Chapter 79 – Order and Orbit
The next morning, Philip walked into the office tower, his steps slow but firm.
The building felt hollow.
Too quiet.
Empty desks. Powered-down screens. Whispers and side glances from those who remained..
And most of all… about him.
"Mr. Egboluche," Maya greeted with a tight nod, a tablet clutched to her chest. "Chidozie resigned early this morning. Half of the new staff quit with him. Some left notes. Others just walked."
Philip nodded, not surprised. Chidozie had always felt something simmering beneath the surface ambition, ego, or fear. Maybe all three. What mattered now was rebuilding.
"I want you to run background checks on the ones still here," Philip said, his voice calm but firm. "And reach out to the older staff the ones who left before all this began. See who's willing to return. Offer them whatever incentives are needed."
Maya's expression didn't change, but she gave a small nod. "Understood."
The entire day, Philip buried himself in the logistics of order. Staffing models, department audits, financial damage assessments. Strategic restructuring. Not just for the sake of business but for something greater. He needed a working front. A place of stability. If he was going to step behind the veil of the world, someone had to keep the surface running.
By nightfall, the office lights dimmed, and the city's neon haze blinked through the glass. He stood alone in the executive suite, overlooking Lagos like a god staring at his creation.
Tomorrow, he would meet Dr. Remi. .
But before he could move behind the scenes before he could truly operate at the level the Emperor expected he had to ascend.
He had to become a Monarch.
It wasn't just about mana capacity or battle instinct. That wasn't enough anymore. A true Monarch had to attune to a Law not a rule of magic or culture, but a fundamental truth of existence. Something eternal. Immutable.
Normally, sensing the laws of a world would suffice.
But Philip wasn't normal.
The Emperor had warned him: "You're not just climbing a tower you're moving toward the throne. And for that, you need to see the threads that bind not a world… but the universe." and connect yourself to those threads. The gem on his head would help him comprehend the laws of the universe.
Since he left the Emperor's Trial, he'd been trying. He would flood the gem with soul essence and when the gem turned purple it would pull his soul to sense the laws of the universe.
The first time the gem took him to a place that dark like the void where he saw serval presence greater that the emperor from what he could sense they were like a sun to his fire fly. His presence didn't cause any ripples in the void like space. Time moved differently it took his a while to finally get a feel for the area and sense the laws around him. The first time he sensed a law the backlash almost killed him. He woke up feeling weak the next day he decide to feel the law slowly. But before long he felt serval laws calling to him. The loudest was space
And each time, he felt it: a subtle pull.
A soft hum beneath reality.
Space.
Among all the laws, this one whispered to him the loudest. The rhythm of orbits. The stillness between stars. The compression of matter. The infinite stretching void. His body resonated with it his soul seemed carved from its silence.
It was as if the Law of Space had been calling him long before he ever knew to listen.
But resonance was not enough. He needed more than a whisper.
He needed communion. As night settled over the city, Philip returned to his private chamber and sat cross-legged in the center of the room, the lights dimmed, all distractions stripped away.
He closed his eyes. Let his breath fade. Let the world vanish. And then, slowly he reached out with his soul.
Not toward Earth. But toward the fabric of the cosmos. He stretched beyond planets, beyond constellations, searching for the rhythm that governed it all. And in the stillness of his heart…
The first ripple came. A pulse.
A gravitational breath. Not loud. Not overwhelming. But real. And ancient.
The Law of Space had noticed him.
And for the first time, it answered back. Philip found himself in front of a force so large it made him feel like he couldn't compare even the emperor didn't give him that feeling
And for the first time… it answered back.
Philip found himself standing before a force so vast, so unbound, that it dwarfed everything he had ever known.
Even the Emperor
The one who moved through realms and rewrote laws
Even he had never made Philip feel like this.
Like an ant. No… not even that.
Like a thought drifting on the surface of an ocean too wide to map.
Too deep to measure.
Before him stretched nothing and everything.
Galaxies wheeled silently through vast cosmic seas. Nebulae shimmered like sleeping titans wrapped in clouds of color and silence. Black holes spun like gates. And in the middle of it all…
A presence.
It did not speak in words.
It existed.
Timeless. Impartial. Infinite.
And yet…
It had turned to look at him.
No eyes. No face.
But Philip knew he had its attention.
And in that moment, his body screamed.
Not in pain.
In limitation.
He wasn't built to hold this.
Not yet.
But something within him held steady some thread of will, refined by war, by isolation, by purpose. He straightened his back. He let his thoughts flatten, let his ego dissolve.
He wasn't here to demand.
He was here to learn.
And in return… the cosmos stirred.
A shard of the presence moved.
Not toward him but into him.
Time fractured. Reality cracked.
Philip's vision went white. And then He saw it.
Not with eyes. Not with mana-sense.
With something deeper
He saw the Law of Space.
Not as text. Not as a diagram.
As a truth.
He saw the distance between atoms.The orbits of hearts around the things they loved.The way power stretched and snapped when it reached too far.He saw why gravity bends light.Why silence is the loudest sound in the void.
And deeper still…
He saw paths. Lines drawn across the universe.
Tethers connecting stars to planets… lives to destinies.
He saw that movement was never random.
That all things were caught in orbit
Some around ideas. Others around pain.
But the strongest… orbited purpose.
When the vision ended, he collapsed backward.
His body trembled. His breath returned in ragged bursts.
But around his chest, his necklace pulsed dim, but alive. It had absorbed something. It had changed.
So had he. He was no longer just someone who resonated with the Law.
He was linked to it. Space wasn't just a concept anymore.
It was his domain.