Meanwhile, in another hidden region of the second layer of the void, a completely different battle was taking place.

Unlike Eunuch Liang's mountain world, this domain was bizarre.

It was a world of scrolls. The sky was covered in endless burning scrolls stretching beyond sight. Rivers made entirely from parchment flowed across the land. Mountains of ancient documents rose toward the heavens.

Some scrolls were golden. Some were black. Some burned with crimson flames. Others floated silently through the air as though possessing minds of their own. Countless words and runes drifted throughout the world. Every second, thousands of flaming scrolls opened and closed by themselves, releasing waves of Law power into the surroundings. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

This was the domain of one of the empire's Legendary beings. The Scroll Sovereign.

Among the seven Legendary beings, three belonged to the royal family. This included the emperor and his two ancestors. The fourth was Eunuch Liang, who belonged to one of the empire's eunuch forces. Among the remaining three, one belonged to a powerful noble family, one was the empire's military general, and the last was said to be an invited force.

Or at least, this was the understanding of the two empire ancestors.

They were of course very mistaken, as even they had no idea of the true identity of the other two. Most likely only the emperor and the first ancestor who had died to Shojo knew their true identities. The reason the first ancestor knew and not the other two was simple. He was their father.

Yes, the figure who had fought against Shojo had also mated with a Legendary stage monster, who had birthed two children for him.

As for why the two ancestors still did not know about this, and why even someone like Michael could find out, it was partly because of the decades-long seclusion where only the emperor could meet them personally, and partly because the emperor had deliberately ensured both sides never crossed paths.

As for the outside world remaining unaware, on any normal day the two bloodlines were sealed. Only when fighting at full strength would their true identity be revealed.

This was also why the two ancestors had noticed nothing when they briefly encountered them outside the void. They had only spared the two a glance before the emperor answered their questions through voice transmission, offering a half-truth that concealed their real nature.

Like the emperor and Eunuch Liang, these two also hid their true power, though in the eyes of the outside world they openly appeared to be at the peak of Rank 3.

The Scroll Sovereign, on the other hand, was genuinely from a noble family, though he too had hidden his true strength from the world. Only a select few knew how powerful he truly was.

At the center of the Scroll Sovereign's domain stood Beginning.

A giant standing over sixty meters tall amidst the endless sea of burning scrolls. His grey skin resembled ancient stone.

Countless wounds covered his body. Deep cuts. Missing chunks of flesh. Burning scars. Broken bones protruding from several locations. Yet his expression remained completely calm, as though none of it mattered in the slightest.

Meanwhile, in one enormous hand, Beginning was holding a man.

The Scroll Sovereign.

At this moment the man was desperately struggling to escape. His face was pale, his breathing heavy, and a look of pure terror was painted across his entire expression.

A gigantic flaming scroll descended from the sky. The scroll opened. Thousands of glowing runes erupted outward. The surrounding world immediately shook.

"Law Skill!"

The old man roared desperately. "World Scripture Annihilation!"

The countless runes condensed together, then transformed into a gigantic spear of blazing scripture hundreds of meters long. The attack descended directly toward Beginning.

The spear struck. A massive explosion illuminated the entire domain. The surrounding scrolls burned away instantly as the resulting shockwave spread thousands of kilometers.

When the light finally faded, what the Scroll Sovereign saw only deepened the dread in his heart.

Beginning had not been stopped by the attack. The spear had pierced directly through his chest, creating a gigantic hole in the center of his body. One could see completely through him. His left arm had been torn off entirely. Half his ribs were gone. His internal organs had practically been vaporized.

Even for a Legendary being, such injuries were horrifying.

And yet Beginning simply looked down at the hole in his chest, then returned his gaze to the old man. His expression never changed.

Meanwhile, his aura seemed to climb even higher.

The Scroll Sovereign's face lost all color. "No…" His voice trembled. "No. No. No."

This was not the first time something like this had happened. The series of injuries covering Beginning's body was proof of that.

However, knowing how Beginning's Law functioned, should all of those injuries not have disappeared already? Should his body not have healed completely and become even stronger?

If nothing was wrong with his Law, the answer was simple.

Beginning was suppressing his own healing.

At the start of their battle, Beginning had fought normally, or rather, as normally as Beginning ever fought. He had intentionally allowed the Scroll Sovereign to injure him, since every brush with death increased the power of his Brutal Rebirth.

Initially, that had been his entire plan.

Then a thought occurred to him, and his entire approach changed.

It was also the reason he had willingly entered the Scroll Sovereign's domain, and the reason he had tolerated injury after injury instead of ending the battle immediately.

Beginning wanted the greatest possible benefit from this fight. And the way to achieve that was through his own Law Domain.

Back in Hell, during his battle against the Rank 4 Amazari, Beginning had already attempted something similar. At the time, Rank 4 beings were heavily suppressed and his Law had not been complete. What he created back then could only be described as a partial manifestation. A prototype.

But things were different now.

Beginning had advanced. He was a genuine Rank 4 existence. And his Law had evolved alongside him.