Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 1740: A Trap

Confronted by the Rank Eight Fire Phoenix’s interrogation, the Evileye Tyrant Monarch felt on the verge of tears.

During its time within the Magus Alliance, it had indeed heard vague rumors that the Ice Phoenix had an older brother.

But the Fire Phoenix had not appeared within the alliance’s territory for tens of thousands of years—who could possibly still remember such an existence?

Moreover, that Fire Phoenix was rumored to possess no more than Rank Seven strength.

Backed by the Amenkha Empire and the Gallant Federation, the Evileye Tyrant Monarch had never truly regarded the Fire Phoenix as a threat.

Who could have imagined that after reemerging following tens of thousands of years of absence, this Fire Phoenix had ascended to the terrifying realm of Rank Eight?

“You...?!” The Evileye Tyrant Monarch’s mental focus rippled outward in all directions.

This Rank Seven overlord, born of the Grand Eye Demon World, possessed neither exceptional close-combat ability nor formidable physical resilience.

Its extraordinary mental focus was the very foundation of its existence.

Yet now, faced with the unyielding gaze of a Fire Phoenix that had reached Rank Eight, what meaningful resistance could it possibly put up?

The Fire Phoenix had come with a single purpose: vengeance against the Evileye Tyrant Monarch.

More than a thousand years ago, he had been wandering through a distant star domain.

Having ascended to Rank Eight roughly ten thousand years earlier, his mastery of Nirvana and flame laws had reached new heights.

The star domain it inhabited at the time was barren and desolate, yet it contained a flame star of unprecedented magnitude.

Given the Fire Phoenix’s habit, he would have remained at that extraordinary flame star for several more millennia.

Yet a sudden disturbance deep within his bloodline made the phoenix cry out as he prepared to enter slumber.

That cry stirred the raging seas of flame within the star, and the Fire Phoenix turned back toward the Magus Star Domain without hesitation.

Even for a Rank Eight Fire Phoenix, the return journey took more than a thousand years—clear proof of just how far he had traveled.

His sudden appearance on this battlefield caught Hela, Bev, the Eighth Pharaoh, and all others completely off guard.

Before this moment, Hela had received no intelligence suggesting the Fire Phoenix would come to her aid. This was also the first time she learned that he had already ascended to Rank Eight.

In the Magus Alliance’s official records, the Fire Phoenix was still listed as a late-stage Rank Seven overlord.

His reemergence now as a Rank Eight Overlord clearly meant he had gained extraordinary opportunities during his long journey.

An overlord like the Fire Phoenix was different from deities such as Odin of Titan World, Aeluna of Elven World, or Skybearer of the Grand Amethyst World.

The latter all possessed their own vassal planes, native worlds, and the civilizations they represented.

The rise of each of these beings was inseparably tied to the civilizations they embodied. One could say they reached their current status by drawing nourishment from the contributions of countless billions of lives. At the same time, they bore responsibility for those civilizations and were expected to give back to their homeplanes from time to time.

The Fire Phoenix, however, was a very different case. The plane where he was born lay outside the Magus Star Domain.

He could hardly be said to have a homeland at all. His only family was his younger sister, the Ice Phoenix, born from the same egg, and together they had grown up roaming the Astral Realm.

It was precisely this shared origin that allowed the Fire Phoenix to sense his younger sister’s peril across unimaginable distances.

Over the years, the Ice Phoenix had devoted herself to establishing a plane within the Magus Alliance specifically for phoenix-blooded birds to inhabit. Through that plane, she maintained a stronger bond with the Magus Civilization.

Fortunately, the Ice Phoenix had not perished. Had she fallen, the Fire Phoenix would have returned a thousand years too late, with nothing left to do but bury her remains.

The fury that drove the Fire Phoenix’s return manifested as the raging Nirvana Flames blazing around him.

The Evileye Tyrant Monarch, pinned by the Fire Phoenix’s will, instinctively sought aid from the Eighth Pharaoh once again.

Unfortunately, the Eighth Pharaoh could not afford to spare it so much as a glance now.

