Sovereign of the Ashes

The God of Black Mist was the mightiest being in the Kales Star Domain.

The divine power he first cultivated was water-based, supplemented by a measure of qi-based divine power.

Within the Kales Pantheon, he was the undisputed leader.

In recent times, especially, the Kales Star Domain had gradually undergone a kind of “transformation” under his guidance.

Starting tens of thousands of years ago, the God of Black Mist began expanding the scope of his divine portfolios.[1]

From natural elements such as “water currents” and “mist,” his power gradually extended into domains like “black smoke”, “thermal energy”, and “impurity”.

This expansion of his divine abilities was, of course, meant to adapt to the various changes taking place in the Kales Star Domain at the time.

It was the God of Black Mist himself who had arranged for the Gallant Federation’s “relatively advanced” heavy industry to be introduced into the Kales Star Domain.

Back then, he had even personally traveled to one of the Gallant Federation’s border star domains to sign various contracts with a deputy commander stationed there.

The contracts essentially stated that the Gallant Federation would guide certain enterprises to establish factories in the Kales Star Domain.

In return, the Kales Star Domain would provide these federal enterprises with various conveniences and support in terms of planar laws.

Of course, the God of Black Mist had not initially been motivated by the meager profits those enterprises were willing to share with him.

Over time, he had gradually come to realize something: although he was affiliated with Divine Descendants World, the power struggles between its pantheons, as well as the relationships among its gods, were far too complicated!

The God of Black Water had failed to understand this. He rashly threw himself into the fray, only to meet a tragic end. His body was crushed, and even his divine relic was plundered.

With the God of Black Water’s fate serving as a warning, the God of Black Mist spent thousands of years weighing his options before finally deciding to bypass Divine Descendants World and make direct contact with its overarching authority—the Gallant Federation.

To be honest, it was no easy feat for a veteran deity who followed a faith-based system to take the initiative in reaching out to an atheistic, technologically advanced civilization, negotiate a truce, and strike a cooperative agreement.

The God of Black Mist could be considered a pioneer in establishing the divine faith system in this region of the Kales Star Domain.

And yet, he still succeeded!

The influx of technological power breathed new life into the development of the Kales Star Domain.

Although the enterprises sent by the Gallant Federation to the Kales Star Domain were all second and third-rate factories that caused serious heavy industrial pollution, the energy crystals and other resources distributed to the God of Black Mist and the others every century were very real!

The God of Black Mist even jumped on the bandwagon, spending more than seventy billion Federal dollars to purchase a secondhand planetary-class federal war fort as his flagship.

In terms of performance, this war fort was now not much different from a standard Magus World space fortress.

The God of Black Mist did not even bother hiring pilots from the federation. Instead, he simply sent his own followers there for training. After gaining some exposure to the technology, they were able to pilot the fort with ease.

When Sein and his group approached this small star domain, the God of Black Mist and the others did not notice anything at first.

It was only when the heads of the major companies stationed in the star domain by the Gallant Federation, along with mid-level and high-ranking federal officials, began evacuating in droves that the God of Black Mist finally realized something was wrong.

“What’s going on?” the God of Twilight asked.

He was the youngest deity in the Kales Star Domain, having ignited his divine fire twenty thousand years ago.

As things stood, he was likely the last deity the Kales Star Domain could sustain.

After all, the Kales Star Domain’s resources and wealth were limited. Without taking the path of outward expansion, the number of believers within the Kales Star Domain could only support the current five deities.

Any additional deity would require the others to give up part of their resources.

Furthermore, over the past tens of thousands of years, the federation’s constant construction of heavy factories had caused severe pollution across the various planes of the Kales Star Domain.

Some planes no longer produced any valuable resources of their own, and their planar wills had grown extremely fragile.

Most of the resources currently enjoyed by the God of Black Mist and the others came from the wealth dividends distributed by the Gallant Federation.

In fact, twenty thousand years ago, the God of Twilight’s ability to ignite his divine fire and condense a divine relic had already greatly surprised the God of Black Mist.

He had originally assumed that after the fall of the God of Black Water, his pantheon would be reduced to only four members.

The current development of the Kales Star Domain was closely tied to the Gallant Federation’s investments, while its connection to Divine Descendants World had grown increasingly weak.

