Sovereign of the Ashes

The humanoid creatures with an average height of about 1.7 meters on the screen were from the Neisse Civilization, located not far from the Viridian Venom Flame World.

This world had deep ties with the Neisse Civilization, far from being just a low-level plane at the edge of the Neisse Star Domain.

Anridar the Venom Flame Demon King, hailed as the local deity and of the Viridian Venom Flame World, had forged ties with the Neisse Civilization tens of thousands of years ago when he was at Rank Four.

The relationship between the Viridian Venom Flame World and the Neisse Civilization was rather unique. No one could have expected it to be “waste disposal”.

The Neisse Star Domain, renowned for its advancements in constructs, produced large quantities of waste annually that must be disposed of beyond its mother planet.

The Viridian Venom Flame World served as one of these “garbage planets” where the Neisse Civilization discarded its refuse.

Given that it was a pyro elemental plane, it was an ideal location for incinerating component waste.

Contrary to common belief, it was Anridar who initially reached out to the Neisse Civilization, not the other way around.

Inherently, the Neisse Civilization was not inclined toward warfare. It was a special civilization that prioritized the pursuit of ultimate enjoyment and the development of mecha engineering.

In fact, mecha engineering was able to flourish within the Neisse Star Domain for a clear purpose—to improve the quality of life for the inhabitants of the Neisse Civilization.

This was the reason the Neisse Civilization had no intentions of conquering smaller and minor worlds like the Viridian Venom Flame World, despite their proximity to the Neisse Star Domain.

Rather than conquering the plane, they collaborated with Anridar the Venom Flame Demon King, a native entity of the Viridian Venom Flame World, for waste disposal.

Anridar’s interest in the Neisse Star Domain’s discarded components stemmed from the unique materials they were made of. When mixed with the lava of this world, these unique materials produced a special toxic smoke and green substance.

When Anridar, as a Rank Four being, was able to harness the power of law, the plane’s unique characteristics facilitated its evolution into a rare entity, endowed with the uncommon laws of venom, fire, and smoke.

While the pyro elemental law was common in Astral Realm, alongside hydro, aero, and geo elemental laws, the laws of venom and smoke were exceedingly rare, not just in the region surrounding the Viridian Venom Flame World but also across the vast and powerful Magus Civilization.

It was likely that only Grandmaster Feylis possessed significant expertise in the law of venom in the Verdant Flame faction.

As for the law of smoke... it was so obscure that some less informed Rank Four experts in the Magus World might not even be aware of its existence.

Therefore, Anridar the Venom Flame Demon King was considered an exceptionally rare Rank Five creature, with mastery over a rather unique set of laws.

The vast Astral Realm was indeed filled with wonders.

It was unforeseen that Anridar would boost its power and mastery over its laws by incinerating waste from the Neisse Civilization.

This strategy enabled its promotion from Rank Four to Rank Five within just tens of thousands of years.

This was considered a decent speed by the standards of a major world civilization, not to mention for a world that was considered low-level.

However, the speed of Anridar’s progression came at the cost of damaging the fundamental laws and essence of the Viridian Venom Flame World!

Every world governed by a complete set of laws should follow its own natural path of development and possess a distinct original ecology.

Despite its inherently harsh conditions, the Viridian Venom Flame World was perfectly suited to its native inhabitants’ survival and reproduction.

The collaboration between the Venom Flame Demon King and the Neisse Civilization, established thousands of years ago, resulted in vast quantities of special waste from the Neisse Star Domain being dumped into the Viridian Venom Flame World for disposal.

This influx of foreign materials subtly altered the plane’s environment.

While these changes were negligible to the Venom Flame Demon King, who was benefiting greatly from the arrangement, they posed a significant threat to the plane itself and its inhabitants.

The influx of “foreign materials” into this low-level pyro elemental plane dramatically intensified the survival challenges faced by its native creatures!

Throughout the millennia of collaboration between Anridar and the Neisse Civilization, countless native species had faced extinction or unnatural mutations, deviating from their original evolutionary paths.

Contrary to the bleak landscape witnessed by Sein and the invaders from the Magus World, the Viridian Venom Flame World once thrived with life and vitality.

The root of this drastic transformation was the selfishness of Anridar the Venom Flame Demon King!

If Anridar were not selfish or cunning, it would not have earned its title of being a Venom Flame “Demon King”.

There was no reason for it to concern itself with the extinction of lesser species and beings.

Should the Viridian Venom Flame World become uninhabitable, the Rank Five creature would simply leave its homeplane and search for a new haven.

Throughout its collaboration with the Neisse Civilization, the Venom Flame Demon King not only enhanced its power of laws but also gained a large number of energy crystals as payment from the Neisse Civilization.

After all, it was only fair for the Viridian Venom Flame World to be compensated for accepting and incinerating such vast amounts of waste from the Neisse Civilization.

Although there were about a dozen other pyro elemental planes within the Neisse Star Domain, most of them were demiplanes and only a few were complete planes.

Among these complete planes, the Viridian Venom Flame World was the only one that reached out and offered to incinerate their waste for them. Not only that but its native Rank Four and above entities were still thriving.

In contrast, the environmental changes in the other low-level and minor pyro elemental planes often led to the widespread extinction of native life forms, affecting even creatures of Rank Four and above.

It was the unique qualities of the Viridian Venom Flame World that deepened its connection with the Neisse Civilization.

Many engineers from Neisse Civilization were intrigued by Anridar the Venom Flame Demon King. They even collected samples of its blood for research.

The Neisse Civilization had stopped dumping their waste into the Viridian Venom Flame World nearly twenty-five thousand years ago.

The engineers from the Neisse Civilization realized continued waste disposal would exacerbate the planar strain on the Viridian Venom Flame World, necessitating a ten-thousand-year period of self-regulation for the world to regain sustainability.

At that point, the Magus Civilization and the Neisse Civilization were embroiled in a fierce conflict at the edge of their star domain.

After ten thousand years, the Viridian Venom Flame World recovered from the junk influx.

With the Neisse Civilization’s frontlines under siege and facing defeat by the Magus Civilization Army, concerns over waste disposal in the Viridian Venom Flame World took a backseat amidst the crisis.