Damn it! This is a trap!

The moment the Fire Phoenix appeared, the Eighth Pharaoh, who had already broken his self-imposed seal, cursed inwardly.

The Rank Eight Fire Phoenix was merely the first overlord-level being from the Magus Civilization to arrive.

Given that this star domain lay within the Magus Civilization’s territory, it was inevitable that a second, a third, and many more overlords would soon descend!

Forget about Rank Eight overlords; just a few more Rank Seven overlords would be enough to give the Eighth Pharaoh a serious headache.

“Morineo, help me stop this Rank Eight Pharaoh! Ignore the Evileye Tyrant Monarch for now. It won’t be able to escape!” Hela called out.

Within the Magus Alliance, Hela’s standing was higher than Morineo’s, despite his newly attained Rank Eight status.

Morineo knew full well that Hela was the Supreme Knight Overlord’s granddaughter. He himself had become an overlord under that man’s command.

At Hela’s order, the Fire Phoenix hesitated only briefly before abandoning the Evileye Tyrant Monarch and closing in on the Eighth Pharaoh.

Just as Hela had said, how could that Evileye Tyrant Monarch possibly escape under his nose?

The long-range spatial passage the Eighth Pharaoh had opened earlier now showed clear signs of distortion and collapse under Morineo’s blazing Nirvana Flames.

With the Fire Phoenix now backing them, Hela and Jormungandr felt the pressure ease, if only slightly.

A Rank Eight overlord should be handled by another Rank Eight overlord.

At the very least, with both sides possessing Eternal Souls, losses on their side could be kept to a minimum.

In terms of individual strength, however, the Fire Phoenix—having only recently ascended to Rank Eight—clearly could not match the Eighth Pharaoh King, who had already broken his self-imposed seal.

Each punch and every sweep of the bone staff from the Eighth Pharaoh ripped open visible wounds across Morineo’s massive phoenix form, spraying flaming phoenix blood across the starry battlefield.

Yet as a Fire Phoenix, Morineo possessed the innate power of Nirvana, granting him extraordinary regeneration and vitality.

While the Rank Eight Skybearer had focused on pushing its physical defenses to the limit, this Fire Phoenix had instead elevated his life force to its peak.

Both radiated an aura of near indestructibility.

Skybearer had once endured the assault of the Gallant Federation’s Infinity Light and still managed to withdraw from the Saitos Star Domain while carrying a Rank Seven knight overlord.

That battle, fought near the beginning of the Clash of Civilizations, had been Skybearer’s defining moment.

Could it be that, after the Fire Phoenix’s return to the Magus Civilization, this confrontation with the Pharaoh of the Amenkha Empire would become his own defining battle?

By now, the Eighth Pharaoh was already considering retreat. He cared little about the fate of the Evileye Tyrant Monarch.

Ever since the Fire Phoenix appeared, he had been convinced this was a trap laid by the Magus Civilization.

And when wave after wave of overwhelming overlord-level fluctuations surged in from all directions, the Eighth Pharaoh no longer spared a thought for his own pride or the life of a subordinate overlord.

In his newly unleashed and fearsome state, he charged straight toward the spatial passage through which he had arrived.

“Eighth Pharaoh, save me!” the Evileye Tyrant Monarch cried out desperately once more, sensing the terrifying convergence of overlord-level power.

“Get out of my way!” the Eighth Pharaoh snarled. Entangled by the Evileye Tyrant Monarch, he delivered a palm strike straight into the creature’s colossal, eyeball-like body.

Pools of dark crimson-purple blood mixed with unidentifiable gray matter burst from the Evileye Tyrant Monarch.

This single blow from the unsealed Eighth Pharaoh dealt more damage and inflicted heavier losses on the Tyrant Monarch’s Omnipotent Soul than both the Fire Phoenix and Hela had managed.

At the same time, Bev’s voice rang out clearly from the distant starry expanse.

“Stop him!”

Whoosh!

The first strike aimed at the Eighth Pharaoh King came in the form of a pitch-black war blade, accompanied by the faint roar of a dragon echoing across the void.