Sovereign of the Ashes

“I’ll leave this guy to you.”

Seeing that the native deity below was growing increasingly weak, Sein spoke to Yuri, who had just arrived on the battlefield piloting the Burning Flame Unit.

A peak Rank Five native deity was no ordinary trial opponent. Even in his weakened state, he would still pose quite a challenge for Yuri.

Of course, several powerful allies were nearby, including the God of Black Mist and others. Even if Yuri made a mistake, she would not be in any real danger.

When the disparity between the two sides reached ten to one, or even greater, it became extremely difficult for the enemy to inflict fatal damage on the Magus Civilization’s powerhouses, even if they were prepared to die.

Unless, of course, that person was dumb.

Sein paid no further attention to the opponent below because something else had completely captured his interest—the Divine Descendant Overgod Marduk.

More precisely, it was the massive fortress beside him known as the Ark.

The enormous artifact was already severely damaged, constantly leaking strange technological and divine law energy into the surrounding space.

The moment Sein arrived on the battlefield, the Magic Cube transmitted an overwhelming desire to devour it.

The secret to its next advancement lay within Marduk’s artifact!

Moreover, this did not seem like a normal advancement. It appeared to involve a true qualitative transformation.

The last time the Magic Cube had reacted this strongly was at the ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization, when it encountered the numerous remnants of that civilization’s technology.

“Could that foreign overlord’s world-class secret treasure actually raise the Magic Cube to the level of a high-tier secret treasure?” Sein exclaimed in astonishment.

A mid-tier world-class secret treasure was generally suited for Rank Seven overlords.

High-tier secret treasures, on the other hand, were top-tier artifacts that only Rank Eight overlords were qualified to wield.

Given Sein’s current strength and status, even dreaming of obtaining one was no different from courting death.

One wrong move, and he would lose his life.

Fortunately, Sein was still rational. His ambitions did not stretch that far.

Letting the Magic Cube devour the entire Ark was something he did not even dare to imagine.

For now, all he wanted was for the cube to devour and absorb as much law energy as possible from the Ark’s damaged sections while he remained at the edge of the overlord-level battlefield.

That crystalline-blue law energy alone would bring considerable benefits to the Magic Cube.

And as luck would have it, none of the other law-wielding powerhouses near the battlefield seemed to care about the ethereal energy leaking from the Ark.

That was understandable, as most law-wielding powerhouses had no reason to study technological laws.

There were no other mechanics on this civilizational battlefield either, and the Gallant Federation legions had long since been wiped out.

Still fused with Sein, Fermera could sense his thoughts clearly. She also understood that this ethereal technological law energy would bring immense benefits to both herself and the Magic Cube.

Spreading her metallic and elemental wings, she flew toward the nearest concentration of energy leaking from the Ark.

As a precaution, Sein also used the Magic Cube to summon the planetary-class war fortress under his command to the battlefield.

“I wonder if we can collect a few fragments of the Ark. The Empress of Blades has already shattered this world-class secret treasure into quite a few pieces,” Sein mused aloud.

Then his tone turned serious.

“Faceless Mask, gather all available intelligence from the surrounding battlefield. Focus especially on the overlord-level battle in the sky!”

Within Fermera’s body, the Faceless Mask covering Sein’s cheek immediately released waves of luminous white energy.

Like a streak of silver light, Sein swept across the edge of the overlord-level battlefield.

***

While Sein diligently gathered the Ark’s scattered law energy like a busy little bee, new developments unfolded in the overlord-level battle high above.

The Divine Descendant Overgod Marduk was truly reaching his limit.

He was facing several overlords at once, including two formidable Rank Eight beings. It was already a miracle that he had managed to hold out for so long.

The Empress of Blades carved three more gashes into the Ark with her claws.

Following closely behind her, the Thunder Beast King charged forward with even greater ferocity, its eight razor-sharp fangs tearing toward the center of the Ark.

Under its immense physical strength and the tremendous force of its charge, nearly one-third of the Ark’s hull was on the verge of shattering.

“Idiot! Her Majesty intends to seize this world-class secret treasure, not receive a pile of scrap!” the Rank Seven Bladeist snapped at the Thunder Beast King.

As one of the Empress of Blades’ personal guards, the Bladeist held a far higher status than the Thunder Beast King.

After being scolded, the Thunder Beast King actually looked like a sad puppy.

While it was being berated above, Sein was delighted to collect yet another massive surge of law energy from the Ark.

Far below, Sein looked up at the sky, hoping the battle would continue to intensify.

Unfortunately, his excitement did not last long.

Before he had much time to celebrate, Marduk suddenly unleashed his full power.

However, he was not preparing to make some desperate final stand against the Empress of Blades.

Instead, he was playing every last card he had in an attempt to break through the encirclement.

He did not want to die.

A dazzling divine relic slowly emerged from Marduk’s chest.

The moment it appeared, the Bladeist and the Thunder Beast King immediately moved in front of the Empress of Blades, fearing that Marduk might detonate it to take everyone down with him.

Fortunately, he did not have the courage to go that far.

Just as the Empress of Blades had suspected, Marduk’s divine relic was indeed rather unusual.

It took the form of an enormous, multicolored rhombic crystal.

At its center was the Rank Seven overgod relic, while its surface was covered with more than a thousand smaller divine relics, each glowing with a different color!

Every secondary divine relic represented a branch of divine power and law that Marduk had mastered.

Their sizes and auras varied greatly.

The larger ones represented divine domains in which Marduk had attained greater mastery, while the smaller ones reflected those he had only explored superficially.

Even so, since they were all attached to Marduk’s overgod relic, the weakest among them was still comparable to the divine relic of a Rank Four deity.

The most prominent secondary divine relics had even reached the level of those possessed by peak Rank Six deities!

And Marduk possessed no fewer than seven of them!

Anyone unaware of the truth might have assumed that Marduk had mastered an astonishingly broad range of divine power, perhaps even believing him to be a truly well-rounded and accomplished overgod.

Yet behind every one of those secondary divine relics lay a blood-soaked chapter of the Divine Descendants World’s history.

Liese, the Empress of Blades, seemed to notice something. Looking at Marduk, who had voluntarily revealed his divine relic before her, she chuckled softly.

“Interesting.”

Marduk paid no attention to the fact that his shameful secret had been exposed. His expression turned solemn as he looked at the countless divine relics surrounding him.

In the next instant, more than a thousand divine relics shot outward in every direction across the overlord-level battlefield.

Each one carried a trace of Marduk’s divine consciousness.