Sovereign of the Ashes

Inside the capital ship of the overlord-class federal war fleet, a veteran marshal stood silently, medals adorning his chest while streams of constantly changing data and warning signals flashed across the screens before him.

The atmosphere aboard the ship was incredibly tense. Many of the officers did not even dare to speak.

“5... 4... 3... 2... 1!”

A blinding white beam of energy tore through everything in its path, racing toward the interstellar battlefield ahead.

Gasps of astonishment and cries of joy erupted throughout the command room. The marshal, however, maintained his composure the entire time.

While some generals were already popping champagne bottles, the old marshal kept his gaze fixed calmly on the developments unfolding across the screen.

The Gallant Federation’s ultimate weapon, the Infinity Light, had reached a new level of technological maturity after several rounds of fine-tuning and three live-fire tests.

In the beginning, the Infinity Light’s range could cover an entire medium-sized star domain.

Hundreds of demiplanes, broken planes, and even complete planes could be reduced to dust in an instant.

However, after testing it in actual combat, the Gallant Federation discovered that the weapon was far from perfect.

First, its energy was not concentrated enough. Second, it carried too great a risk of collateral damage.

Thus, after several rounds of fine-tuning and another round of charging, the Gallant Federation narrowed the Infinity Light’s strike radius.

This made its attacks far more precise.

Furthermore, this also reduced the Infinity Light’s overall energy consumption.

An apocalyptical weapon of this caliber could not be deployed at will.

Reducing its energy output allowed it to better conform to the laws of balance in the Astral Realm, while also preventing the Infinity Light’s launch system from failing prematurely.

Judging by the current situation, the upgrades to the Infinity Light had been successful.

After the Infinity Light descended upon this star domain battlefield, its residual power did not cause significant collateral damage to the Gallant Federation legions stationed in the surrounding star domains.

After all, this was the heartland of the federation, and the Great Monkey of Destruction was standing on a large-sized mechanical planet.

If the Gallant Federation had used an attack powerful enough to obliterate an entire star domain against the Great Monkey of Destruction, then whether he lived or died, the number of Federation lives lost across the surrounding battlefields would undoubtedly reach into the billions.

And that did not even account for the severe blow the destruction of this heavy-industry star domain would deal to the Gallant Federation’s economy, industry, and public morale.

Whoosh!

A blinding, searing white beam of energy slammed head-on into the Great Monkey of Destruction.

Wielding his massive metal staff and standing tall at the center of the mechanical planet’s battlefield, the Great Monkey of Destruction was forced backward by the impact of that unstoppable beam.

Large swaths of the seemingly solid planetary surface began to collapse, sending debris flying in every direction.

Meanwhile, the Great Monkey of Destruction’s enormous body was driven deeper and deeper toward the planet’s core by the unimaginable force of that beam.

This was a clash of light and darkness.

A battle of white and black.

Representing white and light was, of course, the Gallant Federation’s Infinity Light, a brilliant beam of energy that seemed to descend from the depths of the starry sky, illuminating the entire world.

Representing black and darkness was naturally the Great Monkey of Destruction, with his jet-black fur and aura of destruction.

Under the assault of the Gallant Federation’s energy beam, his figure became almost impossible to make out, reduced to a dark silhouette within the ghastly white light.

On the other side of the battlefield, Li Qingshan, the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven, also noticed what was happening.

In that instant, a tremendous pressure descended upon him, making his scalp crawl.

Fortunately, the Gallant Federation’s Infinity Light was aimed at the more powerful monkey, not at him.

At the same time, the federation’s conqueror-class Titan fleet, which had been forced onto the defensive, suddenly moved and launched a fierce counterattack against the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven.

In terms of inherent attributes, the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven did hold a slight advantage over the Gallant Federation fleet.

But the Gallant Federation fleet was not completely without countermeasures.

A special pale-red energy shield soon appeared around the fleet.

When the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven attempted to use his emotional laws to manipulate another group of federal ships into defecting, he discovered that his power was now facing far greater interference and resistance.

The Gallant Federation had managed to withstand even the Undead Plague spread by the Magus Civilization’s black mages. Naturally, they possessed certain defenses against this specific type of emotional power as well.

After all, “devils” had always been an important research subject for Gallant Federation scientists.

And not just the ones of the Quatar Star Pirates.

Long before the Radiant Celestials destroyed the devils’ homeland, the Devil Realm, the Gallant Federation had already conducted extensive research into that unique world and the infamous devil race of the Astral Realm.

The Gallant Federation possessed numerous scientific achievements capable of countering the devils’ emotional power.

These achievements had remained hidden until now, partly because Li Qingshan and his forces had caught them off guard, and partly because the federation had likely been holding back its true capabilities.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was sent plunging into the ground by a single blast from the Gallant Federation’s Infinity Light.

The Great Sage of Demonic Heaven was also suppressed by the federation’s conqueror-class Titan fleet.

The Gallant Federation’s counterattack seemed to have truly begun.

The Immortal Realm’s Yao Clan, which had already reaped massive war spoils, soon found itself facing a saturation strike from the Federation.

The federal legions that had originally been stationed behind the fortified defensive lines surged out one after another.

Their warships and robot armies seemed endless, blotting out the sky.

Many of the slower-witted great yaos of the Immortal Realm were utterly baffled.

How could so many federal legions suddenly pour out from that seemingly uniform metal fortification?

And where had those warships and robot armies been hiding all this time?

Could the enemy also possess a spiritual treasure similar to a hidden paradise?

“CHARGE!”

A golden lion king wielding a ring-pommel saber raised his heavy weapon and roared furiously at the overwhelming wave of enemy formations surging toward him.

He was a yao king under Li Qingshan’s command, with strength comparable to a Great Luo Golden Immortal—Rank Six by the Astral Realm’s power system.

A unique sonic attack erupted from the lion king’s mouth.

A vast swath of the federal fleet was thrown into chaos by the interference of the sonic waves, with some ships even crashing outright.

This golden liong king seemed to be doing quite well within the Immortal Realm Civilization. The ring-pommel saber in his hand was actually a world-class secret treasure.

A massive planetary-class war fortress advanced, surrounded by dense swarms of federal warships as they advanced in unison toward the Immortal Realm’s main forces.

After briefly using his roar to intimidate the surrounding fleet, the golden lion king suddenly swung his saber toward the heart of the enemy formation.

A chain of ship explosions erupted in one corner of the sky above the vast battlefield.

Meanwhile, in the central region of this massive mechanical planet, the Great Monkey of Destruction, who had been driven deep into the planet’s core, let out a furious roar.

A blazing white beam of energy had just pierced straight through the mechanical planet.

The residual energy then surged into the depths of space, vanishing without a trace.

Everyone wondered what had become of the Great Monkey of Destruction.

At the center of the plane, a vast, pitch-black abyss remained. It was the mark left by the Infinity Light upon this mechanical planet.

To punch a hole through an entire planet from end to end was almost beyond comprehension.

Given the immense foundation of this mechanical planet, even a Rank Eight soul overmage from the Magus Civilization might not be able to pierce through it with a forbidden spell.

The fact that it did not collapse even after its core was blasted through only further proved that this was a mechanical planet created by the Gallant Federation.

Had it been an ordinary complete plane, it would have long since collapsed due to the disruption of its internal laws.