While the Emperor was having his meeting with the members of his court and planning to wage war within the monument of Ordinances, Hal was in the void of his Sovereign tests.

He was cross-legged and his eyes were closed while he breathed in and out slowly.

Sassy was in her large serpentine form and curled up behind him.

There was a large dark creature that melted into the color of the environment and was barely visible as a result.

The figure was on its knees and as it watched Hal breathe in and out with complete and total serenity, it yelled at him,

“Just Give Up Already!”

Over the past year, (Yes, time flowed the same within the void as it did outside of it. Although there was no day or night, Hal, together with Sassy could still keep track and could say it had indeed been a year.) the Dark figure had tried it all.

First, it had tormented Hal with the painful remembrance of all the lives he had lived due to the Nihasa’s reincarnation ring.

Not only had it been painful because he should not have remembered, but it had also been painful because the test was meant to be painful so Hal practically felt double the pain.

And then it had forced Hal even farther back than that to the very vague reason of why he had a connection to the Primordial Principle of Order but that had done nothing to explain things to Hal.

It was something about a battle between brothers and its effect on the structure of the three realms or more precisely, the structure of the Cosmic and Mortal realms and even if Hal wished to pay attention and understand it which was hard enough due to the mind busting pain…

… He would not be able to as they were basically flashes of images that hardly made any sense.

From the pain of remembrance, the dark figure that had been mastermind moved to submerge Hal into Alternate realities.

Where he faced tragedy time and time again, especially when he expected things to go well, just so it could break his Dao heart.

In all these alternate realities, Hal usually lost memory of his actual life in an attempt to make the ‘dream’ seem even more real but whenever it seemed like Hal was about to break, he would remember his life and his determination to be Sovereign would be renewed.

Over and over again, Hal played the cat and mouse game with the Dark figure that never attempted to cause him physical harm.

The test of Sovereignty was purely psychological.

The psychological pain that hurt more than any physical pain ever could.

But not once did Hal break and it actually got to a point where every alternate reality he was thrust into, it would only take for a scene to play out and Hal would once again establish that he was sovereign.

The alternate realities lost all power on him.

Hal could feel it and he had a feeling that the Dark figure could to feel it as well that the more tests he passed, the less likely it was for him to fail.

And that was why when the Dark figure asked its question, Hal smiled and turned it around,

“Why don’t YOU give up? The longer this goes on, the more it is reiterated to me that my becoming the only one to personify Sovereignty is Inevitable.

The longer he spent here, the more he understood his Dao and it was why he knew that just as the Primordial Principle of Order is the Originator of the Ordinances, so also was the Dao of Sovereignty the originator of all Daos.

It was the first Dao to exist.

And it was the first to exert its rule on Cosmic energy.

Sovereignty was the Cosmic Emperor.

This whole space was a facade.

The Dark figure was a facade.

But a necessary facade for Hal to completely understand his Dao.

For him to completely understand who he was.

Everything was for that purpose… Especially, the remembrance of his past lives which he had been forced to forget due to his mother’s manipulation.

Yeah, the lives were trivial in her grand scheme and he never really had familial connections in any of them.

Yes, he never sowed his seed but it would be wrong to say he never had any connections.

He had friends… 

He had relationships…

In fact, the life he lived on earth as an Archeologist was probably the least fruitful of all his past lives.

Remembering those lives was important.

They were key to his development.

He was no longer in the dark.

He knew now, how his personality had been.

He knew now, how he had been.

He knew now, how he had been forced to live because of Nihasa and now he was forging his own path.

When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in a Dark void, or more accurately, the Dark void was no longer dark.

It was a mixture of sapphire blue and Imperial gold colors.

The facade that was the Dark figure was gone…

He had passed…

He was Sovereign…

If he needed any more proof of that fact it would be that once he thought with definite certainty that he was Sovereign, the space morphed.

It became a gigantic White palace with space that seemed to stretch infinitely and have no end.

Sassy, who had been curled behind him, raised her head and reverted to her human form to admire her master’s large palace.

Hal’s eyes were completely on a large throne made with gold and Sapphires. No throne ever made could possibly compare. Of that, he was certain.

This throne, his throne, existed to trump all others.

Where he was crosslegged was a gold-plated path that led to the stairs that led to the throne that was raised to be above all else.

As though in a trance, Hal stood to his feet and walked the golden path towards his throne.

Every step he took on the golden path on the stairs leading to the throne reverberated a mighty sound about the space and reaffirmed that the Sovereign who would put down all Supremes was about to take his throne.

When Hal sat in his throne that despite its seat being of solid gold, felt like soft velvet pillows to his Sovereign buttocks, Sassy was suddenly by his side.

She looked sideways at her master but Hal never looked at her and instead said,

“Drink it in Sassy. Of all my forces, you shall be first to feel my Sovereignty.” his voice was backed with authority despite being as mellifluous as ever.

“I am honored,” Sassy said and bowed.

A scepter appeared in Hal’s hand and he gripped it tightly while knowing full well that it was the manifestation of his Sovereign Law.

Glorious as this event was for Hal, a killjoy part of his brain reminded him that he should not let this power go to his head.

That now that he was Sovereign, his requirements would have to be new and unorthodox and also be difficult to attain.

It also reminded him that comprehending his Dao of Sovereignty did not suddenly mean he was now invincible and he would need to increase his strength as fast as he could so that he did not die and lose his Sovereignty before he could even truly get to enjoy it.

Hal listened to that part of his brain but did not let it ruin his mood.

He would afford himself adequate time to revel in this victory 

After all, He was in his Domain….