Sovereign of the Ashes

The veterans of the Gumo Plane War, battle-hardened from years of conflict, recognized the violent tremors in the ground as the telltale signs of Goul Groundworms moving en masse deep below the surface, shifting the ley lines as they burrowed.

If not for the significant presence of Geomancers within the Magus World Army, these Goul Groundworms could have caused massive ground subsidence, creating chaos and devastating losses for the Magus Civilization forces.

An ear-splitting elemental alarm blared, signaling that the Magus Civilization Army had detected the movement of the native creatures.

Stepping out of his alchemy tent, Sein looked up at the gloomy, oppressive sky.

High above the Akre Plains, the space fortress of the Divine Tower of Dark Flame hovered in place.

This massive behemoth, over thirty thousand meters in diameter, dwarfed the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s space fortress, exceeding its size by more than three times.

Without the thick volcanic dust obscuring the atmosphere, the sight of such an immense fortress looming in the sky would have undoubtedly struck awe—or fear—into the hearts of both armies.

Though losing its visual intimidation factor, the space fortress still played a crucial role in the Gumo Plane War.

Magus World’s Rank Four and above powerhouses all possessed their own trump cards.

In Sein’s opinion, given the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s relatively desolate location and limited number of registered full-fledged mages, this space fortress was one of its trump cards.

Having accompanied Lorianne to procure a space fortress from the Capiche Business Alliance, Sein was well aware of the staggering cost associated with these Magus World war platforms.

Even Lorianne’s standard mid-tier fortress had cost tens of millions of magicoins.

Considering the colossal size of the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s fortress, its cost was undoubtedly even higher.

The presence of this massive structure above the Akre Plains offered a morale boost to the participating knights and mages, even if it remained unseen for the time being.

With the help of the divine tower badge, Sein quickly made his way to his designated battle position.

The knights and mages under his and Natalya’s command gathered nearby.

The Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s command center had evidently categorized Sein as a long-range mage. He was positioned among a group that included Natalya, Reina, and numerous other knights, while a sea of enslaved creatures was stationed at the frontlines to form a protective buffer.

Sein’s current location was not far from the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s main mage legions.

Five massive formations of a thousand mages each appeared at the center of the Magus World Army.

Surrounding them, more than twenty hundred-mage and ten-mage formations were strategically positioned across the battlefield.

This overwhelming magic force was the primary source of the Magus Civilization’s confidence in conquering this foreign plane.

Through their divine tower badges, orders were issued to every participating knight and mage.

The first to act were the three thousand mages positioned in the heart of the Magus World Army.

The Divine Tower of Dark Flame, with its history of over twenty thousand years and proximity to the magic empire of Alveroth, had mastered the art of synchronized spellcasting.

Whether it was group incantations or large-scale elemental bombardments, they were executed with unmatched precision.

The three thousand full-fledged mages unleashed their elemental power without restraint, creating a spectacle so awe-inspiring that it seemed like a divine miracle to the ignorant native inhabitants of this foreign plane.

A colossal flame tornado, towering nearly a thousand meters into the sky, appeared at the forefront of the battlefield.

While group spellcasting had also been practiced by mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, their efforts were limited to group spells involving no more than a hundred mages.

The destructive power and lethality they achieved were nowhere near comparable to the overwhelming might displayed by the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s mages before them.

The Gumo Plane’s native forces were decimated by the flame tornado even before they reached the Magus Civilization’s front lines. And that was merely the beginning.

Following the flame tornado came an ice storm with razor-sharp ice shards, a barrage of burning meteorites crashing with seismic force, and death rays sweeping across vast swathes of the battlefield...

The Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s mages were deadly opponents on the battlefield.

When selecting group spells, they deliberately prioritized area-of-effect spells designed to inflict massive casualties on the enemy’s lower-tier combatants.

Additionally, the different types of spells were not randomly unleashed in succession—it was a carefully coordinated strategy.

The spells were chosen to complement one another, either creating splash damage or triggering chain reactions that amplified their destructive power.

For instance, when the flame tornado collided with the ice storm, the elemental explosion that ensued unleashed a destructive force comparable to a forbidden spell.

This was the Magus World’s magic in its truest form!

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the collective efforts of these three thousand mages, casting group spells in a single concentrated burst, could rival or even surpass the destructive output of a Rank Four mage within the same timeframe.

Sein, guided by the commands relayed through his divine tower badge, unleashed his own strongest spells toward a fixed coordinate in the distance.

The Divine Tower of Dark Flame specifically directed mages to prioritize corrosive magic as well as lumen, pyro, and cryo elemental spells.

These elemental energies proved to be the most effective against the native creatures of Gumo Plane.

While the Goul Groundworms displayed remarkable resistance to pyro element, the other two dominant native races—the Guran Lizardmen and Moknu—were significantly more vulnerable to it.

Moreover, in terms of intelligence, it was the Guran Lizardmen and Moknu that truly represented this world’s native civilization, not the more numerous Goul Groundworms.

After Sein unleashed three long-range magic attacks, the foremost Magus Civilization troops began direct combat with the native forces of Gumo Plane.

These frontline legions consisted primarily of enslaved creatures and were too far from Sein’s position for him to gauge the battle’s progress without the convenience of higher vantage points.

It was during this period that the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s command center issued an especially strange order to the participating mages—“Continue casting long-range destructive magic spells. Adjust attack coordinates to a zone or two closer.”

The disregard for the lives of enslaved creatures as cannon fodder was something Sein had encountered in previous interplanar wars.

However, the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s approach struck him as unusually direct and cold.

When the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring adopted similar tactics in the past, they did so through indirect hints and verbal orders, never explicit written directives.

On the chaotic and perilous battlefield, even a powerful Rank Two mage like Sein had little choice but to comply.

Questioning orders during wartime was not an option.

Thus, Sein continued to pour his mana into the distant battlefield, delivering spell after spell at the assigned coordinates.

Eventually, the black tide of the native legions of Gumo Plane came into view.

The enemy forces had finally breached the outer zones, advancing directly into the area where Sein and the rest of the Magus Civilization’s main army were.