Sovereign of the Ashes

Over eighty percent of the "specimens" in the lower levels of the black nagic tower were humans captured from the surrounding areas, and most of them were still alive.

Such specimens were the easiest to capture, and in the fields of evolutionary biology and life science research, there truly were no subjects better or more suitable than these humans of Magus World.

Many of these specimens had already been altered beyond recognition.

Setting aside whether Pollock was a psychopath and the fact that he violated the laws of the Magus Civilization, there was no denying that he was one of the most accomplished Rank Two mages when it came to body modification and the research and development of active flesh.

One of the magic arrays Pollock had activated would trigger the tower's self-destruction program.

He could only abandon every specimen in the lower levels of the tower.

Although the black magic initiates seemed timid and always cowered before Pollock, they were actually not the lowest in the tower's hierarchy.

The specimens in the lower levels were!

Shaped by Pollock's own brutality, these initiates, aside from the few newcomers, had followed his example and inherited his cruelty.

Of course, their targets were not their master but the wretched specimens beneath them.

Some of the more twisted black magic initiates had already shown signs they might surpass Pollock himself in their cruelty toward these captives.

Perhaps this was their way of coping, a dark outlet for the pressure of their existence.

If they did not find a way to vent their frustration, living in such an environment for so long would eventually break them mentally.

As the tower's defenses and special arrays activated, two "flesh mountains" rose from separate underground laboratories. One stood five meters tall, the other seven, and both were bound in heavy iron chains.

These were Pollock's prized creations, with strength comparable to Rank One combatants.

Pollock had mastered only the craft of creating active flesh, though undead chimera beasts were not his specialty. In that area, he simply applied his knowledge where it overlapped.

He was never really proud of the two Rank One undead chimera beasts. His true aim was to create a top-tier chimera beast with at least Rank Two strength.

But with his current progress and his lack of high-grade experiment materials, that goal was still far beyond reach.

He was not even sure whether he would be able to achieve it within the next five hundred years.

"I'll have to abandon these two little creatures for now," Pollock murmured, casting a fond look at the grotesque flesh mountains as they emerged from the underground laboratories.

His gaze hardened as he turned toward the outside of the tower. "Hopefully, the gifts I left behind will bring a little surprise to those guys!"

***

The massive explosion and the deafening roar that shook the area for thousands of meters marked the end of the battle.

Pollock had never once considered engaging in a direct fight with the divine tower mages who had tracked him down.

Almost all of the black magic initiates hidden within the magic tower had become Pollock's "sacrifices".

By now, only two black magic initiates remained at his side, watching the shockwave from the blast's center from a safe distance. One was an intermediate initiate, the other a senior initiate.

One was Pollock's favorite, while the other had been tasked with maintaining the short-range spatial teleportation array within the tower.

For various reasons, these were the only two Pollock had chosen to bring with him.

The rest... had almost certainly perished in the explosion.

After all, the explosive energy released had exceeded three thousand degrees—an incredible figure, even to a Rank Two mage like Pollock.

"Master, should we head back and see if there is anything worth looting?" the intermediate initiate asked, his voice full of excitement.

The blast's shockwave had been so violent that the initiate could not imagine anything surviving it.

Those who had attacked the black magic tower had clearly been formidable. Otherwise, Pollock would never have abandoned his stronghold so easily.

A black mage's life was one of killing or being killed.

Their dead enemies were now nothing more than "loot" waiting to be collected. Surely, those guys had good stuff on them.

But Pollock only sneered at the black initiate's foolish suggestion.

Moments later, a furious roar echoed from the ruins, rippling through mental focus.

As Pollock expected, someone had survived!

The explosion just now was as powerful as a full-force strike from a typical Rank Two mage.

Without magical protection, no one could have survived that.

But a Rank Two or higher mage was a different story. Those who could shift between elemental bodies would almost certainly have done so at the last moment to shield themselves.

Caught in the explosion of the magic tower and the self-detonation of the two undead chimera beasts at close range, Pollock was certain that the Rank Two divine tower mage had been seriously injured.

Still, his cautious nature compelled him to avoid confronting the divine tower mage and quietly slip away from the forest with his two remaining initiates instead.

The furious curses of the divine tower mage behind him meant nothing.

That was the mindset that had kept Pollock alive for over 1,600 years in the brutal Darwell Region.

***

"Seven initiates and two Rank One mages have died? Only one severely injured Rank Two mage made it back?"

In the dean's office, Divine Tower Master Sein, who had just stepped out of his laboratory, was getting an update from Pekerman, the divine tower academy's vice dean.

Sein's voice was calm, but everyone present could feel the anger simmering just beneath the surface.

The deaths of two Rank One mages and several initiates would be serious news in any divine tower.

And they had not died in some interplanar war—they had fallen during a quest issued by the divine tower academy.

The Divine Tower of Ashes was set to join the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War in twenty-one years.

Its tentative competitors would be the five divine tower academies from the Byrne Empire.

Because of Ashenreach's unique position, Sein actually had many options when it came to choosing who to face in this academy war.

Besides the Byrne Empire to the east, the many divine towers of the South Coast were also possible rivals.

Sein could even compete with the divine towers around the Viridescent Land to the north and fight against the initiates from his mentor's Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

But after weighing everything, Sein accepted the invitation from the Byrne Empire.

That decision had also been influenced by the recent efforts of the Spider Queen, since it seemed some of those five divine towers had ties to her.

This incident, happening so close to the academy war, dealt a blow to the reputation of the Divine Tower of Ashes.

That would hurt efforts to recruit new initiates, attract full-fledged mages, and more.

Pekerman, the Rank Three mechanic, could only accept Sein's rebuke as he was pretty much responsible for this failure.

He should have sent two Rank Two mages, not just one.

At that moment, he wished he could catch that black mage and murder him himself!

Dean Marie soon arrived, offering words of comfort and taking most of the blame upon herself.

But in truth, this situation had little to do with her.

She had always handled internal affairs, focusing on internal coordination and supporting academy mages.

Pekerman managed external operations, designing most of the initiate quests and all of the divine tower missions assigned to full-fledged mages.

"Find a way to eliminate that Rank Two black mage immediately and minimize the impact from this incident!" Sein ordered.

He was paying Pekerman and the others well, not so they could sit around doing nothing.

Pekerman nodded, flexed his mechanical arm, and strode out.

As the first regional academy war of the Divine Tower of Ashes drew near, another wave of black mage purging was about to begin across Ashenreach.

This time, Pekerman would personally take charge.

Unless black mages of equal rank showed up to stop him, the Divine Tower of Ashes would cut through Ashenreach like a hot knife through butter.

It was hard to say how many weaker black mages would perish in this storm.