Chapter 243: The Realm of Living Laws
The first thing Igaris felt was pressure. Not the crushing burden of chaos tearing at his essence, but the steady, grounding weight of existence. His eyes opened, revealing a sky unlike any he had ever seen. Vast streams of radiant symbols drifted through the heavens, glowing brighter than suns. Each symbol pulsed as though alive, shaping clouds, seas, and even mountains.
He sat upright. His body still felt whole, his veins still carrying the rhythm of law, but when he tried to summon Genesis or fold Space, nothing happened. His hand remained empty, powerless, and he felt a strange emptiness where the doorway to his inner cosmos should have been.
His heart skipped, but then, deep in his spirit, he sensed it: his wives, his generals, Celestara. All of them were safe, shielded within his inner universe. Though he could not reach them now, the tether between them remained unbroken. Relief steadied him.
He rose. The ground beneath him shimmered with strange glyphs that shifted like flowing water. Each step he took sent ripples across the earth, as though the world itself acknowledged his presence. Yet the power did not belong to him. It belonged to the world itself.
Igaris began walking.
For days he traveled through towering mountains whose peaks glowed with celestial runes, and across oceans where the waves carried whispers of ancient truths. Everywhere he went he saw something both familiar and utterly alien. Children no older than ten years carved shapes into the air, bending laws into toys. Farmers pulled crops from the soil with gestures of Order, their fields thriving in eternal harmony. Warriors sparred in open courtyards, wielding blades of living fire, each swing a manifestation of raw law.
He observed a woman baking bread. With a flick of her wrist, she invoked the Law of Fire and let the dough rise in perfect form. Another mended her husband’s wounds with a soft word, weaving the Law of Vitality into his blood. It was casual, effortless. Here, everyone lived as if they were born gods.
At first he thought these people might be Supreme Gods in mortal guise. But as he listened and learned, he realized it was deeper. They were not gods by ascension, but by birth. Laws bent to their wills from the moment they drew breath. To them, wielding the laws was no more divine than breathing or walking.
"This cannot be the same plane," Igaris muttered while standing atop a ridge, watching the horizon blaze with cities made of light and steel. "This is a higher dimension."
He remembered the outer beings and the Chaotic Cosmos. Could this realm be what lay beyond the Chaos? Or perhaps the Chaos was only a gatekeeper to this higher dimension? Questions burned in his mind.
As he continued his journey, he began to notice something else. While their control of law was innate, these people also wielded technology far superior to anything he had seen in his universe. He walked through a port city where great starships rose like mountains, humming with crystalline cores that pulsed like hearts. Floating vehicles drifted along invisible tracks, and towers of polished metal rose high, powered by circuits etched with the Law of Energy itself.
Machines were not slaves to technology alone, but harmonized with natural law. Weapons did not simply fire; they redirected causality to strike targets. Shields did not simply deflect; they folded probability to prevent the strike from ever landing. Every invention was fused with divine principle.
Intrigued, Igaris sought to understand more. He overheard citizens talking about the Intergalactic Army, an organization that not only defended this realm but also explored distant star clusters. It was said that through the Army, one could travel across galaxies, witness forbidden dimensions, and uncover truths hidden in the very structure of existence.
That night, while camping by a river of glowing liquid that sang like a choir, Igaris clenched his fist. He could not wield his powers here, nor summon the fullness of his inner universe, but his instincts told him this was no accident. He had been cast here for a reason. If he was to return to his wives, his daughter, and his people, he would need to learn the secrets of this dimension.
A faint splash echoed nearby. Igaris turned, his eyes narrowing, only to see a small boy standing at the edge of the glowing river. Barefoot, with hair as pale as starlight, the child held a basket of crystal fruit. His wide eyes stared at Igaris without fear, glimmering with innocent curiosity.
"Mister... are you a soldier of the Intergalactic Empire?" the boy asked softly.
Igaris raised a brow. "Why do you think that?"
The child tilted his head, then smiled. "Because you look like one. The soldiers I see passing through our town... they carry themselves like you do. Straight. Strong. Like the stars bend around them. My father says you can tell a true soldier by his eyes. Yours are the same. They look like they’ve seen everything, but still burn."
For the first time in a long while, Igaris allowed a faint smile to touch his lips. "Is that so?"
The boy nodded eagerly, stepping closer. "You must be resting from your patrol. Soldiers always travel between worlds, guarding us from the Chaos. If you are one of them, then our village is safe tonight."
Chaos. The word struck a chord in Igaris. This world knew of the same force that had consumed his own battlefield. He crouched down, meeting the boy’s gaze. "These soldiers... where do they come from?"
