Sovereign of the Ashes

Everyone knew that without lips, the teeth would be exposed to the cold.

As a Rank Six being who had established its reputation for over a hundred thousand years, Tyrant Tiger King could see the immense pressure that the Magus Civilization’s invasion and their conquest of the Wild Gorilla World had brought to the Feral Beast Star Domain and its surrounding regions.

Their neighbor, the Blue Violet Star, had it pretty easy.

In the face of impending threats, it quickly surrendered and joined the Magus Alliance, dragging its vassal planes along with it.

While Blue Violet Star had the option of joining the Magus Alliance due to its long-standing alliance with the Magus Civilization’s Dragon Warlock Clan, the Feral Beast Star did not share the same fortune.

The Feral Beast Star had chosen a different backer—the Gallant Federation.

Being caught between two powerful civilizations was, in many ways, a precarious situation.

Medium-sized planes like the Blue Violet Star and the Feral Beast Star could only choose to align themselves with one of these powers.

In the event of a conflict between these top-tier civilizations, they would likely be the first to suffer as the frontline.

The Blue Violet Star’s Violet Dragon and the Feral Beast Star’s Tyrant Tiger Kings were smart creatures.

Having gained insight into the broader workings of the Astral Realm, they recognized the limitations of their strength compared to the might of greater civilizations.

The Wild Gorilla Clan, on the other hand, was a different case.

Obsessed with expansion and conquest, they often “bulldozed” their way through neighboring star domains.

Their eventual downfall was no surprise and could even be seen as inevitable!

While the Blue Violet Star and the Feral Beast Star had developed an awareness of top-tier civilizations like the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation, the Wild Gorilla World, under the leadership of Wild Gorilla God, remained trapped in a state of reckless arrogance.

They had no real understanding of the opponents they faced or the sheer power of top-tier civilizations.

Although the Blue Violet Star’s Violet Dragons had never witnessed an overlord, nor had the Tyrant Tiger Kings of the Feral Beast Star encountered the Gallant Federation’s Star Fleet that was capable of rivaling the power of an overlord, that did not prevent them from making educated guesses about the immense power these top-tier civilizations wielded.

The smarter these leaders were, the more they realized their own insignificance and the vast scale of the Astral Realm.

Those who boasted of their invincibility while only living in a small corner of the Astral Realm were the true fools.

Tyrant Tiger King was aware that the Gallant Federation had dismissed Wild Gorilla God and the others, sending them back to their home star domain to fight again.

In its opinion, the federation was squeezing the last bit of value from Wild Gorilla God and its forces.

What Tyrant Tiger King did not expect was that Wild Gorilla God and the others would actually go through with it.

Then again, it should have known—this was precisely the kind of action that the Wild Gorilla God it knew would take.

If it were in Wild Gorilla God’s position, Tyrant Tiger King knew it would not have made the same choice.

It would have likely led the remaining Gorilla Gods and its army away from this star domain, seeking refuge in the depths of the starry sky to find a new place to rebuild their lives.

With their power, seizing control of another low-level plane would have been relatively easy.

It was always better to live on than to perish.

It was this difference in personality that defined Tyrant Tiger King, Wild Gorilla God, and Violet Dragon God for who they were.

For tens of thousands of years, despite occasional disputes, the three medium-sized world civilizations in this star domain had maintained a delicate balance.

If any of their three civilizations were to ascend to the status of a large-sized world, Tyrant Tiger King and Violet Dragon God secretly believed it would most likely be the Wild Gorilla World.

In other words, Wild Gorilla God—whose strength was comparable to Tyrant Tiger King’s and perhaps slightly less than Violet Dragon God’s—was the only one among them with any real potential to become an overlord.

This potential was one reason why the Feral Beast Star and the Blue Violet Star had, whether intentionally or not, joined forces to ostracize the Wild Gorilla World.

They had even withheld vital information about large-world civilizations and top-tier forces from the Wild Gorilla World.

Now, witnessing the decline of the Wild Gorilla World and the Wild Gorilla God, Tyrant Tiger King felt conflicted.

It was not entirely pleased even though Wild Gorilla God had spoken to him with disrespect many times.

“I don’t think that losing a few important Rank Four beings is going to hurt that top-tier civilization significantly. The Gallant Federation’s move will only provoke the Magus Civilization and hasten their confrontation with it,” Tyrant Tiger King said to its subordinate.

