Sovereign of the Ashes

Feylis was a little too late.

Sein's elementalization reaction had already reached a tipping point back when he emerged from the Faceless Secret Realm on the Knight Continent.

On top of that, Sein had spent over five hundred years inside that secret realm.

During that time, he had inherited a massive amount of legacy knowledge left behind by Master Jorces and even absorbed more than half of the abundant elemental energy within the realm itself.

By all accounts, absorbing that much elemental energy and enough understanding of the truth to trigger a qualitative shift, Sein should have ascended to Rank Four long ago.

However, the appearance of the Faceless Mask had successfully suppressed his breakthrough.

He had held himself back on purpose—wanting to build a stronger foundation so that, when the time came, he could go even farther.

Like a tightly compressed spring, the more pressure applied, the more explosive the force became when finally released.

And the "mini lesson" he received earlier from Feylis had pushed his next elementalization reaction and lawful body formation to near-perfect conditions.

As a result, the Faceless Mask had reached its limit.

The moment Sein lifted just a corner of the mask, the fragile balance he had been barely maintaining finally collapsed.

Originally, he had planned to break through after the faction gathering.

He did not expect his action would set off such a dramatic chain reaction.

Maybe there was some truth to the saying that outsiders could see things more clearly than those involved.

The only person who had any real sense of Sein's condition was probably Feylis, who had been personally instructing him for over the past three months.

Even Lorianne had not expected her apprentice to rise to the same rank as herself this soon.

The elemental instability led to a sudden eruption of elemental energy across the top level of the tower.

Fortunately, Aelid happened to be standing right in front of Sein.

If he had not been there, the blast from Sein's surging elemental force could have seriously injured the nearby lower-ranking mages.

Reacting quickly, Aelid summoned a solid flame shield and raised it in front of himself, absorbing the brunt of the elemental impact.

After a beat of stunned silence, the Rank Four mage sprang into action, channeling elemental energy to shield those nearby and intercept the wild surge pouring from Sein's out-of-control body.

In the hall, Feylis and Gregory were likely the quickest to react.

Feylis rushed straight to Sein's side. Verdant flames flared up along her arm as the Rank Six mage pressed both hands firmly onto Sein's shoulder, trying to suppress the torrent of elemental energy erupting in every direction.

Gregory moved in as well, focusing on raising a wall of flame to contain the chaos.

The sudden shift in atmosphere left many of the surrounding mages frozen in shock.

A few who had been too close were caught in the edge of the blast and suffered light injuries, but they hardly noticed.

All eyes were locked on Sein, who was now transforming before their eyes, his body gradually engulfed in flame.

At that moment, his aura was overwhelming.

He was not just radiating power—he felt like a Rank Four being already entering combat mode!

The sheer pressure and elemental force pouring from him made it painfully clear to the lower-ranking mages: resistance at their level would be pointless.

The violent element surrounding him took the form of a strange, gray flame—one that seemed capable of reducing everything to dust.

This was the power of ash.

When measuring a Rank Four mage's strength, the refinement of their elemental laws was just as important as their depth of knowledge and life level.

The Ashen Flame law that Sein wielded definitely ranked among the higher-tier pyro elemental laws.

On top of that, it was a power he could keep evolving.

During his trial on the Knight Continent years ago, Sein had obtained a pitch-black flame from a certain secret realm.

To this day, he had not fully understood its nature.

But if he could integrate it into his Ashen Flame, then his law power would rise to a whole new level.

"Is there any way you can hold it back?" Feylis asked, as her lawful form slowly emerged.

"I'm afraid I can't," Sein said with a wry smile, his body now fully engulfed in flame, his demon form taking shape.

His Demon King form was not just a bloodline manifestation—it marked the culmination of his mastery over the Ashen Flame law!

In fact, this form was perfectly aligned with the very nature of his law power.

When constructing his lawful body, Sein had two options: the elemental giant form or the demon form.

The demon form came with major benefits—it allowed for continued body tempering and granted him overwhelming physical combat power.

The elemental giant form, on the other hand, made channeling elemental forces much easier, especially when casting forbidden spells or other destructive area-of-effect magic.

Sein's body continued to unleash waves of immense elemental energy.

His sinister-looking demon form pushed his physical limits to the edge.

Most of the mages present had practiced the Verdant Flame Body Tempering technique, but the level of refinement Sein displayed was on a completely different tier.

Outsiders could only watch the spectacle in awe, but the truly skilled saw the detail beneath the display.

With the insight possessed by Gregory, Bernice, and Aelid, it was obvious that Sein's demon form was still only in a passive evolution stage.

Once his breakthrough was complete, he would truly stand as a Rank Four being.

Gregory's eyes showed a rare flicker of admiration. He turned to Bernice and said, "This kid's tapped into his bloodline strength and even used those strange flames of his during the body tempering process."

"To reach this level of physical refinement... the flame intensity and the amount of demonic blood essence needed must be absurd. How the hell did he pull that off?" Gregory asked, clearly intrigued.

Bernice rolled her eyes. How would she know?

Among the Verdant Flame Faction's Rank Four and above body-tempering mages, everyone had carved their own path.

Gregory focused on raw physical strength—building a body that could harmonize with elemental energy and transform into an elemental giant capable of crushing enemies on the battlefield.

Bernice specialized in partial sealing and mana tattoos. The metal rings on her wrists and ankles, along with the complex elemental markings on her skin, were far more than just decorations.

Aelid, on the other hand, condensed his elemental energy into a sword. Wielding both a magic rod and a sword made of the power of laws, it was hard to tell whether he was a mage or a knight at times.

Now Sein was unveiling a whole new approach—an advanced bloodline-based technique paired with a powerful demon form.

Of course, despite all that, what really caught everyone's attention was not just the result of his body tempering process, but the manifestation of his Ashen Flame law.

"No, trying to suppress it by force will only hurt him. Evacuate all mages immediately and activate the tower's mana light web!"

Feylis's voice rang out through the hall. Even some of the mages outside the tower heard her order.

"Heh, I thought this was just going to be a normal gathering, or maybe a strategy session about the next interplanar war. Didn't expect a new Rank Four to show up instead." Gregory chuckled.

"You two better work harder. If the juniors surpass you, it'll be disgrace to Master Feylis," he added, glancing at Bernice and Lorianne.

"You talk too much, Gregory!" Bernice snapped back.

That day, whether they were mages passing through the divine tower or initiates attending their academy classes, everyone paused at once and looked toward the sky after hearing the great commotion.

From above the clouds, an overwhelming sea of fire erupted from the tower's peak, painting the sky in color of flames.

A mana light web projected from within the divine tower activated just in time to shield those below.

Still, every mage, even the lowest-ranking initiates, could feel the raw intensity and pressure coming from above.

One young initiate, wearing an oversized hat, raised his head and squinted into the fiery sky, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Beside him, a peak demigod-level mage—also the current dean of the Divine Tower of Verdant Flame—gazed upward as well.

"Has someone else reached Rank Four?" he murmured in awe.