Sovereign of the Ashes

A bright star rose at the edge of Sein’s vision.

It marked the southeastern reaches of Faeloria—a part of this large-sized plane he had never set foot in since his arrival.

In truth, Sein’s time in Faeloria had covered only a fraction of the plane.

He had explored perhaps less than a tenth of its lands, spending most of his centuries in the depths of Purgatory.

Under the veil of night, that star on the horizon glowed with extraordinary brilliance.

If one listened closely, they might catch the whisper of prayers—a soft, collective chorus born from the prayers of countless beings.

Though Sein had long walked the path of truth, the more he was exposed to faith, the more curious he became.

He listened intently—

“O Great God of the Flowing Flamebird,

Master of the sacred pyro flame...

With molten wrath and searing breath,

Your might sets sky and land aflame.

Let the glory of flame sweep across the land,

For the Flowing Flamebirds are your loyal band.

Raise your nation to the skies,

A resting place where your faithful kin may lie...”

These prayers, woven from the voices of multitudes, echoed through many corners of Faeloria.

As a mage who had spent years studying this plane’s pantheons, there was plenty he could infer from this divine chorus.

The God of the Flowing Flamebird was clearly a deity of pyro affinity.

Molten wrath and searing breath were its potent divine abilities, perfect for battle.

Its main believers were none other than the Flowing Flamebirds of this world.

Sein was fairly certain that this newly ascended Rank Four deity had once been a Flowing Flamebird itself.

As for the “nation” mentioned in the last part of the prayer, his gaze drifted toward the bright star now anchoring itself high in Faeloria’s southeastern sky.

“A newly ascended Rank Four god... a weak divine wielder, but one with enticing law attributes. Shame I have to leave now,” Sein muttered.

He exhaled softly as the star settled into place and dimmed to a warm, steady glow.

“The God of Flowing Firebird from the Wings of Nature. It was on track to ascend even before this cycle of the Avatar Crisis,” the Succubus Queen remarked with a shrug.

Any creature with high potential for Rank Four advancement would draw more than just the attention of Purgatory’s demons—all of Faeloria’s major factions would also be watching.

By the look of things, this newly ascended Faelorian god had not relied on devouring divine relics to reach Rank Four but had advanced entirely through cultivation.

That made the achievement all the more impressive.

“I’ve made real progress over the years studying the divine nations built by Rank Four and higher beings in this world. The complexity of those subspaces is truly fascinating. This is indeed a rich and interesting world. I’ll come back someday,” Sein said to the Succubus Queen, then turned toward the oval-shaped black vortex slowly forming in front of him.

“Wait!” the Succubus Queen suddenly called out.

Sein paused, a little puzzled, and looked back at her.

A single drop of blood came out from the center of her brow and floated toward him.

“You’ve always been curious about the law of bewitchment, right? That Demon Mask of yours is far from perfect. This is a drop of divine blood. It holds a trace of my law power in its purest form. Hopefully it helps,” she said.

Sein blinked, then smiled and gave a small nod. “Thank you, Your Highness. I won’t forget what the Purgatory demons have done for me.”

He closed his hand around the divine blood, gave her one last wave, and stepped into the black vortex without looking back.

To avoid emotional goodbyes, he had chosen not to tell Flynn or the others the exact time or place of his departure.

Only a handful of demon kings, including the Succubus Queen, knew he was leaving today.

“I can’t believe you gave him a law crystal. Are you sure about that?” the Goddess of Doom asked, clearly surprised.

Law crystals were far more precious than divine energy crystals.

While not quite at the level of divine relics, a crystal infused with the power of bewitchment law was something only very few could get their hands on.

The Succubus Queen did not answer. Instead, her gaze shifted toward the Goddess of Luck, Tyvera.

“The old order will break. A crisis will come, and the ash-colored flame will burn its way across the entire continent,” Tyvera said quietly before turning away with a soft sigh.

If one looked closely, they would have seen even more white in her hair than before.

When it came to prophecy and divination, even if Morvanya did not want to admit it, her older sister had always been the stronger.

Morvanya had only foreseen Sein as the source of heresy and terror in her vision. Tyvera, however, had glimpsed something far more precise.

The power of ashes...

For some reason, Morvanya suddenly remembered that eerie gray flame in Sein’s hand, and she shuddered.

***

This time, traveling through the space-time passage was far safer than before.

At the very least, thanks to the Spider Queen’s protection, Sein did not have to barrel through it half-naked, his robes in tatters, like he had the last time.

With a proper summoning magic array prepared in advance, the journey would not drag on for a hundred years again, either.

According to Lorthisra’s earlier estimate, it would take about fifty years for Sein to return.

A few centuries passed like a blink, and after all those years, he was finally heading home.

He had broken through to the demigod level at the age of 1,100, but that count did not include the time he spent drifting through the space-time passage.

By the Magus World’s timeline, his real age at the time of breakthrough should have been closer to 1,200.

Then again, the passage of time was always a relative concept.

Back in the ancient days of the Magus Civilization, there was a brilliant spatial mage named Ernstein, whose theory of relativity remained a cornerstone of modern spatial magic even to this day.

Advanced spatial magic always seemed to link with the flow of time.

Sein realized this during his time in the Knight Continent. The secret realm he explored had a completely different temporal flow from the Magus World.

As he flew through the space-time passage, he reached out his right hand, watching streaks of brilliant light rush past him, streaming endlessly into the distance behind.

“What a marvelous and magnificent truth!”

He could not help but sigh in wonder.