there was the Immortal Coin, which could turn all resources into Immortal Coins. Whether reviving Immortal soldiers, using Immortal soldiers to construct special buildings for the Immortal Empire, or manufacturing various Tarot cards, all would consume Immortal Coins.
As for the Immortal Holy Grail, it could convert all matter into Immortal Essence, which was the universal energy source for the Immortal Empire.
Lastly, the Immortal Crown could lock the origin, infinitely heal the Immortal Emperor, and suppress all Tarot card holders.
Rosen tried to create Tarot cards and found he could only create Minor Arcana cards, not Major Arcana cards.
This was because all the Major Arcana cards already existed, and without exception, each one had an owner.
Through the Immortal Crown, Rosen could vaguely sense that the holders of these Major Arcana cards were all in the new world.
He could only continue sensing the Miracle Characteristic of the Immortal Empire. This Miracle Characteristic could transform the entire Immortal Empire into a Miracle Empire, granting the entire empire the ability to be eternally immortal. This meant the territory and subjects of the Immortal Empire would be immune to death.
However, Rosen didn't believe that the two Miracle Characteristics—One with Heaven and Earth and Eternal Immortality—were entirely beneficial.
If his Eternal Holy Radiance were just a little stronger, he would have erased these two Miracle Characteristics.
The Immortal Emperor's Miracle Tarot card was still incomplete. It would only truly be complete once he won the King's Game.
(End of Chapter)