CHAPTER 196: DIVINE ARMAMENT

Seven women, each more stunning than the last, emerged from veils of light and mist. Every step they took seemed to sing with divine harmony. Their eyes sparkled with moonlight, their voices like lullabies sung in the tongues of the heavens.

One had hair like molten gold, cascading over her porcelain shoulders as she smiled gently.

Another wore a crimson robe split at the thigh, her steps swaying with forbidden rhythm, her voice a whisper against his soul.

One had wings of silver and skin like crystal, her gaze carrying sorrow that could move even immortals to weep.

They moved toward him.

Goddess-like. Ethereal. Impossibly perfect.

They encircled him, their voices layered in harmony, speaking as one.

"Warrior of Chaos... you need not walk alone."

"Cast aside the burdens of conquest."

"Stay here. In pleasure. In peace."

One of them caressed his chest with a finger that burned and soothed at once. Another leaned in, her breath brushing his ear.

"You’ve already proven your strength. Why chase shadows in a world that has only offered pain?"

Their power was not brute force. It was spiritual. Emotional. Designed to unravel his will.

Even his Architect’s Eyes blurred momentarily, the overwhelming allure pressing against his soul like warm velvet.

They weren’t real.

But their touch felt real.

Their scent, their warmth, the emotions they provoked — very real.

This was not an illusion.

This was a soul trial.

One that tested not fists, but conviction.

Igaris stood motionless, his face calm, yet his spirit roared beneath the surface.

Then—

Paah!

He raised his hand and slapped aside the nearest beauty. Her form shattered into lotus petals, vanishing into sparks.

"Peace?" he said coldly. "Peace is the mercy of the strong. And I’m not done crushing the heavens yet."

Another reached toward his face, her tear-filled eyes pleading.

"Sweetheart, I could give you love eternal... no betrayal... no loss..."

Still, he drove his palm into her chest. She vanished into smoke.

Igaris’s voice echoed across the hall like steel drawn from its scabbard.

"If I fall, it will be in battle. Not in silk.

Besides, my wives are more beautiful than you. "

The remaining figures screamed. Their forms warped, revealing their true nature — spirit parasites wearing beauty like a mask. Twisted, demonic creatures shrieking in rage, denied their feast.

Igaris’s aura intensified.

Shadow tore through the hall. The creatures screeched one last time before vanishing into nothingness.

The false paradise faded, and the true interior of the fortress revealed itself — a broken temple, its walls cracked with age, its floor littered with ancient bones and rusted weapons.

[ Congratulations, Igaris Vance. You may Step into the next Trial. ]

With that voice, the scenery changed again.

The fortress vanished. The ground beneath his feet disappeared. The blood moon, the shattered temple, even the weap — all blinked out of existence.

He found himself suspended in a void.

No floor. No ceiling.

Only infinite darkness, dotted with stars that flickered like ancient eyes. Massive constellations spun silently in the distance, each one larger than worlds, glowing with forgotten power.

The void was not cold.

It was not hot.

It simply was.

Igaris floated effortlessly, neither falling nor flying, surrounded by an emptiness that whispered secrets older than time. His heartbeat slowed. His breathing calmed.

And yet, he remained alert.

This was not rest.

It was a test.

Suddenly, glowing text appeared before him, written in an ancient celestial script, yet perfectly readable in his mind.

[Soul Resonance Trial Initiated]

To wield the Divine Armament, one must prove not only strength of body, but strength of soul.

Reveal the worth of your existence.

Then silence.

A pressure began to rise.

It was not from a monster, not from an enemy.

It came from within.

Igaris felt his own soul being pulled forward, examined, judged by something colossal and unseen.

Visions surfaced.

His past.

His failures.

The burning ruin of the Vance estate.

The cries of his family.

The cold gaze of the Skadi nobles who betrayed his bloodline.

The bodies.

The rage.

The silence that followed.

Then — his rise.

The killing.

The silence broken by screams.

The masked determination.

The declaration in Stargaze City.

He saw it all reflected in the void around him like echoing fragments of shattered mirrors.

And then a question appeared, burning in light:

"What are you?"

The voice came not from outside.

It came from within.

A test to define the shape of his soul.

Igaris looked into the void — into himself.

The question hovered before him like a blade pointed at his heart.

"What are you?"

The stars pulsed, waiting.

The constellations dimmed.

The void itself seemed to lean in.

