Sovereign of the Ashes

What had looked like the start of an all-out war somehow fizzled into private duels between two groups of Rank Five beings.

This was a twist no one had seen coming.

Still, for most law-wielding powerhouses watching, these two battles were more than enough to hold their attention.

Karl and Orric were both formidable Rank Five combatants, and Sein and Darian were nothing to scoff at either.

But the most outrageous reaction came from the Blue Star people.

They were planning to record both Rank Five duels, edit them into movies, and broadcast them across their planet for entertainment.

What a strange world...

The values and behavior of these Blue Star beings were vastly different from those of most civilizations Sein had encountered.

After months of fighting, Karl and Orric were still in a deadlock.

It was an outcome Orric refused to accept.

He was clearly stronger than Karl, and as the son of the Ocean King, he carried a formidable bloodline. Even the ocean itself favored him.

To end up evenly matched with a weaker Klytheran fighter was, to Orric, a stain on his otherwise spotless reputation.

Orric was certainly special, but Karl was pretty special too.

He was the brightest talent of Klythera’s current generation, the direct descendant of its former strongest powerhouse. The pressure on his shoulders was immense.

In terms of lineage, Orric was only the child of a Rank Six being, while Karl was the heir of a peak Rank Six Klytheran powerhouse. His bloodline was superior by nature!

That said, Karl had a much gentler temperament than Orric. The longer he spent around Blue Star’s natives, the more their peaceful mindset rubbed off on him.

Seeing Orric’s bitterness, Karl said, “Honestly, I’m the one who lost. We are fighting in the space around Blue Star. There’s barely any active hydro elemental particles.”

“If this had been a hydro-attribute plane, I wouldn’t stand a chance against you,” he added sincerely.

Karl owed him that much respect. After all, Orric had brought two hundred thousand Ocean King’s royal guards here as reinforcements.

Hearing Karl’s sincere admission of defeat, Orric—who had been shouting in arrogance and frustration just moments earlier—went scarlet.

He clamped his mouth shut and did not say another word.

Although Karl and Orric had finished their battle, the duel between Sein and Darian dragged on much longer.

Sein and Darian were not fighting to decide who was stronger; it felt more like a sparring session to improve themselves.

Darian was extremely fascinated by Sein’s mask, while Sein was impressed by the depth of Darian’s mastery over sonic laws.

This duel, too, ended without a clear winner.

Both of them had been holding back the entire time.

In addition to his unique sonic law skills, Darian showed off an ability similar to “mirror clones” during his fight with Sein.

Within the Shadowbat Civilization, this ability was called “Splitting Stars”—a power unique to their kind.

While weaker natives could create only two or three clones, stronger ones might produce dozens.

Darian Wraith, unquestionably one of the Shadowbat Civilization’s elites, actually split himself into nearly a thousand clones during his exchange with Sein.

These clones were incredibly deceptive. Most Rank Four beings would struggle to tell the real body apart from the copies within a short time.

Unfortunately for him, this ability did not work very well on Sein because of the Faceless Mask.

After their spar, Sein mentioned that he knew another powerhouse with cloning abilities. Of course, he was referring to the Drunken Panda Immortal from Beastmen World.

That creature could only split into three, but each clone inherited a portion of his real strength and could fight as an independent Rank Four being.

The Shadowbat Civilization’s Splitting Stars ability, however, functioned mostly as illusions meant to confuse enemies. It was fundamentally different from the Drunken Panda Immortal’s technique.

“Your cloning ability likely draws on both sonic waves and optical illusions,” Sein noted. “It might not be very lethal, but the fact that it can fool most Rank Four and Rank Five beings says a lot about how advanced your Shadowbat Civilization really is.”

Hearing Sein’s praise and thinking back on the duel, Darian looked slightly dissatisfied.

“Besides personal evolution, our Shadowbat Civilization has made remarkable technological breakthroughs too,” he said.

“If I were driving my Phantom Chariot, you might not have had it so easy, Mage Sein,” Darian added.

Sein smiled. “Likewise, our Magus Civilization doesn’t rely only on elemental magic. I have explored plenty of other fields myself. And while you didn’t use your Phantom Chariot, I did not use my other tricks either.”

“If you had brought out your Phantom Chariot, I would have sent her out,” Sein said, pointing to the far edge of the battlefield where Yuri sat inside her Burning Flame Unit.

The moment the Burning Flame Unit came into view, whatever Darian had been about to say died on his tongue.

He had already acknowledged Sein’s strength, but now he found himself even more curious about the Magus Civilization standing behind him.

“Mage Sein, this Drunken Panda Immortal you mentioned earlier... the one who can split himself into clones... Is he part of the Magus Alliance?” Darian asked.

“Of course. He’s a registered foreign god of our Magus Alliance,” Sein replied proudly. “And Beastmen World, the large-sized world he comes from, is also a member of the alliance.”

Beneath his black mask, Darian’s brows drew together.

He looked at the Burning Flame Unit again, then at the Klytherans and Blue Star lifeforms who had already pledged allegiance to the Magus Alliance.

Finally, he let out a quiet sigh and said, “I’ll go with you, Master Sein. I’ll go see this Magus Civilization for myself.”

Darian, a Rank Five powerhouse of the Shadowbat Civilization, was clearly someone seeking change.

Maintaining the “order” they prided themselves on across the surrounding star domains had never been easy.

Arid Expanse World alone was already growing into a serious threat.

Reaching out to the Magus Civilization now was also a strategic move, one that might prevent Arid Expanse World from becoming part of the Magus Alliance later on.

And as Darian had made clear, he was not going to decide anything on behalf of the Shadowbat Civilization... he was only going to observe.

Forming alliances between civilizations was always a complicated process.

When Sein courted Eternal Sand World and Phantom Crow World, it had not happened overnight either.

Even so, the current situation looked promising.

If both sides were willing to take that first step, the path forward would only grow smoother.

And if Sein truly managed to convince the planar worlds of this entire star domain to join the Magus Alliance, it would be a monumental achievement on his record.