Sovereign of the Ashes

During his travels northward through the Ylli Knight Alliance, Sein spent over a total of a hundred years journeying through ten or so foreign planes.

Unlike his initial twelve-year stay in the Aqua Rhino World, Sein’s time in each subsequent foreign plane grew progressively shorter as he ventured through more and more worlds.

The primary reason for this change was the sheer number of member planes under the Magus Alliance—a staggering tens of thousands.

Even if Sein limited his stay to a single year per plane, it would still take tens of thousands of years to visit them all.

This did not even account for the time lost while traveling through teleportation arrays.

On certain planes that particularly piqued his interest, such as Fire Trapa World, Sein stayed longer, spending nearly eight years in this case.

On more ordinary planes, however, his visits lasted only a couple of years before he moved on.

Even with these adjustments, Sein’s exploration of the ten or so planes accessible through the Ylli Knight Alliance still took him over a century.

A hundred years—how many centuries does one have in a lifetime?

When Sein departed from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, he had just passed his two hundredth birthday.

Sein spent his three hundredth birthday in a microplane known as “Miranto Plane”, a world known for its unique geo elemental creatures—sludge monsters.

On that occasion, Sein celebrated his birthday with Reina and his wife, Natalya.

Yes, Natalya was now traveling with him as well.

Thirty years earlier, she finally managed to find and catch up to Sein and Reina.

When Sein and Reina departed from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, Natalya had been visiting House Ernst.

By the time she returned to the Divine Tower, she was shocked to learn that her best friend had left on a journey with her husband.

Since Sein already had a companion on his travels, he did not mind adding another, as long as the two women did not interfere with his daily experiments.

The two female knights frequently ventured off together, seeking out arenas where they quickly gained a reputation for their prowess, even in the heart of the Ylli Knight Alliance’s territory.

Interestingly, despite Sein’s century-long stay in the Ylli Knight Alliance’s territory, he never encountered the knights with whom he had previously had disputes.

The Magus World and the Ylli Knight Alliance were simply too vast.

Although spending hundreds of years traveling through ten or so foreign planes was quite an accomplishment, it represented only a small fraction of the vast number of planes under the control of the Ylli Knight Alliance.

Sein had no interest in actively seeking out old adversaries. Besides, the knights he had once crossed paths with were not exactly his enemies.

Both Leena and Sein had almost forgotten what those knights even looked like.

Compared to settling old scores, Sein remained far more interested in unraveling the mysteries of truth.

Recently, Sein and Reina arrived at another allied plane of the Ylli Knight Alliance, known as “Athena Plane”.

This was a relatively prosperous medium-sized world with a rich history, where martial arts reigned supreme.

Similar to the Snow Spirit World that Sein had visited a century earlier, Athena Plane was a foreign world that had once been at war with the Magus Civilization.

In fact, Athena Plane had proven to be an even greater challenge for the Magus Civilization than the Snow Spirit World.

The plane was dominated by a humanoid species that, while similar to the humans of the Magus World, bore notable differences.

The natives had two mini, palm-sized wings attached to their ears and six fingers on each hand.

Furthermore, Athena World was a distinctly female-dominated plane, likely due to the women of this world being more attuned to the unique power system that had evolved there.

In fact, half of the top ten powerhouses of this plane were female warriors known as Athenians.

When the Magus Civilization first attempted to conquer Athena Plane, they faced fierce resistance from the Athenians.

The saw wheel weapons wielded by the Athenians and their ability to manipulate metal elements in unison were nothing short of extraordinary.

The Magus Civilization’s initial assault ended in failure.

When the Magus Civilization returned for a second campaign, they brought larger legions, more Rank Four and above mages, and even Rank Six beings to oversee the war.

Coincidentally, this was also the moment when Athena Plane’s Empress, who had been exploring the surrounding star domain for a hundred thousand years, returned to her home.

The empress was the strongest individual ever born in the history of Athena Plane’s civilization, even though she was not the first Rank Six being in this world.

In pursuit of a higher realm, Empress Athena quietly left her homeplane, embarking on a solo journey twenty thousand years after her ascension to the throne.

By then, she had already led Athena World to the pinnacle of its glory.

Her decision was common among powerhouses of the Astral Realm.

After all, not every plane could compare to the Magus World, with its abundance of overlords and overmages.

For the Rank Six creatures of the Magus Civilization, the existence of these beings served as tangible proof that higher realms were attainable and that even the seemingly insurmountable life barriers could indeed be overcome.

Moreover, some peak Rank Six creatures who had received guidance from the Magus Civilization’s overlords were gained access to greater opportunities and pathways that allowed them to ascend to higher realms—advantages far beyond the reach of most other extraplanar creatures.

For those creatures, how could they possibly break through to a higher realm without even being aware of the existence of overlords?

Regardless of whether it was a micro, low-level, medium-sized, large, or top-tier world civilization, the birth of every Rank Four, Rank Six, Rank Seven, or Rank Nine creature was an extraordinarily rare and arduous occurrence.

This was especially true for the first creature to break through their shackles. Even the very laws of their world would shift as a result of their achievement.

The emergence of such exceptional prodigies depended not only on innate talent and potential but also on the alignment of favorable circumstances.

Empress Athena was undoubtedly the favored child of her homeplane.

Determined to pursue a higher realm and elevate her homeplane’s status, she chose to venture into the vast expanse of stars without hesitation!

After a hundred thousand years of absence, Empress Athena returned.

Her prolonged disappearance had led to the appointment of a new empress in Athena World.

Many of its inhabitants were even convinced that their strongest ruler in history had perished, leaving only her youthful effigy worshipped in the Temple of Female Warrior Goddesses.

But Empress Athena had not fallen.

Although she had not yet crossed the most difficult life barrier, her one-hundred-thousand-year journey had significantly enhanced her strength and elevated her foundational power!

Her return came just in time—on the eve of the Magus Civilization’s second invasion of Athena World.

The heightened danger sense of a peak Rank Six being allowed Empress Athena to detect the crisis threatening her homeplane from across vast distances in time and space.

With her sudden reappearance, the Magus Civilization’s vast resurgent combat legion suffered another defeat at the hands of Athena World, led by its empress.