Lord: Sequence Master

In the castle of the Lord of the Divine Realm, nine seats were arranged around a long table.

The person occupying the main seat was not the owner of the lord's castle but the Sequence 4 Divine Archaeologist, Damon Touré.

As for the remaining eight individuals, except for Rosen and the Wood Elf Queen, all were Sequence 3 archaeologists.

All of them deferred to Damon Touré, not merely because of his rank but because his father was the director of the World Government Archaeological Institute.

What does it mean to use authority to suppress others? This was the first time Rosen had witnessed such blatant coercion, even with his vast experience.

"This is the information we have discovered so far."

Mal Watson, the owner of the lord's castle, produced two file bags and gestured for the butler to deliver them to Rosen and the Wood Elf Queen.

Rosen opened the file and carefully examined its contents. The information was far more detailed than anything available on the Spiritual World's Deep Web.

This elven kingdom once belonged to the Sequence 0 Holy Elf King.

The Holy Elves—their entire tribe numbering fewer than a hundred—had never managed to ignite the flame of civilization, but their strength was undeniable. The weakest among them was Sequence 3, there were over ten Sequence 1s, two Sequence 0s, and even one True God beyond Sequence 0.

Yet, despite such formidable power, this sacred lineage vanished silently from history.

The prevailing theory among scholars was that the True Gods of the Giants had launched a joint surprise attack, annihilating the Holy Elves. After all, the Holy Elves' resurrection techniques posed an unprecedented threat. If the Holy Elves had allied with other elven True Gods, their sustained combat capability would have been devastating.

In war, the healer is always the first target.

However, according to the archaeologists' findings, the Holy Elves were not destroyed by the giants but by their fellow elves.

The reasoning was as cold and calculated as it was tragic.

At that time, the elves dominated the Sacred Continent and were on the brink of enduring the Second Ten-Thousand-Year Catastrophe.

To survive, the elven civilization deliberately splintered. Yet, avoiding such a catastrophe wasn't as simple as division—it required the fall of a True God. Without such a sacrifice, the catastrophe could not pass.

In this desperate situation, the Elven Pantheon chose to sacrifice the Holy Elves.

The Holy Elves were the smallest in number, and their unyielding pride had long alienated them from the other tribes.

Thus, before the giants and elves even clashed, the Holy Elves had already been betrayed and exterminated by their own kind.

If the Holy Elves had not been sacrificed, perhaps the outcome of the war would have been entirely different.

This betrayal left an enduring hatred in the hearts of the Holy Elves.

Despite their small numbers, the Holy Elves still required faith. But with so few of their own to worship them, they turned their gaze outward.

Their solution was conquest—subjugating other elven tribes and converting them into their believers.

This ambition sowed resentment among the Elven Gods, further alienating the Holy Elves from their kin.

According to the archaeological findings, the Holy Elf King, in his final act, cursed the Ancient Tree of Life.

Before the final battle could even begin in his kingdom, he sacrificed everything—his people, his kingdom, and even himself—to fuel this curse.

This explained why the Holy Kingdom of the Elves appeared as nothing more than an empty shell, devoid of corpses, devoid of battle scars.

But such a curse would have required more than just raw power. It was confirmed that the Holy Elf King used a Sequence 1 Miracle Treasure during his sacrificial ceremony.

The World Government Archaeological Institute's true objective was not merely to find this treasure but to break the curse afflicting the Ancient Tree of Life.

After finishing the report, Rosen narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

If the treasure was all they wanted, why hadn't Damon Touré's Sequence 0 father intervened directly?

Clearly, the curse was the real obstacle.

Rosen logged into the Main God Network and the Spiritual World Deep Web, scouring for recent information about elves.

It didn't take long to uncover an unsettling pattern.

Over the past few years, several human factions that once traded in Elven Slaves had mysteriously shifted their focus to other alien races. Elves had seemingly become off-limits.

A truce? A secret agreement between the World Government and the Elves?

The pieces fit. The Archaeological Institute's real goal was to lift the curse on the Ancient Tree of Life.

The fact that the elves still existed, albeit in dwindling numbers, proved that the Mother Tree of Life wasn't entirely dead.

