Sovereign of the Ashes

“Do not let the current situation distract you! Our Magus Civilization is not necessarily inferior to others. You have only learned that the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization possessed things like Infinite Energy and Space-time Shocker, but our Magus Civilization may well have comparable methods of its own!

“The Infinity Light unleashed by the Gallant Federation in the Saitos Star Domain not long ago was just as formidable as this so-called Space-time shocker. No, the Gallant Federation’s Infinity Light was even more ruthless—it wiped out an entire star domain outright. Rumor has it that even an overlord-level being perished in its blast.

“Even so, our Magus Civilization still maintains superiority on the battlefield over the Gallant Federation!” Sein spoke calmly to those around him.

His words successfully pulled the group out of their momentary shock at the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization’s terrifying technological prowess.

Indeed, the Magus Civilization was no weaker than any other.

Among top-tier civilizations, true strength could only be determined through direct confrontation.

That said, the Magus Civilization would likely never have the chance to clash with the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization—an ancient power that had vanished tens of millions of years ago.

Even the current whereabouts of Eiyurant Papillon Folk were unknown. Only a handful of corpse specimens from the Eiyurant Papillon and Black Merlot civilizations had been gradually uncovered in nearby star domains, drawing the attention of modern powerhouses like Sein for research.

As Sein spoke, the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization’s artificial intelligence watched him with evident interest.

Number Two nodded in firm agreement. “The strength of a civilization truly cannot be measured so simply. Dr. Charles Isaac said the same back then.

“During the war between our Eiyurant Papillon Civilization and the Black Merlot Civilization in hyperdimensional space, our fleets were initially at a severe disadvantage. Even our main force nearly suffered total annihilation.

“In the end, it was General Hilman von Leyden who accomplished the impossible. Leading a fleet equipped with next-generation Space-time Shockers developed by Dr. Charles Isaac, he confronted the Black Merlot Civilization’s most powerful existence, Merlot, along with his Black Beast Legion. Both sides were annihilated together, frozen within a slice of space-time.”

“That was how our Eiyurant Papillon Civilization secured victory in the dimensional war. Otherwise, the outcome would have remained uncertain.

“Dr. Charles Isaac stated on more than one occasion that General Hilman von Leyden was the true savior of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization. His contributions far surpassed even those of his own,” the avatar said with evident fervor.

This artificial intelligence, having developed a degree of sentience, clearly possessed a deep sense of identity and belonging tied to the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

The limited emotions it showed still lingered on the glorious history and achievements of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

This, too, showed that Sein was right to praise the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization earlier.

Had he shown hostility or outright rejection toward the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization, who knew how this artificial intelligence might have reacted?

In contrast, HALL-E—who retained only fragmentary memories of the distant past—stood staring blankly as Sein spoke with the avatar.

HALL-E felt little emotional attachment to the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization. Even the name Charles Isaac sounded only vaguely familiar to it.

Yet it had a feeling that this was indeed its owner’s name. Within the fragments of Charles’s memories that HALL-E retained, the most recurring image was a gray-and-white, highly technological laboratory, where a busy figure in a white lab coat kept pacing back and forth.

Back then, HALL-E had looked much the same. It would stare blankly at its owner before picking up a piece of experimental waste from the floor and tossing it into a designated container.

That had been the entirety of its role in the laboratory.

Sein was the first to recover from the shock and astonishment. Hearing the avatar refer to General Hilman von Leiden as their civilization’s savior, he calmly continued the conversation.

“No great civilization is ever upheld by a single individual. General Hilman von Leyden undoubtedly deserves recognition, but beyond him and Dr. Charles Isaac, the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization must have had many wise and fearless contributors who quietly devoted themselves,” Sein said.

“Yes! Dr. Charles said something very similar!” the avatar exclaimed with excitement.

It no longer carried the detached, cold demeanor it had initially shown.

Lost in memories of the past, it unconsciously allowed Sein to gradually take control of the conversation.

Sein did not immediately steer the discussion toward the topic that interested him most. Instead, he added, “Even so, I believe Dr. Charles Isaac was the undisputed leader of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization during that era.

“Even without General Hilman von Leyden, other generals within the fleet could likely have achieved comparable victories. But without Dr. Charles Isaac, who could have developed a weapon like the Space-time Shocker?”

His understated praise caused the artificial intelligence’s gaze to noticeably soften as it looked at him.

Grethel and the other Magus World mages had already regained their composure. As highly intelligent beings, they now looked at Sein with clear surprise.

They had truly not expected Master Sein, who usually carried an air of cold detachment, to be so articulate.

In truth, Sein was surprisingly easy to get along with.

After spending time with him, every knight, mage, or allied foreign god came away with much the same impression.

It was just that Sein rarely made a point of socializing with others, nor was he the type of mage who greeted people with a warm smile.

As a result, almost every creature’s first impression of Sein was the same—he was not someone to be trifled with... and that he carried a distinct aura of a black mage about him.

Seeing the artificial intelligence grow increasingly friendly and animated in its speech, Sein chose to press the matter further.

“So, what exactly is this hyperdimensional space you mentioned earlier?” he asked. “And what does dimensional upgrade mean?”

In response, the avatar explained, “Forty million years ago, a scientist named Sesto Lauren pointed out that our Astral Realm is merely one dimension among countless others, and that there exist higher dimensions above the Astral Realm.

“Dr. Charles Isaac later endorsed this theory, leading the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization to devote all of its resources to researching dimensional upgrade.

“Hyperdimensional space is a unique space-time realm our civilization discovered over the course of several hundred thousand years. Some planar civilizations also refer to it as a dimensional battlefield or World of Despair. Our war against the Black Merlot Civilization was mainly fought there.”

“Hmmm! The World of Despair... I feel like I have heard that name somewhere before.” The usually quiet and reserved Master Gilbert suddenly spoke up.[1]

1. Translator’s Note: The World of Despair was mentioned before in Chapter 1024. Lord Nergal shared with the Spider Queen that the mysterious lady who cast the Tablet of Fate’s fragment back into Magus World had once journeyed there alongside the Supreme Knight Overlord. ☜