Sovereign of the Ashes

Sein left the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring with not only Natalya’s crystal coffin, but also a large supply of potions from his mentor.

Most of these potions were meant for Natalya. According to Lorianne, they could help nourish her soul.

From time to time, Sein could directly infuse them into the crystal coffin; perhaps they might prove useful.

The rest were prepared for Sein and Sia.

As Sein’s mentor, it was only natural for Lorianne to care for him, especially while he was injured.

The potions meant for Sia were solutions to be applied to the skin, specially crafted to counteract radiation.

Not long ago, Sia had also taken part in the war near the Philan Demiplane.

During the battles against the Eye Demons, she had suffered serious wounds that had yet to fully heal.

These potions would help ease her pain.

Along with Sia and Scarlet, Tourmaline also returned with Sein to the Divine Tower of Ashes in her human form.

Compared to Lorianne, Tourmaline still felt closer to Sein.

***

Upon returning to the Divine Tower of Ashes, Sein placed Natalya in his residence at the tower’s topmost level.

Beyond the potions Lorianne had given him, Sein began considering his own ways to save her.

Who could be experts in soul magic...?

His thoughts first turned to the black mages of Blackhaven, then to the necromancers of Magus World, and finally to the foreign deities renowned for their mastery of soul energy.

The truth was, those who were experts with souls rarely qualified as “good people”.

Magus World was no exception. Under banners of justice and freedom, it openly promoted soul slave legions. Yet, these were anything but appealing to extraplanar creatures.

Sein had no shortage of contacts in Blackhaven. Since aligning with the Spider Queen, the secret trade routes between Ashenreach and the Western Archipelago had gradually stabilized, giving him access to many Rank Four and higher black mages.

Even so, he hesitated to approach them.

He still carried a deep wariness toward black mages. He could already foresee them using any request for aid as leverage against him.

Worse still, they might even set their sights on Natalya, using her as a tool to coerce him.

Sein was not someone who compromised easily.

He had to when he was weak, but now that he had grown stronger, he would not make the mistake of exposing his vulnerabilities for others to exploit.

Seeking help from black mages was a last resort. Instead, his thoughts turned toward the necromancers of Magus World.

Necromancers were not particularly well regarded. As Elementalists who constantly dealt with corpses and souls, they carried an aura of death and had eccentric personalities to match.

Some ignorant members of the Magus Alliance, unfamiliar with Magus World’s system, even mistook necromancers for black mages.

Yet compared to black mages, who defied the laws of divine towers and knightly orders, necromancers were generally more “law-abiding”.

Their largest gathering place within the Magus Civilization was the Marmett Union Alliance. It was said that a soul-level necromancer presided there.

Even the great allied plane known as Undead World was aligned primarily with this top-tier power.

Ironically, the Marmett Union Alliance was also the place where Lumimancers gathered most densely.

Necromancers and Lumimancers were often bitter rivals as their personalities and habits were worlds apart.

It was unclear how the Marmett Union Alliance managed to maintain peace and harmony with so many of them gathered in one place.

Sein had visited the Marmett Union Alliance before. The place had left a favorable impression on him, and its growth far outpaced that of the Pyro Secret Society or the Ylli Knight Alliance.

The Magus Alliance was never short on talent. Beyond mages, quite a number of extraplanar creatures were also skilled in manipulating souls.

Take the Phantom Crow King, for instance. The laws it commanded touched on the very essence of souls.

Yet the Phantom Crows were actually experts in devouring them. When it came to repairing souls or awakening fading consciousness... that likely lay beyond even the Phantom Crow King’s ability.

At that thought, Sein pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

He sighed in the laboratory, resting his hand on the crystal coffin’s surface.

“Anyway, I’ll try to contact the Phantom Crow King first. Then, I’ll post a commission through the Marmett Union Alliance for necromancers of Rank Four or higher. Surely, with enough resources and wealth, almost nothing is impossible in this world.”

Inside, Natalya still lay in her white dress, as if merely asleep.

Beyond these two options, Sein considered seeking advice from the Spider Queen. He could trust her, right...?

No reply came from the Phantom Crow King. The commission he posted through the Marmett Union Alliance also went unclaimed. What did arrive, after some time, were his recent war profits.

These gains came from the conflicts on Black Tide Plane and Nocchi.

For his efforts in persuading the Huusians to defect, the Magus Alliance also granted him a small share of the spoils from Ferramo World.

During that campaign, the defection of over two million lower-tier Huusian troops and three Rank Four beings had greatly bolstered the Magus World forces.

Even so, Sein heard the Huusians had lost one of their Rank Four powerhouses on that battlefield.

The man who delivered Sein’s war profits was a Rank Four knight clad in brown armor. He introduced himself as Soryl of the Western Archipelago.

The knight was well-informed about the situations on the frontlines, and Sein gleaned much useful information from their exchange.

The bulk of the spoils allotted to him came back as magicoins. With the vast haul of the Gallant Federation’s energy blocks seized from Black Tide Plane and Nocchi, the Magus Alliance was not about to ship them back all the way for him.

Still, the staggering sum of twenty million magicoins spoke volumes about what he had earned from those campaigns.

It was then that Sein realized—the Clash of Civilizations yielded far greater profits than interplanar wars!

Part of this was due to the Gallant Federation’s immense wealth. But it was also clear that the Magus Civilization had invested efforts to spur native powerhouses and allied foreign gods into fighting with unified resolve.

High risk came with high reward.

Sein already possessed considerable wealth, so the magicoins alone did not overly excite him.

What truly lifted his spirits was the delivery of the five Star Cores, along with half the wreckage of a giant mobile suit.