Sovereign of the Ashes

Sein had not expected his reunion with Tourmaline to play out like this.

Seeing the scene unfold before him, he could not help but think back to their first meeting.

Tourmaline, Lorianne, and Leena... All of them had shown up when he needed help the most.

Right now, Sein was overwhelmed with emotion.

Tourmaline, still fuming, was in no mood for conversation. Her entire focus was locked on the Tower Master of Bone.

As expected of a Rank Four black mage who had mastered the rare bone law, his bones were indeed strong.

If that slap from Tourmaline had landed on a dragon’s head, it would have been flattened. And yet, this guy managed to survive the hit.

After snapping out of his shock, the tower master tried fighting back. Unfortunately for him, Tourmaline’s strength far surpassed his law power.

This was not even a fair fight.

Tourmaline might have reached Rank Four later than him, but with her strength law and noble bloodline alone, she could have taken him down even without her arm ribbons.

With those world-class secret treasures boosting her even further, the gap between them was downright overwhelming!

“Who the hell are you?! Why are you coming after me?!” the Tower Master of Bone screamed hysterically from under her claws.

Tourmaline continued slapping him again and again, cutting off his voice every few seconds.

Even with all the magic arrays reinforcing it, the tower looked like it was about to collapse.

Sein grabbed Leena and took the chance to escape, flying out fast.

Outside, the land stretched into an endless plain to the west, while to the east, cliffs loomed high above the crashing waves below.

No wonder Tourmaline showed up so quickly; the tower was built right on the coast.

She had not come alone.

Although the Tower Master of Bone’s elemental power still partially restrained him, Sein’s senses—honed through years of battle—remained razor-sharp.

Amid the crashing of waves, he could hear massive sea beasts climbing the cliffs one after another.

They were the sea kings of the Magus World, and the first few that came into Sein’s view were all Rank Four or higher. He even recognized a few of them.

If the sea kings were here, then...

Sure enough, when Sein looked out across the distant sea, a massive silhouette began to emerge through the ocean mist.

It was White Stella, the giant mermaid.

She was just as he remembered her, though now she held a crystal-blue trident.

It was the Royal Trident, a world-class secret treasure renowned throughout the sea races.

Technically, that trident belonged to Avril, the Mermaid Queen.

Yet here it was, in White Stella’s grip.

With it, she radiated a far more commanding presence than usual.

The moment she saw Tourmaline locked in battle with the Tower Master of Bone and noticed the black mage had already unleashed a barrage of destructive spells, White Stella raised her trident and pointed it forward.

HISS!

ROAR!

A pack of Rank Four and above sea kings marched toward the tower master, each step shaking the ground.

She had also spotted Sein. She blinked her beautiful eyes, and in the next instant, a flash of silver light burst forth, shattering the white bone claws that had been restraining both him and Leena.

With his elemental power no longer suppressed, Sein wasted no time grabbing Leena and pulling her out of the growing chaos.

When most of his power had been suppressed, he had not been able to sense much.

Now that his senses had returned, he immediately picked up on several powerful auras to the west and north of the tower—watching the battle unfold from afar.

Having once witnessed a melee between over ten deities in Faeloria, Sein remained composed, even as more Rank Four and above beings began to appear.

The Silver Spider Ring on his finger pulsed faintly, resonating with something far off in the north.

The skies there looked empty and calm, but Sein knew the Spider Queen was there. Even if it was not her true body, one of her divine clones had definitely arrived.

***

With several sea kings at Rank Four and above joining the battle, the fight quickly turned into a one-sided beatdown.

Sein believed the Tower Master of Bone had quite a few “friends” in the west, but not a single one of them showed up.

Blackhaven’s cold indifference and opportunism were on full display right now.

Of course, even if those black mages and black knights had shown up, they probably would not have stood a chance against White Stella and the sea kings under her command.

The overwhelming power gap left the Tower Master of Bone with no choice but to surrender, especially after a Rank Five Sea Scorpion coiled its massive tail around him.

Even with a reinforced skeletal structure, there was no guarantee he could survive the deep-blue venom of this sea king.

The way he was restrained now looked similar to how Sein had been bound not long ago.

Their roles had completely reversed, and the tower master’s injuries were clearly much worse.

Tourmaline’s sheer brute force had already crushed several of his bones.

She could have taken him down on her own. The sea kings just made it happen faster.

Once the Tower Master of Bone was fully subdued, a faint spatial ripple came from the west, signaling the arrival of more Rank Four and above beings.

Blackhaven’s black mages really knew how to time their appearances.

Six black mages arrived, all Rank Four or higher, along with three black knights of similar life levels.

Among them, three had reached Rank Five: an emaciated old man, a black-robed woman, and a muscular man clad in heavy black armor.

To Sein’s surprise, he recognized one of them—Andy.

Not long ago, Andy had intervened in Sein’s battle with a demigod-level mage named Harnban.

He was also one of the few in Blackhaven perceptive enough to glimpse Sein’s true background.

These newcomers were not here to fight.

By now, things had escalated to a point where even they could not defend the Tower Master of Bone’s actions.

They were most likely here to cut ties with him and avoid getting caught up in the mess.

If everything went according to plan, the Tower Master of Bone’s fate was pretty much sealed.

He would be sent to the alliance’s most guarded interstellar prison—Atlan Prison.

That was where Master Andy himself had once been imprisoned.