Igaris didn’t hesitate.

His voice cut through the silence like a sovereign’s decree.

"I am the Overlord."

The moment the words left his mouth, the void reacted.

BOOM.

A shockwave burst outward in all directions, sending ripples through the stars. Distant galaxies trembled. The constellations blinked rapidly, realigning, as if kneeling to that single truth.

The pressure that had loomed over him shattered.

And in its place, came acknowledgment.

The ancient script reappeared, glowing brighter than before.

[Recognition Confirmed.]

[Title Acquired: Soul Overlord]

Your will has bent the void. Your existence has cast shadow upon fate itself. You are not a piece to be moved. You are the hand that moves the board.

Suddenly, a beam of starlight descended from above and wrapped around Igaris’s body, lifting him higher into the cosmic dark.

His body remained still, but his soul blazed.

He didn’t need to scream.

He didn’t need to shout.

The void itself carried his name now.

And in that timeless silence, the Divine Weapon responded.

From the distant edge of the cosmos, a shape streaked toward him — a blade wrapped in eternity, forged not from metal, but from compressed fate and forgotten vengeance.

It halted before him, floating, humming softly.

He reached out.

The moment his hand closed around the hilt, the illusion shattered again.

CRACK.

The void fractured like glass, and he found himself back in the Hanging Fortress, standing alone before the nine keyholes.

But something had changed.

Floating behind him now was the Divine Weapon — no longer sealed.

It had chosen.

And it followed only one name.

Igaris, The Overlord.

But something was wrong. Terribly Wrong.

Igaris narrowed his eyes.

The weapon in his hand pulsed with power, radiating majesty and authority — but it was off. Not in form or weight, but in essence. It felt constructed, like a perfect performance put on for an unknowing audience.

Too smooth. Too obedient. Too easy.

And Igaris wasn’t a fool.

He closed his eyes.

The Architect’s Eyes — Activated.

A surge of vision erupted through his perception. Layers peeled away like silk curtains. He saw through the facade, diving into the weapon’s soul imprint, into the dimensional space hidden within.

And then he saw it.

A realm sealed inside the weapon — endless in scale yet bound by invisible chains.

There, seated atop a throne of molten scales and shattered bones, was a Demonic Dragon.

Colossal. Ancient. Cursed.

Its horns twisted like obsidian spires. Scars lined its snout. Its wings, although folded, stretched across the void like torn banners of war. But what struck Igaris most were its eyes — void-black, as if carved from the Abyss itself.

Eyes that stared straight at him.

The dragon grinned, a cruel, knowing smile full of teeth older than empires.

"Tch. So you’ve found out..."

Its voice echoed directly into Igaris’s mind, soaked in disdain and satisfaction.

"You caught on quicker than the last one. Pity. He screamed for hours."

Crack!

The illusion shattered like glass.

The blade dissolved in his grip, revealing its true form — not a forged Divine Weapon, but a condensed Soul Core of a primordial being.

A being that now revealed itself in full.

The void twisted. Space churned. And from the collapsing fragments emerged a monstrous, living shadow — a dragon formed entirely of black flame and soul mist.

Its voice rumbled across dimensions.

"I am the Dragon Monarch of Darkness. I am Hell. I am Abyss.

The Supreme Gods tried to bind me, enslave me, destroy me...

But they forgot. I am the all-powerful Darkness Dragon Monarch.

A mere Divine Weapon cannot seal me forever!"

Lightning coiled around its wings as the dragon spread its claws and surged forward.

Then, in a single motion, it lunged—

—and passed into Igaris’s body.

The soul invasion began.

The dragon, expecting a mortal spirit it could crush, prepared to consume him from within.

But then it saw it.

And everything froze.

Inside Igaris’s spiritual realm, there was no chaotic soulspace. No fragile human psyche waiting to be overwhelmed.

What awaited the Darkness Dragon was a boundless, cosmic dominion.

A soul that shimmered like galaxies aligned.

The boundless humanoid Soul Manifestation of the Overlord was cloaked in starlight, its eyes glowed like collapsing suns. His presence alone bent space and time inside the realm.

And in his heart lay the Inner World—a massive orbiting planet which had already formed its own ecosystem and solar system.

This was not just a soul.

This was the boundless domain where Overlord’s will reign supreme.

The dragon recoiled, horror crawling across its face.

"This can’t be true..."