The Strongest Human Demigod and the War of the Five Kings

"Lord Howard, this way, please..."

Several Sequence 1 demigods, clad in knight armor, escorted Rosen toward the Lord's Castle beside the Torch of Hope.

This Lord's Castle had reached Sequence 2 in rank, on par with Rosen's Ashen Castle.

The fact that he couldn't sense a divine territory meant only one thing—the divine territory had already been transformed into a Divine Kingdom. Based on his assessment, the castle's owner wasn't a deity, but at most a Sequence 1 demigod—one who had already converted their divine territory into a Divine Kingdom and was only one step away from godhood. As long as they condensed their divine spark and elevated their Divine Kingdom, they could ascend as a deity.

Inside one of the castle's guest rooms, Rosen settled in for a brief rest. By the end of the day, all summoned demigods would have arrived, and during the evening banquet, the castle's owner would provide answers to any questions. Until then, all guests were permitted to freely explore the castle.

When Rosen first heard the word permitted, his instinctive reaction was to think, What an arrogant host. The use of permitted carried an implicit sense of superiority, as if the host considered themselves above others. However, as Rosen strolled through the castle, he soon realized—the owner of this castle was not arrogant at all.

Because this castle belonged to none other than Barry Harrison.

Not many people recognized that name—because only deities and True Gods had the qualifications to know of his existence. Had Rosen not come across relevant records in the Historical Secret Realm, he wouldn't have recognized the name either. While few knew his name, every knight had undoubtedly heard of Humanity's Strongest Knight.

Within the Knight Sequence, there existed one and only one True God, along with five deities. Yet, despite this, the universally acknowledged strongest knight was neither a deity nor a True God—it was the legendary demigod, known as Humanity's Strongest Knight.

The world government had once controlled a Sequence 1 troop nest, the Knight's Sanctuary, which housed the strongest territorial troops of Humanity's Strongest Knight. His most legendary feat? Leading the War Knight Legion into battle and slaying a foreign True God head-on.

However, his era of prominence had been during the early days of the world government's founding. For that reason, many believed that Humanity's Strongest Knight had long since perished after two thousand years of silence. Countless people speculated—after his fall, who inherited the Knight's Sanctuary? Yet who would have thought that Barry Harrison was not only alive but thriving?

Even the Historical Secret Realm only recorded a speculation that Barry had not died—but there were no records explaining his mysterious disappearance over the past twenty thousand years.

Time passed quickly, and soon, evening arrived.

In the grand hall of the Lord's Castle, the maids had already prepared an extravagant banquet, complete with fine food and wine. The demigods who had gradually arrived at the castle were led to their assigned seats by the maids.

Every seat had been meticulously arranged. The closer a seat was to the lord's main seat, the fewer there were in that area. Conversely, the farther a seat was from the lord, the more there were. Clearly, the stronger one's strength, the closer one was allowed to sit. The weaker ones had no choice but to sit further away.

Rosen sat down and counted—there were fifteen people ranked higher than him. Although this was only based on surface-level strength, it was enough to prove that all fifteen of them were Taboo Sequence demigods.

Before long, all the demigods had taken their seats. Only then did an elderly man, looking frail and weak, slowly make his way to the lord's main seat and sit down. Despite his feeble appearance, not a single demigod in the hall underestimated him.

This old man's body radiated at least dozens of terrifying law fluctuations, each carrying the aura of immense power. It wasn't hard to tell that his body bore the wounds of at least dozens of True Gods' law-based attacks. There was even a strong possibility that he had once been besieged by multiple True Gods at the same time.

And yet, he had survived. That alone meant he was far more terrifying than any of them.

"Let's keep this short," Barry said weakly after sitting down. "Twenty thousand years ago, three Great True Gods joined forces with nearly all the True Gods of the Main World to seal the Will of the World. One of the Great True Gods perished in the process, and the Will of the World was sealed within that god's corpse.

"But the Will of the World is far beyond anything we can comprehend—it is an existence so supreme that even Great True Gods must bow before it. So what was sealed back then was merely the Will's consciousness—not its power.

"Even in its sealed state, the Will of the World has been able to exert some degree of influence over the outside world. However, due to its limited reach, aside from the periodic civilization calamities, it hasn't caused any major disruptions over the past twenty thousand years.

"But in recent years, the world government discovered that something was wrong with the seal.

