Sovereign of the Ashes

Governed by a special law mechanism, Faeloria was not only isolated but also significantly shielded from the influence of Rank Four and higher beings on its lower-ranking beings.

This mechanism, in its own way, served to protect the lower life forms and maintain Faeloria’s order of balance.

Consequently, the Faelorian deities rarely bestowed “miracles” except under extraordinary circumstances.

The only place where beings of Rank Four and above could freely exert their power was in the mist-shrouded zone directly above the Faeloria Continent and beneath the crystal wall of laws.

Combat within this zone would largely not affect the Prime Materia Realm below.

As a result, this special area was known as the “Battlefield of Gods” or “Graveyards of Gods”, owing to the countless deities who had perished there over the millennia.

Every ten thousand years, during the Avatar Crisis, the Faelorian deities clashed with each other first on the continent and then moved to this battlefield to continue their fight.

While intermediate and most lesser deities were not typically cast down to the mortal world by the Tablets of Fate as avatars[1], the conflicts among the lesser deities who wielded weak divine powers could still plunge the various Faelorian factions into prolonged chaos and hostility.

In Faeloria, nearly all deities had their own factions.

Only a few beings with exceptional portfolios were able to distance themselves from these entities.

There had been cases of intermediate deities being forced to walk the mortal world in their avatars, but this was usually a sign of an Avatar Crisis of unprecedented magnitude.

Fortunately, it had been a hundred thousand years since the last crisis of this scale.

The Bone Lord and several of the newer deities, who had risen to prominence in recent millennia by slaying ancient deities during that crisis.

The Faelorian deities were not only able to wield their full strength on the Battlefield of the Gods but also within the divine nations and certain regions, like the three levels of Purgatory[2] in the extreme west of Faeloria.

Purgatory did not exist naturally in Faeloria.

Its creation was connected to the evil deities who inadvertently arrived at Faeloria.

Over two hundred thousand years ago, a considerable number of evil deities inadvertently stumbled into this world.

They appeared to be a defeated and fleeing force that referred to themselves as “demons”.

Upon their arrival in Faeloria, the demons found themselves unable to leave and gradually settled, continuing to reproduce to this day.

Not only the demons but also many other foreign races in this world had slowly evolved into natives.

It was rumored that the renowned Dragon Clan did not originate from Faeloria.

Having arrived much earlier than the demons, the Dragon Clan had better adapted to this world’s environmental laws.

Some of the newer generations of Rank Four Dragons even denied their extraplanar origins, firmly believing they were natives of this world.

Unlike the deeply integrated Dragon Clan, the demons consistently clung to their original identities.

They aspired to return to their domain and retaliate against the enemies that once drove them away.

Meanwhile, the lack of a sense of belonging prevented the demons and Faelorian native deities from fully trusting each other.

The demons disregarded not only the Order and Neutral factions but even the Dark Alliance of the Evil alignment.

In fact, the alignment system that Sein gleaned from the adventurers’ minds was not entirely accurate.

Besides the traditional Evil, Order, and Neutral alignments, the demons represented the Chaotic alignment.

The demons’ strength rivaled that of the three alignments.

Currently, the most powerful demon in Purgatory was a supreme deity named Levon Thorstein, also known as the “Bloodwar Monarch”.

In the Astral Realm, this level of existence represented the peak of Rank Six.[3]

In addition to possessing incomparably powerful strength, what distinguished the Bloodwar Monarch was his status as one of the first-generation demon monarchs from the initial wave of demons that arrived in Faeloria over two hundred thousand years ago.

He was also the most resolute among the current demon monarchs in breaking free from the laws of Faeloria and attempting to return to their domain.

The number of first-generation demon monarchs in the three levels of Purgatory in the far west was also dwindling, now reduced to single digits.

The vast majority of the current Rank Four and above demon monarchs had emerged in Faeloria about two hundred thousand years ago.

Since they were born in Faeloria, they bore its unmistakable mark.