Even a dead tree can sprout new buds, given the chance.

But the curse made it impossible for such new life to flourish.

And to break that curse?

At least one million elves would need to be sacrificed.

"One million. This time, we only need one million Wood Elves."

Damon Touré stared coldly at the Wood Elf Queen.

"I've left you 90,000 Wood Elves. You should know what to say when you return. If any negative news spreads, the remaining 90,000 will no longer be necessary."

"I refuse."

Rosen said calmly.

"Why do you refuse?"

Damon smiled, though his eyes remained sharp.

"Because the Wood Elf Kingdom no longer exists. The Wood Elves are no longer a vassal state of the World Government."

Rosen's voice was steady, unwavering.

"What do you mean?"

Damon's smile faded.

"I have turned the Wood Elves into my own Spiritual Painting."

Rosen continued, "So now, the Wood Elves are my private property. The World Government has no right to seize the private property of a Hereditary Duke. Unless this constitutes a genocide war, your conscription order is nothing more than a worthless piece of paper."

"You dare accuse me? It was the Wood Elf Queen who refined that spiritual painting!"

Damon's gaze flickered to Mal Watson, the lord of the castle.

It was true that the Sequence 4 archaeologists had witnessed Rosen integrating the Ancient Tree of Life and the Wood Elves into the spiritual painting.

But the ownership of that painting remained unclear.

If Rosen had attempted to claim it outright back then, those same archaeologists would have stopped him on the spot.

However, in the end, Rosen handed the spiritual realm painting to the Queen of Wood Elves, so the archaeologists did not stop him.

Don't underestimate the difference in ownership. The former means that the Wood Elves become Rosen's private property, while the latter means that the Wood Elves and the Wood Elf Queen are still a subordinate race of humans. If what Rosen said was true, could it be that those archaeologists were fooled right in front of them?

But judging from the Wood Elf Queen's fleeting surprise, it seemed likely that Rosen was lying.

"Prove it to me," Damon said gloomily.

Rosen stretched out his hand, and the spiritual painting stored in the Wood Elf Queen's sea of consciousness flashed into his palm. He unfolded the scroll with a flick of his wrist, releasing his spiritual power from the painting.

Indeed, it was the Queen of the Wood Elves who had originally refined this painting. But if he had wanted to refine it himself, he would have been stopped by those Sequence 4 archaeologists.

The key to his ability to seize control of the painting without the Wood Elf Queen noticing was that after the spiritual painting was created, all humans other than the Wood Elves in the Sky Garden were expelled. Without the interference of foreign populations, he directly helped the Wood Elves restore their racial purity and ignite the Flame of Civilization.

Then, he refined the Flame of Civilization through the Flame of Miracle and, by persuading the Ancient Tree of Life, quietly refined the entire spiritual realm painting. Now, all the Wood Elves belonged to him, and Damon would need his consent if he wanted to recruit them.

Damon's face turned completely dark. His actions during this archaeological incident had crossed several lines. Many people were watching him. If he succeeded, he might have been forgiven for going beyond the norm, but failure—especially being tricked by a Sequence 5—would turn him into a laughingstock among his competitors.

If Damon had originally wanted to subdue Rosen, now he simply wanted him to suffer a fate worse than death.

"I need one million Wood Elves. Name your price!" Damon said, suppressing his anger.

Rosen turned to look at the Wood Elf Queen, who was nervously watching him, and then gave Damon a mocking smile.

"Let's go!"

Rosen stood up and pulled the Wood Elf Queen out of the lord's castle hall.

"I'm waiting to see how you die!" Damon yelled at Rosen's retreating figure.

Through the Void Phase, Rosen brought the Wood Elf Queen back to the Holy Continent.

The Queen of Wood Elves kept her head down, knowing things would not be so simple.

Indeed, human nobles were qualified to subjugate members of subordinate races. However, if the number was large, not only must the subordinate race agree, but they must also pay a merit tribute to the World Government. It was the World Government that had conquered these subordinate races, and allowing human nobles to subjugate them was already considered a reward.

