Sovereign of the Ashes

Whispering Plume had never imagined that he would one day meet his end on a foreign battlefield!

His feathers had nearly been burned away, leaving him on the verge of becoming a featherless giant bird.

With terror filling his eyes, Whispering Plume shouted at the overlords of the Amenkha Empire standing before him.

“I’m an overlord from a top-tier civilization! Do you really dare to kill me? Aren’t you afraid Sky Plume World will retaliate?!”

Sure enough, those who ventured into the wider world without enough strength were bound to pay the price.

And sometimes, that price was their life.

Not even an overlord-level being could escape such a fate.

Whispering Plume’s desperate cries were met with cackling laughter from the two Pharaohs and three imperial generals standing before him.

Beside them, five overlord-level monster kings roared without pause, saliva nearly dripping from between their jagged fangs!

Facing ten opponents alone was a treatment that not even an ordinary Rank Eight overlord would usually receive.

For Whispering Plume to end up in a situation like this... who could say whether it was his fortune or misfortune...

The Pharaohs and overlord-level powerhouses of the Amenkha Empire could not have cared less about Sky Plume World.

In their eyes, anyone who dared provoke the Amenkha Empire deserved to be wiped out!

Whispering Plume understood the situation of his own civilization better than anyone.

Sky Plume World simply did not have the strength to avenge him.

After all, it had only been two hundred thousand years since the civilization firmly established itself among the top-tier civilizations.

What could a civilization like that accomplish?

Even counting Whispering Plume himself, Sky Plume World had no more than thirteen overlords in total.

As for the rest, unless they joined forces, none of them posed any real threat to the Amenkha Empire.

More importantly, ever since Sky Plume Divine, the founder of Sky Plume World, vanished tens of thousands of years ago, the civilization had effectively lost its strongest combatant.

At the very least, Whispering Plume could not think of anyone in his world capable of confronting Makhast after witnessing the overwhelming power he had just displayed.

Perhaps only Sky Plume Divine, before his departure, had possessed such strength...

“That guy talks too much. We’ll divide his hide among ourselves and leave the flesh and blood to the monster kings,” one of the strongest Rank Seven Pharaohs present suggested.

No one objected.

Boundless darkness and necromantic energy erupted, swallowing the entire sky in an instant.

The terror in Whispering Plume’s eyes vanished into the darkness along with him.

***

Alaindon was a Rank Three native of the Grand Cosmic World, born into the Brocktan Tribe.

The Grand Cosmic World strongly advocated economic freedom. Because of this, its economy had flourished to an extraordinary degree, and the wealth accumulated throughout the plane was immense.

Shaped by this philosophy, the Grand Cosmic World had never developed the idea of a “single dominant race” like the Magus Civilization or the Gallant Federation, both of which were largely ruled by humanoid races.

The Brocktons were merely one of the billions of races inhabiting the Grand Cosmic World, and they were far from prominent among them.

Alaindon, however, possessed sharp intelligence, reliable connections, and, most importantly, extraordinary luck.

These advantages allowed him to position both his merchant guild and his tribe near the outer edge of the homeplane battlefield from the very beginning of the Grand Cosmic World’s defensive war.

Then, the Grand Cosmic World began to collapse. It was also the moment Makhast unleashed the terrifying might of his second unsealed form.

As countless beings of the Grand Cosmic World suffered mental breakdowns and lost all will to resist, Alaindon made his decision without hesitation. He abandoned the interstellar front he had been defending and fled with his people and forces.

The direction of their escape was toward the Magus Civilization.

Through previous business dealings, Alaindon had once come into contact with a Rank Four Magus World powerhouse, giving him a general understanding of what kind of civilization it was.

Furthermore, as a Rank Three lifeform, neither particularly powerful nor completely insignificant, Alaindon had been fortunate enough to learn something in advance.

In recent years, a considerable portion of the Grand Cosmic World’s economic and trade activity had gradually begun shifting toward the Magus Civilization.

There were not many fools in this world. Most people were clever!

With so many law-wielding powerhouses and top-tier merchant guilds in the Grand Cosmic World, why were they all rushing to invest in the Magus Civilization?

Alaindon did not believe he had made the wrong choice. The Goddess of Luck would not remain by his side forever, so he had to grasp this faint chance of survival while he still could.

Yes, luck.

Alaindon believed that sheer luck was the only reason he had survived until now.

Ever since the defensive war began, countless native law-wielding powerhouses had fallen on the battlefield. Even several of the Grand Cosmic World’s native overlords had perished in succession.

Alaindon had once believed that their great Cosmic King would lead his people to victory. But in the end, it had been nothing more than a belief...

Faced with the cruel reality before him, Alaindon became one of the first natives of the Grand Cosmic World to flee toward the Magus Civilization.

His family fleet had already abandoned many of its bulky frigates and haulers, leaving the entire formation much “leaner” than before.

One ship after another streaked past with sharp whooshing sounds. As more fleets from the Grand Cosmic World joined the exodus, Alaindon knew it was time to leave.

He cast one final glance at the magnificent yet war-torn Grand Cosmic World.

“We’ll definitely return...” he said to the relatives beside him.

With those words, Alaindon set off into the unknown without looking back.

His situation was by no means unique within the Grand Cosmic World’s star domain.

He was merely one of countless ordinary individuals among the immense tide of refugees.

By the end of this war, at least sixty percent of the Grand Cosmic World’s wealth, along with the Cosmic King himself, had been left behind among the ruins of the battlefield and seized by the legions of the Amenkha Empire.

Another thirty percent was now gradually being carried toward the Magus Civilization by the fleeing refugees.

As for the remaining ten percent, some fled toward other star domains, while the rest was lost along the way.

At the border of the Grand Cosmic World’s star domain, the joint forces of the Magus Civilization and the Immortal Realm had long since completed their preparations and were waiting for them with open arms.

The wealth carried out of the Grand Cosmic World would become the first wave of spoils to nourish the coalition.

Only after that would their direct confrontation with the Amenkha Empire truly begin.

From beginning to end, the war over the Grand Cosmic World had benefited both the Magus Civilization and the Amenkha Empire. The Grand Cosmic World itself was the only true loser.

The Amenkha Empire seized control of countless planes and plundered vast quantities of war spoils. The resources and wealth accumulated by the Grand Cosmic World alone were nearly equal to the combined wealth of two or three large-sized worlds of the same tier.

Meanwhile, the Magus Civilization not only gained valuable breathing room during the Clash of Civilizations, but also absorbed a vast portion of the Grand Cosmic World’s wealth without drawing criticism from the other civilizations of the Astral Realm.

After all, the Grand Cosmic World had never joined the Magus Alliance.

Helping them was an act of goodwill. Refusing to help would have been perfectly reasonable!

In the end, the Magus Civilization also gained a considerable boost to its reputation.

And now, the time had finally come for the two civilizations to truly clash.