Sovereign of the Ashes

To the Magus Civilization’s leaders, Sein should have been a Rank Four mage who could perform exceptionally well under pressure.

His past battle records showed that his individual strength was already on par with that of a Rank Five.

Yet for some reason, ever since returning to the Grand Eye Demon World Star Domain battlefield, Sein kept receiving orders to garrison various resource and logistics bases.

What puzzled him even more was that the Magus Civilization had deliberately ignored his repeated requests for a transfer to the Netherworld Star Domain front.

In the fifty-sixth year of his deployment in the Grand Eye Demon World Star Domain, just as he was about to begin his seventh logistics assignment, Sein finally came to his senses.

“Could I have offended someone high up in Magus World? Is that why they’ve been messing with my combat assignments?” he mused.

But that did not quite add up.

From any perspective, logistics garrison duties were far easier—and frankly, much more desirable than frontline combat missions.

If some big shot in Magus World really wanted to target him, they would have thrown him straight into one of the fiercest battlefields to die there.

Instead, they continued to block his transfer requests and assigned him to one easy post after another.

The whole situation left Sein completely baffled.

Over the past fifty years, he had garrisoned seven logistics bases, covering nearly the entire Grand Eye Demon World Star Domain.

His familiarity with this region now far surpassed his knowledge of any other.

Still, Sein did not brood over it. He simply treated it as another kind of training.

By now, he had experienced just about every type of mission imaginable.

He had infiltrated enemy lines, fought on the frontlines, and even excelled in rear-area logistics operations.

The growth of a powerful mage was never one-dimensional.

Through his constant involvement in transporting supplies and coordinating with the many allied legions cycling through the frontlines in recent years, Sein had developed a rough understanding of the Magus Civilization’s overall operational methods in large-scale civilizational warfare.

His perspective had gradually broadened.

Even while stationed in the rear, he could often predict the situation at the front and even the general direction the war was heading, based purely on the details he observed behind the scenes.

But no matter how sharp his insights grew, Sein still preferred fighting on the frontlines to playing the part of an armchair strategist.

Over the past few decades, Sein had received two messages from Lorianne.

The first had informed him that she had left Magus World, leading the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Army to the Netherworld Star Domain battlefield.

The second, which arrived only recently, revealed her current location at a low-level plane called Spillway World, situated along the border between the Sanoras Star Domain and the Netherworld Star Domain.

In the midst of war, communication between Rank Four mages was no easy task.

Transmissions were often disrupted, and the Gallant Federation could even intercept some of the non-essential long-range messages.

Sein wished to head to the Netherworld Star Domain battlefield to fight alongside his mentor, grandmaster, and the others.

Now stuck at the peak of Rank Four, he felt that what he truly needed for a breakthrough was a real, exhilarating battle.

But with his garrison duty seemingly dragged out indefinitely, Sein decided to reach out to old acquaintances and investigate the situation.

One of the main powers representing the Magus Civilization on the Grand Eye Demon World battlefield was the Alveroth Empire.

Could it be that Sein had somehow offended someone within their ranks because he had once poached initiates from the Magic Empire?

Surely not... right?!

Among the Alveroth Empire’s powerhouses, Sein was acquainted with a Rank Five mage named Jimmy Donald.

Since Jimmy came from the prestigious House Donald, he might know something about what was going on behind the scenes.

So, Sein began asking around about Jimmy’s whereabouts.

Before long, he managed to uncover a trail, though the news was far from good.

Jimmy had been severely injured fifty years ago during the war on the Sapphire Scorpionfly Plane, and had since returned to Magus World to recuperate.

The timing was particularly unfortunate. The Sapphire Scorpionfly campaign had been nearing its end, just when the real plundering of its spoils had begun.

It was then that Jimmy was caught in a desperate counterattack, targeted by several of the Gallant Federation’s capital ship vessels in a suicidal strike.

The Rank Five mage survived, but barely.

Upon learning that he was not currently on the Grand Eye Demon World battlefield, Sein could only let out a quiet sigh.

***

“That little one seems to be getting restless. I think we should abandon that plan. I’ve known Feylis of the Pyro Secret Society for some time. That guy is her grand apprentice,” said a Rank Six mage to his colleague behind the frontlines of the Grand Eye Demon World Star Domain battlefield.

Within Magus World, the Alveroth Empire and Byrne Empire held special positions among the top powers.

Law-wielding knights and mages from these empires were often granted the title of “General” within their own nations, which was why they sometimes regarded one another as colleagues.

This differed from the typical relationship between a divine tower’s master and a knightly order’s grand master.

At his colleague’s words, the other Rank Six mage sighed regretfully and said, “What a shame. We still haven’t drawn out that Shadow Fleet. Based on our years of investigation, their official designation is Black Ops.”

“We’ve already dealt them a heavy blow once before and surrounded them a few times since, but they’ve only grown more cautious and cunning. In recent years, the Shadow Fleet has barely been sighted. I suspect they’re running out of steam without reinforcements and are no longer much of a threat,” the first Rank Six mage concluded.

“Fine, I guess we can only give up on the plan,” the other replied with a resigned shrug.

***

Sein’s transfer request was finally approved! The Magus Civilization had authorized his deployment to the Netherworld Star Domain.

According to the contract, three years from now, Sein would lead the Divine Tower of Ashes Army to the Enigmatic Obsidian World, located near the Netherworld Star Domain’s battlefield.

News of the new orders quickly spread throughout the Divine Tower of Ashes.

Most of the battle mages took the announcement in stride.

The only real issue lay with Sein’s enslaved creature legions. After decades of neglect, many had grown old, weak, or crippled—far from the elite force they had once been when they first left Magus World.

Still, this did not bother Sein.

After spending decades managing logistics, he understood perfectly well that when the Magus Civilization requisitioned enslaved creature legions, they cared far more about quantity than quality.

Whether the cannon fodder below Rank One was as strong as low-level initiates or intermediate ones, no one in the upper ranks of the Magus World cared enough to check!

So Sein simply swapped out the old, injured, and useless among his troops with the fresh batches of slaves that had recently arrived at his current logistics base.

These creatures were destined to serve as cannon fodder on the frontlines anyway.

Sein did not believe the change would make any difference in the grand scheme of things.

If anything, this was his way of claiming a small reward for the decades he had spent managing rear-line logistics in the Grand Eye Demon World Star Domain.