“Hasn’t the Gallant Federation secretly deployed several fleets to our Feral Beast Star Domain? There’s also a massive metal fortress hovering near my homeplane right now...” the Rank Five spotted beast god commented.

“Hmph! Relying on the charity and aid of other civilizations for your safety? It seems like the destruction of the Wild Gorilla World hasn’t opened your eyes yet,” Tyrant Tiger King sneered at its loyal but somewhat naive subordinate.

The Rank Five Jaguar God fell silent, not daring to respond.

One of the main reasons Jaguar God, despite being a Rank Five creature, had chosen to submit to Tyrant Tiger King’s command was its belief that Tyrant Tiger King was the most intelligent and strategic Rank Six being in the surrounding star domain.

Serving under such a powerful leader offered more security and stability than fighting alone.

Moreover, the Tyrant Tigers of the Feral Beast Star treated their subordinates well.

After reprimanding its subordinate, Tyrant Tiger King lifted its gaze to the depths of the starry sky, where Wild Gorilla God and the others had departed.

“Hopefully Wild Gorilla God and the others can hold out a few more years. If they really manage to survive for three to five years, there’s a chance that the Gallant Federation might actually intervene in this war,” Tyrant Tiger King murmured.

It knew, however, that the odds were low.

The likelihood of Wild Gorilla God holding out for five years was slim, and the chances of the Gallant Federation committing troops were equally uncertain.

Such was the plight of the weak.

The reality was that the Gallant Federation was not yet prepared for an all-out war with the Magus Civilization, just as the Magus Civilization itself was not ready for such a large-scale conflict.

After annexing and destroying the Rosen Dynasty Civilization, the Gallant Federation was still working as quickly as they could to absorb Rosen Dynasty Civilization’s technological advancements, particularly in the fields of mecha and psychics.

While progress in the latter field was slow, the technological breakthroughs from the former were rapid and transformative.

The Gallant Federation had recently developed super mechas with strength comparable to overlord beings.

Those mechas were still undergoing testing, but their potential was undeniable.

With a neighbor as powerful as the Magus Civilization, the Gallant Federation had been under immense pressure.

Having reached the status of a top-tier civilization earlier than the Gallant Federation, the Magus World commanded the Magus Alliance and extended its influence across numerous planes and star domains, possessing greater resources and reserves than the Gallant Federation.

When comparing the overall strength of these two top-tier civilizations, it was true that the Magus Civilization held a slight edge.

However, a slight advantage did not guarantee victory in the event of a direct conflict between these powerful entities.

War was inherently unpredictable, and the Magus Civilization, which emphasized cultivation and individual evolution, was fundamentally different from the Gallant Federation, which focused on technological advancement and collective development.

Direct comparisons between them were difficult.

When the time came for a real battle, the outcome was uncertain—both sides believed victory would be theirs.

One reason for the Gallant Federation’s confidence was their recent acquisition of the Rosen Dynasty’s overlord-class mecha manufacturing technology.

This advancement enabled the Gallant Federation to field a vast fleet of super mechas with the combat capabilities of an overlord, potentially rivaling the Magus World’s overmages and overlords.

Moreover, technological civilizations like the Gallant Federation had clear advantages in resource efficiency and mass war potential that traditional cultivation civilizations could scarcely rival.

If the Gallant Federation chose to, they could scale up production across the heavy industry factories of their star domain, creating hundreds of millions of robot soldiers and fleets that far exceeded their current capabilities in a short span of time.

Even the Magus Civilization had to acknowledge and respect this capability.

The emergence of a Rank One mage in the Magus World required decades of training and significant resource investment.

By contrast, the Gallant Federation could produce a robot warrior comparable to a Rank One being simply by allocating sufficient resources to an automated factory module.

The production time for such a soldier in the federation’s assembly line plants was less than an hour.

This demonstrated the stark difference between the two top-tier civilizations at a foundational level.

Until an actual conflict erupted, no one could say with certainty which top civilization was stronger.

Technological civilizations also had their own vulnerabilities.

Their vast, ordinary populations—numbering in the hundreds of trillions—were their greatest weakness.

A single mage infiltrating a city on a planet populated by ordinary humans could wreak unimaginable havoc.

The forbidden magic wielded by mages of the Magus Civilization could be a nightmare for these populations, especially with their ability to unleash natural disasters or call upon the undead.