"From the Oynstar Intergalactic Army, of course!" the boy said proudly, puffing out his chest as if he too were one of them. "They train in the great cities and protect every star. Father says without them, we would all be swallowed by darkness."
The river sang behind them, its glow casting ripples across Igaris’s face. His thoughts sharpened. The Army... so that was the name. A force strong enough to be spoken of with reverence, connected to both Chaos and order.
The boy’s voice lowered, almost a whisper. "One day, I’ll be a soldier too. Just like you."
Igaris placed a hand gently on the child’s head. "Then grow strong, little one. Stronger than the darkness. Protect your world when the time comes."
The boy grinned before running off into the night, clutching his basket.
Alone once more, Igaris lifted his gaze to the stars. The boy’s words lingered in his heart, carrying the weight of destiny.
"Then the Army will be my path," he whispered to the silent stars.
The next day, Igaris arrived at a city built into the side of a crystal canyon. The city gleamed with radiant towers that bent light into rainbows. At its heart rose a coliseum where thousands of figures trained in combat, their bodies glowing faintly with the resonance of law. At the gates, a banner stretched high, written in symbols that burned with authority.
OYNSTAR INTERGALACTIC ARMY RECRUITMENT CENTER.
Igaris entered.
Inside, he was greeted by a scene of organized chaos. Hundreds of men and women sparred in open rings, hurling fragments of law at one another with ease. Recruiters dressed in silver armor inscribed with shifting runes assessed candidates, noting their proficiency with different laws. Some manipulated Time in controlled bursts, freezing objects mid-air. Others wielded elemental fury, combining fire and wind into blades sharper than steel. Still others called upon stranger powers, bending causality itself or weaving illusions from law.
One of the recruiters, a tall man with burning eyes and an aura that screamed authority, approached him. "Name?"
Igaris considered. His true name carried too much weight, and he could not risk exposing himself until he knew this world better. "Igor," he answered calmly.
The recruiter nodded, scribbling the name into a floating slate of light. "Origin?"
Igaris hesitated. "Fallen World. Lost to war."
"I see..." The recruiter studied him with sharp suspicion, then shrugged. "Happens more often than you’d think. Show me your Law affinity."
Igaris extended his hand, willing his laws to manifest. But nothing happened. Not even the faintest spark. For the first time in countless ages, he felt the silence of impotence.
Around him, whispers began. Candidates sneered. Some laughed.
The recruiter’s expression darkened. "No affinity? Then you are wasting my time."
But Igaris did not flinch. He bowed his head slightly, as though humbling himself, and spoke evenly. "I may not wield law as you do, but I have fought wars against beings that would devour galaxies. Test me by strength, not by affinity."
The recruiter frowned, but something in Igaris’s gaze made him pause. Against all reason, he gestured to the sparring ring. "Fine. Prove yourself."
Igaris stepped into the arena. A challenger awaited him, a young woman whose body shimmered with the Law of Metal. Her arms transformed into gleaming blades, and she smiled with cruel confidence.
"This will be quick."
She struck first. Her blades slashed at speeds faster than sound, guided by the certainty of law.
Igaris moved with his raw physical strength alone. His body no longer bore the same overwhelming magical energy, but his physical strength was something no-one can comprehend.
Even now, he could crush stars with his body alone.
He twisted, parried with bare hands, and redirected her momentum. In one fluid motion he swept her legs and slammed her into the arena floor.
"Bang!"
Gasps erupted around the ring.
The recruiter’s eyes narrowed. "No law, yet you can defeat one who wields it..." He scribbled on his slate. "Interesting. Very well, Igaris. You are accepted into the Army. Let us see if your claims hold true when the battlefield calls."
Igaris nodded, silent. Inside, a storm of determination raged. If this was truly a higher-dimensional realm where all lived as gods, then he would master it. He would uncover its secrets, find a way to recover his powers, and return to his people.
Until then, he would walk among them, hidden beneath a borrowed name, learning their ways.
That night, as the recruits returned to their barracks, Igaris stood apart, staring at the twin moons above. For the first time in millennia, he was an unknown, a nameless soldier, stripped of titles and feared legacies. It should have angered him, but instead, it thrilled him. For the first time since his rise to Overlord, the path ahead was uncertain. And uncertainty was the crucible of growth.
He would start at the bottom, but he would rise. This realm of living laws would not remain a mystery for long.
For though he had fallen into the Chaotic River and been cast into this world of higher dimension, he remained what he always was.
An Overlord in waiting.