Sovereign of the Ashes

A fierce battle was about to erupt.

The Divine Descendants World legions had previously fought only among themselves within their own planes.

When it came to wars between pantheons, they were certainly experienced.

But in grand strategic warfare and the massive clashes between civilizations, those Rank Four and Rank Five divine descendants and gods were sorely lacking.

Most of them knew nothing more than charging straight into battle.

In terms of layered deployments and coordinated waves of firepower, Divine Descendants World lagged far behind top-tier civilizations such as the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation.

The Dawn Empire was also a “newbie” in this kind of large-scale Clash of Civilizations.

Over the past hundred thousand years, most of its conquests had been directed at small and medium-sized world civilizations.

However, one of the Dawn Empire’s greatest strengths was the strict discipline of its military forces.

Their absolute obedience to orders allowed the Dawn Empire Army to perform far better on the battlefield than the scattered legions of Divine Descendants World.

Sein and his forces were stationed at a clearly visible breach in Boundary Rocks, one that the Dawn Empire itself had previously torn open.

Yet it was precisely this breach that gave Sein and his forces a reliable strategic position.

Sein directly ordered the planetary fortress under his command to advance toward the breach.

With its massive frame, the fortress sealed off nearly two-thirds of the opening in Boundary Rocks.

The other combat legions then moved into position, filling the remaining gap one after another.

Divine Descendants World’s returning legions were immense in scale. This was hardly surprising, considering they hailed from a large-sized star domain.

Sein and his forces did not need to stop all of them.

The frontline extended across an immense distance, meaning they would face only a fraction of these reinforcements at most.

Furthermore, given the immense length of the Boundary Rocks front, Sein did not believe that Divine Descendants World’s main forces, especially the follower legions led by its Rank Six gods, would just happen to launch a concentrated assault on his exact position.

***

As it turned out, Sein’s assessment was correct.

When Divine Descendants World’s reinforcements surged against the Boundary Rocks front in a fierce assault, the first distress signal came from the Dawn Empire legions stationed on Sein’s flank, 35.6 degrees away across the star domain.

That was where the Divine Descendants World’s reinforcements had launched their main offensive!

The Gallant Federation was no fool either. They had likely realized that without Marduk personally commanding them, this Divine Descendants World’s reinforcements were little more than a disorganized rabble.

Thus, before Sein and the others could fully assess the situation, the Gallant Federation quietly slipped a number of warships equipped with heavy firepower deep into Divine Descendants World’s reinforcements.

A violent, overwhelming tide of energy erupted from the battlefield on Sein’s flank and swept across the starry sky!

Standing atop the planetary fortress, Sein could sense the lingering might of apocalyptical weapons within that raging energy tide.

The destructive power of the Gallant Federation’s apocalyptical weapons generally surpassed the peak of Rank Six. Among them were even superweapons capable of reaching Rank Seven power.

However, according to their intelligence, the Gallant Federation had not dispatched any overlord-class battle fleets or overlord-class mobile suits to reinforce this region.

That meant the apocalyptical weapon firepower unleashed on the flank battlefield was much like what Sein had encountered in the ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization—small vessels carrying great cannons.

Certain federal warships had forcibly mounted and deployed apocalyptical weapons far beyond what their own frames and energy systems could properly support.

Such an attack could catch the enemy completely off guard and deal a devastating blow, but it was not a tactic that could be sustained for long.

After all, how could ordinary warships and ordinary power sources possibly support the continuous use of apocalyptical weapons?

Even so, the Gallant Federation had achieved its objective.

Not long after the aftershocks of the apocalyptical weapons swept across that battlefield, the Dawn Empire legions stationed in that region sent out an urgent distress signal.

Ximen Feixiao and the others immediately turned to look at Sein.

Sein stared into the void ahead of him and remained silent for a long moment.

The Gallant Federation and Divine Descendants World’s legions would not have chosen only a single point to break through.

Sein did not command particularly large forces, and he was unwilling to abandon his position on short notice.

Rather than rushing blindly to reinforce another battlefield, it was better to first ensure that his own position remained secure.

