Sovereign of the Ashes

The eruption of Marduk’s divine relics sent another wave of chaos through the central battlefield of Divine Descendants World.

This was likely the swan song of the world’s native deities.

A divine relic possessed no combat ability on its own. Even with a trace of Marduk’s divine consciousness inside, it could not unleash power matching the law fluctuations it carried.

To unleash their true power, these divine relics needed to merge with suitable native beings and use their bodies as vessels.

However, only around a hundred native deities remained near the central battlefield, and many had already fallen in the earlier fighting.

Suitable “hosts” were therefore extremely limited.

Most of the divine relics had no choice but to seek out low-level beings below Rank Four or continue flying under their own power.

The peak Rank Six divine relic Sein had set his sights on possessed a much larger energy reserve and carried a greater portion of Marduk’s divine consciousness.

Unsurprisingly, after flying only a short distance, it chose the God of Blazing Fire, one of the few surviving deities nearby whose attributes perfectly matched its own.

That guy again!

This was the same unlucky fellow Sein and Fermera had nearly blown apart with a single punch after they fused.

Earlier, Sein had been in such a hurry to gather the Ark’s law energy that he had left the severely wounded deity to Yuri and the Burning Flame Unit as a training opponent.

Who would have thought he would stumble upon such an opportunity?

The moment the peak Rank Six divine relic merged with him, a ring of searing flames erupted from the God of Blazing Fire’s body and swept outward in every direction.

Empowered by Marduk’s secondary divine relic, the severely wounded God of Blazing Fire now radiated a presence no weaker than Sein’s after fusing with Fermera.

In terms of sheer ferocity, he even held the upper hand.

The bright red divine blood flowing across his body gradually transformed into molten lava.

With a single punch, the God of Blazing Fire sent Yuri and the Burning Flame Unit flying. He then turned toward Sein, who was charging straight at him.

Clearly, he still remembered the Rank Five mage from the Magus Civilization who had “ambushed” him earlier and left him severely wounded.

Both possessed Rank Five bodies, yet both were now empowered by Rank Six strength.

Across the battlefield, the mage and the god locked eyes.

“So-called gods are nothing more than powerful beings worshipped by the ignorant. Do you really think obtaining that divine relic is enough to defeat me?” Sein asked with a light chuckle.

“Let’s settle this in a one-on-one duel and we’ll see!” the God of Blazing Fire declared.

Molten lava and divine blood dripped continuously from his body as he glanced around.

More than ten law-wielding beings from the Magus Civilization’s faction had already surrounded them.

Among them were the God of Black Mist, whom Sein had subdued on the Divine Descendants World battlefield, Ximen Feixiao of the Dawn Empire, several high-ranking Insectoids, and a few demon kings who had gathered nearby.

Who would not be tempted by a divine relic belonging to an overgod, especially one radiating the overwhelming pressure of peak Rank Six power?

Simply possessing such a treasure was enough to make the God of Blazing Fire a target. Even if Sein chose to leave him alone, the surrounding Magus Civilization powerhouses would still tear him apart for that divine relic.

Sein glanced around as well. Still fused with Fermera, he addressed the nearby powerhouses.

“Then I’ll test my strength against him. If I’m unlucky enough to lose, he’s yours.”

His proposal was fair enough. The native deity’s strength had temporarily surged to the peak of Rank Six. Even the gathered powerhouses might not be able to defeat him quickly.

And if everyone attacked at once, who would ultimately claim the divine relic?

The demon kings showed Sein considerable deference, while Ximen Feixiao and the others had come mainly to support him. As for the Insectoids, they immediately left to compete for the other divine relics.

Once a sufficiently large space had been cleared, Sein and the God of Blazing Fire clashed once more.

It was indeed a one-on-one duel. Except this “one-on-one” was Sein and Fermera against the God of Blazing Fire and Marduk’s secondary divine relic.

Scorching flame energy erupted at the edge of the overlord-level battlefield.

With both sides now wielding Rank Six power, ordinary Rank Four and Rank Five beings found it nearly impossible to approach.

The other powerhouses capable of competing for Marduk’s divine relic watched for a while before quickly departing.

There was no reason to pin all their hopes on a single prize. More than a thousand divine relics were scattered across the battlefield, including other pyro-attribute relics and divine abilities that might suit them even better.

Still, two Rank Six demon kings remained behind.

One of them was Sethem, whom Sein knew. At that moment, he was clutching a Rank Four hyrdo-attribute divine relic.

This guy was really fast!

He had actually managed to intercept the divine relic and seize control of it before it could even find a host.

A ball of searing Hellfire burned steadily in Sethem’s palm as he refined the faint trace of Marduk’s divine consciousness lingering within the relic.

