Sovereign of the Ashes

As the Spider Queen shivered in Magus World, far away in Faeloria, Sein suddenly felt a strange sense of unease prickled at him, though he was unsure what had just happened.

Turning back, he scanned his surroundings in confusion—only for the Spider Queen to deliver unfortunate news from the distant Magus World.

“The native deities of this large world seem to have discovered us. They tried to spy on us through divination just now,” she said.

She paused before adding, “Those Faelorian deities shouldn’t have gotten much useful information, so I’ll be fine. In fact, they just suffered a major backlash. But your situation... is far less favorable. They may have already locked onto your trail and identified your appearance.”

“Shit!” Sein cursed.

Of course, one could not walk along the river forever without getting their shoes wet.

A large-sized world civilization was never that simple.

The Astrologers of the Magus Civilization were not the only ones in the Astral Realm with prophecy and divination abilities.

With thousands of deities, Faeloria had developed an intricate and powerful faith-based system. It was only natural that gods with divination abilities would exist among them.

To be noticed by one god was already unfortunate.

To be noticed by several?

That was outright disastrous.

Panic creeping in, Sein immediately turned to the Spider Queen.

“Can you pull me back to Magus World right now?” he asked.

The Spider Queen let out a soft sigh of regret.

“Even if I start the preparations immediately, it will take at least two months to gather everything needed to bring you back. You have a high life level right now. And I don’t just mean your own state—I’m also referring to that corpse in the Silver Spider Ring.

“I’ll do everything I can to speed things up, but in the meantime, you need to stay hidden in Faeloria.”

After a brief hesitation, she channeled a portion of her divine power.

A faint, shimmering energy wrapped around Sein, masking his aura as much as possible.

The silver light that shot out from the spider ring did not seem strong enough to completely conceal Sein’s aura in Faeloria, but it was at least something.

Besides, the Faelorian deity who had previously attempted to spy on the Spider Queen had likely suffered a severe backlash from the trace of power that Rank Eight black mage Nergal had embedded within her.

Even across an immeasurably vast distance of space and time, Nergal’s power was not to be underestimated.

That strand of power might not have been able to kill the deity outright for using their divination laws on the Spider Queen, but it could certainly leave them half-dead.

In fact, the Spider Queen was fairly convinced that the deity had already perished.

What an unlucky fool. Of all the people to provoke, they had to choose Magus World’s biggest troublemaker.

As for the strand of silver divine power she had expended on Sein, it served as a double layer of insurance.

That deity was most likely crippled, if not outright dead, but Faeloria undoubtedly had other deities who could perform divination.

The Spider Queen had already invested a great deal in Sein, this would not make much of a difference to her.

After bestowing a layer of divine protection upon him, the Spider Queen quickly disappeared.

Sein gazed up at the sky, feeling unlucky and no longer in the mood to continue exploring the mysteries of truth.

After placing the half-undead girl beside him into his spatial storage device, he determined his direction and continued flying westward.

“Since the native deities of this world are always at odds with the demons, I might as well hide in their territory for a while,” Sein muttered to himself.

He had never been the type of mage to place all his hopes on others.

The Spider Queen had promised to pull him back to Magus World in two months, but what if something went wrong?

Since arriving in this large world, Sein had already run into multiple troubles.

Given that the Spider Queen did not seem like the type to always follow through on her promises, he needed to make his own contingency plan.

Fortunately, when he had first arrived in this world, he had been interested in its demons, so his path of advancement had always been westward.

At his current location, he was not far from Purgatory, where the demons resided.

If he flew at full speed, he would reach Purgatory’s border in about three months.

***

In Justice Theocracy...

The backlash from an overlord’s power had just sent shockwaves through the entire Justice Theocracy.

Its impact was so overwhelming that even most Faelorian deities struggled to comprehend it!

How could the other party, separated by such an immense distance in space and time, still manage to strike back so fiercely?

Had the God of Justice and the others known that this was merely a wisp of protective power left in Lorthisra’s body by Rank Eight black mage Nergal, and his true self making a direct move, these native Faelorian deities would have been even more horrified.

“Is this... what they call a God of Gods?” The God of Justice muttered bitterly, a thin trail of golden blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Lorthisra’s judgment had been correct—Negral’s protective power had indeed inflicted devastating injuries on the other party.

Had the God of Justice not supported the Goddess of Luck, had he not been able to draw upon the power of the entire Justice Theocracy, and had the distance between the two worlds not been so vast...

Then an intermediate deity like Tyvera would have surely perished.

Instead, she now stood on the verge of collapse, nearly half of her life force instantly drained away.

Her half-grayed hair and deathly pale cheeks were stark signs of just how severely withered her divine body had become.

From this day forward, Tyvera would never again be able to oppress her younger sister, Morvanya, the Goddess of Doom, who had always been at odds with her elder sibling.

To say Tyvera had suffered a tragic loss was an understatement.

The terror of facing death directly had left her reeling in unimaginable fear.

The God of Justice had only sensed the might of the “overdeity” they had just faced, but Tyvera bore the brunt of that backlash.

At this moment, the confidence that once shone in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a look of pure, unfiltered terror.

The proud goddess who had entered the Justice Theocracy mere moments ago now looked like nothing more than a frightened girl!

Yet none of the other deities noticed her condition.

Like the God of Justice, nearly every native Faelorian deity was still stunned by the sheer force of that backlash.

The God of Justice spoke again, his voice low and heavy.

“I once believed I was infinitely close to that realm... but reality has shown me that I am far further than I ever imagined.”

His words darkened the expressions of the gathered deities within the Justice Theocracy.

Yet, whether to ease the tension or because he had truly grasped the situation, the God of Justice continued, “I have always believed that Dio stood two realms above me. And from the sheer magnitude of that attack... I am even more convinced of it now.”

“The one who struck from beyond the boundaries of space and time... is most likely a powerhouse on the same level as Dio.

“If our Prime Materia Plane in Faeloria is truly at risk of being corrupted by a heretical power of that level... then mark my words—Dio, who has long disappeared, will return.”

His words sent a ripple of relief through the gathered deities.

As expected, after hearing this, their expressions softened slightly.