Sovereign of the Ashes

“All my believers and subjects, pursue this blasphemer and bring him to the Temple of Justice!”

The God of Justice’s oracle reached every shrine across the main continent.

Portraits of Sein, and even the half-undead girl by his side, were swiftly circulated among the temples.

With the God of Justice commanding a vast network of subordinate deities, they immediately mobilized, fully committing to the hunt.

Before long, responses arrived from both the Elemental God and the Dark Lady.

Soon, nearly all of Faeloria was actively hunting Sein.

Only the dragon gods in the outer seas, the chaotic demons, and the sea gods remained uninvolved—for now.

Even so, it was only a matter of time before the dragon gods and sea gods joined the pursuit.

Among the entire Faeloria, only the Purgatory demons remained indifferent to the native deities.

Sein was now the enemy of an entire world.

Despite the Spider Queen’s divine protection, which partially masked his presence, and despite his own cautious movements, he was still in a miserable state, constantly on the run.

If things continued like this, it would really only be a matter of time before he was caught.

During this harrowing period, Sein found himself repeating the same desperate questions whenever he communicated with the Spider Queen through the Silver Spider Ring:

“Is it done?”

“Is it ready or not?”

“When can I return to Magus World?”

The Spider Queen understood the severity of Sein’s predicament and had been speeding up her preparations.

Unfortunately, she could only send back the same answer each time.

“Almost. Just wait a little longer.”

“I’m...” Sein choked on his frustration.

Before he could complain further, he sensed that the magic wards he had carefully set up in the distance had been breached, sending him into a panic.

Thankfully, Faeloria was vast, covered in endless primeval forests, swamps, rugged mountain ranges, and other inhospitable terrain—all of which worked in his favor.

At one point, he even ventured underground, traversing parts of it in a desperate attempt to shake off his pursuers.

It was only thanks to these measures that he had managed to evade capture thus far.

However, the situation was worsening.

***

One month later, in the Magus World...

Nergal, having just returned to Blackhaven, went straight to his magnificent black tower.

As expected, he found Lorthisra fully absorbed in her work within his private laboratory at the top of his black tower. Scattered around her were the remnants of exhausted resources.

If he were not wealthy enough, Nergal doubted he could have afforded to raise such an extravagant spender.

Though she was only his adopted daughter, Nergal had inevitably developed an attachment to Lorthisra after years of raising her from infancy.

Of course, he would never admit it openly. Instead, he pushed her hard and tested her limits at every opportunity.

Lorthisra’s personality was bizarre and ruthless. She had, no doubt, inherited these traits from her real father.

When Nergal stepped into the spacious laboratory, Lorthisra was so focused on her work that she did not even notice his presence behind her.

For an entire month, she had worked without pause, and at last, she had completed the space-time altar she needed to drag Sein back to the Magus World.

She was not even sure how much she had spent on resources and materials.

The entire altar was decorated with a dazzling array of energy crystals, their shimmering colors almost blinding to the eye.

Among them, the two most valuable magic cores had been extracted from Rank Four creatures.

“This altar should be good for multiple uses... Just enough to support the early stages of our invasion of that foreign world,” Lorthisra mumbled to herself.

She had not given up on conquering Faeloria yet.

The sudden presence of her adoptive father startled Lorthisra.

Nergal said nothing at first. Instead, he studied the magic array she had constructed before finally nodding in approval.

“Not bad... You’re catching up to the skills your late father once had.”

Lorthisra’s biological father had been a general of the Byrne Empire—one of its pillars.

Before he drew his last breath, he had entrusted Lorthisra to Nergal’s care.

That was why Lorthisra wielded such great privileges in the Magus World.

The combined protection of the Byrne Empire and the strongest black mage ensured that even the guardians had been forced to tolerate her transgressions, time and time again.

Upon hearing her adoptive father’s remark, Lorthisra scoffed coldly.

She crossed her arms and did not even bother to look at him.

This was how they had always been.

Despite their bond as adoptive father and daughter, they seemed to be separated by an unseen distance.

“Tell me the foreign world you’ve decided to meddle with this time... What exactly is going on? Quite bold of you to make your move on a large world.”

Nergal chuckled, sweeping his gaze over the space-time altar.

Lorthisra was not usually on speaking terms with her adoptive father, but she knew better than to show her attitude at a time like this.

Conquering Faeloria was no small feat.

Without her adoptive father’s support, even taking down a single greater deity would have been a struggle for Lorthisra, let alone achieving her ambition of dominating the entire world.

The information extracted from the God of Brute Force’s mind was vast and comprehensive, touching on every aspect of Faeloria.

Yet, Nergal listened in silence from start to finish, offering no remarks except for the occasional low chuckle.

It was only when Lorthisra had finally laid out everything she knew that she stopped talking and turned her gaze on the old man.

“Hehehe, you’ve really grown bolder. Good thing you only sent a Rank Three mage to scout ahead. If you had gone there yourself... even I wouldn’t have been able to save you,” Nergal said.

Lorthisra frowned.

“Is that world truly so powerful? Even you wouldn’t dare invade it?” she asked. There was a challenge hidden in her tone.

Nergal scoffed.

“That world’s unique nature... I’ve already sensed it before. It’s incredibly closed off. Invading such a world will require breaking through its barrier and maintaining stable passages large enough for our civilization’s legions to pass through. This alone makes it at least three times harder than conquering other large worlds!”

He paused for a moment before continuing, “And you estimated that there are about two thousand native deities? With that many Rank Four and above creatures, that’s enough to sustain three Rank Seven overlords. I believe you should be able to do this math.

“In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are Rank Eight creatures hidden in that world.”

The weight of his words crashed down on Lorthisra like an ancient glacier, sending an icy chill through her very core.

She opened her mouth to argue.

“But that world doesn’t seem to have any overlord—only a group of supreme deities, who are essentially peak Rank Six creatures. If we could rally all the black mages and black knights under Blackhaven...”

Nergal cut her off with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“You’re too naive! A world with that much heritage and that many Rank Four beings? The moment an invasion pushes it to the brink, the planar will can forcibly propel two creatures straight into overlord status.”

“In fact, that Dio... the so-called ‘God of Gods’ you’ve been investigating... He’s most likely a Rank Eight overlord,” he added.

Nergal sighed, rubbing his chin.

“You know that Magus Civilization is about to go to war with the Gallant Federation. Do you really think we can afford to provoke another powerful world right now? The Magus Civilization won’t allow you to start another conflict under these circumstances. I’d wager that the conquest of this foreign world will only be put on the agenda once the current war is over.”

Yet despite his reasoning, there was a flicker of intrigue in his voice.

“A closed world, huh? The Avatar Crisis... Rank Four deities knocked off their altars, roaming the main continent as demigods...? The more you talk about this world, the more fascinating it sounds. I’m tempted to go see it for myself.

Seeing the disappointment on Lorthisra’s face, he chuckled and said, “When the war is over, I’ll lend you a hand.