Sovereign of the Ashes

Upon arriving on this interstellar battlefield, Destruction Spring seemed finally able to unleash the true nature he had been suppressing all along.

He quickly ordered his vassal legions and the other Spring Lords to launch an offensive against the Gallant Federation.

The direction of their assault was almost a direct strike toward the heart of the federation’s home star domain.

At present, battles taking place outside the Gallant Federation’s home star domain were few and far between.

Aside from a few large vassal planes and a small number of star domain battlefields where the federation still held the upper hand, it had already withdrawn most of its defensive lines back into its home star domain.

At the start, the Gallant Federation had been the side that proactively launched an offensive against the Magus Civilization.

Now, however, they had been forced to retreat and adopt a defensive posture.

This shift from offense to defense clearly reflected the relative strength of both sides, as well as the current state of the Clash of Civilizations.

Destruction Spring’s sudden entry into the battlefield immediately placed considerable pressure on the Gallant Federation.

The Dragon Clan had already joined the fray. Now, Destruction Spring had entered as well. Who would be next?

The Gallant Federation’s ultimate quantum computer had revised its overall probability of victory in the Clash of Civilizations downward by another two percent.

This drop was not mainly due to Destruction Spring’s own power or anything similar. Rather, it was because the power of “destruction” had once again descended upon this starfield.

In particular, the Black Lotus of Destruction was already recorded in the Gallant Federation’s central database.

If the federation had not been certain that there was no precedent for Rank Nine beings returning to the Astral Realm after leaving it, the reappearance of the power of destruction alone would likely have caused their projected victory curve to collapse catastrophically!

***

“We need aid too!” a senator with a military background shouted during a video conference among the Gallant Federation’s top leadership, slamming his fist onto the table.

Right now, it was the soldiers of the Gallant Federation who were fighting desperately on the frontlines.

Although many civilians had died in recent years due to the Magus Civilization’s raids and sabotage behind the lines, the overall civilian casualty rate remained manageable thanks to the federation’s relatively effective defenses.

By contrast, military casualties had been rising exponentially in recent years!

The small group standing at the very top of the federation did not spend all their time drowning in luxury and comfort.

They, too, had their own sense of mission and personal ambitions. No one enjoyed losing again and again.

Many of the federation’s financial elites and capitalists had actually begun quietly transferring their assets. Some were even trying to secure fleets in advance so they could flee the Gallant Federation if the situation worsened.

However, the federation’s political and military leadership had not yet made such a move.

If they did, that would be when real trouble began!

Throughout the entire Clash of Civilizations, the Federation’s political and military leadership had held firm as the final line of defense, especially the latter.

On the frontlines, almost no soldiers shirked their duties out of fear for their lives. In the rear, no high-ranking officers had called for an early retreat either!

But this state of extreme tension could not last forever.

Forget tens of thousands of years. Even after just ten thousand years, the federation’s operations across all sectors would begin to falter and show signs of collapse.

Take the military, for example. At present, the Gallant Federation could still sustain the demands of the frontline by constantly squeezing out its war potential, replenishing fleets and mobile suit legions across the board.

The production of drones and robotic cannon fodder had not fallen behind in recent years. In fact, output had temporarily exceeded demand.

But what about the people operating those ships and mobile suits?

Recruitment efforts in recent years had not been as effective as before.

It was not that the humans of the federation were cowards. However, in terms of combat effectiveness alone, the soldiers mobilized during wartime were far from the elite standard of the early-war troops.

For now, they could still say they were fighting for tradition and the safety of their homeworld.

However, certain high-level departments within the Gallant Federation were already looking at development strategies spanning the next few thousand years—or even longer.

This high-pressure war environment could keep the federation running at full capacity for a relatively short period of time—perhaps a few thousand years.

But as time went on, all sorts of problems would inevitably begin to surface.

A proper balance between tension and rest was the correct path for a civilization’s development.

Right now, the federal military was indeed fighting with everything it had. Every level of the federation was also working hard and making sacrifices for the war.

But what about ten thousand years from now?

No one could live under that kind of pressure forever—certainly not for ten thousand years.

According to estimates from the Gallant Federation’s Social Development Research Department, chaos would erupt within federation society within just a few thousand years.

