Sovereign of the Ashes

The battle between Sein and Gondrath lasted a total of four days.

In just those four days, two-thirds of Mysirral City was completely destroyed.

Fortunately, most of the city’s residents had already fled with the wave of refugees, so the actual number of casualties among the lesser creatures was not as catastrophic as it could have been.

Four days were more than enough time for both Sein and Gondrath to burn through most of their trump cards.

The once-majestic giant golem was now mostly submerged in the lake.

Attacked relentlessly by Yuri’s mecha and scorched by Sein’s Ashen Flame, the golem could no longer keep fighting once its core was destroyed.

After all, functional gods just were not built for battle.

Gondrath was a master at crafting artifacts, but when it came to real combat...

His lack of combat instincts and frontline experience was a flaw he simply could not cover up, even with a full arsenal of divine artifacts.

Sure, against weaker enemies, he could overwhelm them with his divine artifacts.

But against someone like Sein, who had both raw strength and an arsenal of his own, Gondrath had clearly kicked the wrong hornet’s nest.

As his divine artifacts ran dry and his chances of winning dropped to zero, Gondrath had no choice but to admit defeat and prepare to retreat.

He had, of course, spent the past few days waiting for reinforcements from other deities in the San Jose Kingdom.

Even in their avatar forms, it should not have taken more than a day, maybe two, for help to arrive.

Unfortunately, no one showed up. Not a single god Gondrath had considered a “friend” came to his aid.

It turned out that his so-called friends were ready to betray him. It was a simple, brutal truth that left a bitter taste in Gondrath’s mouth.

Putting too much trust in others was a mistake from the start.

In the end, one could only rely on oneself.

And so, without another word, Gondrath began to disengage.

After all, he had gotten what he needed: a wealth of data from the battle, firsthand observation of Sein’s divine artifacts, and a clear look at how Yuri and her mecha operated in combat.

To Gondrath, that knowledge alone was priceless and had already expanded his horizons.

Although the God of Craft was a Rank Four being who had ascended through the path of faith, his curiosity and creativity gave him a certain resemblance to a Magus World mage.

If Sein had not set his sights on Gondrath’s divine relics or his possessions, the two of them might have actually become friends.

During the final stretch of their four-day battle, Gondrath had revealed most of his trump cards.

In addition to the four divine artifacts Sein had already identified, Gondrath pulled out another one—a grayish-white scepter with a pair of outstretched wings on top.

It did not seem to match his divine relic’s attribute at all, as this one radiated aero elemental energy.

With it, Gondrath summoned a massive tornado that tore through the battlefield.

When it came to the destruction of Mysirral City, half of it was scorched by Sein’s flames—and the other half, wrecked by Gondrath’s divine artifact.

After pushing Sein back once more, Gondrath let out a regretful sigh and pointed the scepter at the ground.

The giant golem under the lake was also one of his divine artifacts, but it was already heavily damaged by this point.

With a pulse of divine power, the massive wooden construct dissolved into specks of golden light, shrinking rapidly before flying back toward him.

“If this fight drags on, I won’t be able to hold my own in avatar form,” Gondrath admitted. “Shame. I really wanted to dismantle that metal golem of yours and see what makes it tick.”

Sein frowned and surged forward. He could tell Gondrath was about to flee.

But the interference from the scepter and ruby ring made it nearly impossible to close the gap in time.

Not to mention, that wrench Gondrath carried had proven to be annoyingly versatile.

The God of Craft was practically a walking treasure vault: scepter in one hand, wrench in the other, ruby ring on one finger, as well as divine artifact-level robe and boots.

He was armed to the teeth, with even more equipment than Sein himself.

On top of that, Gondrath had been tossing out disposable, lower-tier equipment throughout the battle like it cost him nothing. No wonder no one had ever managed to pin him down.

With a surge of aero elemental energy from his scepter, Gondrath launched himself high into the air, heading straight for the edge of the crimson light curtain—ready to break free.

As Sein debated whether or not to activate the demigod-level Viridescent Seeds he had buried earlier on the outskirts of Mysirral City, something unexpected happened!

A sudden flash of light tore through the sky, slicing straight through the air and striking Gondrath square in the back.

The attack came out of nowhere, and its sheer speed and piercing power were absurdly high.

Even the defensive shields from Gondrath’s ruby ring could not hold up. The chilling, vaporous energy from his Twilight Robe failed to stop it either.

“GWAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Gondrath let out a howl of agony from above.

One moment he was seconds from escaping the battlefield—then the next, he was plummeting from the sky.

His wooden golem, which had already mostly dissolved into golden motes of light, fell with him, crashing into the lake with enough force to send water spraying hundreds of meters in every direction.

After days of fighting, the mechanical city beneath the lake was mostly reduced to ruins.

Sein had long since noticed that while Gondrath’s craftsmanship was exceptional, the durability of his creations left much to be desired. Whether it was the submerged city or the giant golem, their structural weaknesses were obvious.

Apparently, Faeloria still had not developed any truly advanced alloy-forging techniques.

Despite Gondrath being shot down, Sein felt no sense of victory because a new figure appeared in the sky immediately afterward, bringing with him a wave of pressure that made Sein tense up on instinct.

An intermediate deity!

The newcomer’s target was not Sein—they did not even know each other.

This Faelorian deity’s weapon was rather unique.

The piercing strike that brought Gondrath down had come from a pickaxe, which the deity now held casually in one hand. In the other, he carried a massive hammer—also a divine artifact.

He had the look of a burly, middle-aged man with dark blond, naturally curly hair.

Sein could tell this deity was not on the same level as someone like Succubus Queen, but the weapons he carried were impressive.

Sein might not have known who he was, but Gondrath certainly did.

A furious roar echoed up from the depths of the lake as the wounded god burst from the water again.

“Furey! You insidious, petty bastard!” Gondrath bellowed.

Furey, the God of Smithing, was an intermediate deity from the Wings of Nature.

For reasons unknown, he had decided to make a move against Gondrath.

Judging by Gondrath’s outrage, there was probably bad blood between them going way back.