Sovereign of the Ashes

Beyond the Magus World lay a bright and boundless starry sky, known as the “Astral Realm”.

At the distant reaches of this celestial expanse, bright white lights sparkled, accentuating the diversity and beauty of the Astral Realm.

Initially, Sein was captivated by the distant cosmic scenery.

However, his attention soon shifted to the immediate vicinity.

The starry sky near the Magus World was teeming with activity.

Countless giant meteorite chunks floated in void, distinct from ordinary celestial meteorites.

These vast blocks were studded with numerous specialized magic artifacts and devices, the likes of which Sein could not identify.

It appeared to be a defensive line set up by the Magus Civilization to safeguard their homeplane.

Sein pondered whether some ancient event had led the Magus World to fortify so extensively, despite its current power.

Could there still be legions from foreign civilizations capable of breaching the Magus Civilization’s sphere of influence and pose a threat to their mighty homeplane?

The dense clusters of meteorites near the Magus World, bristling with cold, black magic cannons and fort-like structures, resembled a vast steel jungle.

Amidst this metallic wilderness, an enormous war platform of staggering size, beyond Sein’s imagination, sailed past silently, like a beast prowling through the steel jungle toward the abyss.

These colossal war platforms, known as space fortresses, were formidable weapons the Magus Civilization had long used for waging wars against foreign planes.

Tracing the origins of the space fortress within the extensive history of Magus Civilization was challenging as their existence appeared to date back to ancient times.

With thousands of years of development, these space fortresses have undergone continual modernization.

The space fortresses of the Magus World now come in various styles and iterations.

Knights and mages of Rank Four and above often made adaptive modifications after their purchase to meet their specific requirements.

In the void beyond the Magus World, the number of roaming and docked space fortresses was innumerable.

Sein could not even begin to count them. The vastness of the Magus World itself eluded his full view, let alone the expanse beyond.

Sein speculated that the number of space fortresses must be related to the population of Rank Four and above entities in the Magus World.

In fact, he surmised, it likely far exceeded the count of knights and mages of Rank Four and above.

Considering the iterative replacements and repairs from battle damages, the production of these massive war platforms would inevitably surpass the actual demand.

Navigating through these steel jungles, these premium war platforms from the Magus World were truly a sight to behold.

Sein and the others eventually reached a colossal port located far from the Magus Plane’s edge.

This port in the Astral Realm appeared to have been skillfully hollowed out and transformed from a massive meteorite through magitech and alchemy.

Numerous ports of similar scale were scattered around the void outside the Magus World, but the one they had reached was notably larger.

A massive metal fortress, easily spanning over twenty-thousand meters in diameter, was docked outside this massive port.

“We’ve arrived,” Lorianne announced to every mage from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

While there were many mages from the divine tower who had embarked on various space fortresses before, none matched the grandeur of the one before them!

This was the latest model in the Magus World, commissioned by Sein’s grandmaster, Lady Feylis the Verdant Flame, ten thousand years ago and completed by the Magus Alliance five thousand years ago.

During the critical battle against the Neisse Star Domain a millennium ago, Grandmaster Verdant Flame must have amassed sufficient resources to afford this masterpiece of Magus World’s magitech and alchemy.

Given that Lorianne was still repaying the loan taken out two hundred years ago for establishing the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, it was only natural that she could not afford a space fortress.

Sein, standing close to Lorianne, noted the subtle envy in her expression.

Guided by Lorianne, Sein and the others soon reached the space fortress.

They passed through a specific entrance at the structure’s base, making their way into the interior of the massive war platform.

***

Grandmaster Verdant Flame’s space fortress was immense.

Observing it from the outside, Sein was awestruck by the magnificence and the sheer scale of this colossal structure.

Once he entered, he was even more astounded by its internal expanse.

The fortress had many levels within it.

Sein and his group used a special passageway to directly access the upper and middle levels of the fortress.

As they navigated through it, Sein observed numerous unfamiliar mages flying past.

Each of them wore a badge shaped like a green flame on their chest, signifying their status as full-fledged mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Flame.

A formidable force of a hundred thousand full-fledged mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Flame were participating in the Viridian Venom Flame World invasion, dwarfing the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s count by nearly two hundred times.

These potentially war-seasoned mages moved through the fortress in an orderly fashion, diligently fulfilling their assigned tasks.

“It seems the lower levels of the space fortress house legions of enslaved creatures. If the orders of the knights are involved, those without a fortress of their own could use the middle level to accommodate their vast knight legions. Do you know how many legions of enslaved creatures the Divine Tower of Verdant Flame has prepared this time?” Eileen approached Sein, speaking to him via mental focus.

As the tower master’s apprentice, Sein was privy to more information than the average full-fledged mages.

This Viridian Venom Flame World War marked not only Sein’s first interplanar war but also Eileen’s since her promotion to a full-fledged mage.

Therefore, the female mage, who had previously taught Sein many lessons, wore a hint of unease and nervousness in her expression.

It could also be that this was Eileen’s first encounter with such a colossal and awe-inspiring space fortress, leaving her momentarily overwhelmed.

Casting a glance at Eileen, Sein came to realize that she was not a bad looking woman.

Looking down toward the middle and lower levels of the space fortress, which sprawled out far beyond a single glance, Sein responded, “Probably millions.”