Sovereign of the Ashes

“Rather than waiting for the Insectoids to return, I think we should try to re-establish contact with the Myriad Springs Worlds. It could boost our combat power in the short term,” Lady Bev said.

Viktor halted mid-stride. He turned back to look at her, clearly surprised. “The Myriad Springs Worlds?”

Myriad Springs World had once been a plane within the Magus Alliance. It was not just any member, but a crucial one.

However, because of ideological differences and a major conflict ten thousand years ago, the Myriad Springs Worlds left the Magus Alliance.

To this day, it remained the only one to have withdrawn from the alliance without suffering retaliation from the Magus Civilization.

To the uninformed, Myriad Springs World appeared overwhelmingly powerful. It was home to multiple overlord-level beings and lay extremely far from the star domains under the Magus Civilization’s control. For them, this explained why Magus World never launched a retaliatory war.

Yet only a handful of powerhouses and those standing at the very peak of the Magus Civilization knew the real reason.

Magus World refrained from retaliation because it owed the Myriad Springs World an immense favor.

That was during a time when Magus World faced an existential crisis and stood on the brink of destruction.

At that time, the Spring Ancestor[1] of Myriad Springs World personally descended to aid the Magus Civilization through its peril.

It was for this very reason that the Spring Ancestor was able to openly confront the Magus Civilization’s leadership and leave in fury without repercussions.

The conflict between Magus World and the Myriad Springs World likely arose from the Spring Ancestor’s disgust with the Magus Civilization’s relentless plundering of weaker planes and its enslavement of allies under a guise of righteousness.

The Spring Ancestor was an idealistic hydro elemental overlord, known for its exceptionally gentle nature.

When it aided Magus World in the past, it asked for almost nothing in return.

It did so for the sake of an old friend, believing that the Magus Civilization of that era genuinely stood for peace, friendship, and freedom.

Sadly, the dragon-slayer eventually became the dragon itself. In the Astral Realm, survival of the fittest remained the ultimate truth.

The prosperity of the Magus Civilization was built upon the corpses and blood of innumerable beings from enslaved planes.

Once the Spring Ancestor recognized Magus World’s true nature, it initially chose to distance itself. It even declined invitations to several Magus Alliance Conferences.

Later, however, the Spring Ancestor discovered that several of its offspring had secretly contacted the Magus Civilization, forming friendships with the Magus Civilization powerhouses.

After noticing signs that they had been influenced “negatively”, the Spring Ancestor angrily severed all ties with the Magus Civilization and formally declared its withdrawal from the Magus Alliance!

The departure of the Spring Ancestor significantly weakened the Magus Civilization’s overall strength.

After all, the Spring Ancestor was an ancient being that had endured for hundreds of thousands of years, standing alongside the oldest existences of Magus World, like Master Douglas.

Although the Spring Ancestor was not especially skilled in direct combat, it had lived long enough!

Its longevity alone spoke of unfathomable depth!

More astonishing still, the Spring Ancestor’s greatest strength was not its raw power, but its incredible ability to divide and produce offspring!

Water was indeed the source of life.

As an elemental overlord, the Spring Ancestor reproduced through division.

It had a vast lineage of direct descendants, many of whom had grown powerful enough to reach the overlord level themselves.

Those offspring, in turn, continued to split, giving rise to further generations.

This cascading cycle of reproduction propelled the Myriad Springs Worlds into an age of unprecedented prosperity.

It eventually became a formidable group of worlds whose combined strength rivaled that of Titan World.

Although the Magus Civilization had severed ties with Myriad Springs World on the surface, secret channels of communication still existed, especially with several of the Spring Ancestor’s offspring.

Bev continued, “The Destruction Spring once fought alongside my father in the World of Despair. It even obtained the seed of the Destruction Lotus.

“I heard that its Destruction Lotus has already grown beyond the tenth grade. There’s no faster way to gain the power of destruction than through war. We might be able to approach it directly.

“Besides the Destruction Spring, we could also reach out to other offspring, like the Illusion Spring. My father adopted her back then, so in a way, she’s my little sister. If we explain the pressure the Magus Civilization is facing from the Clash of Civilizations, I believe she and the others will be willing to help us.”

“Their support would naturally be a huge boon to us. However, we should send our representatives discreetly. We must not alert the Spring Ancestor, or this could easily become a disaster,” Viktor warned.

Beings like the Spring Ancestor were truly beyond his understanding; he could not predict their thoughts.

Bev nodded in agreement.

With nothing else to discuss, Viktor finally took his leave.

As she watched him leave, Bev gazed into the vast Astral Realm, her thoughts drifting to countless people and moments—most of them tied to her parents and younger siblings.

After spending far too long unraveling the mysteries of truth and carrying the burden of the Magus Civilization’s growth, familial bonds had long since faded into distant memories for her.

Because of this, she placed great importance on those connected to her by blood.

For example, she showed remarkable care toward her two nephews from Titan World, who had secretly rushed to the Netherworld Star Domain front this time.

Unlike Hela, she never reprimanded them.

As a result, the two often visit Bev whenever they had nothing better to do.

In their opinion, this aunt was even gentler and kinder than their own mother.

Aside from her blood siblings and the previously mentioned adopted sister, Bev also had an adopted younger brother.

Letting out a soft sigh, Bev continued gazing into the distant depths of the star-filled sky.

***

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion rang out as Sein’s battle with the walrus moved onto a broken plane.

One of the beast’s massive tusks had been forcibly snapped off by an external force.

The stark white stump was painfully conspicuous, with faint traces of blood slowly dripping from it.

Beyond the broken tusk, the walrus’ body was riddled with scars.

Despite its thick mane and tough hide, it still could not fully withstand Sein’s relentless elemental bombardment.

In terms of raw individual strength, this walrus from Aquaria was clearly inferior to Arid Expanse World’s Sand Crocodile.

On top of that, Sein was not receiving much assistance either—Yuri had been sent elsewhere to engage other Rank Four creatures.

Even fighting alone, Sein could maintain constant pressure on the Rank Five walrus, yet finishing it off completely was another matter.

This was a pitch-black world. Pitch-black rain poured down amidst the raging storm.

The exceptionally high concentration of hydro elements around Marvelous Plane caused rain to fall across numerous planes in this star domain, including this broken plane.

Even the meteoroids drifting through space were saturated with dense hydro elements.

Sein found it difficult to adapt to fighting on a battlefield so thoroughly steeped in moisture.

In contrast, these conditions were perfect for the sea race legions of Magus World and the forces of Aquaria.

1. Translator’s Note: The “spring” in Spring Ancestor refers to a water spring, not the spring season. ☜