Sure enough, not long after the distress signal arrived from the flank, the starry sky before Sein and the others suddenly filled with enemy forces!

These enemies were still primarily made up of legions from the Divine Descendants Star Domain.

The Gallant Federation had likely concentrated its limited technological forces on the battlefield beside Sein’s position.

As a result, among the Divine Descendants World legions now appearing before him, Sein saw very few advanced technological weapons.

“This is our battlefield. As long as we hold this position and minimize the number of Divine Descendants World legions that break through our lines, we will have fulfilled our mission,” Sein said.

“In a Clash of Civilizations, every one of us is insignificant. Even Rank Five and Rank Six beings are no exception. Rather than worrying about the battlefields elsewhere, we should secure our own position first. Each of us is merely one piece in the vast machinery of this civilizational war.”

He patted Ximen Feixiao on the shoulder.

“These battles are nothing like the small and medium-scale star domain wars you experienced in the past.”

He knew that the Dawn Empire general before him shared a distant bloodline connection with Gongsun Wudi.

“I have learned much,” Ximen Feixiao replied with a nod.

Although he appeared to be a rough and boisterous general, Ximen Feixiao was by no means thoughtless. He understood Sein’s reasoning and agreed with his judgment.

As the side waiting in formation for the enemy to arrive, Sein and his forces dealt the Divine Descendants World legions a devastating blow from the very beginning.

Sein’s planetary fortress unleashed rapid volleys of artillery fire and energy beams.

This time, Ximen Feixiao and the others had also brought two “Dragon Howlers” with them.

The energy beams fired by these weapons were infused with Dragon Qi. Each strike tore through the battlefield, wiping out entire columns of combatants.

Although the Divine Descendants World possessed numerous deities and a deep civilizational foundation, it lagged far behind the Dawn Empire in the development of divine artifacts and other advanced military technologies.

Even now, its deities were still relying on the same crude method of activating their divine domains and leading their followers and divine emissaries in direct charges amidst deafening battle cries.

As Sein observed the Divine Descendants World’s legions in battle, he could not help but marvel inwardly at the vast disparity between civilizations.

Had one of the Magus Civilization’s main forces been deployed here, a single volley from the main cannons of roughly ten space fortresses would have been enough to wipe out a significant portion of the enemy army.

In fact, there might not even have been any need for the Magus Civilization’s main legions to take the field.

The Grand Elven World alone, a large-sized plane within the Magus Alliance, possessed combat methods far more diverse than anything the Divine Descendants World had displayed.

Ancient war trees, winged creatures capable of unleashing wind blades, mountain giants, Khimairas, Horned Eagle Knights...

And that was not even counting the Blood Elves, Spellbreakers, and many other powerful forces.

Even among large-sized planes, the gap between one world and another could be astonishingly vast.

Just as Sein and his forces became locked in fierce battle, a new development unfolded on the flank, where the situation had previously been the most tense.

The Quatar Star Pirates had struck!

Several enormous demons with life levels reaching Rank Six were the first to descend upon the battlefield.

The moment they appeared, they launched vicious attacks against the few federal capital ships among Divine Descendants World’s army.

Many of those capital ships carried the federation’s apocalyptical weapons.

Although those weapons were currently in a cooldown period, leaving them intact would always pose a hidden threat.

After dealing with the Gallant Federation for so many years, the Quatar Star Pirates naturally knew exactly how to deal with their fleets.

The capital ships were not their only targets. The demon kings who emerged from the void, wielding bloodstained blades, also charged straight into the Divine Descendants World legions gathered across the interstellar battlefield.

The gods of Divine Descendants World had endured countless years of war between pantheons. They were by no means weak.

Still, they faltered when suddenly confronted by demons far more savage and bloodthirsty than themselves.

Behind each law-wielding demon king, a “Gate of Flesh” slowly opened, radiating a filthy, blood-red glow.

An immense tide of demons of every shape and form poured madly through those gates.

Demons embodied slaughter and destruction.

And now, a vast melee had erupted between the followers of the gods and the hordes of demons.

But on such a battlefield, who could truly claim to stand for justice?

And who was the evil one?