"The Great True God who supposedly perished back then did not actually die. Instead, he feigned death, intending to wait until the Will of the World was sealed so he could devour it using his own undying will.

"However, he overestimated himself.

"The reality was the opposite—the Will of the World began devouring his undying will instead.

"If the Will of the World succeeds, the first thing it will do is destroy the world government.

"That is why we must now join forces and venture deep into the Old Continent—to completely annihilate the Great True God and reinforce the seal."

Hearing this, Rosen and the other demigods exchanged looks, unable to hide their shock.

All of them stood at the pinnacle of the demigod realm. Their chances of becoming deities were almost guaranteed, and even ascending to True God was within reach. However, even as the strongest Sequence 1 demigods, forget about slaying a Great True God—they weren't even a match for an ordinary True God.

Even if this Great True God was on the brink of death, he was still not an existence they could possibly challenge.

"The world government isn't sending you all to your deaths," Barry continued. "Your only task is to deliver the reinforcement seals to the designated location. As for slaying the Great True God's undying will, I will handle it. Your only job is to hold back his surviving followers."

"And what gives you the right to claim you can slay a Great True God's undying will?" A Taboo Sequence demigod seated at the very front spoke up with clear skepticism.

"Because I am Humanity's Strongest Knight."

In that instant, all the weakness in Barry's voice disappeared. The sheer murderous aura accumulated from a lifetime of war flooded the entire banquet hall.

Even Rosen felt his own divinity being forcibly suppressed.

The moment divine power left the body, it would immediately be dispersed by this overwhelming killing intent.

Rosen immediately understood—Barry had already mastered the power of laws, and at the very least, he had grasped both the Law of Slaughter and the Law of War.

At the same time, Barry had fused his divine essence with laws, creating what was essentially a True God's Will—an authority that allowed him to impose his will upon all things, including even spirituality itself. This was the ultimate means of maximizing the power of spirituality and divinity.

No wonder Barry, despite being only Sequence 1, had personally slain a True God in battle.

Aside from lacking a divine spark, Barry was indistinguishable from an actual True God.

Rosen even suspected that Barry was a True God disguising himself as a Sequence 1 demigod.

Under the overwhelming pressure of Barry's terrifying strength, the hundred or so demigods present could only silently chew their food—finding that even the most exquisite dishes tasted like ash in their mouths.

As the meal continued, Barry took out a list and began assigning the demigods into groups.

Each group was led by a Taboo Sequence demigod and consisted of five to seven Titled Demigods as team members.

The stronger the Taboo Sequence leader, the stronger their assigned teammates.

Rosen's team consisted of only five members, all of whom were exceptionally powerful, making it clear that the world government expected them to take on more responsibility.

It was also obvious that the Taboo Sequence demigods were meant to protect the weaker Titled Demigods.

After all, anyone who had broken both spiritual and physical limits before advancing past Sequence 3 and possessed an innate destiny on par with a True God was qualified to be called a Taboo Sequence.

In truth, had Rosen not seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that there were actually seventeen Taboo Sequence demigods in the human world.

Each of them was a reserve True God—how could the human world possibly give rise to seventeen reserve True Gods?

There was only one logical explanation.

Most of these Taboo Sequence demigods had likely borrowed external forces, just like he had, to elevate their innate destinies to a True God level.

Once the teams had been assigned, Barry allowed time for the demigods to interact with their new teammates.

Rosen quickly met the five who had been assigned to his group—without exception, they were all Sequence 1.

In fact, nearly all the demigods summoned for this mission were Sequence 1.

Only a few were still stuck at Sequence 2.

And among all the team leaders—he was the only one at Sequence 2.

It was obvious to him that his five teammates were likely troublemakers.

Of course, none of them were stupid enough to outright challenge him,

But they certainly weren't going to follow his orders without question.

Rosen didn't particularly care.

If things got dangerous, he wouldn't be the one paying the price.

In reality, it wasn't just Rosen's team—none of the groups were truly united.

Titled Demigods were already among the strongest of demigods.

They had never interacted with Taboo Sequence demigods before.

Without proof of strength, why should they blindly follow orders?

Barry, seated at the head of the table, had seen far too much in his lifetime—he understood all too well that every demigod present had their own pride.

If this continued, it would be disastrous once they entered the Old Continent.

Here, they could afford to butt heads.

But in the depths of the Old Continent, division meant certain death.

