Sovereign of the Ashes

When considering who to bring in as Rank Four reinforcements, Sein first thought of Tourmaline, followed by Lorianne and a few others.

Unfortunately, when he tried calling Tourmaline, he could not get through to his old friend.

After the Magus Alliance Conference, Tourmaline had left the venue with White Stella and a few others.

She had not returned to the Divine Tower of Ashes since, and Sein had no idea what she had been up to in recent years.

As for Lorianne and the others... Sein reluctantly dropped the idea after meeting with Marcus and several other Rank Four or higher powerhouses.

To Marcus, Vlad, and the others, the war profits from Pyreling World were just as important as they were to Sein.

This was an unusually prosperous low-level plane, with multiple vassal planes ready for the taking. Bringing in more Rank Four or higher knights and mages from Magus World would only mean the spoils would be split into too many shares.

Marcus, Vlad, and the others preferred to recruit Rank Four or higher fighters from the Magus Alliance instead.

Since alliance members generally ranked lower than Magus World powerhouses and most of their homeplanes were impoverished, these foreign deities were very easy to please.

As a seasoned knight, Marcus had good connections within the alliance.

While Vlad, Murg, and the others struggled to find suitable allies right away, Marcus simply sent word back and quickly received three responses from two Rank Fours and one Rank Five.

On top of that, all three promised to bring combat legions of at least fifty thousand troops.

These foreign creatures coming to fight in Pyreling World would not take a direct share of their war profits. Both parties had already made that clear before agreeing to work together.

The two Rank Four beings would each receive a flat fee of one hundred and fifty thousand magicoins after the war, while the Rank Five would get three million.

That was the going rate in the Magus Alliance.

With three powerful foreign deities on their side, their campaign would no doubt move much faster.

Luckily, the spoils of Pyreling World were abundant, and this low-level plane had plenty of high-level combatants. If there had been only one or two Rank Fours, Sein and the others would not have bothered paying for extra help.

Still, if they wanted to finish the war within thirty years, bringing in more reinforcements would guarantee a better success rate.

Thinking it over, Sein pulled out a pitch-black feather.

The black feather slowly ignited, and as it did, a shadowy figure appeared. From within it came the voice of the Phantom Crow King.

It cawed before asking, “Master Sein, what do you need me for?”

“I have a business opportunity for you,” Sein said.

***

By the fifth year of the Pyreling World War, nearly every native creature was under immense pressure.

At some point, the once-crimson sky had become completely blanketed in black smoke.

The sweet, sulfur-tinged scent in the air had vanished, replaced by strange, indescribable odors.

The sudden arrival of so many foreign beings had undeniably warped the laws and environment of the plane.

Any Pyreling who truly understood the scope of the war and the strength of the invaders could only look to the future with dread.

On this day, a heavily wounded demigod-level Pyreling screeched across the sky.

It did not get far. From the horizon came the beating of countless wings.

A dense swarm of Phantom Crows, like a rolling black mist, dived down from the clouds, hot on the trail of the massive Pyreling.

“Charge! Don’t let it get away!” the crows cawed and cried in excitement.

As a social species, the Phantom Crows had more than proven their worth since joining the Pyreling World War.

When thousands, even tens of thousands, gathered together, they could force even Pyrelings one or two above their life level to steer clear.

This time, the Phantom Crow King had been especially generous to Sein—it had not only descended in person but also brought nearly a million crows.

These were its personal guards. Honestly, the Phantom Crow King alone had the strength to conquer Pyreling World outright.

Despite being the most dependable ally in this interplanar war, the Phantom Crow King had only asked for five million magicoins as payment.

The price was so absurdly low that Marcus and the others had been rendered speechless when they first heard it.

The pursuit ended with a chorus of roars, but the prey slipped away.

A demigod-level three-headed Khimaira had intercepted it.[1]

The beast was massive, with the heads of a dragon, a lion, and a ram, and wings that stretched nearly fifty meters across.

Khimairas were the elven race’s domesticated beasts. Most had only two heads; only the best of them ever evolved into three-headed Khimairas.

Among the foreign deities aiding the Pyreling World War was the Khimaira King, a Rank Four powerhouse, invited by Marcus.

Given the Khimairas’ vassal ties to the elves, it was clear Marcus had strong connections to Grand Elven World in the Magus Alliance.

Many Phantom Crows were furious at having their long-hunted prey stolen.

They cared little for the demigod-level Khimaira’s might because, in their eyes, no one on the entire Pyreling World battlefield could rival the greatness of their Phantom Crow King.

They, the Phantom Crows, were the strongest!

The constant chatter of the surrounding Phantom Crows began to grate on the three-headed Khimaira, which had been savoring its prey. In response, the beast unleashed a lightning chain.

The three-headed Khimaira was a rare lifeform that innately wielded three distinct elemental energies. This particular demigod-level Khimaira commanded aero, pyro, and electro power.

Its strong innate talent and unique blend of elemental attacks made its kind so formidable that they were not even intimidated by the famed dragons and phoenixes of the Astral Realm.

They had every reason to be proud.

Still, Magus World researchers had discovered that Khimairas carried traces of dragon blood within them.

The extra dragon head they developed during evolution was undeniable proof, not that the arrogant Khimairas would ever admit it.

They were proud Khimairas, a species of their own.

The three-headed Khimaira’s behavior of guarding its food only made the Phantom Crows curse even louder.

But for all their noisy complaints, none of them dared to actually attack. The Khimaira’s earlier outburst had not harmed any of the crows either.

Both parties kept to the rules of the alliance.

Anyone who broke them would be punished by their own king without the Magus World powerhouses lifting a finger.

The demigod-level Pyreling was still alive. Its spine had been snapped in the Khimaira’s jaws, but its eyes still held a dim spark.

Then, a violent tremor shook the ground, and an overwhelming force rolled in from the northeast.

The Khimaira paused mid-meal and lifted its heads to look toward the disturbance.

Many higher-ranking Phantom Crows also turned in that direction, cawing uneasily.

Some of the bolder young crows used the distraction to swoop in, tearing off chunks of flesh, scale, and bone.

These crows could eat anything, but what they relished most was the soul.

The stronger the soul, the tastier it was.

And with each one they devoured, they grew stronger.

“Seems like a deity has fallen,” the ram head on the left said.

Before anyone could answer, the lion head on the right let out a furious roar that echoed through the lava-scorched wasteland.

“How dare they steal our food!”

1. Translator’s Note: Khimaira is indeed a “chimera.” I used an alternative spelling to distinguish it from the ones synthesized by Leena and the black mages. In the raws, those creatures were literally called “combined beast monster” (合成兽怪物), referring to chimeras made by combining the flesh and traits of various living beings through alchemy. This is also the same Chinese term used in Full Metal Alchemist. In this chapter, however, the species is called “Qimeila” (奇美拉), which is a phonetic rendering of “chimera”, so I chose the Ancient Greek version spelling for it. ☜