Sovereign of the Ashes

Gregory raised no objections to Sein’s plan.

The Shadowbat Civilization front was clearly the main battlefield. With Gregory being the stronger of the two, it made perfect sense for him to lead the main force there.

As for Sein volunteering to head to Marvelous Plane, Gregory—who had been stationed near Blue Star for some time—knew it was only a low-level plane battlefield.

“Alright. Do your best! If you run into any danger or problems you can’t handle, inform me immediately,” Gregory said with a nod.

Gregory doted on Lorianne and naturally extended the same care to Sein.

Since reuniting with members of the faction, Sein had always kept a low profile, to the point that Gregory had almost forgotten Sein was already a Rank Five powerhouse, fully capable of standing on equal footing with him.

***

After finalizing the split with Gregory, Sein immediately began deploying his forces.

In addition to the Divine Tower of Ashes Army, the troops he led toward the outskirts of Marvelous Plane included detachments from the Huusian and Klytheran legions.

Two knight legions commanded by Rank Four knights also joined him, along with roughly one million allied creature legions.

In summary, the forces Sein brought to Marvelous Plane, including enslaved creatures used as cannon fodder, numbered close to three million.

This was the maximum force Sein could currently mobilize to answer to Beatrice’s earlier plea for help.

The Magus Civilization’s legions assembled with astonishing speed. Even the allied forces were seasoned veterans now, tempered by the millennium-long Clash of Civilizations.

Once everything was ready, Sein gave the order.

“We depart!”

***

Outside Marvelous Plane...

The flames of war had engulfed this low-level plane for nearly three years.

From the fall of its surrounding vassal planes to the direct assault on Marvelous Plane itself, countless creatures of all races had perished in the conflict.

Lacking a unified government, Marvelous Plane was home to several law-wielding beings, yet its overall strength remained limited.

That weakness made it impossible to rapidly mobilize large forces across the plane.

Though recognized as the strongest and most influential figure on the plane, Queen Hippolyta’s authority was confined to only the Amazon Rainforest.

While other races and creatures beyond the rainforest respected her, expecting unquestioning obedience was simply unrealistic.

In wartime, such a lack of unified command was a fatal flaw.

At present, the forces fighting across Marvelous Plane were a chaotic mix.

Some belonged to Arid Expanse World, others to Aquaria, while a large portion consisted of interstellar mercenaries.

Among them, Arid Expanse World troops and the interstellar mercenaries were by far the most brutal.

The Arid Expanse World Army had long grown accustomed to slaughter and devastation.

They were used to rampaging unchecked, and the lush beauty of Marvelous Plane only fueled their urge to destroy.

The interstellar mercenaries, meanwhile, were dazzled by the plane’s wealth.

These mercenaries, recruited by Arid Expanse World, were rarely reputable. Many had once scraped by in the Chaos Sea.

Among low-level planes, Marvelous Plane possessed one of the most favorable environments imaginable. Its biodiversity and resource abundance far exceeded that of most low-level worlds.

With such “delicacies” laid out before them, how could mercenaries raised in poverty possibly restrain themselves?

From minerals and rare plants to living slaves taken from the plane itself, they took everything they could.

As a result, this deepened the suffering of Marvelous Plane.

Such was the price of weakness!

A burly Rank Five Aquarian merman crossed his arms and said, “That Amazon Queen, Hippolyta, is said to be a legendary beauty across the surrounding star domains. Before leaving the royal court, I swore to His Majesty the Ocean King that I’d capture her and present her before his throne. Now that her daughter is also here, capturing both of them will surely please His Majesty even more.”

He pointed to his men and ordered, “You guys go together. Focus on the younger one. Do not let her escape. The older one is mine. Hehe.”

Below, the Amazon Rainforest burned beneath raging flames.

Most creatures from Aquaria despised this scorching, fire-choked battlefield, but there was no avoiding it. The fires were ignited by the Arid Expanse World Army.

True to its name, the vast majority of beings from that plane favored arid, open, desolate environments.

Wherever the Arid Expanse World Army advanced, the land was left barren and lifeless, stripped of every trace of vitality and plundered of riches.

The fact that Arid Expanse World and Planet Aquaria could form an alliance at all, despite their fundamental differences, was remarkable in itself.

The royal court of Planet Aquaria had long upheld a particular tradition.

Whenever a new Ocean King took the throne, he would swiftly expand his harem to ensure the birth of an heir.

After all, the harsh reality that each Ocean King could live no longer than twenty thousand years was akin to a “curse”.

Without a successor, the Aquarian royal bloodline faced extinction.

Neither Orric nor Orven currently had offspring, and historically, most Ocean Kings only fathered a child after ascending the throne and reaching Rank Six.

As a result, Planet Aquaria’s royal lineage had always been thin.

This Rank Five merman was among the earliest Aquarian powerhouses to pledge allegiance to the current Ocean King.

While he was not particularly strong, he excelled at maneuvering politically and currying favor with those in power.

He still remembered the glint of interest in the young Ocean King’s eyes when he had proposed capturing Hippolyta.

Now, if he could seize Hippolyta’s daughter as well and present both mother and child together, he believed the Ocean King would place even greater trust in him and his clan.

Planet Aquaria had a peculiar trait. Although it could sustain only one Ocean King as its native Rank Six powerhouse, the civilization still produced an unusually large number of Rank Four and Rank Five beings.

In fact, Aquaria’s population of law-wielding entities had once surpassed even Wild Gorilla World!

This imbalance fueled fierce internal rivalry beneath the seemingly tranquil surface of Planet Aquaria’s oceans.

Only those clans favored by the reigning Ocean King could fully develop within the limited time available.

“Hurry up,” the Rank Five Aquarian barked. “Do not let those savages from Arid Expanse World accidentally kill the two beauties.”