CHAPTER 1
The first step felt impossibly heavy. For the native inhabitants of this world, the rocky ground they walked on was solid. But for the Sovereign, it felt as thin as ice, ready to shatter at any moment. He could sense the atoms beneath his feet vibrating violently, struggling to bear the weight of a soul that shouldn't even exist here.
This world was called Orestes. Once, perhaps, a gem of this constellation; now its skies were a canvas of impossible colors. Clouds moved against the wind, and in the distance, a mountain appeared sliced vertically, as if someone had erased part of its existence.
"Conceptual Decay," he whispered. His own voice sounded alien in his ears, resonating too deeply for this thin atmosphere.
Suddenly, an explosion of energy shook the air. About a kilometer away, dust plumes rose high. The Sovereign closed his eyes, letting his perception expand. He no longer saw light—he saw Law. He felt the panicked pulse of life, a group of low entities trying to resist an anomaly.
Unhurried, he stepped forward. Each step was a constant adjustment between eternity and mortality.
In a shattered valley, a group of silver-armored knights surrounded something they called the Void Beast. The creature had no fixed form; it flickered like shadows, tearing the space around it. Each strike disrupted gravity, sending knights floating helplessly before crashing down at impossible speeds.
"Hold the formation! Do not let the fissure widen!" shouted a female leader. Her sword emitted blue light, a futile attempt to stabilize reality with limited mana energy.
The Sovereign stopped at the cliff's edge, observing. To him, the Void Beast was not a monster—it was a Glitch, a logical error leaking from a deeper dimension.
"The laws here no longer apply to that entity," murmured the Sovereign.
One knight was hurled directly toward him, his body crushed by chaotic gravity. Before he hit the rock, the Sovereign raised a hand. Time seemed to pause.
The floating man didn't stop because he was caught, but because the concept of his motion was erased from space. He hung suspended in the air, safe, as if time itself had frozen just for him.
The Sovereign descended from the cliff, walking through empty air as though invisible stairs existed. The remaining knights stared in horror. They didn't feel a thirst for blood, but something far more terrifying: Absolute Silence.
"Who are you?!" shouted the female leader. "Stay back! That creature will consume your very existence!"
The Sovereign said nothing, continuing toward the roaring Void Beast, which tried to erase this stranger from history. The creature lunged, claws of nothingness aimed straight at his heart.
He did not dodge. He merely touched the tip of the "claw" with one finger.
"Return to the void of non-definition," he commanded softly.
Instantly, the monster's roar ceased. Its anomalous body unraveled—not into flesh or blood, but into shattered codes of light that vanished. The cracked space around them closed, becoming solid and stable again.
The chaos ended not with an explosion, but with obedience.
The Sovereign lowered his hand, feeling his heartbeat slow slightly. Stabilizing just this small point in the world already drained his physical vessel. He glanced at the knights, now kneeling, whether from exhaustion or fear.
"The laws of your universe are sick," said the Sovereign, staring at the shattered sky. "And I have just administered the first dose of their cure."