Sovereign of the Ashes

After leaving Lorianne’s quarters, Sein returned to the Thunder Domain battlefield with thoughts racing in his mind.

By this time, the Thunder Domain had largely quieted down. The knights and mages here were mostly scavenging the unique resources this low-level plane had to offer.

With his mind preoccupied, Sein had lost his mood to continue scavenging for materials.

After briefly meeting up with Natalya and the others, Sein headed to a magic tower within the fortress camp.

With the conclusion of the Thunder Domain War, the fortress camps and magic towers set up by the Magus World Army would soon be dismantled.

Equipment that could be reused would be transported back to the three orders of the knights, while items without reusable value might be abandoned in Thunderfall World, serving as relics of the Magus World’s conquest.

Similar relics could be found across many planes surrounding the Magus World.

Since everyone was consumed with scavenging the Thunder Domain, very few remained stationed in the fortress camp. The vast fortress was nearly deserted.

The magic tower that Sein entered was surrounded by a large, empty area, making him feel even lonelier.

He quickly established a spatial channel to contact Leena from the bottom floor of the magic tower. To his surprise, he received no response from her.

The white finger bone at the center of Sein’s magic array glowed with a soft light. It was part of a skeletal dragon named Sanchez.

When Sein activated the bone with his mental focus, he received a voice message from Leena that had been left a year ago.

In the transmission, Leena mentioned that she had officially begun her attempt to break through to Rank Two.

Given the intensity of the ongoing Thunder Domain War over the past three years, Sein scarcely had time to communicate with Leena.

While he knew she was in a critical breakthrough period, he did not realize she had started her ascent to Rank Two a year ago.

Although Leena was slightly older than Sein, her resources and opportunities had been more limited compared to Sein’s since leaving Gloomhaven due to their divergent paths, making her ascent to Rank Two more challenging than Sein’s.

Despite this, Sein was confident that Leena would eventually succeed in her advancement to Rank Two, though it might take her longer to stabilize her newfound power.

After years of sharing their lives and fighting alongside each other on the Knight Continent, Sein had faith in Leena.

Learning that Leena was in seclusion to break through left him both pleased and sad at the same time.

He was naturally glad for her progress but saddened by his inability to inform her of recent developments.

He sighed softly, then left a few encouraging messages for Leena before deactivating the magic array.

***

In the fourth month after the conclusion of the Thunder Domain War, Sein and his team were dispatched by the command center to the Thunder Pool battlefield.

They were not the first combat troops to arrive at Thunder Pool.

Prior to their deployment, four groups had already been sent, totaling eighty thousand knights and half a million enslaved creatures.

Sein and his team were the fifth group.

The number of mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring on the Thunder Pool battlefield was also quickly approaching a thousand.

It was clear that all three orders of the knights were eager to bring this interplanar war to a swift conclusion.

The conflict at the Thunder Domain had been resolved after just three and a half years of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s involvement.

It remained to be seen how long Thunder Pool, the last stronghold of Thunderfall World, could withstand the onslaught of the Magus Civilization.

Upon arriving at the Thunder Pool battlefield, Natalya immediately detected Sein’s bad mood.

She approached him with news she hoped would lift his spirits, even if just a little.

Natalya informed him that the dozen or so law enforcement knights from the Order of the Dark Sword who had come to Thunderfall World to hunt for Sein had been tricked into coming to the Thunder Pool battlefield.

Unable to find Sein, they were half-ordered, half-commissioned by the Order of the Green Gale to participate in the conflict.

These knights were forced to remain in Thunderfall World for over four years, only leaving half a year ago when the conflict at Thunder Domain came to a close.

In fact, as early as three years ago, after witnessing the large influx of mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring into Thunderfall World, these law enforcement knights had already sensed that something was amiss.

A subsequent recall order from the Order of the Dark Sword further confirmed that capturing Sein was no longer feasible.

Despite their frustration, they could only give up and leave the Thunderfall World.

Fortunately, their trip had not been in vain as they managed to obtain some specialty resources from Thunderfall World during their years of participation, as well as receive part of the war wage from the Order of the Green Gale.

After hearing about the fate of the dozen or so law enforcement knights, a smile finally appeared on Sein’s somber face.

Natalya was also pleased to see Sein’s improved mood.

Noticing her happy expression, Sein could not help but ask, “Don’t you hate me? Why are you trying to cheer me up? Have you forgotten all the harsh words I said to you and the time I beat you up?”

If the roles were reversed, Sein would not have pursued someone who had clearly rejected his advances, especially considering that he had been unkind to Natalya and had deliberately rebuffed her in the beginning.

Despite this, Natalya remained persistent, often seeking to be close to him.

Her relentless efforts led to some awkward situations where, during battlefield rests, she would press him into her embrace due to her taller stature.

Compared to female mages like Selina, Natalya’s body was much firmer, particularly her chest, which was usually covered by her armor.

During a break from the fighting, Sein once got a glimpse of her chest under her armor, and it was impressive—at least twice the size of Selina’s.

Sein sometimes suspected that Natalya was intentionally flaunting it.

His tone was much more formal and serious than usual when he asked the question, causing Natalya to avoid meeting his gaze directly.

“Of course, I hate you, but you’ve been a decent guy and have helped me a lot. That’s why we had to help you when those law enforcement knights from Order of the Dark Sword came after you. It’s not just me; I’m sure Gould, Reina, and the others feel the same way too...”

Natalya rambled on, glancing at Sein from time to time.

Sein exhaled softly, feeling a sense of relief.

He realized that the knights he had encountered, including Natalya, were quite thick-skinned.

Despite his past words and actions that could easily offend a more sensitive female mage, Natalya had never taken them to heart.