Sovereign of the Ashes

The battle against several Pyremperors in Pyreling World proved far more difficult than Sein’s earlier fight in White Sand World.

To put it bluntly, that one had been little more than a group brawl, and his side had the numbers advantage.

Now, with Grimm and the others yet to arrive in Pyreling World, it was up to Sein and Marcus to hold the line while being ganged up on.

The Rank Five Void Eater charged directly at Sein.

It was clearly a much tougher opponent than the Bouldrak King or the Eternal Sand Lord from before.

The strange black flames it wielded carried the rare “devouring” attribute.

Sein had encountered many unusual pyro elemental laws over the years, but this one still caught him off guard.

Under normal circumstances, Sein would not have stood a chance against a Rank Five creature.

The power hierarchy in the Astral Realm was strict, and only a rare few could challenge beings above their rank.

But Sein was one of those “rare exceptions”, and it was all thanks to the Faceless Mask on his face.

After reaching Rank Four, the Faceless Mask had revealed more of its hidden power. Some of its abilities were so powerful that Sein had no opportunity to even use them during his previous battle in White Sand World.

The massive mask projected a massive image of itself into the air.

Its smooth white surface split open, revealing countless eyes—a sight that struck awe and fear into all who saw it.

A closer look would show that these were not ordinary eyes. They were special spell models developed by Sein himself—Demon Eyes.

One of the Faceless Mask’s unique functions was to temporarily amplify the user’s destructive power by a thousandfold, specifically for lumen, pyro, and sonido magic.

From the illusory form of the massive mask, a dense barrage of beams rained down.

Even though the Rank Five Pyremperor was incredibly fast, it was suddenly forced to halt mid-flight by the torrent of energy blasting toward it.

At the same time, two of the Ashen Fortress’ secret weapons activated and unleashed their power.

The first attack came from the fortress’ upper section.

As the top deck opened, a massive cannon with a square muzzle—nearly a kilometer in diameter—slowly rose into view.

After a brief charge-up, a deep blue energy beam blasted forth from the fortress.

Though powerful, this cannon was not the most destructive weapon in the Ashen Fortress’ arsenal.

The fortress’ main cannon was more powerful, but its long charging time made it suitable only for large, stationary targets. It was not practical against mobile enemies like the Pyremperor.

The square-muzzled cannon locked onto its target, firing straight at the Pyremperor closing in.

Among the four Pyremperors present, Ghost Slayer ranked third in strength. It was only slightly stronger than Blue Lotus.

Its unique trait lay in its formless, intangible nature. The black mist it turned into during critical moments not only had corrosive properties, but also absorbed the majority of incoming damage.

Pure physical attacks were mostly useless against a Rank Four creature like Ghost Slayer, but the Ashen Fortress’ magic cannon was the perfect weapon for such an opponent.

In addition to the massive square-muzzled magic cannon, the Ashen Fortress had another secret weapon: an electromagnetic energy-gathering device, shaped somewhat like a pot lid, which extended from the fortress’ left flank.

Electromagnetism was one of the many academic fields Sein had never explored. There were still plenty of areas of knowledge he had yet to explore.

This particular electromagnetic device had a diameter of only around a hundred meters, far less visually striking than the magic cannon on the top part of the fortress.

But in terms of threat level and destructive potential against Rank Four or higher creatures, it far surpassed that magic cannon.

Of course, it also consumed an absurd amount of energy.

A pale-blue arc of electricity flickered along the Ashen Fortress’s left wing, followed by a twisted bolt of lightning shooting toward Void Eater.

It did not move especially fast. Under normal circumstances, a creature of Void Eater’s caliber should have been able to dodge it without issue.

The lightning beam did not seem particularly threatening either. The Rank Five creature might not have even noticed it coming from the side.

But as it reached Void Eater, the beam abruptly accelerated and spiraled around, tightly encircling the Pyremperor!

This was no ordinary attack—it was a special electromagnetic technique that used the target’s life magnetic field as an inductive medium.

Among the Magus World mages, there were many brilliant minds. But Sein had no idea which genius had come up with this weapon’s design.

Unless a creature consciously suppressed its own life magnetic field, it was nearly impossible to avoid the magnetic chain once within range.

No matter how fast the target moved, the chain would stay locked on until it neutralized the creature’s magnetic field.

Void Eater, who had never encountered such a weapon, would not have even thought to shield its life magnetic field.

First, it was bombarded by the relentless storm of Demon Eye beams amplified by Sein’s Faceless Mask. Then, it was trapped and paralyzed by the fortress’ magnetic chain.

In the end, Void Eater was stopped by Sein.

Of course, it had not gone down without a fight.

Sein was also hit by a wave of black flames hurled his way. As the dark fire swirled around him, he realized this was the Pyremperor’s “divine domain”.

The lawful projection formed by Sein’s Faceless Mask could also be considered his own “divine domain”.

The two divine domains collided. Strange Void Flames consumed the eyes within Sein’s domain, burning them away one by one.

At the same time, beams fired from each Demon Eye’s pupil sliced through the black flames around Void Eater, tearing them apart and scattering them into nothing.

While their divine domains and power of laws clashed, Void Eater beat its wings and continued closing the distance toward Sein.

The paralyzing lightning chains from the fortress had clearly caused it plenty of trouble. Even its pitch-black carapace now looked visibly scorched.

Still, Void Eater paid no mind to its injuries.

Its sharp horn lunged straight for Sein.

Sein raised his magic rod to block, but in such a short exchange, he had no time to cast any powerful spell to counter it.

The horn pierced through the layers of magic shields Sein had preemptively conjured as though they were paper before finally striking the tip of his magic rod.

In that instant, the red-and-white tip of the rod flared with a blinding light.

Even so, the power behind Void Eater’s charge was overwhelming. Despite using the rod to absorb the impact, Sein was still sent flying across the battlefield.

A thin stream of blood slid from the corner of his mouth beneath the mask.

Void Eater’s compound eyes locked onto him with cold intensity. But instead of chasing after Sein, it broke free of the fortress’ electromagnetic chains and darted straight toward the spatial vortex.

Its goal was to destroy the vortex, or at the very least, disrupt Marcus’ descent into this world!

Of course, Sein could not let that happen. He pushed himself up and flew straight back toward Void Eater.

Marcus, now nearly fully descended, was dealing with two Rank Four Pyremperors—Violet Radiance and Blue Lotus.

Compared to Void Eater, their offensive power was clearly weaker. Even so, they attacked relentlessly.

But Marcus, shielded by the power of his activated origin laws, showed no sign of slowing down as he continued his descent.

He was almost through. In just a moment, he would fully descend into this low-level plane and fight alongside his Magus World allies, who were soon to arrive.

But a sudden burst of black flame from Void Eater struck him mid-air, forcing a pained grunt from the knight.

Just as Sein reached for the White Sand Fan tucked inside his robe to summon Sandy, the spatial vortex behind Marcus stirred once more.

Sein had assumed the next arrival would be Angreas, the Kermoine Serpent Emperor Warlock with an exceptional constitution.

But to his surprise, it was Grimm who emerged—sticking half of his elemental body out from the vortex.

Grimm stayed calm as Void Eater’s attack closed in, unfurling a massive elemental shield to meet the blow.

Perhaps due to his own mastery of special laws, Grimm’s descent into Pyreling World went even smoother than Sein’s.

As Grimm descended into the world, Sein’s Fire Storm spell struck Void Eater from behind.