Rosen had now directly conquered the entire Wood Elf Kingdom, which meant he owed the World Government an astronomical amount of merit. If he failed to repay it within the given timeframe, he would inevitably lose his hereditary dukedom.

"Don't worry. Since I've done this, I'm sure I can resolve the hidden dangers."

Rosen's confident smile made the Wood Elf Queen breathe a sigh of relief.

After calming the Wood Elf Queen, Rosen applied to the Noble Council of the World Government via the Deep Web of the Spirit Realm to officially subjugate the entire Wood Elf tribe as his subordinates.

The Council of Nobles would not reject such an application, as it was sacred and inviolable for the Lord of the Divine Realm to subjugate alien races.

However, Rosen was somewhat alarmed by the merit list and the deadline given by the Council of Nobles.

He sent the Wood Elf Queen back to the Sky Garden to appease her people while he retreated into his mysterious study.

Damon had caused him so much trouble; of course, he couldn't just let it go. Even if he couldn't kill Damon immediately, he would make him pay dearly.

Rosen took out his last remaining Heart of the Mother Tree of Life and quickly painted a Sequence 6 Ancient Tree of Life. Although the tree was only Sequence 6, it was enough to birth elven life.

Using the Lord God Network, he contacted a merchant in the Abyss who specialized in selling souls.

Most of the souls needed to create Shadow Fiends had been purchased through this merchant.

This time, he directly bought five million souls, though they were only Sequence 9 Abyss Human Souls. These souls had long been polluted by the Abyss and were no longer truly human.

After acquiring the souls, Rosen began modifying the Ancient Tree of Life using the world's gene bank.

The efficiency of breeding Dark Elves was pushed to its limit, but these elves were soulless husks.

Rosen poured the five million Abyss Human souls into the Ancient Tree of Life, squeezed its essence, and consumed hundreds of millions of lower-grade spiritual crystals in a matter of days. At last, he cloned and assembled five million Sequence 9 Dark Elves.

As a man of great luck within the Abyss Clan, Rosen then contacted Damon through the Lord God Network.

At that time, Damon was already overwhelmed. The Wood Elf Kingdom debacle had spread, and subordinate races were jointly protesting to the World Government.

Under mounting pressure, Damon's father could not issue a new recruitment order.

When Damon received the transaction offer through the Lord God Network, he was initially skeptical. But after exhausting all other options, he had no choice but to make the deal.

Through the main temple, Damon purchased five million Sequence 9 Dark Elves.

The archaeological work, which had been stalled for nearly a month, resumed immediately.

In Mal's Divine Territory, the five million Dark Elves were subjected to sacred purification rituals. Thousands of archaeologists, ranging from Sequence 6 to Sequence 3, worked tirelessly for two months to complete the purification.

Finally, the Dark Elves were teleported out of the divine territory.

However, the moment they left, they fell into the sacrificial curse ceremony of the Holy Elf King. Their bodies withered into gray sand, infused with their life and spirituality.

The gray sandstorm, seemingly alive, surged toward a ruined temple that had suddenly appeared in the center of the divine kingdom.

"Don't let me down." Damon warned Sequence 3 Yaska with a sharp gaze.

Yaska was visibly displeased. As a Sequence 3, being ordered around by a Sequence 4 felt humiliating. But there was no room for rebellion—Damon was a Descendant of God, someone he couldn't afford to provoke.

With a reluctant sigh, Yaska retrieved a statue radiating divine light. Under his careful manipulation, the statue glowed and expanded, transforming into a twenty-meter-tall Sacred Elf with golden wings spread majestically.

Without wasting a moment, Damon and his companions hid beneath the Sacred Elf's armored skirt, their expressions taut with urgency.

The Sacred Elf took flight, its golden wings carrying them swiftly toward the ruined temple standing solemnly at the heart of the God's Kingdom Ruins.

Protected by the Sacred Elf's aura, Damon and his group remained unaffected by the terrifying sacrificial curse ritual saturating the land.

At the same time, far from Mal's divine territory, a small spatial vortex quietly emerged at the other end of the kingdom. From within stepped a human-sized Sacred Elf, light rippling around its delicate form.