The elites fleeing, the middle class becoming corrupt, and the lower class losing all hope for the future—these were all signs of a civilization nearing its end.

By contrast, while the Magus Civilization had also been facing mounting pressure from all sides in recent years, its legions had already pushed into the Gallant Federation’s home territory, allowing various factions to seize vast amounts of war resources.

Every level of the Magus Civilization had already gained something from the war.

Moreover, the Magus Civilization maintained a proper balance between tension and rest within its own ranks.

Even when Sein was still near the battlefield of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization’s subspace secret realm, the Magus Civilization had already begun systematically rotating personnel and granting rest periods.

Although those rotations and rest periods had indeed grown shorter, at least they were still giving people a break!

In fact, thanks to the Magus Civilization’s advanced spatial magic and the teleportation arrays established across various star domains and planar battlefields, even low-ranking knights and mages could return to the rear for a short rest after fighting in the Clash of Civilizations for some time.

The real pressure was actually being pushed onto allied planes!

This was especially true for the medium and small alliance planes, which were practically being treated like slaves by the Magus Civilization and exploited to the bone!

The Magus Civilization really knew how to play dirty.

The Magus Alliance had grown larger and larger over time. One could even say it had become somewhat “bloated” by now.

The 25th Magus Alliance Conference was clear proof of this, with so many representatives and law-wielding beings from various alliance planes in attendance.

Faced with such a vast membership, even the upper echelons of Magus World must have felt uneasy.

The war with the Gallant Federation was, in a sense, a quick way for Magus World to help the Magus Alliance “slim down”.

It was not just that the Gallant Federation had been forced into a position where it had no choice but to declare war on the Magus Civilization.

In truth, the Magus Civilization itself could no longer hold back either. It needed to find someone to fight. Only through war could it resolve the many internal problems within its own civilization.

Using war to drain excess resources while tightening its control over the Magus Alliance was hardly a new tactic for Magus World!

What made things even more despairing for the mid and lower-tier alliance planes was that the small handful of large-sized member planes at the very top of the Magus Alliance had no intention of speaking up for those beneath them during such a massive civilizational upheaval.

Instead, each of them was looking out for itself first.

In truth, the large-sized alliance planes at the very top had all been “carefully selected” by the Magus Civilization’s leadership as staunch supporters. Their interests had long since become deeply tied to those of the Magus Civilization!

Besides, those large planes were already fortunate enough if they could protect their own interests. Why would they have the time or energy to worry about the survival of mid and lower-tier planes that had little to do with them?

Surely no one was naive enough to believe there were that many good people out there, right?

Even the God of Elves, who enjoyed the best reputation within the Magus Alliance, only extended her protection as far as the Grand Elven World and the vassal alliance planes under her command.

From a more cynical perspective, alliance overlords such as the God of Beastmen likely did not want the Magus Alliance to produce too many additional overlord-level combatants of their own caliber.

After all, the more beings who reached their level, the more they would have to share their authority and influence.

Class barriers within the Magus Alliance had long since solidified.

In public, however, Magus World often boasted about helping alliance planes advance and undergo planar metamorphosis, portraying itself as a benevolent guide to its allies.

But in the end, such fortunate planes were only a small minority.

Anyway, after the senator with a military background slammed his fist on the table and declared that the Gallant Federation also needed aid, another high-ranking senator finally spoke after a long pause.

This senator was primarily responsible for the federation’s diplomacy, and he sounded somewhat uncertain.

“We have already made contact with Myriad Manifestations World. They have expressed their intention to join our war. However, we have yet to reach an agreement on the terms. That world seems to want to wait and observe the situation a little longer.”[1]

“Besides them, there is another faction as well. I am not sure how reliable they are... and the civilization they come from makes me rather hesitant,” the senator said.

“I already know about Myriad Manifestations World. What about this other faction you mentioned?” another high-ranking senator at the meeting asked.

The senator in charge of diplomacy looked over the virtual projections of everyone in the conference room, then slowly replied, “The Immortal Realm Civilization.”

“What?!” Many of the high-ranking officials were stunned.

1. Translator’s Note: The full name of Myriad Manifestations World is actually “World of Celestial Venerables with Ten Thousand Manifestations.” For readability, it will be simplified to “Myriad Manifestations World”. ☜