Sovereign of the Ashes

Sein’s question caught Marie off guard.

Despite having followed Sein for many years, she still sometimes struggled to keep up with his train of thought.

She had never seriously considered recruiting registered mages from the Divine Tower of Dark Wind, mainly because she was already busy enough.

Moreover, poaching talent during wartime was no easy task.

Sein suppressed the contemplative look on his face and said, “This isn’t something I should be handling personally. Send someone to approach those mages from the Divine Tower of Dark Wind. Let me know the cost.”

“I made a tidy profit in the subspace ruins this time. You don’t need to worry about the tower’s development funds,” he added.

Aside from the two of them, several Rank Two and Rank Three mages were also present inside the Ashen Fortress’ command room.

These mages were core members of the Divine Tower of Ashes, individuals who were virtually inseparable from the tower itself.

As such, when discussing matters like this, Sein did not deliberately hide it from them.

Only when it came to the Divine Tower of Ashes’ “gray area” operations, or the black mages’ smuggling routes with the Byrne Empire, would Sein handle discussions in private.

Otherwise, his exchanges with Marie were entirely aboveboard.

Even the current topic of poaching talent did not violate any of the rules upheld by divine towers, knightly orders, guardians, or the Magus Alliance.

In response to Sein’s request, Marie glanced around before replying, “I’ll handle it myself. I’ve had contact with Facher, a demigod-level mage from the Divine Tower of Dark Wind. He’s one of Master Chakra’s apprentices.”

Sein gave her a nod of approval.

This conversation reminded him of the lower-ranking mages he had commanded during his exploration of the Steel Ruins with Master Gilbert and the others.

Among them were quite a few talented individuals.

In particular, the demigod-level mage named Mussor had left a deep impression on Sein.

Bringing such promising young talents into the Divine Tower of Ashes would greatly benefit the tower’s long-term development.

***

The coordinates Sein led the Divine Tower of Ashes Army toward lay at the southwest corner of the Steel Ruins’ outer perimeter.

Returning to the heart of the subspace stirred a surge of emotion in Sein.

In such a short span of time, the Steel Ruins had undergone great changes.

The vast expanse of metal wreckage now looked even more desolate and chaotic than it had during his previous visit.

The ground was riddled with deep battle scars, while fresh corpses and the burning wreckage of crashed warships littered every corner of the battlefield.

The war between the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization and the Black Merlot Civilization had likely looked much the same back then.

After all, history always repeated itself.

By the time Sein’s group reached their destination, battle was already underway.

With Sein’s group joining the fight as reinforcements in this sector, the Magus Civilization legions already engaged there were granted permission to withdraw and regroup.

Before charging in, Sein first made contact through ranged magic with the two Rank Four knights and four foreign deities who were fighting alongside him.

Both Rank Four knights were highly motivated and reportedly hailed from the Desert Kingdom of Jehannah. They had arrived at this subspace battlefield together with a certain Rank Six knight.

Perhaps because of past experiences, Sein was not especially fond of those from the Ylli Knight Alliance.

He found it far easier to work with knights from Jehannah, the Alveroth Empire, and the Byrne Empire.

As for the other four foreign deities, there was little need to concern himself with them. All they had to do was follow combat orders obediently.

Dreadwings was a Rank Four, bat-like creature. Unlike Darian Wraith, the formidable Shadowbat Civilization being Sein had encountered before, this one was a genuine dark creature, perpetually cloaked in a putrid aura. It was also the most obsequious toward Sein.

The Leafborne God was an insectoid deity whose combat legion was the most numerous on the battlefield, nearly reaching one and a half million units.

Unfortunately, the combat effectiveness of the Leafbornes was abysmal.

Aside from a handful of insect combat units that had undergone metamorphosis and performed decently, the vast majority were little more than cannon fodder.

At the same time, the Leafborne God was also the weakest among the four foreign deities.

The Giant Jaw King was a Rank Four creature whose head was larger than its body, lined with dozens of massive fangs.

Among the allied foreign deities present, it was the only one that had not gone out of its way to fawn over Sein.

In terms of combat prowess, the Giant Jaw King ranked second only to the Ice Tomb Enchantress. Despite fielding the smallest legion, at roughly four hundred thousand, its overall combat strength was the greatest.

The Ice Tomb Enchantress, the sole Rank Five being among them, was a female creature whose entire body was sealed within deep blue ice. From a distance, the ice encasing her looked like a frozen tomb.

Rumor had it that she was the lover of a certain Rank Six creature from the Magus Alliance.

Because of this, most Rank Four and Rank Five beings avoided provoking her, and even Magus World knights of similar rank usually treated her with a degree of deference.

Sein, however, had no intention of doing the same.

So what if she was a Rank Five creature, with a Rank Six entity standing behind her?

On this subspace battlefield, even Rank Six alliance creatures were expendable assets.

Grandmaster Feylis had deployed every single Rank Six alliance creature present in this subspace to the fiercest frontlines.

In the eyes of Feylis and other Magus Civilization powerhouses, the life of a Rank Five knight or mage was far more valuable than that of a single Rank Six alliance creature.

Sein was well aware of his responsibilities and duties on this battlefield.

Moreover, he held full command authority over these alliance creatures.

Under Sein’s orders, the Giant Jaw King led the initial charge, while the Ice Tomb Enchantress commanded her cryo elemental legion as the second wave of attackers.

Dreadwings led a legion of nearly a million strong, accompanied by four space fortresses, close to twenty prism forts, and thousands of war airships. They blanketed the skies, providing long-range fire support and harassing attacks.

Charging below them was the Leafborne legion. Individually, these creatures were inferior to the Gallant Federation’s standard robotic cannon fodder.

Their true strength lay in sheer numbers. When hundreds of thousands of them spewed acid at once, even the federal warships risked being melted into molten steel without sufficient DF field protection.

The final forces to be deployed were the elite knight legions personally led by the two Rank Four knights.

Sein noticed that most of these Jehannah Kingdom knights lacked mounts.

They charged across the battlefield on their own two feet.

Some Rank Two and above knights directly activated their bloodline transformations, roaring as they surged forward.

In the blink of an eye, they overtook the Leafborne legion that had originally been positioned ahead of them.

In terms of raw, unrestrained ferocity, these Jehannah Kingdom knights surpassed the vast majority of knight legions Sein had encountered before.