Sovereign of the Ashes

“That little guy is more prideful than we think. Moreover, the principle of equivalent exchange he upholds is quite interesting, in my opinion,” Anastasia remarked.

“If we demons were to directly offer him protection by providing him a divine relic, whether he would accept it or not remains uncertain. But don’t you think it would seem as if we’re flattering him—and that Spider Queen behind him—or even the Magus Civilization, too much? After all, he’s just a mere Epic-level... ah, I should say, Rank Three creature.”

The Succubus Queen gazed into the distance as she spoke.

Morvanya, the Goddess of Doom, remained silent.

When it came to the world civilization behind Sein, Morvanya had always harbored a deep sense of fear.

In fact, she believed that demons were better off avoiding contact with such a mysterious and powerful foreign civilization. It would bring no benefit to Faeloria.

Unfortunately, the will of the demon race was not something she could influence.

Especially since, a hundred years ago, Morvanya had learned from the Dark Lady that Faeloria’s most powerful God of Justice had been severely wounded by an unknown but formidable force from Sein’s world!

Calling the God of Justice “the strongest” was no exaggeration.

After the Dio’s disappearance and the passage of a hundred thousand years, even the Dark Lady had been forced to admit that the God of Justice had surpassed her in strength, if only by a small margin.

Even the severe injury inflicted by the foreign force had, in a way, become an opportunity.

That wound had ultimately accelerated the God of Justice’s progress to reach the Overdeity status.

On the matter of interacting with extradomainal civilizations and exploring beyond Faeloria, the leaders of major camps held differing opinions.

Poseidon had remained dormant for years, indifferent to world affairs.

The Iridescent Dragon God merely observed from above, watching Faeloria rise and fall.

The ancient gods, long since relics of the past, had no real stance on the issue.

The ones truly concerned about the foreign influence represented by Sein were the three major camps—Order, Neutral, and Evil.

The Elemental God of the Wings of Nature, in particular, was staunchly opposed to Faeloria being “tainted” by external forces.

And now, with the God of Justice injured, it was clear that a power greater than even the demons of old had entered Faeloria.

With each passing day, the Elemental God grew more restless.

If the demons persisted in their “reckless obsession”, drawing heretical forces into Faeloria, then the Wings of Nature would have no choice but to join forces with the Justice League and attempt to eradicate the Purgatory demons within the next tens of thousands of years.

Of course, for now, the Elemental God’s thoughts remained just that—thoughts.

Among the Purgatory demons, tens of millions could be rallied as qualified combatants.

Moreover, the demon clan’s long-standing tradition of bloody warfare ensured a constant influx of battle-ready reinforcements.

With more than two hundred ruthless demon kings among them, wiping out such a force would be no simple task.

As long as the demons maintained control over Purgatory, the gods of Faeloria would be powerless to eliminate them—not in a hundred thousand years, let alone tens of thousands.

The God of Justice, naturally, was among the staunchest anti-demon figures especially after suffering a grievous injury at the hands of a powerful extraterdomainal force.

Unfortunately, he required considerable time to recover after being struck by Nergal’s blow.

On top of that, he was still pursuing the limits of his power and refining his laws to ascend to the Overdeity realm, further prolonging his absence.

In fact, ever since the leaders of the three major camps activated the Tablets of Fate and prematurely triggered the Avatar Crisis, the God of Justice had vanished entirely.

In his absence, the one currently overseeing the affairs of the Justice League was the God of Radiance, a greater deity.

No one knew when the God of Justice would return.

Without him taking the lead, the Elemental God’s ambitions of eradicating heresy were nothing more than empty words.

It could not even handle the Bloodwar Monarch, Levon Thorstein, alone by itself.

For now, the true force shaping Faeloria’s fate and future direction was none other than the enigmatic Dark Lady, who had always kept a low profile.

Yet for the past hundred thousand years, she had remained closely aligned with the Purgatory demons.

As expected, she decisively rejected the Elemental God’s proposal to unite against them.

Her stance was far less extreme than the Elemental God’s as she had yet to perceive the true magnitude of the Magus Civilization’s power.

More importantly, from the very beginning, the Dark Lady had been an active advocate for outward exploration.

Faeloria’s isolation had long bored her.

She yearned to leave and see what lay beyond.

Given this premise, the Dark Lady temporarily set aside concerns about the potential threat posed by the Magus Civilization.

Instead, she believed that Faeloria could take the initiative and reach out to external forces and civilizations.

If everyone shared the Dark Lady’s perspective, it could have been a boon for Faeloria.

After all, with the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation on the brink of war, any powerful external civilization extending goodwill to the Magus Civilization and seeking to establish ties would be making a strategic move.

The Magus Civilization would undoubtedly welcome such an alliance—whether to bolster its strength or to demonstrate its influence to its allied planes within the Magus Alliance and the vassal civilizations of the Gallant Federation.

This was an opportunity for Faeloria—one where both world civilizations could have benefited.

Unfortunately, due to various complications, the two worlds ultimately missed their chance to connect.

***

The Bythos Kingdom was a small human nation located in the northeastern region of Purgatory, with a population of approximately five million. It was one of the God of First Light’s primary faith strongholds.

Sein and his group had arrived in Sesto City, a border settlement within the kingdom.

Faint traces of undried blood still stained the city walls—a stark reminder of the kingdom’s recent unrest.

The Avatar Crisis had dragged on for nearly two centuries, leaving a trail of turmoil and chaos across the land. Beyond internal strife, conflicts had also erupted between nations across the continent.

One such example was the Bythos Kingdom, which had long been locked in a bitter struggle with Machyna, a city-state to its south.

Around thirty years ago, the two small human nations had waged a large-scale border war, with an army of a hundred thousand soldiers clashing.

The conflict ultimately ended with hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties on both sides.

In Faeloria, behind every war for mortal sovereignty lurked the unseen hand of divine intervention.

Due to its city-state governance, Machyna’s districts remained highly autonomous. As a result, this nation with a population of nearly seven million had a complex and fragmented religious landscape.

Furthermore, it was not a purely human nation. At least thirty percent of Machyna’s population consisted of non-human creatures, each following their own faiths.

No one truly knew who had started the war, nor the exact cause of the conflict.

The only certainty was the growing divide between the God of First Light, who supported the Bythos Kingdom, and the God of Black Feather, who stood behind Machyna.

The God of Black Feather belonged to the Wings of Nature, but rumors suggested he was on the verge of defecting to the Dark Alliance.

In Faeloria, it was not uncommon for deities to switch allegiances, or even abandon their factions entirely.