She could've sworn Lucy was a Sovereign but after witnessed what just happened, she started having doubts. Fortunately, Lucy didn't seem to be hostile to her or else she would have been killed without being able to use her trump card.

Innocence, which turned into a block of ice, shattered into countless pieces a few minutes after Lucy and Shu Ru left the area.

The two females took the long and wide white stairs and arrived all the way up without being ambushed or attacked by any White Spawns.

Lucy's Pure Yin Physique was madly absorbing the Yin Energy scattered around her, strengthening her body and slowly but surely, facilitating her breakthrough to the Sovereign Realm.

At the end of the stairs was nothing short of a marvelous sight. It truly made the two of them momentarily shocked by how breath-taking the palace before them was. Everything was either golden or white and despite the emptiness of the place, it didn't diminish its beauty. Whether it was the tall golden pillars, the white decorations or the sun rays coming from above, piercing the dark clouds and showing an unforgettable sight to both females and Arthur too.

The palace wasn't particularly big but it had a Holy presence probably due to the abundance of Light around. Claud even said that everything in this area was purely made from Light Energy. This phenomenon happens only when there's an abnormal amount of Light Energy locked in a specific place.

As Lucy and Shu Ru approached the palace. Arthur's heart started throbbing loudly as if it's yearning for something. This feeling was vastly different from the signals emitting from the Orb of the Fallen Overgods.

'It's here... I can feel it. It's calling me!'

The usually calm Tri-Spirit was excitedly bouncing in his consciousness as if it couldn't wait anymore.

...............

Far away from where Lucy and Shu Ru were, there stood a silhouette shrouded in darkness. This person witnessed everything that happened, from beginning to end. When Lucy was close enough to the Palace, he took his eyes off her and sighed before mumbling something with inaudible voice. A few seconds later, he seemed to have noticed something which made him click his tongue and immediately vanish from sight.

***********

As Lucy and Shu Ru entered the white palace, they met face to face with yet another monstrosity. This one was bigger and uglier than its former. With four large legs that were chained to the floor, six arms and a humongous mouth. It lacked eyes and ears but it still turned to face the two guests.

As she stood close to this entity that didn't belong to any race, a disgusting abomination, Lucy frowned. The feeling from this monster was drastically different from Innocence.

This one seemed more savage and abnormally powerful. She still had the confidence to win but not as easily as before. Arthur, who was hiding in her body, was also shocked by the content displayed by Appraisal

*Forgiven Obscenity, Light Protector. (Race: None):Realm: None

Age : ????

Emotion : None

Skills : Punish VII / Retribution of Light / Holy Imbuement.

Short description : An entity born from Light energy and a small fraction of natural laws. Due to its nature, it cannot move freely and is forever locked inside the palace.

'Is it here to protect the book?'

Arthur asked the most knowledgeable person present, Claud Venis. He received a reply shortly after

"Forgiven Obscenity? While it's reasonable to see White Spawns or Innocence if the Book of Life is nearby, the presence of this particular one is rather intriguing... it defies my earlier speculations."

'Is it possible that it's guarding something?'

After a short silence, Claud responded

"I'm surprised by your exact guess. Indeed, it's guarding something but I'm clueless as to what it is."

Arthur smirked and thought to himself

'Well, I'm not.'

A distance behind Forgiven Obscenity, there was a small altar where a white book laid. It was open and it had a white cover, it emitted a colossal amount of Light Energy. The density of Light Energy made it hard for Shu Ru to breathe properly. The horror that stood before her was making her body shiver uncontrollably but she still managed to squeeze out a few words

"S,senior, I'll be relying on you to take care of it. I think closing the book will get rid of it."

Shu Ru seemed to know something as she explained to Lucy the purpose of the book. Apparently, having it open will indefinitely cause leakage of Light Energy from it but if it's closed then every White Spawn or entity that was born from Light Energy will return to the book, just like the Death Golem and Randuin.

Lucy remained silent as she stared at Shu Ru with an expressionless face. Shu Ru started feeling awkward as Lucy wasn't responding. Fortunately, it didn't last long as she(Shu Ru) finally heard her talk

"You said you're looking for a place, right?"

Expecting to hear to her instructions, Shu Ru remained unresponsive for a few seconds before replying to Lucy's question

"Y-yes..."

"And I don't suppose this is the one?"

"No, it should be under the palace. I'm certain of it but the energy from the Book is rendering me unable to pinpoint the exact location."

"Alright, then sit back and wait for us to finish."

Confused, Shu Ru muttered

"... us?"

As she stared at Lucy with both confusion and anxiety due to the monster, which started fiercely beating the flat ground, a thunderous sound resounded in the whole area, causing her to become momentarily deaf.

After focusing her attention, she saw Lucy and another man with a long grey-hair attacking the Light Protector. Lucy wielded a thin and white saber that emitted a chilling coldness, as for Arthur, he used his fists, which were enveloped by decaying grey energy.

Thanks to his Tri-Spirit, he could manipulate Death Energy without being backlashed. The two of them ganged up on the monsters and fiercely beat it into a bloody pulp. Though it tried to retaliate, the two of them were extremely fast and easily dodged its attacks.

Even when it tried using an area of effect skill, it was negated by Arthur's book, which absorbed the whole damage. Lucy made use of her Cultivation Technique, which allowed her to create lotuses that are used both for defense and attack.

One lotus was more than enough to block the enemy's attack. In merely a minute, the monster was rendered motionless as blood covered its whole body.

Shu Ru, who witnessed everything, was totally speechless. Even a genius such as herself couldn't follow them with her eyes. She literally only saw after images that vanished a split second later.

As the monster laid on the flat ground, dead. Arthur landed a few meters away from the Book of Life. He cautiously spread his sense but was unable to fend off the Light Energy lingering around the book. At first, he thought of using absolute power to get rid of the Light Energy or perhaps use Void Magic but such ideas were soon thrown away as Claud instructed him on what to do.

The book of the Damned appeared on his hand yet again, the creepy and ominous book floated in front of him and opened itself before a rotting and disgusting hand came out of ancient pages of the book.

Like a whirlpool, the hand started absorbing all the Light Energy around. The process was swift and in a matter of seconds, Arthur was able to get close to the Book of Life and safely close it thus ending it once and for all.

The only one who didn't know what was going on was Shu Ru. She brought a special treasure that would allow her to close the book yet never got to use it. Apart from leading Lucy here, she did nothing and planned to contribute so she can have a share of whatever they found here.

Unfortunately, apart from watching, she did nothing else which disappointed her. Nevertheless, she got to witness something totally abnormal, something that made her question logic itself.

A mere 1st Grade God was able to defeat something that even a High Sovereign would find difficulty facing. The strength he showed, the incredible speed, it all defied logic.