Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 1860: A Narrow Escape

Sein’s spirit and will were exceptionally strong.

After entering this space-time corridor and enduring constant erosion and tearing from every direction, Yuri and Tourmaline both collapsed one after the other as their bodies reached their limits. Only Sein managed to stay barely conscious.

The first thing he needed to do was figure out where he was and keep control of his body, avoiding the unstable zones in the corridor.

Since entering this seemingly endless passage, Sein had already come across at least five areas that gave him a strong sense of danger.

As for the lower to mid-risk areas, there were too many to count.

The constant erosion and tearing effects of the corridor were actually the least of his problems.

“No wonder the high-ranking spellcasters of the Magus Civilization are so cautious with space-time experiments. No one would recklessly explore unstable space-time corridors like these. Even Rank Six mages would not want to get themselves banished from space and time,” Sein muttered with a sigh.

His sigh reflected his concern for himself, Tourmaline, and the others.

If they were cast into the depths of the distant cosmos, returning to the Magus Civilization would be incredibly difficult.

Worse still, he might never even find his way back.

To be lost in the endless void, drifting alone for a lifetime... That was no different from death.

Still, that was not his immediate concern.

The danger had not passed. He had not even escaped this corridor and returned to the Astral Realm.

Here, every moment was filled with pressure and risk.

What Sein needed now was to find a relatively stable zone within this corridor and use it to break out into the Astral Realm.

As he focused on his surroundings, two more of Fermera’s metal wings snapped.

The broken pieces slammed into the surrounding walls, bursting into showers of sparks before being slowly eroded away.

Sein glanced at her and asked, “Can you hold on?”

Fermera, as always, showed little emotion.

She looked at him, gave a small nod, and replied softly, “Mhm.”

***

The flow of time inside a space-time corridor was impossible to determine.

In some corridors, time flowed more slowly than in the material Astral Realm. But more often, it moved faster!

Because he had managed to stay partially conscious the entire time, Sein estimated that he had drifted through the passage for about half a year.

Half a year later, he finally spotted a relatively stable exit and pushed himself toward it.

The moment he passed through, the violent distortion and spatial shock knocked him unconscious.

Fermera and the Burning Flame Unit fared even worse—sparks trailed behind their bodies as they were dragged through the portal.

Before Sein passed out, he managed to pull Yuri into his arms. Tourmaline’s green arm ribbons wrapped tightly around them, doing their best to shield them from the surrounding corrosive forces.

I just hope it’s not some dangerous place or powerful law-wielding creatures waiting for us outside... Being thrown into the unknown like this, with no control over your own fate, is truly awful.

That was Sein’s last thought before everything went dark.

***

When Sein came to, the first thing he noticed was that his cheek felt wet—like something had been licking him.

He opened his eyes to find Tourmaline staring at him, wide-eyed.

The moment she saw him wake up, her face lit up.

“Wow!” She exclaimed, throwing herself at him and wrapping him in a tight hug.

For someone so small, Tourmaline was surprisingly strong.

Sein coughed as she squeezed him.

A faint trace of elemental blood seeped from the corner of his mouth and from several wounds across his body. He was in terrible shape—weak and barely holding together.

At this point, even a demigod-level creature could probably beat him up.

Tourmaline, by contrast, was only covered in bloodstains. She looked mostly fine, though.

Sein could not help but feel a bit envious of her resilience and speed of recovery.

Her vitality was even greater than that of some Rank Five creatures.

Noticing him coughing up blood, Tourmaline quickly let go.

Sein looked at the girl and reached out to gently tap her nose.

“You have way too much energy. I bet I’d recover faster if I ate you,” he joked.

Sein’s playful remark made Tourmaline grab his arm and shake it, pretending to be scared.

She stared at him wide-eyed as she asked, “You want to eat me, Sein?”

Seeing her like that eased some of the pain in his battered body.

Sein looked around. They were surrounded by an endless, pitch-black void, with only a few scattered meteoroids drifting nearby.

At this moment, they were standing on the surface of a relatively large asteroid.

There were no signs of space-time fluctuations, and no portal in sight.

Although his memory was hazy after losing consciousness, Sein quickly pieced things together. Based on his understanding of spatial forces and space-time corridors, their arrival had likely disrupted the balance of matter and energy in the surrounding space.

The resulting imbalance must have pulled nearby meteoroids into the space-time corridor.

Once the energies between the Astral Realm and the space-time corridor stabilized again, the portal closed, leaving them stranded in this empty stretch of space.

At the very least, they were pretty lucky that there were no dangerous zones or chaotic law disturbances nearby.

Sein reached out and pinched Tourmaline’s cheek again. Somehow, things always seemed to work out whenever she was around!

Still, this was no place to stay. Until they understood where they were, there was no way to be sure they were safe.

“Normally, any abnormal space-time disturbance would attract attention from nearby planes or powerful beings,” Sein said.

“With our current condition, it’d be best to find somewhere quiet to rest first. After that, we can figure out which star domain we have ended up in.”

“Alright, I will follow your lead,” Tourmaline said, hugging his arm.

After everything they had just been through, she seemed even more dependent on him.

Sein glanced around again. The Burning Flame Unit and Fermera were not far off.

The mecha was in the worst condition, reduced to nothing but a head. Still, the faint flicker in her eyes showed that her consciousness remained intact.

Fermera was not much better. Most of her body was badly damaged, and the once pristine white memory metal had turned pitch black.

Sein felt grateful toward Fermera. Without her, none of them would have made it out of the space-time corridor alive.