"Enough talking. From now on, practical combat will be your way of getting to know each other," Barry's voice thundered, instantly drowning out all other sounds in the banquet hall.

In that same moment, his Law of War domain unfolded.

Rosen felt himself instantly pulled into the law domain, appearing on a battlefield littered with corpses and the ruins of fallen armies.

"One more thing—pick a codename. Once we enter the Old Continent, do not use your real names," Barry's voice descended from above.

"King," Rosen said after a moment's thought.

"Black King," said William Brown, a virologist, in a cold voice.

"Then I'll be White King," Laura Reeves, a computer scientist, smiled at William with deep affection.

"Feast King," Nathan Sinatra, a gourmet expert, declared without hesitation.

"God King," Zoe Parker, a sculptor, said with absolute confidence.

"Queen," Iris Monroe, an actress, blew a flirtatious kiss at Rosen, her voice brimming with heat.

Five Kings and One Queen—Rosen could already feel the headache coming. These Titled Demigods clearly had no intention of respecting his authority. Even when choosing codenames, they deliberately positioned themselves as his equals. It seemed he really would have to beat them into submission; otherwise, the trouble ahead would be endless.

"You can all come at me together!" Rosen declared as he activated the Holy Grail Crown and Royal Authority Sword, then unleashed his miracle skill—Royal Divine Kingdom.

Immediately after, he summoned the Necromancer Queen, who had recently advanced to Sequence 2. Since this was a team operation, with Barry the monster overseeing them from above, he needed to demonstrate some strength. He had already revealed his Abyssal Shadow Demons as his Sequence 2 troops, so showcasing any other Sequence 2 species would be suspicious. After all, Sequence 2 Soul Gems were far too rare—outside of the Old Continent, obtaining them was nearly impossible.

Therefore, the only Sequence 2 troop he could openly use was the Necromancer Queen.

The moment she appeared, she locked onto the greatest threat—White King.

White King immediately took a step back, vanishing into a spherical transcendent virtual pod that materialized out of thin air. As soon as she lay down and closed her eyes, countless streams of densely packed data cascaded into reality, forcibly overlaying the real world with the virtual world. The Necromancer Queen was dragged into White King's Virtual Spiritual Realm.

In this realm, which resembled a vast cyber network, computer scientists were the gods of the net.

However, the Necromancer Queen was no pushover. She immediately activated her psychic network, channeling the divine power of all her undead insect swarms. A psychic storm erupted, surging through White King's Virtual Spiritual Realm in an attempt to shatter it.

While the two clashed fiercely in cyberspace, Black King made his move as well—without a sound, countless bizarre pathogens appeared all around him.

Virologists specialized in enhancing their physical and mental attributes while simultaneously wielding transcendent viruses capable of infecting both the body and soul.

The best way to counter a virologist was simple—keep your distance.

Get too close, and sooner or later, you'd be infected without even realizing it.

Even Rosen was wary of Black King—he had no desire to be contaminated by those terrifying transcendent viruses.

Without hesitation, he summoned his Nightmare Slime—which, at this point, had already evolved into a Metal Slime. He had kept the old name purely for nostalgia. As Rosen's chief tank, it shared his skills and was more than capable of holding off Black King.

Rosen immediately distanced himself, pulling the battle away from Black King. God King, Feast King, and Queen followed suit—none of them wanted to fight a virologist at close range either.

Rosen summoned his Holy Grail Knights and sent them charging toward God King. As a sculptor, God King retaliated by summoning numerous statues, all of which came to life and engaged the knights in battle. Both sides were locked in an intense, evenly matched fight.

Against Feast King, Rosen wielded the Royal Authority Sword and launched a direct assault.

As for Queen, the woman had no intention of fighting him at all. Instead, she teleported to a nearby spot, conjured a table and chairs, and leisurely sipped tea while watching the various battles unfold around her.

Feast King's physical body was terrifyingly strong—Rosen's Royal Authority Sword couldn't even cut through his hand.

This monster had somehow assimilated countless transcendent lifeform abilities, fusing and stacking the same types of transcendent talents from different creatures to maximize their effects. By further combining and complementing these talents, he had managed to construct a body that was completely without weaknesses.

For now, Rosen was unable to break through his defenses.

On the other hand, Feast King was getting frustrated.

He could tell that King was skilled in melee combat, but it was obvious that this wasn't his true combat style. Despite dividing his power to fight three opponents simultaneously, he was still holding back against his real opponent.

