Sovereign of the Ashes

Back in the top-level laboratory of the Divine Tower of Ashes, Sein’s first thought was that he needed to recruit more high-ranking mages.

His divine tower had been around for quite some time now and was finally on the right track. Both initiates and full-fledged mages were steadily increasing in number.

Aside from Marie, several new Rank Three mages had joined their ranks.

At her recommendation, Sein had appointed two of them as vice deans of his divine tower academy.

Still, the lack of demigod-level mages in the Divine Tower of Ashes remained a critical gap.

Although Sein had plenty of demigod-level subordinates under his command, most of them were enslaved creatures or individuals he preferred not to be openly associated with.

Aside from the tower master’s strength, a tower’s prosperity also depended on capable, trustworthy assistants to help it grow.

Marie was excellent at administration, but because of that, her own training and pursuit of truth had stagnated in recent years.

If the Divine Tower of Ashes had even one or two demigod-level mages overseeing things, Sein would not need to intervene in every little matter.

With the tower’s defensive wards and the authority granted by him, they could have easily suppressed or expelled troublemakers themselves!

When Sein first brought Sia back to the laboratory, he still looked pretty upset.

But after a while, his expression calmed.

Sia really was Natalya’s mother through and through—cut from the same cloth, no question about it.

Seeing his temper fade, Sia had the nerve to ask, “So... you’re not angry anymore, right?”

“It’s not like I wanted to start a fight inside your tower! That guy just pushed me too far. What a shameless man—has he ever even looked at himself in the mirror?!” she said indignantly.

Instead of showing the slightest remorse, she tried to justify her actions, completely convinced she was in the right.

Sein was left speechless.

In that moment, though, she reminded him of Natalya.

Back when they had just married, Natalya had constantly given him headaches, especially when she messed up his laboratory so badly that he had to ban her from ever stepping inside again.

And back then, she had justified herself with the same lines every time...

“I just want to be close to you.”

“Ugh, working on those boring experiments all the time is so dull. Let’s do something fun instead.”

“Honey, do you think this leather outfit looks sexy on me?”

Sein stared blankly at Sia. For a moment, it felt as though she could see Natalya’s face on hers.

The resemblance was uncanny. They shared the same long, fiery red hair, tall and slender build, sun-kissed skin, as well as firm, toned arms and thighs.

When Sein had been with Natalya, he had rarely noticed such details.

In truth, he had not thought much about her at all.

Back when he was stranded in Faeloria, his mind had mostly been on Leena, who was far away in Blackhaven.

Now that Natalya lay in a crystal coffin, why did he find himself so often thinking about the woman who had once caused him so much trouble?

Sometimes, one only learned to cherish the people and things they had lost.

Sein let out a long sigh.

With his mental discipline, he would never actually mistake Sia for Natalya.

He was simply... lost in reflection.

He raised his hand and dispelled the pyro elemental chains binding Sia, then turned toward a deeper section of the lab.

“Follow me,” he said.

Sia rubbed her sore wrists and waist. When Sein had restrained her with his chains earlier, he had not held back. She could still feel the sting.

But her attention was not on the pain; it was on that fleeting daze in Sein’s eyes and the sigh that had escaped him.

Few people could truly understand Sein, but right then, Sia did.

“You miss my daughter, don’t you?” she asked softly.

Sein’s body stiffened at her words.

After a brief silence, he said, “You’re close to breaking through to Rank Four, but you’re still missing a catalyst. The flame energy in your body isn’t abundant enough. In my experience, the surest way to deepen your grasp of flame laws is by turning quantity into qualitative change. I’ll engrave a set of special flame runes on you to help you gather and control more flame energy.”

He continued, “While I can’t teach you the core secrets of the Verdant Flame Body Tempering Technique, I can merge parts of the pyro elemental tempering method with a specific battle-qi cultivation technique to help push you forward.”

Sia listened to Sein’s explanation with a dazed look before mumbling, “Oh.”

Like her daughter, she knew Sein would not hurt her. Whether she understood what he said or not, she simply followed his lead.

But when she stepped into the hidden chamber and saw the wall lined with strange instruments, the custom-built chair, and the metal restraints, she instinctively took half a step back and gulped.

“Is there... another way?” she asked.

Sein, already setting up the equipment, looked up and replied flatly, “No.”

***

When the long experiment finally ended, Sein was drenched in sweat while Sia slumped weakly against the chair, completely spent.

She remained in her Baator Demon form, flame runes faintly glowing across her transformed body.

The hard demon scales felt unexpectedly soft under Sein’s hands—almost like feathers.

As he began packing up the equipment, Sia asked in a tired voice, “Is it over?”

“Mm.”

A brief silence hung between them before she asked, almost in a whisper, “Could you not tell anyone about this?”

Nothing improper had happened between them. Yet seeing her in such a vulnerable state and recalling a few moments during the process stirred something primal within Sein.

He turned his head away and replied, “Mm.”

Stepping out of the body-tempering chamber, Sein exhaled slowly, as though trying to expel the residual heat from his body.

Azelia, dressed in her maid outfit, was already waiting with a glass of green juice. She offered it with both hands, then gently dabbed the sweat from his cheek with a towel.

Sein closed his eyes briefly, enjoying her attentive care.

The fox maiden knew his habits well. After every mentally exhausting experiment, he always drank a special magic juice that helped calm his mind and restore his mana and focus.

But as his gaze lingered on her soft curves, that buried heat inside him suddenly flared again.

His hand moved almost on its own, resting on her rounded hips and the base of her sensitive tail.

The fox maiden froze, her cheeks blooming scarlet.

“Let’s go to the lounge,” Sein said, his voice low and casual.

“Mm...” she breathed, her tail flicking nervously.

On the way there, Sein realized that as a delicate beastman priestess, Azelia probably would not last long.

He sent a quick message to Yuri in another laboratory through mental focus.

The female engineer had been monitoring the Energy Amethyst when Sein’s call came.

Bursting with excitement from a new discovery, she rushed straight to the lounge with the crystal in hand.

She pushed open the door and exclaimed, “Master! I think I’ve discovered another use for the amethyst—”

Inside the room, another scene was already unfolding.