Sovereign of the Ashes

Master Chakra’s ability to gain such a dramatic boost on the battlefield through elemental amplification ultimately depended on the sheer scale of his Divine Tower of Dark Wind, which had over twenty thousand full-fledged mages.

This kind of amplification was directly tied to both the number and overall quality of a divine tower’s mages.

Although Sein’s Divine Tower of Ashes had expanded rapidly in recent years, the constant attrition and heavy losses from frequent wars meant it still could not compare to the ancient divine towers that had been established for tens of thousands of years.

With only a few thousand full-fledged mages, the elemental amplification they could provide offered Sein little more than a marginal boost.

As a Rank Five mage, the mana he could wield on his own likely exceeded the combined output of every full-fledged mage currently serving under the Divine Tower of Ashes!

If Sein were still Rank Four, the now-flourishing Divine Tower of Ashes would have provided a substantial increase in combat power.

But for mages who had already reached Rank Five, only command over ten thousand or more war mages could produce a truly noticeable effect.

The Divine Tower of Ashes still had a long road ahead.

***

When war broke out once again, Sein deliberately positioned himself in the central rear formations of the Magus Civilization’s main forces.

Over the past several years of fighting, he no longer rushed to the frontlines as he once had. Instead, he fought like a typical Magus World mage, providing long-range support from the rear.

This had also been the norm during Rank Four conflicts. Magus World knights and the foreign deities of the Magus Alliance took the brunt of the fighting at the front, while Rank Four spellcasters operated from safer positions farther back.

This was not cowardice, but warfare conducted in the way best suited to the Magus Civilization’s structure and strengths.

Over countless ages, Magus World had conquered world after world precisely through this method.

Although Planet Aquaria possessed a fair number of law-wielding beings, its reserves were insignificant compared to those of the Magus Civilization and the Magus Alliance.

In recent years, Sein and his peers continued to receive a steady flow of reinforcements and resources from the rear.

Planet Aquaria, by contrast, was already showing signs of exhaustion after barely a decade of sustained warfare.

How could a medium-sized world possibly match the accumulated might of the Magus Civilization?

Unsurprisingly, casualty rates on Aquaria’s side far exceeded those of the Magus Civilization, whose legions fought with area-of-effect magical and massive war platforms such as space fortresses.

Tens of thousands of densely packed magic towers lined the frontlines of the battlefield.

Some were built on demiplanes and broken planes, but most stood atop the countless asteroids scattered throughout the surrounding starfield.

To build a complete defensive network, Sein and other Magus World powerhouses had deployed nearly twenty space fortresses several years earlier.

They shattered more than a dozen demiplanes and broken planes in the nearby starry skies, creating vast quantities of asteroids in the process.

The Gallant Federation excelled at positional warfare, and the Magus Civilization was hardly inferior in that regard.

When tens of thousands of magic towers ignited their elemental cores and linked together as nodes, forming a massive mana shield that enveloped most of the starfield battlefield, the resulting sight was so vast and overwhelming that it lay far beyond the comprehension of most low-level planar creatures.

Even Hippolyta, a new Rank Five Magus Alliance member, could not help but marvel at the Magus Civilization’s capabilities, especially its war platforms that measured thousands, or even tens of thousands, of meters across.

“Once you have joined the Magus Alliance, the Magus Civilization will build defensive structures like magic towers both within your plane and in the surrounding space, free of charge, to ensure your safety,” Sein told her.

He continued, “As for space fortresses, the Magus Alliance’s latest policy allows high-performance models from two generations back to be sold across the entire alliance.

“You really joined at a good time. Before the 25th Magus Alliance Conference, the most advanced space fortresses Magus World ever exported were, at best, three generations behind—and even those were released in very limited numbers.”

Of course, there were details Sein chose not to share with Hippolyta.

For example, Magus World did not sell its latest model from two generations back to alliance members to maintain technological superiority.

Furthermore, when alliance members purchased space fortresses from Magus World, the prices were typically three to five times higher than what Magus World’s own knights and mages paid.

Maintenance, repair fees, and the cost of hiring Magus World mages to operate those fortresses were just as exorbitant!

For certain specialized models, factions like the Capiche Business Alliance and Steel City even dared to demand prices ten times higher.

The massive circulation of magicoins and the tight control over key resources formed the true engine driving the Magus Civilization’s relentless expansion.

Hippolyta had only recently joined the Magus Alliance and had yet to see its darker, more ruthless side.

Even so, Marvelous Plane was exceptionally fortunate. Its luck surpassed that of more than eighty percent of the alliance’s member planes.

By leveraging its role as a resource and a legion transit hub, they had already secured substantial gains for themselves.

Once the war ended, Hippolyta would have no difficulty purchasing a high-performance space fortress even without financial support from the Magus Alliance.

The fighting across the starry expanse dragged on for nearly another year and a half.

This time, in addition to Aquaria’s legions, several Grand Apocalypse World legions and two Gallant Federation war fleets also entered the fray.

The Gallant Federation had likely sensed Aquaria’s growing strain. They also had their own interests in this star-domain battlefield—otherwise, they would not have continued reinforcing their presence here.

The involvement of both the Gallant Federation and the Grand Apocalypse World prevented either side from gaining a decisive advantage during these intermittent clashes.

Millions of low-ranking cannon fodder were sacrificed on both sides, and there were likely casualties among law-wielding beings as well. Even so, these losses had little effect on the overall direction of the war.

Based on established patterns in frontline warfare between the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation, once the number of law-wielding combatants exceeded three digits and the conflict risked spiraling into uncontrollable chaos, an overlord-level entity would usually step in.

Yet neither Sein nor his companions witnessed the arrival of any overlord-level combat power from either side.

Instead, the first to appear were representatives of the Arriba Interstellar Chamber of Commerce, who had come to this star domain to conduct business.

Arriba seemed to be a truly neutral interstellar organization, with no obvious allegiance.

It was amazing that they managed to trade with both the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation at the same time.

Even so, judging by their actions, Arriba appeared more inclined toward the Magus Civilization.

Their personnel and fleets lingered longer near the Magus Civilization’s bases, while their visits to the Gallant Federation’s territory were noticeably brief.

What surprised many was that neither the Magus Civilization nor the Gallant Federation made things difficult for Arriba.

Upon arriving in this star-domain battlefield, Arriba primarily sold rare treasures from distant star domains to both sides, while also offering law-wielding powerhouses for hire.