At this point, even an ordinary Rank Five being would probably have been capable of refining this Rank Four hydro-attribute divine relic, let alone Sethem.

The other Rank Six demon king was an unfamiliar face. He had previously been fighting on another planar battlefield within the Divine Descendants Star Domain and had only arrived in Divine Descendants World after the war along its borders had come to an end.

Sure enough, the spoils found within Divine Descendants World far surpassed anything available on the surrounding battlefields.

This demon king had already missed the struggle for the overlord blood released when Venerable Tianyang fell.

Now that he had finally encountered an opportunity to seize one of the divine relics scattered by the Divine Descendant Overgod Marduk, how could he possibly let it slip away?

“Why don’t we just go for it? He said it’s a one-on-one duel, but that doesn’t mean we have to play along! We can just snatch the divine relic and be done with it! He might be a mage from Magus World, but crossing him shouldn’t be that big a deal, right?”

“Worst case, I spend a few hundred years in the Atlantis Interstellar Prison. A few hundred years in exchange for a peak Rank Six secondary divine relic belonging to a Rank Seven overgod sounds like a bargain to me!”

The long-tongued Rank Six demon king licked his lips as he tried to persuade Sethem to join him.

Sethem was even stronger than he was.

Inviting him along was partly a show of respect and partly an attempt to find someone who could share the pressure once the fighting began.

After all, the God of Blazing Fire, currently overflowing with explosive power, did not look easy to deal with.

Sethem glanced at the demon king beside him. He blew lightly on the hydro-attribute divine relic pinched between his demonic fingers, where demonic flames were still burning strongly.

“Brother, you’re new here, so there’s something you probably don’t know yet. Master Sein is a friend of Young Master Enrique,” Sethem explained.

The nearby demon king’s eyes widened so much they nearly popped from their sockets.

At last, he understood why the other demon kings had left so decisively.

With two powerful flaps of his enormous fleshy wings, he immediately turned around and walked away without another word.

His heavy tail thudded loudly against the ground behind him.

After leaving the battlefield, the demon king quickly joined the struggle for the other secondary divine relics.

The overlords of the Magus Civilization’s faction on the Divine Descendants World battlefield showed a certain degree of restraint.

Although Gongsun Wudi, the demon overlord, the Bladeist, and the others had joined the pursuit of Marduk’s secondary divine relics, they deliberately left some of the slower ones behind for their own mid-tier powerhouses to compete over.

A clash between civilizations was not merely a contest between the strongest beings. It was also a stage for those in the middle ranks to grow.

After all, every overlord had risen from the lower and middle ranks.

Marduk’s secondary divine relics might completely alter the fate of many Rank Four, Rank Five, and Rank Six beings, helping them grow stronger and advance to greater heights.

At that moment, Gongsun Wudi, Belphane, Mel, and the others were all competing for Marduk’s divine relics.

Like Sein, Gongsun Wudi had set her sights on one radiating the peak Rank Six law fluctuations.

Her luck, however, was slightly worse. That divine relic had already fused with a native Rank Six deity.

Even so, Gongsun Wudi’s battle proceeded far more smoothly than Sein’s.

That Rank Six deity had been no match for her before, even after fusing with Marduk’s secondary divine relic.

Sein, meanwhile, fought by combining elemental energy with mechanical power. At times, relying on his exceptional constitution, he even exchanged several rounds of close-range blows with the God of Blazing Fire.

Sethem had initially watched the battle with the relaxed attitude of a spectator.

Gradually, however, the Rank Six demon king straightened his back.

“Is Master Sein truly a mage? How can his constitution be so powerful? No wonder he ordered such a large quantity of top-grade Blood Crystals from us before...” Sethem muttered as he reevaluated Sein.

He had never seen anyone fight the way Sein and Fermera did after fusing.

What had begun as a short and violent clash soon reached the point where both sides were forced to reveal the true depths of their strength.

The coordination between Sein and Fermera was clearly far smoother than that between the God of Blazing Fire and Marduk’s divine relic.

That was the result of Sein’s countless experiments.

Moreover, the God of Blazing Fire faced another problem.

Marduk’s secondary divine relic was not merely a “battery” that supplied him with additional power. A strand of the overgod’s divine consciousness resided within it, and it was far from insignificant.

After another violent clash, Sein and the God of Blazing Fire passed each other in midair.

A fresh wound appeared across the God of Blazing Fire’s chest. At that moment, his eyes, which had remained relatively clear until then, suddenly turned deep crimson.

His body also began trembling slightly.

Sein, who had been wearing the Faceless Mask throughout the battle, immediately noticed the change.

At the same time, he realized that the God of Blazing Fire was staring at him with those dark red eyes.

More precisely, he was staring at the world-class secret treasure embedded in Fermera’s chest...