To Feast King, this was nothing short of an insult.

So Feast King stopped being human—transforming into a transcendent lifeform that did not exist in this world.

Many transcendent beings focused on extreme specialization, refining certain traits to their absolute limits. It wasn't that they didn't want to develop comprehensively, but extreme specialization was often more advantageous, ensuring their species' survival and reproduction.

As a gourmet, Feast King had devoured countless transcendent lifeforms, allowing him to mimic a vast number of creatures. However, his most advanced transformation was a perfect fusion, created by combining partial transformations—extracting the extreme advantages of highly specialized transcendent beings and merging them into one.

Once the transformation was complete, Feast King launched into a relentless blitz attack.

He continuously unleashed abilities from different transcendent creatures, using them to probe Rosen's defenses.

If Rosen blocked a skill easily, Feast King discarded it.

If Rosen struggled even slightly to counter an attack, then in the next instant, countless similar abilities bombarded him at once.

Rosen had always relied on his versatility—his ability to counter nearly any opponent.

But this time—Feast King countered him in every possible way.

Seeing that he might actually lose if this continued, Rosen teleported away and drew Dragon God's Wrath.

Mastering both a Gold Sequence and a Silver Sequence at the same time was rare—but not unheard of in the human world. Some people had dual souls, others had naturally split spirituality, and psychologists specialized in multiple personalities. There were many ways to wield multiple transcendent sequences at once, but doing so often led to a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none situation, which was why few chose this path.

Rosen stabbed the Royal Authority Sword into the ground, instantly establishing a law that restricted movement speed.

Feast King, who had been moving at incredible speeds, was immediately slowed—his speed now couldn't even surpass the speed of sound. Rosen's movement was also restricted, though he could have exempted himself, but that would have weakened the suppression on Feast King.

This balance was perfect. With both of them slowed down, close-range combat became nearly impossible, forcing the battle into a ranged duel.

Two Dragon God's Roar bullets shot out from Rosen's gun barrels. Their speed was also affected, but they still traveled at several times the speed of sound. Normally, Feast King could have dodged them with ease, but now—he had nowhere to run.

Unable to dodge, Feast King chose to take them head-on.

He opened his mouth and unleashed a blast of Rotting Dragon Breath, colliding directly with the Dragon God's Roar bullets.

The Rotting Dragon was an aberrant species among dragons—its breath had the terrifying ability to corrupt almost all matter.

The moment the bullets were hit, they detonated into a massive inferno of dragonfire, engulfing the surrounding area in an explosion that stretched hundreds of miles wide.

Yet—within the raging flames, Feast King remained unscathed.

Not only that, but he even began controlling the fire.

To a gourmet, trying to use fire against him was beyond arrogant.

Feast King's anger grew stronger. But he did not suppress it.

His soul possessed a special transcendent talent—Flames of Fury.

He had even grasped a fragment of the Law of Wrath, allowing him to grow stronger the longer he fought without victory.

...

From that moment on, Rosen completely switched tactics—turning the battle into a one-sided kiting match.

Since the Royal Authority Sword's restriction was entirely under his control, even if Feast King found ways to close the distance, Rosen could momentarily lift the restriction, creating an opportunity to pull away again.

And in a pure ranged battle, Feast King couldn't match Rosen's sustained damage output.

Being kited continuously only fueled his rage.

But—what he didn't realize was that, at some point, Rosen's Azure Dragon clone had already moved next to Queen.

With each stroke of his brush, he was finishing a portrait of Feast King.

The moment the final stroke landed—the entire painting vanished, merging into an unfolding painting domain.

Feast King still hadn't noticed—

That the battlefield had already been infiltrated by the painting domain.

Rosen simply raised his hand—

And with a single gesture, the painting domain collapsed, dragging Feast King into it, sealing him inside the painting.

...

A few moments later—

Feast King broke free, tearing out of the painted world—

But his transformation was undone.

That was the equivalent of admitting defeat.

Since this wasn't a life-or-death battle, neither side had revealed their true trump cards.

However, Feast King had been forced to use one of his hidden cards just to escape.

Meanwhile, Rosen had clearly not gone all out yet.

And considering the fact that Rosen had been fighting four opponents at once—

Feast King now understood.

He wasn't Rosen's match.

If he continued pushing, they would both have to start using their real trump cards.

And at that point—

It would only lead to his humiliation.

(End of Chapter)