Sovereign of the Ashes-Chapter 1395: Escape

In the midst of the breakout attempt, Titanfang had not forgotten about Sein.

But Sein’s body was falling farther and farther away.

The gaping wound in his chest was so conspicuous that anyone seeing him drifting unconscious in the void would have instinctively assumed he was already dead.

The situation was grim. With Sein too far to rescue and assumed dead, Titanfang sighed heavily and led the others away.

As it broke out in another direction, Sein’s condition, against all odds, improved slightly.

His mind cleared, though his limbs were still limp, and his wounds were very real.

Titanfang did not know the source of the earlier energy surge, but Sein did!

It came from his Faceless Mask!

In his half-conscious state, Sein thought he heard a faint, familiar sigh.

It was Master Jorces, or rather, the final vestige of his power, left behind within the world-class treasure.

He had likely left it there as a safeguard for his heir, to preserve his legacy.

Jorces had specialized in sonido elemental magic. But Sein, as his successor, had little innate talent, or simply no desire, to delve deeply into that area.

He had never cared much for sonido magic.

So, among all the knowledge stored within the Faceless Mask, that was what Sein had learned the least.

Yet this time, it was precisely that power which saved him!

Special sonic particles ripped straight through the federal ships, wreaking havoc inside their hulls and leaving devastation in their wake.

Sein had never imagined it could also tear open the surrounding space.

Master Jorces must have been an extraordinary Rank Six mage with exceptional strength back then!

Beyond using sonic vibrations to break the federation’s defense line, the Faceless Mask now seized partial control over Sein’s body.

Master Jorces was definitely long gone.

The Faceless Mask’s actions at this moment could only be explained as a contingency plan left behind by Master Jorces long ago.

It overrode Sein’s will and took control of his body, guided by the combat protocols recorded within the mask.

Back in his early years of artifact refinement and alchemy studies, Sein had heard tales of ancient civilizations that created “artifact spirits” when crafting magic tools.

Some of these spirits emerged naturally, while others were forged using the souls of living beings.

The Magus Civilization had dabbled in similar practices. Many mages, for example, built their towers to house a “tower spirit”.

It was considered an alchemical construct powered by magic and bound to predetermined protocols.

But in the end, such things were still inanimate. No matter how intelligent they seemed, they were not alive. They only carried out programmed sequences.

Now, with Sein’s body in a severely weakened state, the Faceless Mask essentially acted as a “caretaker”.

The mask still held ample energy within it. And with the final remnants of Master Jorces’ power, there was at least a chance to escape the battlefield.

Sein himself could no longer move his body, but he could still direct the Faceless Mask to act.

Lumen and pyro elemental energies flared across his form. Rising once more, he flew toward Yuri, his closest ally, and sealed her into his spatial living device.

By then, Titanfang and the other intelligent robots were already far away. Sein even watched them disappear into a massive wormhole.

He felt no anger toward Titanfang for leaving.

Everyone was fighting for survival in their own way. Countless Nexon robots were still scattered across the battlefield. If Titanfang and the others had the ability, they would not have abandoned their comrades.

However, it was no longer possible for him to pursue Titanfang in the same direction.

Many federal warships had gathered in that direction, and in his state, Sein could not sustain a direct charge. The Faceless Mask’s reserves were not bottomless.

The battle raged fiercely all around him. Channeling the mask’s remaining power, Sein forced himself into an extremely narrow wormhole.

He could not tell what lay beyond this tiny passage, but he had no choice.

Staying meant certain death, so he might as well gamble on the unknown.

***

Emerging from the wormhole, a pitch-black sky stretched out before him. There were no stars or pyro-attribute planes. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The surrounding space felt eerily desolate.

Yet, the darkness brought Sein a strange sense of relief.

Perhaps it was simply his mind seeking comfort, but now all he wanted was an uninhabited place to hide.

Pain seared through every part of his body as he dragged himself toward the shadowed side of an asteroid.

With trembling hands, he pulled out his last Golden Apple Potion. Staring at the gaping wound in his chest, he smiled grimly.

This infiltration into the Gallant Federation had battered him with more wounds and brushes with death than he could count.

To make things worse, he had no idea how much longer this would last.

The potion’s extraordinary restorative power quickly began to mend his origin life force.

Fortunately, he still had this top-grade potion. Had it been an ordinary one, the wounds he suffered outside Nexon, combined with this latest ordeal, would have left his life essence too damaged to recover.

No, even a single one of these injuries would have been enough to kill most Rank Four or Rank Five beings.

As the Golden Apple’s power surged through him, Sein licked his lips, marveling at the vitality flooding back into his body.

“I gotta find a way to get more treasures like this... In the Clash of Civilizations, a Golden Apple Potion is practically a second life,” he mumbled to himself.

Under the potion’s nourishment, the horrifying wound on his chest began to mend.

Once some strength returned and even the grenade’s numbing effect began to fade, Sein pulled himself together and prepared to move.

This place was not safe. If he could make it here through that narrow wormhole, then the federal fleet could follow as well.

But first, he needed to figure out exactly which star domain he was in; only then could he plan an escape route.

He was certain that it could not be too far from the Alpha-007 Star Domain. With how small that wormhole had been, it could not have thrown him across too great a distance.