In the Name of Empress-Chapter 641 - 367: Sophia > Tia

A question had troubled her for a long time: why did the Ascension to Divinity described in the Divine Oracle arrive ahead of schedule, and why did those three, who were in every respect inferior to her, succeed in ascending to godhood?

The three of them were not even necessarily stronger than the Sea Emperor and the Demon Emperor.

If there were only three spots for ascension, Sofia believed the ranking should be Frosty Winter > Demon Emperor > Sea Emperor > Demetis (Feng Rao) ≈ Freya (Nature) > Tiya.

Yet, the weakest three were the ones who ascended, while the stronger three became losers.

If it was just one of them, it could be explained as an accident. For all three to be so meant there must be some hidden reason.

She squinted her eyes, her voice chillingly devoid of emotion.

"Go on, I'm listening."

"Let's make a bold assumption: what if Ascension to Divinity isn't a great success, but a trap?"

Roland's voice was calm, yet what he said shocked Sofia.

Sofia almost wanted to refute but held back.

Roland greatly admired her composed mentality and continued, "It's not impossible. Gods are essentially just stronger humans; they're not saints and have no reason to bestow favors on the weak. Expecting that the strong would help the weak is merely wishful thinking, not reality."

"Do the strong in the Divine Domain have any benefit in allowing people from the Material Plane to ascend to the Divine Domain?"

Sofia's breath quickened; Roland's conjecture was too bold, something she had never considered.

"If they have ulterior motives, they would choose those with less potential, weaker mentality, and easy to control rather than those with a strong mentality."

Sofia's body slightly shuddered, her eyes flashed with a trace of cold light.

She vaguely felt that Roland's deduction was close to the truth.

She knew the six candidates at that time.

Tiya wasn't a strong person at all; she just wanted to cling to the strong. Demetis and Freya were slightly better but still didn't have the courage to risk everything for power.

The Demon Emperor and the Sea Emperor were essentially the same kind of people as her, but slightly less potential.

They always believed in themselves, never willing to entrust their fate to others. If the three of them ascended to the Divine Domain, they would never stay subordinate for long.

"I see."

Sofia thought for a moment and slowly asked, "What does this have to do with what you said before?"

"Of course, there's a connection."

Roland slowly replied, "Based on the writings I've read over the years and the archaeological discoveries about the Age of Gods you described, before the First Epoch, the Theia Plane once had a glorious civilization, but they were utterly destroyed in the apocalyptic disaster."

"This is the fate of every Material Plane; it's the most basic operation Law of the universe, just like the growth and decay of plants," Sofia said faintly.

Roland quickly interrupted, "Not at all! According to your descriptions, the Theia Plane of the previous era was obviously larger than ours."

"If my guess is correct, the true purpose of the Divine Punishment Legion is not to destroy us but to test the limit of the strong in the entire plane."

Sofia's body trembled slightly as she understood the underlying meaning of Roland's words.

The Dominators of the Divine Domain are greedy and miserly; they wish to extract energy from the Material Plane through the Ascenders, so they need to let these new gods return to the Material Plane to destroy everything and help reset.

But they are also unwilling to give too much, so they won't grant too much power to people like Tiya and others; it will be adjusted according to the strength of the plane's strong.

Of course, there will be redundancies, but surely not too many.

Sofia murmured, "I understand. During the War of Divine Punishment, I must show weakness, not outshine you and Sif."

"No, you completely misunderstand."

"I know Tiya and them better than you!" Sofia retorted a bit unwillingly.

However, Roland teased slightly mockingly, "Even if you understand them, you don't understand acting. A performance that's too forceful is always flamboyant; it must be just right. The degree you need to grasp is not to surpass the former Frosty Winter, and you must strive to show that you're regaining your former strength through every effort."

Sofia was silent for a long time, then slowly said, "Fortunately, we're friends, otherwise I would have killed you."