Sovereign of the Ashes-Chapter 1403: Black Tide Plane

Transversa was a medium-sized star domain made up of seven complete planes. But the battlefield against the Gallant Federation could stretch far beyond those planes.

Demiplanes, broken planes, asteroid belts, the Astral Realm void, and the federation’s interstellar fortresses and artificial planets had all become flashpoints of conflict.

The war in the Transversa Star Domain raged fiercely.

Setting aside the demiplanes and artificial planets, two out of the seven complete planes had already been reclaimed by the Magus Civilization.

The battle for the remaining five was still going strong, with the Magus Civilization close to seizing a third.

The Gallant Federation, having launched the initial ambush, had held the upper hand in the early stages of the war.

But in the end, this Clash of Civilizations was a contest of foundations and resources.

Once the Magus Civilization regained its footing, the star domains where they deployed their legions would eventually be reclaimed.

The Transversa Star Domain was one of them.

The Gallant Federation had stationed the Huusian legions on Planet Black Tide and Planet Ferramo.

The federation preferred to call them “planets”, while the Huusians and Magus World creatures were more used to calling them “planes” or “worlds”.

So to them, these two planets were known as Black Tide Plane and Ferramo World instead. Both were low-level planes that could accommodate Rank Four creatures.

In addition to the Huusian legions, several federal fleets, mobile suit legions, and other affiliated forces were stationed here.

In terms of Rank Four power alone, the federation had deployed over ten such units across these two planets!

Counting the entire Transversa Star Domain, their Rank Four deployment likely approached thirty!

And this was just one small star domain on the frontlines of a much larger civilizational war.

Sein arrived at Black Tide Plane aboard the vessel carrying Gwyneira.

The King of Huusian was here as well, while three other Rank Four Huusians led their tribe’s legions toward the Ferramo World.

Black Tide Plane was a low-level world where umbra elemental energy was especially active.

With only a distant pyro-attribute neighboring demiplane as its nearest neighbor, its skies remained perpetually dim.

Strange streams of black gas surged up from fissures across its lands, rising to gather in the skies.

Shaped by wind power and atmospheric laws, they formed the strange spectacle that gave the world its name.

Black Tide Plane was, of course, inhabited by its own native lifeforms. But when Sein arrived here with the Huusian fleet, he found the environment utterly desolate.

The volatile elemental particles in the air had destroyed the gentle balance needed for weaker lifeforms to survive.

Though the war had only just begun, the sheer intensity of the battles had likely wiped out the native lives on Black Tide Plane.

Even if some still clung to life, the ecological upheaval and the erosion of the plane’s origin laws were immeasurable.

Whether this complete plane would ever see life flourish again remained uncertain.

Such was the tragedy of weak and lesser planes. They were powerless to resist and unable to stop their destruction.

And now, the Huusians were suffering the same plight that countless weaker planes were facing, caught between two top-tier civilizations.

***

The Huusian King had been deeply troubled.

Though he had expected the Zeak Empire’s generous reward to come at a price, he had not foreseen the sheer intensity of the frontline battles.

The moment he set foot on Black Tide Plane, the Magus Civilization’s legions stationed there demonstrated the devastating might of an elemental saturation attack.

The Magus Civilization’s garrison here was no weaker than that of the Gallant Federation!

Otherwise, the Magus Civilization would not have been the aggressor in this star domain while the Gallant Federation was forced to defend.

The terrifying elemental barrages and the relentless charges of the Magus World legions put tremendous psychological pressure on the Huusians and the federation’s other vassal forces.

After all, they were not as elite as the federation’s regular legions.

Even though the Huusians had six Rank Four and one Rank Five combatant among their ranks, their effectiveness on the battlefield was still no greater than that of two federal fleets.

The nomadic races of the Astral Realm were fierce fighters, but they were still no match for the regular legions of the two top-tier civilizations.

The devastated Black Tide Plane was already piled high with the corpses and remains of fallen warriors from both sides.

Whether Huusian would one day join those remains was a question yet unanswered.

Within the first week of arriving on Black Tide Plane alone, casualties among the Huusians had already exceeded a hundred thousand.

On Ferramo World, their situation was even worse.

With the Huusian King absent from that battlefield, the forces there received little support, and their casualties climbed to nearly 1.5 times those on Black Tide Plane.

Fortunately, the federation did not send the Huusians to Planet Bishura right away.

Bishura was currently the fiercest battlefield in the entire star domain and the low-level plane that the Magus Civilization was on the verge of reclaiming.

The federation’s upper echelons had decided that if Bishura fell, the entire war strategy for this star domain and the surrounding regions would have to be reworked.

That would mean evacuating the forward operating base on Nocchi, reallocating resources, repositioning fleets from neighboring star domains, and more.

Casualties for the federation’s legions on Bishura were nearly four times higher than on the Black Tide Plane!

Of course, the Magus Civilization had paid a heavy price there as well.

It was no exaggeration to describe that battlefield as a meat grinder.

Both civilizations had thrown vast legions into that bottomless pit.

As the Huusian King wrestled with the grim reality of the war and worried about his tribe’s future, Sein bumped into the royal sisters.

They had likely just returned from battle. They reeked of blood, and their bodies were smeared with strange green bloodstains.

Although the Huusians traditionally saw green as a symbol of beauty, the sisters’ expressions made it clear they were disgusted by the foul-smelling blood.

It did not seem to come from Magus World knights or mages, but more likely from some other creature of the Magus Alliance.

There were still countless such beings that Sein had yet to encounter.

“I want to join both of you on your next mission. You saved me. Now it is my turn to repay the favor,” Sein told the two women.