Sovereign of the Ashes

“Finally here, huh...?”

In the starry sky, Naeverynk watched silently through his narrow, blood-red eyes as the vast federal fleet flew past in the distance.

Annihilating an entire fleet on his own would be no easy task.

But his mission was not to destroy the fleet outright. It was to delay them and guard the entrance to the Netherworld Star Domain at all costs.

Countless hidden cross-space teleportation nodes had already been set up throughout the Netherworld Star Domain.

They were not fixed points but embedded within the bodies of massive Nether Beasts.

Every victory came at the cost of lives and blood.

Netherworld had long been one of the Magus Alliance’s planes that was infamous for its cruelty, tyranny, and bloodlust.

Naeverynk, ruler of Netherworld, had never been known for being merciful. Whatever warmth his heart once held had been swallowed by darkness long ago.

A shard that looked like a broken mirror fragment floated before him.

Only when his gaze fell upon it did the infamous Commander Blood River’s crimson eyes show the faintest flicker of tenderness.

The strange, subtle fluctuation of law radiating from that shard was far more profound and suffocating than the power emanating from the Trident of Heaven and Hell in his grip.

He drew a deep breath, then exhaled two streams of sulfurous gas through his nostrils.

“Move out!” he commanded coldly.

Millions of Netherworld creatures surged forward in a sudden, unannounced assault on the Gallant Federation legions ahead.

Until this moment, they had been allies.

These millions of Netherworld creatures were Naeverynk’s own personal elites.

He had deployed nearly ten million Netherworld troops to support the federation on the border between the Netherworld and the Sanoras Star Domain, but never these Nether Beasts.

These creatures dwelled deep at the far end of the Blood River, serving as the royal war beasts that guarded Commander Blood River Naeverynk’s temple.

Their intelligence might have been limited, but their loyalty was absolute!

The sudden betrayal of the Nether Beasts caught the Gallant Federation’s fleets completely off guard.

After a few futile warnings, the federal warships opened fire without hesitation.

Clearly, the federation had never fully trusted the Netherworld creatures to begin with.

Those who were not of their kind could never be truly loyal.

When it came to the conquest and extermination of alien civilizations, the Gallant Federation was far more thorough than the Magus Civilization!

At the very least, the Magus Civilization absorbed useful planes as members of the Magus Alliance, offering them minimal privileges.

On the other hand, the Gallant Federation’s standard procedure was to wipe out all native creatures, extract the planar heart, and then repurpose the dead plane into a life planet that could accommodate life.

Although some planets were marked as “preservation zones” for the sake of maintaining species diversity, they were nothing more than glorified zoos—kept for the amusement and observation of federal citizens.

For this reason, despite ruling over multiple vassal planes, the Gallant Federation had far fewer of them compared to the Magus Alliance.

Before Netherworld and the Grand Eye Demon World turned traitor, the federation seemed to control only four large planar civilizations.

By contrast, the Magus Civilization teemed with talent. Nearly seventy percent of its combat legions consisted of cannon-fodder armies assembled by its allied planes.

The Gallant Federation, on the other hand, relied heavily on its own. Over eighty percent of its forces were made up of native fleets and automated drone units.

This meant that, in terms of resources, the Magus Civilization could afford to lose countless expendable troops.

After all, they could summon fresh legions from dozens of allied planes with just a single mobilization order.

And ironically, the attrition of law-wielding beings within the alliance only served to strengthen the Magus Civilization’s grip on power.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A chain of suicidal explosions from the Nether Beasts filled the chaotic interstellar battlefield with thick blood mist, saturating the void with the stench of death.

Within that crimson haze, faint spatial ripples began to emerge one after another.

Tearing through the sealed void, wave after wave of elite Magus Civilization legions burst forth.

The Gallant Federation fleet’s response was swift though!

They halted their advance at once, tightening their defenses while urgently transmitting warnings to both the front and rear of the Netherworld Star Domain.

Tightening his grip on the Trident of Heaven and Hell, Naeverynk flew straight toward Marshal Seedolf’s capital ship.

Having dealt with the Gallant Federation for years, Commander Blood River knew exactly how much damage targeting a capital ship could do. Destroying it would throw the entire fleet into chaos.

A capital ship was the brain of any fleet formation.

Its firepower was weaker than that of a destroyer, its armor thinner than a frigate’s, and its maneuverability far inferior to a recon craft—but it was the source of the federation’s tactical orders.

Once a fleet reached a certain size, its concentrated firepower could overwhelm nearly any enemy.

But compared to true overlord-level beings, the federation’s overlord-class fleets had plenty of weaknesses waiting to be exploited.

***

As millions of Netherworld creatures suddenly assaulted the federation’s overlord-class fleet deep within the Netherworld Star Domain under Commander Blood River Naeverynk’s command, the Magus Civilization forces that had been forced into a long defensive grind on the frontlines of the Sanoras Star Domain finally received their new order to launch a full-scale assault!

The Magus Civilization had deployed an enormous force in the Sanoras Star Domain.

Even though the Gallant Federation had deployed four Overlord-class fleets, two mobile suits of the same caliber, and countless supporting warships, they still failed to break through the Magus Civilization’s defenses or gain any real ground.

Now, the forces surging forward were no longer the familiar Magus Alliance creatures nor the second-tier knight and mage legions the federation was used to crushing.

This time, it was the Magus Civilization’s true elite main force, stationed in the Sanoras Star Domain!

At the very front of the vanguard rode the legendary Dragon Knight Legion of Magus World!

Hailed by the Byrne Empire as its “Imperial Pillar” and revered across the Magus Civilization as its “strongest knight legion”, the Dragon Knights were the empire’s most elite warriors.

Even the weakest among them was a Rank Two Land Knight, and their dragon mounts were just as formidable—each one a Rank Two creature or higher!

Trained under the Byrne Empire’s perfected Dragon Knight system, these riders could overpower any opponent of equal rank.