Sovereign of the Ashes

Inside the infirmary of a black iron space fortress, Sein saw Martini.

The Rank Four knight had shed his heavy black armor and now lay inside a treatment pod filled with thick, green fluid.

Compared to the man Sein had first met more than twenty years ago, he looked much thinner now, and his complexion was paler.

Crimson blood kept seeping from below his chest.

To be exact, only one-third of Martini’s body remained. Some unknown force had completely obliterated everything from the chest down!

The fact that he was still clinging to life spoke volumes about his extraordinary endurance.

But Martini would not last much longer. He was not the only Rank Four knight to fall on the Magus Civilization’s frontlines.

Just within Radbow World, where Sein and his group had held the line, three Rank Four beings from the Magus Civilization had already fallen over the last two decades: the Lizard Elder and two Huusians.

It was not that Sein did not want to save them. He had been locked in his own battles, fighting tooth and nail to survive. How could he possibly have spared the strength to help others?

He only learned of their deaths when he finally pulled back from the frontlines to rest.

Had it not been for the relentless pressure from the Gallant Federation and the Grand Eye Demon World’s legions, Sein and the others would never have lost Radbow World’s outer defenses and two planar rings.

Of course, the Magus Civilization was not the only side to bleed heavily. The federation and Eye Demons also paid a steep price!

So far, Sein alone had destroyed seven Federation destroyers—each carrying power on par with a Rank Four being! He had also ruined or severely damaged countless smaller warships along the way.

Reports from other fronts told of two Rank Four Eye Demons—one slain, the other gravely wounded.

The slain one had fallen to a Rank Four Huusian under the Huusian King’s command. Sein remembered him well; his name was Bisoo.

As for the wounded one, that was Martini’s doing.

But while Martini had managed to cripple his foe, the price he paid was far worse. Now, the knight lay before him, his life hanging by a thread.

The Gallant Federation and the Grand Eye Demon World had deployed forces around the Radbow Plane that far outnumbered Sein and the other Magus World defenders.

Worse still, the enemy’s true advantage lay in their endless reinforcements.

In contrast, Sein and his allies were holding the line through sheer willpower, relying only on their own dwindling strength.

Besides, the federal fleets could not be compared directly to Rank Four creatures.

According to the Magus Civilization’s assessment, only a complete and fully functional fleet could be considered equivalent to a single Rank Four entity.

So, the destroyers Sein had single-handedly brought down could not really be counted as full Rank Four kills.

Even so, the federation’s fleets stretched endlessly across the void. Even ships whose maximum firepower could only threaten Rank Two or Rank Three beings, when firing together, made Sein’s scalp crawl.

On the battlefield, no magic shield could seamlessly protect him forever.

Even the elemental law form that Rank Fours took such pride in would eventually collapse once its endurance was pushed past the limit.

This war was anything but easy. Both sides were stretched to their limits. It was a brutal contest of endurance to see who would fall first.

When Sein entered the infirmary, Martini no longer had the strength to even open his eyes.

He was truly at death’s door.

From the blood seeping from his chest and the faint energy fluctuations radiating from his wounds, Sein could tell it was the work of a Rank Four Eye Demon’s law power.

But Martini’s real problem was his fading life force. It was almost gone at this point.

He had been weakened during his struggle against the Eye Demon’s Evil Eye power.

“At least he made it back to the fortress alive. If he’d fallen on the battlefield like the other three, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” Sein murmured.

He sighed as he looked over the dying knight, then took out a Golden Apple Potion from his spatial storage.

The value of a Golden Apple Potion was beyond the understanding of most Rank Four or Five beings.

Though not as valuable as an actual Golden Apple, it was still a treasure that could pull beings of their level back from death’s grasp in their darkest hour.

Sein had experienced the effects of a Golden Apple Potion firsthand, and truth be told, he was reluctant to use it on someone else.

No one ever had enough life-saving treasures, and Sein himself had been trying to use them sparingly.

Of the six Golden Apple Potions he had brought from Magus World, he had consumed two over the past twenty years.

Without them, he would not have survived the relentless assaults from the combined forces of the Grand Eye Demon World and the Gallant Federation.

Among all the battle zones in Radbow World, the sector under Sein’s command had been the fiercest and most crucial.

Had he not stood firm with unshakable resolve, the battlefields on Radbow World might have descended into total chaos.

Because of this, Sein’s prestige had grown immensely among the Magus Civilization’s lower-ranking legions stationed on the Radbow front.

Not only his own mages from the Divine Tower of Ashes, but also knights and mages from other divine towers and knightly orders, spoke of him with reverence and awe.

To them, the Tower Master of Ashes was more than a commander—he was their pillar.

He could not afford to fall, or even show weakness!

If he did, the morale of the entire Magus Civilization Army in this sector would crumble.

Under Sein’s guidance, the Golden Apple Potion was carefully poured into Martini’s mouth.

At the same time, a gentle stream of lumen elemental energy flowed from Sein’s hand, allowing the knight’s body to absorb the potion’s essence more efficiently.

Among Radbow World’s two Rank Four knights, Sein had always been closer to Tychus, mainly because they had fought together for far longer.

But at a time like this, he could not afford to be biased.

Only by preserving as many high-ranking combatants as possible could they hope to survive.

The potion’s power was nothing short of miraculous.

Just three days after Sein administered the Golden Apple Potion, Martini appeared before him again.

He was alive, energetic, and completely healed. Even the part of his body that had been obliterated below the chest had fully regenerated.

Martini had come to thank Sein in person.

Knights valued friendship and loyalty above all else, and Martini knew Sein had saved his life.

Though he had no idea what potion Sein had given him, anything capable of restoring a Rank Four being to peak condition in such a short time could only be extraordinary.

“We both serve the Magus Civilization and share the same duty to defend Radbow World. There’s no need to thank me, Sir Martini,” Sein said in response to the knight’s gratitude.