Sovereign of the Ashes

The ruins of the Black Merlot Civilization lay within the Grand Apocalypse World Star Domain, close to the Arid Expanse Worlds.

Originally, this sector had fallen within an area of relatively weak control for the Gallant Federation.

This stood in stark contrast to the star domains the federation had focused on most heavily in previous years.

However, recent clashes with the Magus Civilization in the Arid Expanse Worlds, the Shadowbat Civilization, and the regions surrounding Aquaria prompted the federation to shift some of its attention toward this sector.

Jared Bond managed to uncover some information about the Black Merlot Civilization ruins because he had first detected the Grand Apocalypse World’s unusual activity near this star domain.

It was only by chance that the ruins of the Black Merlot Civilization were ultimately exposed.

The Gallant Federation had been completely oblivious to the existence of a top-tier civilization’s ruins here.

The Grand Apocalypse World’s secretive maneuvers and suspicious behavior even nearly led the federation’s high command to suspect that this large-sized cultivation civilization was preparing to rebel!

Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm.

Not only did the Gallant Federation breathe a sigh of relief, but the investigated Grand Apocalypse World did as well.

This time, the federation dispatched only ten or so war fleets to the Grand Apocalypse World Star Domain, with the highest-ranking officer being no more than a five-star general.

The absence of any overlord-class fleet was a clear message that the federation’s leadership did not intend to hold the Grand Apocalypse World accountable for its earlier actions.

The main objective of these fleets was to secure and investigate the two Black Merlot Civilization ruins, while also searching for additional sites within the Grand Apocalypse World Star Domain.

Both the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation had actually uncovered many top-tier civilizations in the past.

Within the Astral Realm, it seemed no civilization enjoyed eternal prosperity.

Even those that once stood at the pinnacle of power might eventually be buried beneath the dust of history, eroded by the passage of time.

There were many causes behind the collapse of these top-tier civilizations. Most commonly, they fell to wars against rivals of equal standing, followed by internal conflict and fragmentation.

For some civilizations, however, the reasons for their downfall remain unclear in the historical records, as if they collapsed within an extremely short span of time—leaving future generations to speculate endlessly.

Of course, there were also a very few civilizations that did not perish at all, but instead vanished without a trace, just like the Radiant Celestials recorded in the history of the Magus Civilization, as well as the recently discovered Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

By contrast, the exact circumstances surrounding the fall of the Black Merlot Civilization remain unclear. Even now, the Gallant Federation has yet to reach any definitive conclusions.

However, judging from the Grand Apocalypse World’s recent gestures of goodwill and the results of its secret research over the years, it appeared that the Black Merlot Civilization was destroyed by the invasion of a far more powerful world civilization.

Even so, the Grand Apocalypse World’s limited capabilities yielded no concrete information about which civilization had carried out the destruction.

That unanswered question now fell to the Gallant Federation to investigate.

The Gallant Federation’s ability to explore and analyze ancient ruins rivaled that of the Magus Civilization.

Its specialized archaeological instruments could sometimes provide even more precise dating and information than the Magus Civilization’s astrology and divination!

Every civilization had its own strengths. The fact that the Gallant Federation could stand as a true rival to the Magus Civilization spoke volumes about its overall capabilities.

Upon entering the Grand Apocalypse World’s star domain, the federal fleets were immediately met with the level of courtesy reserved for law-wielding entities.

The creatures of the Grand Apocalypse World displayed marked humility and deference toward the federal generals.

Although many federal generals had undergone genetic modifications, raising their life levels to barely reach the threshold of Rank Four, their physical resilience paled in comparison to the cultivating beings of the Grand Apocalypse World.

In fact, even a Rank Three cultivator could likely beat these federal generals in direct combat.

Among the federation’s high command, only Bond possessed combat prowess that truly matched his life level.

As a result, during the negotiations that followed, Bond also implicitly took on the responsibility of safeguarding the other generals.

These generals did not linger in the Grand Apocalypse World. After only brief formalities, they hastily departed for the site where the ruins had been discovered.

The angel-type robots that escorted them created a striking and unusual sight within the federal fleet formations.

The Grand Apocalypse World was one of the few civilizations in the surrounding star domains that still retained knowledge of the Radiant Celestials.

The Rank Six Grand Apocalypse World creature tasked with hosting the federal generals could not help but freeze in shock upon seeing Fermera, who had four pairs of wings gleaming with a silvery-white metallic sheen.

In terms of raw strength, Fermera was not far behind the Rank Six Grand Apocalypse World creature.

Yet a single glance from its cold, lifeless eyes was enough to send a chill down one’s spine.

Angels—a race that had once inspired deep terror across countless planar worlds in the surrounding star domains... Had the Gallant Federation truly recreated them?

The reason the federation dispatched Fermera, an angel-type robot with Rank Six combat power, was precisely because the Black Merlot Civilization was a cultivation civilization.

Its ruins were bound to contain dangers and anomalies that ordinary federal fleets and mobile suits could not handle.

A Rank Six angel-type robot should be capable of dealing with the vast majority of unforeseen situations.

Within two years of entering the Black Merlot Civilization ruins on the Grand Apocalypse World, the Gallant Federation’s specialized archaeological teams indeed made new discoveries.

Using advanced locating devices, they pinpointed a third ancient civilization ruin near the Arid Expanse Worlds.

Inside these newly uncovered ruins, the federation uncovered a large number of artifacts tied to the Black Merlot Civilization.

On top of that, they excavated the wreckage of a square warship with a length approaching four kilometers!

Most large Gallant Federation warships measured between one and two kilometers in length and featured rectangular hulls.

Any vessel exceeding that scale was classified as a specialized craft!

Within overlord-class warfleets, certain flagship vessels even exceeded ten thousand meters in length.

The warship wreckage discovered within the Black Merlot Civilization ruins clearly belonged to a highly advanced technological civilization. Furthermore, its design was entirely unfamiliar to the Gallant Federation.

The Gallant Federation was no stranger to top-tier civilization ruins.

Aside from the Black Merlot Civilization, it had uncovered the remains of at least three other top-tier civilizations throughout its history.

Yet this square warship, found deep within the Black Merlot Civilization ruins, clearly belonged to the remnants of a previously unknown ancient top-tier civilization.

Further exploration of the ruins soon revealed the origin of this square battleship.

It belonged to the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization!