Reincarnated as the Villain: The System Made Me Overpowered-Chapter 74: The Chain Of Sovereigns

Lightning cracked overhead as the battle in the Skybound Spire roared into its second stage.

The ancient tower trembled with each thunderclap, its crystalline walls reflecting the chaotic energy that danced through the storm-darkened sky. Rain lashed against the transparent barriers that separated them from the howling winds outside, each droplet carrying traces of magical residue from the battles being fought across multiple dimensions simultaneously.

Valerian stood with blood trickling down his arm, the warm crimson a stark contrast against his pale skin. The shattered remains of a magical barrier dissolved from his shoulder like fragments of broken glass catching the lightning’s glow. His breathing was labored, each breath sending sharp pains through his ribs where the last attack had connected. The taste of copper filled his mouth, and he could feel his system working overtime to keep him standing.

Across from him, a towering figure loomed—a Sovereign Wraith draped in black armor sculpted from divine remnants, its very presence warping the air around it. The armor wasn’t merely worn; it was fused with the creature’s essence, pulsing with veins of dark energy that seemed to absorb light itself. Its body flickered between tangible steel and phantasmal flame, existing in multiple states simultaneously. Its helm had no face, only a writhing void that screamed power with every breath it took.

The temperature in the chamber had dropped noticeably since its arrival, and frost was beginning to form on the walls despite the magical heating runes carved into the stone. This wasn’t just cold—it was the absence of warmth, of life, of hope itself.

"You are not meant to be here," the Wraith hissed, its voice a chorus of a hundred condemned kings, each word layered with the agony of souls long lost to the void. The sound reverberated through the chamber, making the crystal walls sing with harmonic frequencies that hurt to hear.

Valerian didn’t blink, though his muscles tensed in preparation for what was coming. His system was already running diagnostics, calculating angles of attack, probability matrices for survival. "And yet here I am, pissing on destiny again."

The casual defiance in his tone masked the very real fear coursing through his veins. This wasn’t just another enemy—this was a Sovereign-class entity, something that should have been beyond his current level by orders of magnitude.

Kael dashed past him, his twin swords erupting with cursed lightning that crackled and hissed as it met the supernatural atmosphere of the chamber. The weapons were extensions of his soul now, forged from his own life force and tempered in battles that would have broken lesser men. "Buy me ten seconds!"

His friend’s voice carried the weight of absolute trust—trust that Valerian would hold the line no matter what came at them.

Valerian hurled his hand forward, channeling power through every nerve ending in his body. "Graviton Burst!"

A vortex of warped gravity exploded around the Wraith, distorting space itself in a sphere of crushing force. The air became visible as it compressed and expanded, creating ripples that made the eye water to follow. The attack was designed to slow, to disorient, to buy precious seconds for his allies to position themselves.

Seraphina soared above with burning phoenix wings that left trails of golden fire in her wake, her spear spinning in a blaze of divine heat that turned the air around her into a shimmer of distorted space. Her movements were poetry in motion, each gesture calculated for maximum impact.

"NOW!"

She struck the Wraith’s head with all the force her divine heritage could muster—only for her spear to pass through as if slicing through smoke. The weapon met no resistance, finding no purchase on the creature’s shifting form.

The Wraith reformed behind her with casual ease, its void-helm turning to regard her with what might have been amusement.

"Pathetic tricks of the living."

It slammed a dark blade toward her spine, a weapon that seemed to cut through more than just physical space—it carved through possibilities, through potential futures where she might have dodged or blocked. But a black-gloved hand caught it mid-strike with a sound like reality tearing.

Valerian, teeth clenched, eyes flaring crimson with power that shouldn’t have been possible at his level.

"Not her."

The words carried more than defiance—they carried absolute, unwavering conviction. His system was screaming warnings about power overload, about pushing beyond safe parameters, but he ignored them all.

With a roar that shook dust from the ancient stones, he twisted and broke the Wraith’s sword arm with an impossible crack that sounded like breaking bone magnified a hundredfold. The entire chamber trembled as if time itself had skipped a beat, reality stuttering around the point of impact.

Seraphina landed beside him, her wings folding gracefully against her back, but her eyes were wide with shock. "You... moved through the Void Phase..."

The Void Phase was supposed to be impenetrable—a state where physical and magical attacks simply passed through without effect. To interact with something in that state required power that belonged to entities far beyond mortal comprehension.

"I don’t know how," he muttered, flexing his fingers and watching sparks of dark energy dance between them. "The System’s reacting... like it’s learning."

[Skill Acquired: Void Step (Unstable)]

[Warning: Skill evolution detected outside normal parameters]

Lira’s eyes widened as she read the system notification. "That’s a Sovereign-level skill. You’re bypassing evolution limits—"

The implications were staggering. Skills weren’t just learned—they were earned through understanding, through growth, through pushing oneself to the very limits of capability.

A deafening hum cut her off, a sound that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The Wraith lifted its remaining hand, and shadows began to coalesce around it, forming a crown of black fire that burned without heat but somehow made the air itself scream in agony.

"Then die as Sovereigns do."

The crown split into nine blades, each one a masterwork of concentrated malevolence, pointed toward a different heart. They hung in the air for a moment, suspended like a constellation of death, before launching simultaneously with speeds that turned them into mere streaks of darkness.

Kael intercepted two with raw sword force, his cursed lightning meeting the dark blades in explosions of competing energies that left scorch marks on the crystal walls. Selene summoned a crescent shield of winter, ice crystals forming instantly in patterns too complex for the eye to follow. The barrier caught another blade, but the impact sent spider-web cracks racing across its surface.

Seraphina incinerated two with divine songfire, her voice rising in a harmony that turned sound itself into weapon. The notes she sang were in a language older than human speech, each syllable carrying the weight of celestial authority.

The remaining four—headed for Valerian with unerring accuracy.

He exhaled slowly, feeling time stretch like taffy around him as his perception accelerated beyond normal human limits.

[Trigger: Crown Eater Protocol — Tier Lock Release]

[Warning: Protocol activation will exceed safe parameters]

For the briefest instant, his eyes turned pitch black—not the absence of color, but the presence of something that absorbed all light, all hope, all possibility.

He caught all four blades midair—barehanded.

The metal was cold against his palms, colder than ice, colder than space itself. But his grip held, his enhanced reflexes and the system’s impossible interventions allowing him to grasp weapons that should have passed through him like smoke.

System Alert: Soul Threshold Exceeded — Warning: Core Burnout Imminent

He dropped to one knee as blood gushed from his nose, the warm liquid a stark reminder of his mortality even as power beyond mortal ken flowed through his veins. Smoke curled from his skin where the system’s energy had overloaded his nervous system, leaving patterns like circuit traces across his arms and chest.

But the blades clattered harmlessly around him, their threat neutralized by his impossible catch.

The Wraith cocked its head, the gesture somehow conveying surprise despite its lack of visible features. "You devour the weapons of kings. Then you are ready."

Ready for what?

The question hung in the air as the chamber began to shift around them. The walls peeled back like layers of memory being stripped away, revealing architecture that belonged to no earthly design. A staircase emerged from the floor itself, spiraling upward toward a floating monolith that pulsed with power older than civilization.

Chains made of pure runic script coiled around the monolith, each link inscribed with symbols that hurt to look at directly. The chains pulsed with their own internal rhythm, like a heartbeat made visible.

"The Chain of Sovereigns," Selene whispered, her voice filled with recognition and growing horror. "That’s what binds the Throne of Control. If it’s broken..."

The implications hit them all at once. The Throne of Control wasn’t just a seat of power—it was the nexus point where all reality converged, where the fundamental laws that governed existence could be rewritten.

Valerian’s heart pounded as understanding dawned. This wasn’t just another trial or test. This was the endgame.

Kael stepped forward, his swords still crackling with residual energy. "Then whoever breaks it takes the throne."

The Wraith did not attack. Instead, it performed something that might have been a bow, its void-helm dipping in acknowledgment.

"The chain awaits the one strong enough to break it. Prove yourself... or be forgotten."

Without warning, the Sovereign Wraith vanished—not destroyed, but absorbed into the monolith itself, becoming part of the trials that awaited within.

A heartbeat of silence stretched between them.

Then the chains screamed.

It was not a sound that belonged in the physical world—it was the cry of concepts being tortured, of laws of nature being bent beyond their breaking points. The chains began to tighten around the monolith, crushing it slowly with inexorable force. As they moved, they tore through time itself, each link burning with fragments of past battles, memories, and wars that had shaped the very foundations of reality.

Selene staggered, her hand pressed to her temple as visions flooded her mind. "It’s projecting trials from past sovereigns. Every king, every emperor, every being who ever sought to claim ultimate power."

From above, specters of ancient kings began to descend like falling stars, each one a legend made manifest.

One, wrapped in golden armor that blazed like a captured sun. Another, veiled in shadows so deep they seemed to swallow illumination itself. A third, her wings obsidian and weeping tears that fell upward like reversed rain.

Each was a past sovereign. Each was a monster in their own right.

"Do we fight all of them?" Kael asked, flexing his swords in preparation for battle.

"No," Valerian said grimly, his voice carrying a finality that made them all turn to look at him. "I do."

"What?!" Seraphina hissed, her wings flaring with agitation. "Valerian, you can barely stand. Your system is already at critical levels."

Valerian stepped forward, each movement carefully controlled to hide the pain that lanced through his body with every breath. "The chain chooses. I’m the one marked by the system. I either survive this... or I never reach what’s coming."

He turned to face them all, and despite the blood on his face, despite the smoke still rising from his overloaded nervous system, he managed to smirk.

"I need you all to keep the spire stable. If it collapses, I die with it."

They wanted to argue, but the moment he touched the first step of the chain’s platform, the world cut them off. A force field snapped into place around him, isolating him completely from any outside aid.

Kael cursed under his breath. "Typical Valerian move."

Inside the barrier, time fractured like glass struck by a hammer.

Valerian stood on an endless plain of gray ash beneath a sky where stars spun like broken wheels, their light casting shadows that fell in directions that didn’t exist in normal space.

The first Sovereign approached—an armored god-king whose very presence made the ash beneath his feet turn to crystal. He wielded a greatsword larger than a tower, its blade inscribed with the names of every enemy he had ever slain.

Valerian’s knees shook as power beyond comprehension radiated from the approaching figure. His system was barely functional, running on emergency protocols and sheer stubborn refusal to shut down.

[Trial Initiated: Sovereign One — Lord of Will]

[Objective: Break his Crown]

[Warning: Probability of success approaches zero]

The king charged, and the world turned into war.

Valerian barely ducked the first strike, the massive blade passing so close to his head that he could feel the wind of its passage. The sword cleaved the plain in half like it was made of paper, sending chunks of crystallized ash flying in all directions.

"DIE, FRACTURED SPAWN!"

The voice carried the weight of absolute authority, the kind of power that could reshape worlds with a whispered command.

Valerian’s hands glowed with the last reserves of his power, chaos and order swirling together in patterns that shouldn’t have been possible. He summoned dual blades—one made of red entropy that seemed to devour light itself, the other of pure gold that blazed like a fragment of the sun’s core.

They clashed.

The impact sent shockwaves through dimensions that existed only in theory. The force launched Valerian into the air, his body tumbling like a rag doll. He twisted mid-air, fighting to regain control, and landed hard on one knee, coughing blood that steamed when it hit the crystalline ground.

[Warning: Spine Integrity at 41%]

The Sovereign charged again. Valerian slashed across the ground with his entropy blade, carving a line of absolute nothingness. The king stopped short at the edge of the void—hesitated.

Valerian blinked through the pain and exhaustion.

Why did he pause?

Then understanding hit him like a physical blow. This wasn’t just a test of strength.

He wasn’t just fighting. He was being tested.

Each Sovereign left something behind when they fell. A weakness. A lesson.

This wasn’t about brute force.

It was about evolution—not of the body, but of the spirit, of understanding.

Valerian dropped his blades, the weapons dissolving back into raw energy.

The Sovereign roared and slashed downward with enough force to split mountains—

And Valerian ran straight into it.

Not away from the blade, but toward it, opening his arms as if to embrace the weapon that would end his existence.

The blade cut through—

Nothing.

The moment it touched his chest, the entire illusion shattered like glass struck by thunder. The gray plain dissolved, and the armored king smiled—actually smiled—before fading away like morning mist.

[Trial Complete. Wisdom Acquired: Sovereigns fear the surrender of ego.]

[One Chain Shattered.]

The sky above cracked as one of the nine rune-chains binding the monolith exploded in a shower of golden sparks.

Outside the barrier, Kael saw the light show and allowed himself a grim smile. "He passed one."

But even as the words left his lips, a second Sovereign was already descending—a winged queen made of ice and thunder, her form shifting between states of matter.

Valerian faced her in a new arena, this one a reflection of his own memories twisted into nightmare shapes. His breathing was ragged, his system running on fumes.

[Trial Two: Sovereign of Grief]

[Objective: Face what was lost]

This one didn’t attack with blade or spell.

She stared into him with eyes like winter storms, and suddenly his mind was no longer his own. She was projecting memories—forcing him to relive them with perfect clarity, perfect pain.

Valerian gasped as the visions hit him—he saw Alex, his original self before reincarnation. Crying. Begging. Watching the world die around him in slow motion while he remained powerless to stop it.

His mother, her last words lost in the sound of machines failing. The betrayal by those he had trusted. The hopelessness of a dying world where every choice led to greater suffering.

His knees gave way under the weight of remembered anguish. "No... don’t make me remember..."

The Sovereign whispered with a voice like wind through graveyards: "You have not grieved."

It was true. He had never allowed himself the luxury of mourning. He had simply buried the pain beneath layers of determination and forward momentum.

Tears welled in Valerian’s eyes for the first time since his reincarnation—but something else burned in his heart alongside the grief.

Rage.

Not the hot fury of the moment, but the cold, calculating anger of someone who had seen too much, lost too much.

"I don’t have time for grief," he said, his voice shaking but growing stronger with each word. "I have enemies."

He stood slowly, pain radiating from every joint. But his eyes were clear now, focused with laser intensity.

"I am grief, forged into a weapon."

He thrust his hand forward, not with power but with acceptance—accepting the pain, the loss, the weight of everything he carried. And in that acceptance, he found strength he hadn’t known existed.

The illusion broke like soap bubbles in sunlight.

[Trial Complete. Understanding gained: Grief unprocessed becomes poison. Grief accepted becomes strength.]

[Chain Two Shattered.]

Outside, two of the nine chains had snapped, their broken links falling like shooting stars. The monolith began to hum with a frequency that made the crystal walls of the spire sing in harmony.

But inside the barrier—

The third Sovereign had arrived.

And this one was different from the others in a way that made Valerian’s blood run cold.

It wore a black mask that reflected no light, no image, nothing at all. It was like looking into a hole cut in the shape of a face, a window into absolute nothingness.

And when it spoke, it used Valerian’s voice.

"I am you," it said with perfect inflection, perfect tone. "The real you."

The masked Sovereign summoned twin blades of light and shadow that mirrored the weapons Valerian had conjured in the first trial, but these were perfected, completed, lacking any of the instability that marked his own creations.

Valerian froze as recognition hit him.

He knew that stance. That distribution of weight, that particular way of holding the weapons that spoke of countless hours of practice.

That power signature that felt like looking in a mirror.

Alex.

No... it was him before the world changed. Before reincarnation, before the system, before everything that had made him into what he was now.

The final test was not a past king or ancient ruler.

It was the original self—the version of him that had never been broken, never been forced to compromise.

Valerian raised his hand to summon a blade, muscle memory guiding the motion.

Nothing came.

His system interface flickered wildly, error messages cascading across his vision.

System Error: [Authority Conflict — Dual Core Detected]

[WARNING: Paradox formation imminent]

[Two instances of same soul signature detected]

The masked figure smiled—and somehow, even through the featureless mask, Valerian could see the expression.

"You finally understand. I’m not just your past."

The voice was his, but wrong somehow. Colder. More certain. Lacking the weight of doubt and pain and compromise that colored every word he spoke.

"I’m the future you’ll never reach."

It lunged, moving with speed and precision that Valerian recognized because it was his own, perfected beyond anything he had ever achieved.

Valerian’s body screamed in resistance as the blade pierced his stomach, sliding between ribs with surgical precision. He coughed blood, the warm liquid across the mask of the attacker. The pain was unlike anything he has experienced—Not just physical but existential.

Outside the barrier, Seraphina’s eyes went wide as she felt the psychic shock through their bond.

"He’s losing."

Selene clenched her first, ice crystals forming around her knuckles. "No... something’s wrong in there. They Sovereign isn’t just a trial."

Kael’s voice dropped to a whisper that somehow carried more weight than a shout.

"It’s real."

And inside the collapsing trial space, As Valerian collapsed to his knees, blood pooling beneath him as his system finally began its final shutdown sequence—

The marked Sovereign leaned down, close enough that Valerian could see his own eyess reflected on the black surface of the mask.

"Your system was never yours, Valerian. It was always mine."

Fingers that felt like his own but moved with alien purpose reached up and pulled back the mask.

It was Alex.

But not the broken, desperate Alex from his memories. This Alex was perfected, Alex as he was meant to be before the world taught him that idealism was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

Smiling with lips that were his own.

Then he plunged the blade deeper into Valerian’s chest, piercing heart and soul and the system core all at once.

And the world went white.