"The astronomical predictions were correct," Rosen murmured as he gazed at the ruined temple bathed in sacred light.

He had access to the world's genetic archives and the Life Gene Map of the Mother Tree of Life. Using them, he had meticulously adjusted ancient godly bloodlines and reshaped the life gene structure of the Sacred Elves, achieving physical perfection.

But his soul and spirit were another matter entirely—they were imitations. If he encountered a high-level Sacred Elf, he would be exposed instantly.

Still, compared to the inferior imitation created by Damon and his crew using a Sacred Elf statue, Rosen's version felt almost genuine.

Harnessing the Sacred Elf's elemental affinity for light, Rosen sped ahead, racing against time to reach the temple before Damon.

While Damon and his group struggled against the gray sandstorm—a result of five million dark elves' sacrificial ritual—Rosen moved unhindered.

Thus, half an hour earlier, Rosen stepped into the ruined temple first.

The temple, despite its grand scale, felt oddly hollow. It wasn't aged, nor decayed—it was as if someone had deliberately dismantled it, leaving only a statue of the Holy Elf King intact in the center.

The statue was kneeling on one knee, hands reverently holding a silver-white oil lamp.

Rosen approached and mirrored its stance, kneeling before it.

A feather fell softly from his wing, sharp as a blade. It sliced across his wrist, and crimson blood dripped onto the statue.

The statue's eyes flickered open. For a moment, disbelief crossed its divine features.

How can this be? How could a Sacred Elf still exist? And one as weak as Sequence 5?

Yet, the body and bloodline were unmistakably genuine. Only the soul was obscured, shrouded in an impenetrable fog.

The Holy Elf King, weakened and clinging to a fragment of his divinity, couldn't muster the strength to pierce through the illusion.

"What are your origins?" the Holy Elf King asked, his voice heavy with curiosity.

"Humans…" Rosen answered truthfully. "My ancestors carried the blood of the Sacred Elves. In the current era, humanity dominates the world, and extraordinary bloodlines have been assimilated. My strength comes from my ancestral Sacred Elf blood."

"Human, why do you…"

The Holy Elf King paused, his divine gaze drifting into the distance. Understanding dawned upon him.

Those humans hiding in the statue of the Sacred Elf—they aren't allied with this one.

This young man concealed his soul not to deceive the Holy Elf King, but to avoid the attention of Damon's elder backers in the future.

No one could lie to the Holy Elf King. The truth was clear: this human truly carried the blood of the Sacred Elves.

Perhaps… a Sacred Elf had once mingled with a human, creating a hybrid lineage.

In the glorious past of the Sacred Elves, such a child would have been executed as an abomination.

But now, this frail young man might be the last remnant of their bloodline.

"Promise me one thing…" the Holy Elf King sighed. "I will grant you the Sequence 1 Miracle Treasure, the Eternal Darkness Oil Lamp, and a fragment of my godhead. But when you're strong enough… I need you to kill the Holy Sun God."

"I doubt I have a choice," Rosen said solemnly. "The Holy Sun God will hunt down the holder of the Eternal Darkness Oil Lamp regardless."

"It's good that you understand."

The Holy Elf King extended the Eternal Darkness Oil Lamp to Rosen. At the same time, a brilliant crystal fragment emerged from his forehead, glowing with faint divine light.

The statue began to crumble, fragments weathering away like dust in the wind.

As Rosen secured the Eternal Darkness Oil Lamp and the godhead fragment, he activated the Void Phase's teleportation and vanished.

The statue, now just a shadow of its former grandeur, strode into the oncoming gray sandstorm.

With his remaining strength, the Holy Elf King raised his hand. The swirling storm condensed into a gray, eternal oil lamp in his palm.

Moments later, the statue disintegrated entirely, its power spent in completing the final sacrificial curse ritual.

The sudden, cataclysmic shift left Damon and his companions paralyzed in shock.

Their plan had been clear: suppress the sacrificial curse with a hidden sacred purification ritual, awaken the Holy Elf King's divinity, and reverse the ritual at the final moment.

But the Holy Elf King had acted on his own, burning his remaining divinity to force the completion of the sacrificial curse.

(End of this chapter)