Sovereign of the Ashes

When she felt the guiding pull of the Sacred Scriptures of Amenkha, the Fifth Pharaoh swept her gaze across the battlefield.

By now, the Magus Civilization’s command center had been reduced to utter ruin.

Aside from the massive crater left by the fallen overlord not far away, this surprise attack had badly injured Bev, Hudson, the Ice Phoenix, and the others.

The elite legions guarding the command center had also suffered a crushing defeat.

On a battlefield where multiple Rank Eight overlords were rampaging, even peak Rank Six beings were as fragile as a sheet of glass.

Forget Rank Eight—if this many Rank Seven overlords were locked in a chaotic melee, anything below Rank Seven that stepped in would be wiped out instantly.

If even peak Rank Six beings fared this poorly, the fate of the lower-tier legions was obvious.

Even by incomplete estimates, more than five hundred Magus Civilization space fortresses had already crashed around this overlord-level battlefield.

And the number was still rising!

The command center had not originally housed so many fortresses.

Only around two hundred had been permanently stationed here—after all, this was neither a frontline battlefield nor a major transit hub.

However, as news spread that the command center was under attack by an alien civilization, Magus Civilization legions from nearby regions rushed in to reinforce it without hesitation.

Many of the Rank Four and Rank Five powerhouses who arrived had not even received orders from their superiors.

They had come entirely of their own will.

Individually, lower-tier forces had little impact on overlord-level beings.

But once enough mid- and low-tier forces gathered, they became a power that could not be ignored!

After all, this was the Magus Civilization’s home ground.

Two hundred space fortresses might not seem like much.

But what about two thousand? Or twenty thousand?

Given the sheer scale of the Magus Civilization, it would not be surprising if the alliance—together with the native forces of Magus World—commanded over two hundred thousand space fortresses!

As the Magus Civilization continued to pour its strength into this region, even the Fifth Pharaoh of the Amenkha Empire found it increasingly difficult to break free from the vortex of war despite her superior power.

A timely retreat was the smartest choice.

Her dark red eyes locked onto Odin, who stood wreathed in crackling lightning.

With this formidable Rank Eight alliance overlord blocking her path, the Fifth Pharaoh, Neyathia, could no longer assassinate Bev.

At least, the appearance of the crater helped ease some of the resentment that had been building in her heart.

After one last look at the Magus Civilization forces surrounding the battlefield, she snapped, “Withdraw!”

The Amenkha Empire’s assassination squad still held a clear advantage, so Bev and the others had no way to stop their retreat.

Aside from Odin, who remained relatively uninjured, everyone else had suffered wounds to varying degrees.

Reinforcements from the other Magus Civilization overlords were arriving slower than expected.

This was not due to any lack of effort—most of them had likely been intercepted and delayed by forces from other realms.

Just as the Fifth Pharaoh and her group were about to vanish into the light of the laws generated by the Sacred Scriptures of Amenkha, Commander Blood River Naeverynk finally arrived, wielding the Trident of Heaven and Hell.

His muscular chest was smeared with blood and littered with fragments of shattered warships. Flesh and gore still clung to his fanged mouth.

Clearly, his journey here had been anything but smooth.

Not long after, Klopp arrived as well—but the knight overlord was a step too late.

By the time Klopp reached the battlefield on his wolf mount, the only trace left of the Fifth Pharaoh and her companions was a collapsing black hole.

Dazzling lightning gathered in Odin’s hand.

The violent crackle of lawful thunder tore through the reinforced space around him.

The tip of Gungnir was already aimed at the shrinking black hole.

With a low growl, he unleashed a deep blue bolt of lightning straight into it.

The resulting surge of energy, along with the faint, pained roar of a monster echoing from the other side, marked the final note of this decades-long overlord-level melee.

The violent aftershocks born from the collision between lightning law and the black hole were largely dispersed by a single swing of Commander Blood River Naeverynk’s trident, with the remainder wiped out by Klopp just after his arrival.

Bev took a deep breath. The corner of her lips still showed signs of corrosion from the enemy’s black water laws.

Instead of immediately dispelling the abnormal condition in her body, she turned to Klopp and asked for the latest updates.

Klopp oversaw not only the Western Archipelago, but he was also Bev’s most capable aide.

His strengths went far beyond the battlefield. His true expertise lay in logistics and overall coordination.

The updates Bev referred to were, of course, the major shifts across the Magus Civilization’s various star domain battlefields over the past few years.

During this wave of sudden attacks by the Amenkha Empire, if anyone had the clearest picture of the war, it was Klopp.

In response, he spoke in a subdued tone. “The situation’s not looking good. The Gallant Federation has launched fierce counterattacks across more than eighty-seven percent of the star domains, and in over half of those, our forces are beginning to fall back.”

He paused briefly before continuing.

“There is more bad news...”

When Bev looked at him, Klopp went on in a heavy voice. “Dolon, the knight overlord of the Jehannah Kingdom, has been confirmed killed in action in the Kersing Star Domain. “Not long ago, there was an enormous energy surge detected there. He likely tried to take the Gallant Federation fleet down with him, but judging from the outcome, he failed...”

The Kersing Star Domain was not far from here, and Dolon had been one of the strongest Magus Civilization powerhouses who could have arrived to reinforce them quickly.

It was not even his assigned sector, which meant only one thing—the Gallant Federation had laid a trap.

When Dolon rushed there, they must have sprung a coordinated ambush.

Bev stared silently in the direction where he had fallen.

By coincidence, the demiplane where Clair had perished lay in that same direction.

A quiet sense of melancholy settled over the surrounding space.

After a long silence, Bev finally spoke.

“Until the outcome of the Clash of Civilizations is decided, no one can claim victory.”

She turned slightly toward Klopp.

“Contact the Immortal Realm’s Celestial Venerable Duobao[1], the White-Eyebrow Sage, and the Immortal Emperor of the Southern Pole. I think we can begin considering the proposal they mentioned last time...”

1. Translator’s Note: Duobao actually means “many treasures”, so this character’s name is actually Celestial Venerable of Many Treasures! ☜