Sovereign of the Ashes

Tourmaline's voice made Sein turn around.

The girl was clearly not fully awake yet—her eyes were still bleary, and she let out a long yawn.

"No. You can go back and rest if you're tired," Sein replied.

Tourmaline had mastered the Strength Law, and as a water-dwelling dragon, the dry environment of White Sand World was not exactly ideal for her abilities.

After hearing Sein's response, Tourmaline did not hesitate.

She looked around in all directions and said, "Then I'll go explore some other places and see if anything is interesting."

Though she said she was going to look for something fun, Tourmaline was really just searching for a good place to sleep.

While Sein's bed in the space fortress was big and soft, Tourmaline still preferred to stretch out in her true form and snore away in peace.

Not far away was a ring-shaped asteroid belt, and there was also a nearby demiplane—either would make a perfect napping spot.

After she skipped off, Sein and Lorianne continued to press their assault on White Sand World.

When nearly two hundred thousand cannon fodder troops and close to ten thousand knights charged in, Sein and Berecca exchanged a glance.

"You going first, or me?" Sein asked.

Forcing one's way into a foreign plane that clearly rejected outside power was exhausting and thankless work, even for Rank Four creatures.

Lorianne had a weak constitution, so she definitely could not be the one to go first.

That left it to Sein or Berecca.

Generally, this kind of task would be handled by knights from Magus World.

But thanks to the tempering of his body and the natural evolutionary traits of his demonic lawful body, Sein was not much weaker than knights of the same rank.

Besides, Berecca had taken a few minor hits during her earlier battle.

The White-Winged Bird King was, after all, the strongest being in White Sand World. His desperate counterattack had managed to wound her slightly.

A visible crack ran across the female knight's chest plate, and blood was seeping through the gaps in her armor.

Of course, to someone at her rank, such an injury barely counted as a scratch.

Instead of answering Sein with words, Berecca gave her reply through action.

She quietly sheathed her longsword and launched forward, charging straight into the breach in the planar barrier.

Sein noticed the slight frown on Berecca's face the moment she touched the planar barrier of White Sand World.

She was more injured than she let on. Fortunately, her mastery of dendro-attribute battle qi granted her a regeneration speed far beyond that of an ordinary Rank Four knight.

Even so, her defenses were still no match for knights who specialized in geo or metal-attribute battle qi.

"Let me go first. Once we are inside White Sand World, you can take over and handle their counterattack," Sein said as he stepped forward and grabbed Berecca's arm.

He had only exhausted his mana reserve in the earlier battle—his body remained unscathed. That was why Tourmaline had felt no hesitation in wandering off.

Berecca raised an eyebrow. It was unclear whether she was about to refuse Sein's offer or if something else was on her mind.

Before she could respond, Lorianne stepped in and placed a hand on Berecca's shoulder. "Let him go. This kid is tough as nails. Let him handle the grunt work."

With that, she pulled a few healing potions from the folds of her magic robe and passed them to Berecca.

Sein's lips twitched slightly at his mentor's words, but he said nothing. Without further delay, he flew straight toward the breach in the planar barrier.

He chose the exact rupture his Penetrating Eye forbidden spell had created earlier.

Residual lumen and pyro elemental energies still lingered around the breach, glowing faintly in the surrounding air.

Many of the Magus World combat legions who had already entered the White Sand World looked up at the enormous elemental giant approaching them, their eyes filled with awe and reverence.

Drawing a deep breath and gathering his strength, Sein dove down with full force.

***

The native forces of White Sand World had already suffered serious losses in the last battle.

Not only had the low-tier legions been heavily damaged, but even their strongest Rank Four fighter, the White-Winged Bird King, was too wounded to rejoin the fray for now.

Even so, the natives responded to Sein's charge.

The guardian stepped forward once more, knowing full well that among the two hundred thousand invading troops, this demonic-looking evil foreign god was the one they absolutely had to stop.

"We must not let him enter our homeplane. Stop them!" the guardian shouted, raising its arm high.

Regaining a bit of their lost morale, the native creatures of White Sand World surged forward like a tidal wave at the guardian's command, charging straight at the Magus World Army.

Even without Sein's command, the Magus World legions that had already entered White Sand World immediately pushed forward to meet them.

Among them were not only knights and enslaved creatures but also a few mages.

Any mage bold enough to charge alongside the knights on vanguard was clearly someone with exceptional talent and confidence.

Several began constructing simple elemental arrays with their hands, but one Rank Three grand mage in particular stood out.

He pulled out two "IB-type short-range magic cannons", typically mounted on prism forts.

Flames flickered at the barrels' mouths before twin crimson beams ripped across the battlefield, mowing down thousands of native creatures in an instant.

This remarkable grand mage appeared to be a mechanic.

While the lower-tier legions reengaged in combat, Sein clashed directly with the guardian of White Sand World.

He had already pushed a third of his lawful body through the planar breach, but just as he attempted to force the rest in, the guardian met him with fierce resistance.

It looked like a typical geo elemental—grayish-white and not particularly imposing.

However, empowered by the plane's origin energy and the laws of guardianship, the creature began to condense massive elemental stone fists, slamming them into Sein one after another.

Even with a body tempered through countless experiments, the repeated impacts left Sein in great pain.

Scowling, he glared at the stubborn creature. From beneath the Faceless Mask, two pyro elemental beams shot out, striking the guardian head-on.

Whether it was due to its extreme durability or the strength granted by the planar will, the geo elemental was only knocked back briefly before charging at him again.

Sein did not hold back. A torrential barrage of elemental beams erupted from his Faceless Mask—far denser and fiercer than before.

In terms of casting frequency and sheer firepower, Sein now matched a space fortress at full combat mode.

Berecca, still drinking her recovery potions, paused mid-sip and stared down at the scene in disbelief.

She glanced over at Lorianne, as if silently asking:Is that really a freshly promoted Rank Four mage?

Lorianne sighed. "My apprentice is just too reckless. He still doesn't know when to hold back. What if he really ends up killing that geo elemental? I was hoping to study it and uncover the secret behind its longevity."