Sovereign of the Ashes

The terrifying upheaval caused by the overlord’s fall dealt a devastating blow to Divine Descendants World.

The entire world trembled as Marduk fell.

From the center of the overlord-level battlefield, shockwaves swept outward across nearly one-third of the world.

In the face of such destruction, only the law-wielding beings stationed along the edges of the battlefield had any hope of escaping.

As for creatures below Rank Four, they were obliterated without exception, reduced to fundamental particles by the energy tide accompanying the overlord’s fall.

Fortunately, the Magus Civilization had issued strict orders long ago, forbidding its legions of lower-tier creatures from approaching the overlord-level battlefield.

After all, the main participants fighting along its fringes were the law-wielding beings from both sides.

Of course, many low-level native creatures living nearby were inevitably caught in the devastation.

However, that was none of the Magus Civilization faction’s concern. They were not their people, after all.

After the Empress of Blades carried him away from the dangerous epicenter, Sein’s expression quickly shifted from astonishment to agony.

The delayed pain of broken bones and torn flesh swept through his body all at once as the aftereffects of the impact began to take their toll.

What made matters worse was that he had less than half a vial of his most precious healing potion left.

It was all the Golden Silver Potion he had left after treating Gongsun Wudi’s injuries last time.

Fermera was also severely injured. In fact, her condition was far worse than Sein’s.

Yet no trace of pain appeared on her silver-white face, even though one of her cheeks had split open.

When Sein looked at her, Fermera seemed to sense his gaze and turned toward him as well.

The Magic Cube, which had already absorbed a small portion of the Ark’s fragments, was now flickering with blue light.

It was clear that the cube had also gained greatly from the crisis brought about by the overlord’s fall.

Sein did not rush to examine the crystal in his hand. Instead, he directed the Magic Cube toward the severely injured Fermera, allowing it to fuse with her once more.

With the Magic Cube nourishing Fermera’s body, her injuries would likely ease somewhat.

Only after doing all this did Sein finally relax. He had been tense for far too long, pushed to his limits both physically and mentally.

His consciousness gradually faded into darkness.

For a late-stage Rank Five body-tempering mage to lose consciousness after a battle said enough about just how dangerous the series of clashes and injuries he had endured truly was.

Even as Sein slipped into unconsciousness, he never let go of Fermera’s mechanical arm. His other hand remained tightly clenched around the greatest prize he had gained from the battle—a fragment of the Ark’s core.

The Empress of Blades continued soaring higher into the sky while carrying both Sein and Fermera. Yet her attention remained fixed on Marduk below, who no longer showed any sign of life.

In the end, Marduk failed to drag Divine Descendants World down with him.

This was hardly surprising, given the deep foundations of a large-sized plane.

If any Rank Seven overlord could destroy their homeplane simply by crashing into it and taking their enemies down with them, the Magus Civilization would never have needed to wage interplanar wars in the first place.

Moreover, Marduk had not struck the navel of this plane or any other special law node. He had merely crashed into an ordinary continent near the heart of the world.

Even so, the consequences were severe. Over the next hundred years, that continent and the three surrounding it would gradually sink as their tectonic plates fractured, until they were eventually swallowed by the vast ocean.

The numerous medium-sized and smaller continents and islands nearby would also suffer frequent tremors and shifts in position.

Yet these were only the changes visible on the surface.

The transformations affecting the world’s underlying elemental energy and planar laws would be far more extensive.

In short, the effects of Marduk’s fall would continue to plague Divine Descendants World for a very long time.

In fact, if Divine Descendants World failed to produce another overlord-level being in the foreseeable future, the entire world might even regress into a medium-sized plane!

Several large-sized worlds within the Magus Alliance that had lost their native overlords were already showing signs of such regression.

Of course, another major reason Marduk had failed was the constant interference of the Empress of Blades and Fermont the Deathspawn.

Achieving his objective while facing two Rank Eight overlords had simply been too challenging.

In the end, everything Marduk had done amounted to little more than a desperate final struggle.

Far below, the aftermath of the overlord’s fall continued to unfold.

The Empress of Blades glanced at the unconscious mage in her arms.

Her gaze lingered briefly on the Faceless Mask covering his face before she carried him toward Fermont, who hovered high above in the sky.

***

As consciousness slowly returned to his body, Sein opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a smooth wall of pink flesh.

Viscous, translucent mucus brimming with life force flowed continuously over his body.

He was currently submerged in a specially prepared nutrient pool.

Judging from his surroundings, he was currently inside an Insectoid base.

Sein had already visited two of these bases before, so he recognized the fleshy walls around him almost immediately.

However, this particular chamber was somewhere he had never been before. The same went for the pool of slime he was currently soaking in...

Injuries that would normally have required the precious Golden Silver Potion to heal were now almost completely gone.

Although a faint stinging pain and lingering weakness remained in his mind, Sein’s body seemed to have recovered almost completely, even down to the cellular level!

He gently scraped at several scabs on his sturdy chest. One after another, they fell away, revealing fresh muscle beneath.

Sein glanced down at the nutrient pool again. After a brief pause, his first instinct was to collect some for research.

At that moment, Sein was completely naked in the pool.

No one had touched his belongings. Everything had been neatly arranged around the edge, including the Faceless Mask.

Feeling that he had mostly recovered, Sein moved around in the pool for a moment before climbing out.

He retrieved a fresh magic robe from his spatial storage and slipped it on. Then, he took out several large vials.

Sein had always been the type to act whenever an idea struck him. He did not even care that he had just been soaking in the very same pool.

The value of this special life mucus is probably comparable to the Golden Apple of Titan World... The Insectoids are such a powerful and wealthy race. They probably won’t mind me taking this little bit.

With that thought, Sein began filling the vials with life mucus.

He still knew when to stop, though. After filling seven large vials, Sein finally decided that he had taken enough.

Now that his body had mostly recovered, there was no reason to remain in the chamber any longer.

He walked toward what was clearly the exit. As he approached, the fleshy wall slowly parted, revealing a dimly lit passageway beyond.

Since waking up, Sein had not encountered a single other creature.

Some mysterious force was also interfering with his crystal ball, temporarily preventing him from contacting Fermera, Mel, and the others.

Even so, Sein was not particularly worried about them.

Without hesitation, he stepped into the passageway.