Therefore, when the federation humans began frequently withdrawing their investments, and those so-called corporate executives left one after another aboard their spaceships, even the God of Twilight and the others, slow as they might have been, could tell that something was wrong.

In response to the God of Twilight’s question, the God of Black Mist glanced at the other three deities gathered around them and said in a grave tone, “Mr. Anche from Thomas Industries said that the Magus Civilization has dispatched a legion to attack Divine Descendants World.”

“Our Kales Star Domain is also within the attack range. He told us to hold our ground here, and that the federation will probably send forces to support us.”

“Probably?” The God of Twilight’s eyes widened.

The God of Black Mist was quite capable.

At this critical stage in the war between the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation, even Divine Descendants World had been forced to dispatch two-thirds of its native deities to support the federation’s frontlines.

Yet the Kales Pantheon, a small pantheon consisting of only five deities, still had all its members stationed within their home star domain. Not a single one of them had been sent to the frontlines.

Was it because the Greater and Intermediate Deities[2] of Divine Descendants World had suddenly been overcome with kindness and could not bear to send the members of the Kales Pantheon to the scorched frontiers of the civilizational war?

Of course not!

The God of Black Mist was able to keep his four subordinates firmly by his side precisely because of his connections with certain figures in the Gallant Federation.

Many deities in Divine Descendants World were indeed far stronger than him. Whenever he met them, he still had to lower his head and show proper respect.

But when it came to vision and perspective, many of Divine Descendants World’s Rank Five and Rank Six deities were far inferior to the God of Black Mist!

While those so-called deities were still busy fighting over followers and divine portfolios, the God of Black Mist had already led a group of his followers to inspect the border star domains of the Gallant Federation.

Any federal enterprises that might threaten the foundation of the Kales Star Domain’s rule was immediately excluded from consideration by the God of Black Mist.

Furthermore, before establishing any cooperation with those heavy industry plants, the God of Black Mist made one thing clear: the Gallant Federation’s ideas of “freedom” and “democracy” were not to be introduced into the Kales Star Domain.

The federal heavy industry contracted by the Kales Star Domain primarily consisted of “rough processing” industries with relatively modest technical requirements.

In truth, many beings in the Kales Star Domain likely had no idea what they were actually producing.

They simply followed the guidance of their respective deities, went to their assigned factories, and carried out their work, handling massive pillars of dark iron.

Still, the Kales Star Domain had integrated technology with its faith-based system remarkably well.

Ever since they began cooperating with the Gallant Federation, starvation among its inhabitants had become rare.

No matter how cold-blooded the federation’s capitalists were, they would not let their workers starve to death.

And while many products from the Gallant Federation’s society were still not fully available to the Kales Star Domain, even the small trickle of goods that did flow in had greatly enriched the lives of its inhabitants and brought them a deep sense of satisfaction.

Surprisingly, exposure to technologies from the federation did not shake the faith of the Kales Star Domain’s inhabitants, nor did it lead them to question their gods.

Instead, they became even more devout than before!

They believed all of this was a blessing bestowed upon them by the gods.

Had war not broken out, and had the Kales Star Domain been allowed to continue developing steadily, who knew? Perhaps the God of Black Mist really might have carved out a different path!

For example, in recent years, he had been considering converting some of the heavy factories within his star domain into less polluting industrial systems.

After all, the God of Black Mist also wanted to go further in life.

This was not only for the sake of his subjects and the planar will, but also to avoid ruining his own homeplane while pursuing a higher realm.

In fact, as part of his long-term plan, he intended to spend a vast amount of Federal dollars to hire specialized companies from the Gallant Federation to transform certain demiplanes within the Kales Star Domain into “artificial planets”.

This would make immigration easier and allow him to expand both the population and his base of worshippers.

This guy was truly a genius!

But now, with the overwhelming legions of the Magus Civilization bearing down on them, had all of it gone up in smoke?

“Go. Guard your respective planes and temples! We absolutely cannot flee in the face of battle,” the God of Black Mist said.

“At least, not now!” he added.

The God of Twilight and the others exchanged glances before respectfully taking their leave.

1. Translator’s Note: This is a Dungeons & Dragons terminology. A deity’s portfolio determines the natural forces they dominate and hold power over. ☜

2. Translator’s Recap: Based on Faeloria’s power system, Intermediate deities are Rank Fives and Greater Deities are Rank Sixes. ☜