Sovereign of the Ashes

A year and a half later, Sein finally let his hands come to a gradual stop.

The Demon Eye Mask before him had reached perfection. At least, he had made full use of every material he had incorporated.

Like Grimm and the gold-robed mage Berold before him, Sein knew there was no point in continuing the experiment.

With his current skill, it was nearly impossible to refine the mask any further.

Compared to more than ten years ago, the Demon Eye Mask had grown far more demonic and enigmatic.

The crimson patterns etched across its surface could make someone fall into an illusion or a disoriented state just from a glance, and that was without even activating the mask.

At the center of the forehead sat a beautiful, pale pink crystal.

Surrounding the crystal was an octagonal array diagram with many intricate lines.

The pink crystal, of course, was the Goddess of Music’s divine relic.

It looked different now from when Sein had first obtained it because he had refined and altered the relic extensively.

Infused with the Succubus Queen’s blood essence, the relic’s original sonido laws had fused with the divine power of bewitchment, amplifying its destructive potential exponentially.

Although the Demon Eye Mask only incorporated a single divine relic, Sein had to admit that the craftsmanship, the alchemy involved, and the mask’s overall quality even surpassed his magic rod, which had two divine relics embedded in it.

Mages were always striving to improve. The Demon Eye Mask before him was not his limit. Sein believed that one day, he could create an even better magic artifact.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted the mask from the table and placed it back on his face.

The world that unfolded before his eyes was now tinted scarlet.

The faintest traces of elemental energy and subtle energy fluctuations around him were now clearer than ever.

For a moment, the sheer novelty of the sensation made him forget everything else around him.

With its combined affinities for lumen, pyro, sonido, and bewitchment laws, the mask’s true strength lay in sonido law—ironically, the element Sein was least proficient in.

Wearing this mask, with his magic rod in hand and magic robe on his body, Sein felt confident enough to believe he could now go toe-to-toe with a Rank Four creature.

And by Rank Four, he did not mean the “weakened Rank Four” creatures of Faeloria—he meant the real Rank Four beings, what Faeloria would call lesser gods.

Mages had always been a sensible group of people who would not make false or exaggerated claims.

Since Sein believed he already had the ability to fight a Rank Four creature, the truth was he really did have the power to take one head-on, at least for a short time.

This level of strength... Sein had seen a glimpse of it once before, in Tourmaline.

Of course, it was not just thanks to his divine artifacts. His mastery of the Ashen Flame and body-tempering techniques also played a role.

Only by combining them all did Sein finally gain the ability to fight those above his rank. This proved how rigidly the Astral Realm’s power levels were divided.

Sometimes, the difference between one rank was the difference between heaven and earth.

In the entire Magus World, not many could achieve Sein’s current strength.

If every demigod had been as monstrous as Tourmaline was back then, the balance of the Astral Realm would have already collapsed.

From the ninth level of the secret realm, the greatest insight Sein had gained was “balance”.

“The power to break balance, huh?” Sein exhaled deeply, then looked forward.

At that moment, an oval-shaped light gate appeared before him.

This light gate was different from every other one he had encountered so far, though he could not quite say what was different.

Unfurling the demon wings from his back, Sein flew toward it.

***

Upon stepping through, the scene before him was no longer a trial space.

It was an endless expanse of white.

And in the midst of that white stood a figure of light.

It was formed entirely from lumen elemental energy, and Sein could feel its power just from its presence alone.

Sein had the ability to challenge those above his rank, but even so, the opponent standing before him was not someone he could take on.

Just like Sein, the figure of light also wore a mask.

But unlike Sein’s Demon Eye Mask, the mask worn by the figure of light was pure white.

It was a featureless mask.

“You’re finally here, my successor. You’ve passed the trial I created, with your own strength,” the figure of light said.

This figure of light was not a solid being, but an illusory vessel formed from pure lumen elemental energy.

And yet, even after who knew how many years, it still radiated a powerful, surging elemental power.

It was hard to imagine just how formidable the original being must have been in their prime.

At the same time, this was also a kind of program, set in place countless millennia ago.

In other words, what Sein faced now was not a real person, but a recorded projection left behind by the creator of this secret realm long ago.

From everything he had seen, the original creator was likely no longer alive.

After all, it was a long-standing tradition in Magus World that when an old mage neared the end of their life, they would leave behind a secret realm containing their life’s work, in hopes of passing on their knowledge and their pursuit of truth to future generations.

It was a timeless expression of the unending spirit to preserve knowledge and continue the search for truth.

Sein himself had not yet taken on an apprentice. But if he ever reached that point, maybe he, too, would choose to leave behind his own secret realm somewhere in Magus World, or perhaps here, in the Knight Continent.

In fact, most of the legacy secret realms scattered across the Knight Continent had probably come into existence this way.

Sein looked at the figure of light with quiet respect, still pondering the words “with your own ability” that the being had just said.

Berold had been right.

Sein was also curious why the evaluation system of this legacy secret realm considered it reasonable that he had obtained so many divine relics and high-grade materials—resources clearly beyond the reach of an ordinary mage.

Was it because every one of those relics and artifacts had been earned through his own effort and the risks he took in another world?

After all, earning them was not the same as being handed them.

Then again, maybe the evaluation system was not perfect.

After all, it was a program built countless years ago. The fact that it still worked at all was impressive in itself.

And judging by what Berold had said earlier, there had never been a single case of someone cheating their way to the final reward in the entire history of this secret realm.

That meant Sein really had earned the final legacy here through his own skill.