Sovereign of the Ashes

To those encountering it for the first time, Sein’s fighting style could be quite disconcerting.

He wondered if Master Gregory had also caused such an impact when demonstrating his unique abilities in front of other knights and mages.

No, not just Master Gregory; nearly everyone in the Verdant Flame Faction was considered abnormal, except for Sein’s mentor, Lorianne.

She was the sole exception, not having inherited the verdant flame magic but instead fully embracing her profession as a pure dendromancer.

Sein’s dramatic entrance, combined with his formidable strength and surprising fighting style, significantly alleviated the pressure on the nearby Rank Two Land Knight.

Battles involving mages were typically more spectacular than those of knights, given their access to a diverse array of methods and not being constrained by straightforward combat tactics.

On the battlefield, Sein wielded both umbra elemental spells and verdant flame magic, utilized various elemental items despite his robust physique, and commanded a legion of undead creatures.

This array of tactics left many knights puzzled about his background.

“The saber is mine, the rest is yours. What do you think?” Sein proposed while fighting the target with his Verdant Flame Heart Rod.

The Rank Two knight in black armor understood that Sein had come to his aid and responded generously, “I only need its heart and head; the rest is yours!”

“Fine!” Sein agreed.

The knight coveted the heart of the Thunder Tyrant Ape because it was its essence—a tonic that knights used to fortify their bodies and build strength.

As for the head, it was a claim to the trophy. When the war ended, the fortress would assess contributions, and most of the rewards would be credited to this knight.

After all, no knight could tolerate having their kill stolen, especially after a long, hard-fought battle.

Sein, on the other hand, was indifferent to the modest magicoin reward that the fortress might offer him later.

Securing the corpse of a Rank Two Thunder Tyrant Ape as a specimen for his collection was far more enticing.

***

The battle within the fortress raged on.

Though the outer western defense line had been breached, the command center quickly established an inner defensive line.

This included deploying specialists to deal with three demigod-level invaders at the fortress base.

Despite the breaches, the great strength and resilience of the Magus World made it challenging for the Thunderfall World creatures to dominate the main base.

Even after penetrating the sturdy fortress wall, every advance they made cost them hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.

The ground on the western side of the fortress was gradually saturated with blood, while constant thunder echoed in the sky, yet not a drop of rain fell.

Thunderfall World seemed to be a peculiar place where it thundered incessantly but seldom rained.

By the forty-seventh day of defending the fortress, Sein had slain countless Thunderfall World creatures.

At this point, Sein had stopped keeping track.

If Sein were to count those slain while he was unleashing area-of-effect spells from the magic towers to support the front lines earlier, then he had likely eliminated seven to eight thousand, if not ten thousand, of these creatures.

This was the first time Sein had eliminated so many extraplanar creatures in the war.

Compared to when he was just a Rank One mage during the Viridian Venom Flame World War, his improvement in every aspect had increased more than tenfold!

This count was tallied under circumstances where Sein did not bother with creatures with generally low life levels and were significantly weaker on the battlefield.

Had he solely targeted the weakest natives of Thunderfall World, his battle record would have already surpassed ten thousand kills.

This disparity highlighted the overwhelming power that higher life level beings held over their weaker counterparts.

Sein could now dispatch a Rank One creature with minimal effort, let alone those below Rank One, who were comparable to, or even weaker than, farmers in the Magus World.

With such power, Sein could decimate a nation single-handedly!

However, as a sensible spellcaster, he would never choose to do so.

He would rather spend his time in the laboratory, advancing his research.

The task of purging and suppressing weaker opponents was better left to the knights and the huge number of enslaved creatures.

Besides, the Magus World had no interest in a barren world devoid of life. So what purpose would there be in exterminating the native inhabitants that were weaker than farmers?

To date, the majority of Thunderfall World natives eliminated by the Magus World Army were those capable of putting up a fight.

In a world inhabited by hundreds of millions, the three orders of knights needed only to eradicate the millions who were most resistant to control.

This strategy would enable them to smoothly govern over the vast majority of weaker individuals at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

Ultimately, every powerful creature had once risen from these lower classes.

Those weaker beings from the conquered planes might become high-level enslaved creatures serving the Magus Civilization in the future.

This was one of the potential advantages for the divine towers and the orders of knights in developing an otherworldly plane.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Flame had refrained from widespread slaughter after overtaking the Viridian Venom Flame World.

However, as the war in Thunderfall World intensified, it seemed that a significant turn of events was imminent.

With the delayed return of the main forces, Sein and the other knights and mages stationed on the west side of the fortress were on the brink of being overwhelmed!

Under the setting sun, Sein, still in his Verdant Flame Elemental Body, continued to battle among the fortress ruins with a group of knights.

Over the past month, the fierce melee had decimated the large legion of enslaved creatures within the fortress.

This included the undead creatures Sein had summoned, most of whom were now dead or incapacitated. Only a handful of higher-ranked undead remained to continue the fight.

Sein had brought significant reinforcements from the Undead World—nearly three thousand in total.

Unfortunately, Sein was not as skilled as Leena in Undead Summoning.

Although the Dark Crystal Rod he wielded made commanding the undead creatures easier, it also complicated sustaining the summoning teleportation array at the bottom of his magic tower.

After summoning three thousand undead creatures consecutively, the process stopped.

Only half of the magic tower where Sein had been stationed remained intact—a third of it had been destroyed by a creature from Thunderfall World.

The surface of the damaged wall was coated with dark-colored, electrically charged charred particles.

Despite these damages, the ruined magic tower was surprisingly still operational, periodically unleashing weak magical strikes from its top.

Sein surmised that there must still be two mages inside, sparingly unleashing attacks with their limited elemental power.

“Hahaha! It’s a pleasure fighting alongside a mage like you, Master Sein. Even if I die, I have no regrets!”

The black-armored knight near Sein laughed heartily as he planted his heavy sword in the ground, his armor stained with sticky blood.

The creatures from Thunderfall World were regrouping, preparing for their next wave of assault.

The black-armored knight attempted to lift his heavy sword again, but struggled due to his lack of strength...