CHAPTER 188: ASCENDANCY

Solana State.

Bang!

"Who is this Igaris Vance?" snarled a high-ranking lapdog of the Skadi Empire, slamming his fist into the stone table. "How dare he be so audacious! Does he truly think the worlds will listen to him? What a joke!"

He didn’t hesitate. With a wave of his hand, the Overlord’s letter ignited in black flames. The imperial envoy who delivered it was burned alive along with the parchment, his body engulfed in a blaze of searing agony.

Yet even in death, the envoy’s face held a faint smile.

A smile that unsettled the entire chamber.

The Skadi representatives seated in Solana’s house of lords felt an invisible chill, their gazes drifting uneasily to the burning corpse. Their hearts pulsed with something they couldn’t name.

Not fear.

But something far more dangerous—uncertainty.

Still, their enraged leader slammed his chair back and stood.

"Find out who this Igaris Vance is. Before the Emperor even hears of this ridiculous proposal... we will bury that bastard alive."

The others nodded solemnly.

"Solana won’t gamble its future on a madman. There is only one Emperor who reigns over this continent."

Meanwhile, across the remaining nineteen states, similar scenes played out. Disbelief. Laughter. Fury.

But as reports slowly filtered in... as whispers of a man who shattered Skadi fleets and crushed entire battalions reached their ears... the laughter faded.

Skepticism turned to fear. Fear turned to research. And research turned into undeniable proof.

One by one, the leaders of those lands realized:

This Igaris Vance was no mere rebel.

He was the storm they never saw coming.

A king risen from betrayal, carving an empire from ash and corpses.

And now, they faced a choice.

Resist him and be wiped clean from history.

Or follow him and bet their futures on the Overlord’s rising flame.

It was gamble that no many would be willing to take. And Igaris knew it. Despite that, those who are his allies, he would welcome them warmly.

---

Yurelia. Capital: Crystalith Spire

The wind howled through the arched windows of the Council Hall, carrying with it the scent of distant storms and burning futures.

An aged man stood at the topmost balcony, draped in layered robes of emerald and moon-silver. His name was Archsorcerer Varnem Thal, the ruler of Yurelia for nearly a century.

He held a letter in his trembling hands. The seal was broken, but the weight of the words lingered in his mind like thunder before rain.

Behind him, five figures knelt—his trusted Circle of Stars.

"Overlord Igaris Vance," Varnem said, voice aged but still sharp. "The boy who defied fate and carved an independent Empire from Skadi’s bones..."

The others remained silent.

"He’s not asking for our loyalty. He offers us a chance. A chance to fight for more than survival. A chance to restore dignity to the oppressed. This letter... it’s not a threat. It’s a warning of the storm to come."

One of the Circle, a younger woman with silver tattoos etched into her cheek, finally spoke.

"I’ve seen the visions, Master. The flames devouring the Skadi banners. A sword of stars cleaving through the gods. That man... he bears the mark of inevitability."

Another nodded. "Our neutrality has protected us, yes. But for how long? When Skadi turns its eye here, we will fall. Alone, we are doomed."

Varnem stared at the distant sky, where faint glows of warships still hovered on the horizon.

"Then it is decided," he said at last. "Yurelia shall stand with the Overlord. For the first time in a hundred years... we choose a side."

The very next morning, a silver-and-crimson envoy set out from Crystalith Spire toward the capital of the Overlord’s Empire.

Their banner bore a single message:

"Yurelia Stands With You."

And thus, the spark of rebellion became a flame.

---

Meanwhile, Igaris remained in a secluded chamber, consuming the hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones he had swept away from the Federation’s Vault.

Using Infinite Acquisition, he absorbed them like drinking water.

Hundreds of top-grade Spirit Stones were devoured every second.

Igaris’s Inner World expanded to four times the size of Earth—and it was still growing.

Along with this, his Rank began to rise rapidly.

Hours passed... then days, but his progress didn’t slow down.

Apex -5

Apex -6

Apex -8

Apex -9

And now, he stood at the brink of a breakthrough.

Inside the dimly lit chamber, the walls pulsed faintly with dense energy. The floor was covered in a crystalline layer formed from shattered remains of spirit stones, their essence long consumed.

Igaris sat cross-legged in the center, wrapped in streams of black-gold energy. His skin shimmered with radiant glow, and his heartbeat echoed like the tolling of divine bells.

The air around him warped. Space bent slightly at the edges, as if resisting his very presence. His Inner World, now 8 times the size of Earth, roared with life—mountains floating, rivers expanding like spiraling like oceans. It wasn’t just an inner world now. It was a proto-realm.

A glow pulsed in his chest as Infinite Acquisition greedily absorbed another mountain of top-grade Spirit Stones without resistance.

His Rank trembled once more...

[Apex -9] → [Apex -10]

A thick silence fell.

Then—

BOOM!

The chamber cracked violently from within as endless divine energy surged into his body. The energy potent and pure began to transform his body. He was shedding skin of mortality. For real this time.

His very soul resonated with the laws of existence.

[ BREAKTHROUGH INITIATED ]

Advancing to: Ascendant Rank.

The moment this occurred, his Inner World split into nine layers, like realms stacked on top of one another. Energy from distant stars, drifting spirit dimensions, and forgotten ancient zones were all pulled toward him.

His body began to burn from the inside.

But he didn’t stop.

He clenched his fist, and with a defiant snarl, activated Yin-Yang Reversal and Undead Recovery simultaneously to stabilize the chaotic conversion inside him.

His veins bulged.

Eyes lit with void-gold fire.

Muscles crackled like thunderclouds being born.

And then—

a singularity formed behind his back, shaped like an eclipse devouring a galaxy.

Igaris roared—

And ascended.

[ Rank: Ascendant-1 ]

[ You Have Awakened A Natural Law: Fire (0.01%) ]

In that moment, every World Divers, soldier, and monster within his Empire felt a tremor in their soul. A presence had been born that no longer belonged to the mundane plane.

He had begun his journey...

into godhood.