The Monarch

The arena had been completely destroyed at this point. All civilizations and forms of life were wiped out without the slightest mercy. They hadn't even participated in this battle, yet they paid the price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.Atlas... began gathering divine mana into a strange spell, his entire soul embracing the divine mana present in the arena. He pulled it in the same way a man drinks water in a desert—thirsty, with an unrelenting will to overcome his current situation. Kayden watched in surprise as Atlas's soul began to become almost transparent.Kayden didn't need much time to understand what was happening. Atlas was breaking one of the fundamental rules of this event—gods were not allowed to participate. But Atlas was simply elevating himself to the divine level in the middle of this battle, without any fear. The way he was doing it was also something new to everyone.Atlas was forcing his ascension to the divine level. He was ignoring the clouds in the sky and continuing to pour divine mana into his soul. Kayden could see his laws fighting against all external influence and absorbing that mana in its entirety. The technique Atlas was using was completely unique.The mage had isolated his soul from the rest of the universe and was elevating himself without the permission of the universe. Against everyone's expectations, Han was simply observing. Perhaps he would lose this battle when Atlas ascended, but it would undoubtedly be an infinitely superior experience to what he was currently experiencing.The light from Atlas's ascension began to spread, and his soul, once torn apart, now seemed to merge with the deepest layers of the universe. The space around him trembled, unable to support the overwhelming force of this process. Mages and gods who were still observing the confrontation felt the change—Atlas was about to surpass the boundary that separated the mortal from the divine.Han smiled slightly. His expression didn't show surprise, but rather a genuine interest. His body radiated a presence that defied the concept of absolute power. Even in the face of Atlas's imminent ascension, he did not move. It was as if he was waiting for something else, a decisive moment that had not yet arrived."Come to your master," Atlas's voice echoed as the mana from outside the arena began to flow toward him.Crack!The sound of the arena's barrier breaking forcefully was phenomenal. The spectators jumped up, frightened and at the same time euphoric. They had never seen anything like it. The barrier was something raised by the gods, but it was broken as if it were nothing at all.Kayden immediately understood why the barrier had been easily broken. It had been made to withstand attacks from the inside, not from the outside. Especially considering that any mage who tried such madness would quickly be killed by the mages organizing the event. But...The divine mana from the entire universe was responding to Atlas's call. The barrier was completely shattered when everything gathered into a single point and entered. There was no resistance as the amount of divine mana reached an unimaginable level. Kayden found it amusing how mana monsters were emerging.They were a little stronger and more intelligent than those of common mana since birth. Kayden had tested them in a previous period, and they were truly superior. But their main difference was their ability to reach higher levels than those who came from normal mana.The problem was that the amount of divine mana in the entire universe was absurdly low, and it wasn't even enough to bring a single mana monster close to the seventh realm. This was a grotesque difference because Kayden had thousands in the seventh and eighth realms accompanying him at this moment.In just a few minutes, Atlas had accumulated the mana of the entire universe into his soul. Kayden had never seen so much mana around him before. In the past, it would have made him shiver and feel cold, but today, even this sight didn't faze him. He had reached a point where he understood that the amount of mana no longer mattered in high-level battles.Atlas knew this too. The difference was that he was using all this mana to turn his soul into something divine without it being able to do anything other than accept its new state. Every centimeter of Atlas's soul was condensed into just a few meters around him, and all the divine mana was placed there as well.This was one of the most insane events the universe had ever witnessed. It was almost at the same level as Yan, who had been able to reverse time in search of a single soul. The difference was that Yan had prepared for what seemed like an infinite amount of time and had been extremely assisted by circumstances and some people who knew too many secrets about this universe.Atlas's soul was completely engulfed by the amount of divine mana. He must have been feeling one of the greatest pains of his entire existence. What he was doing was practically going against the basic laws of his soul and this universe, but even so, he continued without fear. This was the moment of his life, and he knew it. Everyone knew it. It was the peak of the peak, ascending to divinity at this moment.The pressure on Atlas was indescribable. His spiritual body trembled, his laws twisted, and parts of his soul were continually undone and remade in a desperate cycle of reconstruction. Every fragment that condensed into its new form resisted the transformation, trying to return to its mortal state. But Atlas did not yield; his determination was absolute. He advanced like a condemned man walking toward the forge of a god, carrying a burden that no one had ever attempted to bear.The universe itself seemed to reject him. The energy around him oscillated violently, and small fragments of reality were destroyed and remade at random, as if the fabric of the cosmos was trying to find a way to deny his ascension. Even the watching gods felt a chill. Atlas wasn't just becoming a deity; he was rewriting the very process of ascension. If he managed to survive this, he wouldn't be an ordinary god—he would be one of the legendary gods who defied the desires of the heavens.