Sovereign of the Ashes

Planet Mordora was located at the very heart of its star domain.

A fierce battle between overlords had already erupted across its skies.

On one side stood Bhaal, who had already unleashed his dragon form, and Avril, the Mermaid Overlord.

Their opponent was the Tenth Pharaoh of the Amenkha Empire, backed by two monster kings.

Avril and Bhaal had arrived in the Mordora Star Domain at nearly the same time.

However, since the Astral Realm was three-dimensional and they had approached from different directions, Sein and the others who had been stationed on the outskirts of this medium-sized star domain never encountered Avril’s sea race legions.

Instead, they had only joined forces with a legion of Dragon Warlocks.

In terms of raw power, both Bhaal and Avril surpassed the two monster kings of the Amenkha Empire.

Unfortunately, this battlefield also concealed a far greater threat—the Tenth Pharaoh.

Mordora itself was a massive planet where hydro elemental energy made up nearly sixty percent of the environment.

With Avril’s arrival, half the sky had transformed into a vast expanse of ocean and clouds, as though the sea itself had risen into the heavens.

On the other side, Bhaal’s presence reshaped the world in a completely different way.

In his dragon claws, he gripped a furnace that was just slightly smaller than his own body.

Inside it, flames roiled and surged. The pyro elemental particles pouring from the furnace turned the other half of Mordora’s sky into a blazing inferno.

On the ground, the two monster kings radiated overwhelming auras of death and darkness.

One of them took the form of a monstrous spider. Its head was covered in more than twenty pairs of silvery-gray crystalline compound eyes, each one gleaming with a cold, lifeless light.

A suffocating aura of death swirled around its body.

Behind it, hundreds of smaller spider creatures crouched low to the ground. These ranged from Rank Four to Rank Six in strength.

Individually, they were not particularly formidable.

However, their true strength lay in their numbers. Acting in swarms, they became far more dangerous.

More importantly, by clustering around the Spider King, even these lesser creatures could draw upon a fraction of its overlord-level law power, amplifying their own necromantic energy.

When the deadly silk spewed by these spider-like monsters accumulated to a certain extent, even an overlord would think twice before coming into contact with it.

The other umbra elemental monster king resembled a rhinoceros beetle.

Its single horn was extraordinarily long, nearly equal to the length of its entire body.

Dense umbra elemental law energy flowed through it, both inside and out.

According to the soul overmages of Magus World, this horn clearly contained nearly half of the monster king’s essence.

If it were removed, simply unlocking the power of its origin laws without any further refinement might be enough to turn the horn into an exceptional world-class treasure.

The monster kings of the Amenkha Empire shared a notable trait—they rarely relied on external weapons like world-class treasures. In most cases, they fought purely with their own bodies.

Perhaps because they were created as “living weapons” from the beginning, the Amenkha Empire had never seen the need to arm them further.

In contrast, Avril, the Mermaid Queen, wielded a pair of milky-white shells in her hands.

These were no ordinary objects, but a rare pair of world-class secret treasures imbued with both hydro and sonido elementtal laws.

The wealth of the sea races was perfectly reflected in their queen.

As for her signature weapon, the Royal Trident, it now stood at the very center of Mordora.

Under its protection, a deep-blue water barrier shielded White Stella, Black Oblivion, Hanliu, Qixiu, and the few remaining sea race survivors.

In truth, it was not that the Royal Trident alone could hold the line. Rather, the Tenth Pharaoh had simply not begun fighting in earnest.

She showed no urgency in eliminating White Stella and the others, instead leaving them where they were.

After a brief exchange, it had already become clear that Bhaal and the Mermaid Queen, even fighting together, were no match for the Tenth Pharaoh and her forces.

With a clear advantage in both power and numbers, the Tenth Pharaoh did not even bother to enter her unsealed state.

She remained in her elegant gray dress, calmly observing the Magus Civilization overlords before her with faint interest.

In her view, while the self-sealing technique was powerful, revealing such a trump card too early would be foolish.

After all, the period of weakness that followed the burst phase was a fatal flaw in this technique.

Unless one possessed treasures such as the Sealing Chains or the Sacred Scriptures of Amenkha, even overlords had to abide by the fundamental conservation laws of the Astral Realm.

The Tenth Pharaoh did not have to strike fast and eliminate a Magus Civilization overlord within a short timeframe like the Fifth or Seventh Pharaohs.

She understood her position perfectly.

She did not need to wipe out Magus Civilization legions to secure victory.

All she had to do was pin down a portion of their elite forces and keep constant pressure on them in key areas. That alone would be enough to fulfill her mission!

In truth, it would be more accurate to say she was here to “play” rather than to carry out a strict objective.

Because of certain reasons, the Tenth Pharaoh had taken a keen interest in the Magus Civilization, this rising star among top-tier powers.

More specifically, she was interested in a particular Rank Eight overlord.

Unfortunately, that individual did not appear to be present on this battlefield, which left her slightly disappointed.

“That little dragon fish carries a strong blend of draconic and oceanic energy. The others have quite unusual auras as well,” the Tenth Pharaoh remarked, idly running her fingers over her sharp nails.

“Is she your child?” she asked, looking at Bhaal and Avril.

With Bhaal in his dragon form and Avril a mermaid, it was not an unreasonable assumption at first glance. White Stella did resemble a fusion of the two!

But in truth, she shared no bloodline with either of them.

From the subtle changes in their expressions, the Tenth Pharaoh immediately realized her guess was wrong. She shook her head.

“No, that draconic aura is unique... and different from yours.”

“It seems there are quite a few dragon-type overlords in your Magus Civilization,” she added with a faint chuckle.

The Amenkha Empire’s Monster Legion also included many dragon-type creatures. However, those were defined by violent, frenzied energy.

White Stella, on the other hand, radiated a calm and harmonious draconic aura. It was clearly something else entirely.

Meanwhile, the geo and pyro elemental law powers wielded by Qixiu and Hanliu respectively further suggested that their origins were not the same.

Although the Tenth Pharaoh was not particularly skilled in divination, the sight of White Stella, Black Oblivion, Qixiu, and the others still stirred a faint sense of unease within her.

Because of that, she held back from destroying them outright.

Caution had always been one of her strengths.

If they had been ordinary prey, they would have already been reduced to helpless souls, left entirely at her mercy.