Escaping Faeloria proved difficult, and it was only a matter of time before these demons would be integrated into this world like the Dragon Clan.

The arrival of the demons introduced fresh energy and new dynamics into the Faeloria Continent.

For example, the three levels of Purgatory were an unprecedented phenomenon that the Faelorian deities could hardly comprehend.

Its emergence also led many deities to start believing that there were likely other worlds beyond the Prime Material Plane.

The Dark Lady of the Dark Alliance was the strongest advocate for this theory.

As a powerful supreme deity, she stood as an equal to Levon Thorstein.

For this reason, she had been getting along well with the demons of the Chaotic alignment over nearly a hundred thousand years.

As a result, the Chaotic and Evil alignments maintained a somewhat cooperative relationship, while the gods of the Order and Neutral alignments were closer.

Constrained by the planar laws, the Bone Lord found it difficult to manifest his full power in the Prime Materia Realm, but even a fraction of his power was enough to intimidate his targets, just like the Spider Queen, who easily subdued Sein back then using only a divine clone.

When the rich divine power of death appeared before Sein, unsettling him, the Silver Spider Ring on Sein’s finger suddenly emitted a burst of light.

The Bone Lord’s divine power was drawn to the Silver Spider Ring on Sein’s hand.

Fortunately, stimulated by the Bone Lord’s divine power, the previously inactive Silver Spider Ring was activated again at the critical moment.

Sein managed to sense and contact the Spider Queen once more.

Before Sein could speak, the Spider Queen beat him to it, scolding him sharply, “You asshole! How dare you go silent on me for a hundred years!”

“Why do I detect another aura? Have you been meddling with a Rank Five being of that world?”

Her icy voice resonated in Sein’s mind.

One hundred years...? But I’ve only been awake for a week...

The corner of Sein’s mouth twitched slightly.

No wonder the Spider Queen was furious.

Sein’s century-long silence meant that she had not just lost contact with him but also a precious piece of a world-class secret treasure fragment and a significant portion of the divine power she had invested in creating the Silver Spider Ring—a double loss.

Due to her foul mood, the black mages in Blackhaven, along with the formidable chimeras she raised in her black tower, bore the brunt of the Spider Queen’s unwarranted wrath.

Despite her harsh words, the Spider Queen’s actions were swift.

A web of divine power, far more potent and complex than the Bone Lord’s, materialized in front of Sein like a spider’s web, halting the encroachment of the opposing divine power.

The Bone Lord, remote in the Bone Theocracy, could not even glimpse what was happening here, let alone target Sein.

The Spider Queen also seemed to detect her rival’s ongoing challenge.

With a disdainful snort, a powerful burst of divine light erupted from her web.

It not only obliterated the Bone Lord’s divine power in the blood mist enveloping Sein but also surged through space to strike the Bone Lord in his distant divine nation beyond the Prime Materia Realm.

The two deities, each having ascended through the path of faith in different civilizations, clashed across dimensions.

Caught off guard and outmatched, the Bone Lord spat out a mouthful of divine blood.

As the blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, he clutched the dragon skeleton before him to steady himself and uttered in surprise, “What powerful divine power!”

“Am I being targeted by a greater deity?” he wondered, feeling a chilling dread that pierced his very bones.

1. Translator’s Note: Avatars here referred to the physical manifestation of deities. ☜

2. Yes, this Purgatory is the so-called Infernal Blood Keep mentioned in the previous chapter. ☜

3. Author’s Note:

Faeloria’s power system:

Rank One - Transcendent Being

Rank Two - Legendary Being

Rank Three - Epic Being / Demigod

Rank Four is divided into wielders of weak and lesser divine powers, categorized as such due to the world’s special laws mechanism and planar attributes (details will be explained in due time). Creatures of this caliber are collectively known as lesser deities.

Rank Five, wielders of moderate divine powers - intermediate deities

Rank Six, wielders of great divine powers - greater deities

Peak Rank Six, wielders of mighty divine powers - supreme deities

Rank Seven and above - Overdeities ☜