My Seven Wives Are Beautiful Saintesses - Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Chapter 176: The Clash of Emperors
Vahn had to stop. The Void Emperor faced the greatest engineering challenge of his conquest.

“That’s Solar Aegis, Vahn,” Aria murmured grimly. “The final, most powerful creation of the Forge Master. It can withstand anything short of a true Earth Immortal.”

Vahn stared at the shimmering, colossal wall of energy. A small dangerous smile formed on his lips. “Impregnable? Let us see if their craftsmanship is truly superior to the ingenuity of the Void Emperor.”

***

The Void Armada hovered before the Divine Forge Valley, its dark, imposing masses dwarfing the majestic mountain peaks. The great shield of the Solar Aegis shimmered like a living proof to mortal ingenuity, capable of holding back even the Tribulation Realm masters.

Vahn stood at the center of the command bridge, his eyes, dark swirling vortexes of his Void Shattering Realm power, analyzing the shield’s complex spiritual matrix. He wasn’t focused on its strength, but its principles.

“The Solar Aegis operates on the principle of divine light coherence, drawing energy from a centralized spiritual sun forged in the mountains,” Aria explained, her voice measured. “It’s designed to repel corruption and darkness, making our Demon allies useless against it. Standard brute force will take weeks and cost millions of souls.”

“I see…”

Before Vahn could detail his strategy for dismantling the Aegis, a sudden ripple of golden, celestial power appeared directly above the shield.

Buzzz!

A single, magnificent figure materialized in the air, radiating the blinding purity of the Goddess Attila’s proxy.

This was Emperor Sirius, the charismatic hero and puppet leader of the Celestial Empire.

Sirius was breathtakingly handsome, clad in shimmering gold armor that seemed to capture and magnify the sun’s light. His aura was overwhelming, possessing the spiritual refinement and flawless cultivation of a true Grand Emperor, backed by the authority of the Grand Solar Art.

Sirius looked down upon the Void Armada with utter contempt, his voice booming across the valley, laced with divine authority.

“Vahn Necrotis! You dare bring your Demonic pestilence to the Holy Land of the Forge? You stand condemned by the Celestial Light! Surrender your wives and your corrupted armies, and perhaps the Goddess will grant you a swift eradication!”

Vahn stepped onto the deck, meeting the Celestial Emperor’s gaze without flinching. His presence, though dark and cold, felt heavier, the very essence of existence.

“Sirius,” Vahn replied, his voice calm, yet carrying the subtle, crushing weight of the Void. “Your confidence is based on borrowed authority and a fragile shield. You are a puppet dancing on Attila’s strings. Surrender the Tower, dissolve your fragile Empire, and I will permit you a quiet death in obscurity.”

Sirius’s face twisted in rage. “Insolent mortal! I shall prove the superiority of light!”

The confrontation instantly escalated. Sirius, using the protective energy of the Solar Aegis, launched a massive projectile of concentrated solar power, a strike capable of obliterating a small mountain, directly at Vahn.

Vahn simply raised a hand. The Solar Projectile, a pillar of incandescent light, reached Vahn and then stopped, caught by an invisible, absolute barrier.

Vahn had used his Void Shattering Authority not to block the attack, but to instantly render the space it occupied non-existent, consuming the light in a localized vacuum.

“Amateur,” Vahn scoffed.

WHAM!

Vahn retaliated with a terrifying display of his new power. He didn’t launch a sphere of Void; he launched a conceptual sliver linear wave of pure non-existence directed at the Solar Aegis itself.

The sliver hit the shimmering shield, and instead of exploding, the Aegis screamed. The enormous structure began to fracture, not from external force, but from internal contradiction.

Vahn was erasing the fundamental spiritual laws that allowed the shield to exist in that space.

Sirius was shocked. His most powerful, Goddess-blessed defense was failing against a move he couldn’t even comprehend.

Recognizing the imminent failure of his shield and the terrifying, alien power of Vahn, Emperor Sirius made a wise decision to retreat.

He understood that a prolonged duel would result in both his demise and the total destruction of the Divine Forge Valley.

“This is not over, Vahn! The Goddess will judge you!” Sirius roared, activating a powerful escape formation and vanishing in a flash of gold light, moments before the Solar Aegis finally failed.

CRACK!

The Aegis shattered, the immense spiritual pressure dissipating into the atmosphere.

Vahn had won the day with a single, overpowered move.

With the Aegis shattered and Sirius in full retreat, Vahn’s army poured into the Divine Forge Valley. The remaining Celestial forces, deprived of their Emperor and their shield, were swiftly subjugated. The Divine Forge Valley was now under the control of the Void Empire, a massive loss to the Celestial Empire’s military industrial complex.

Vahn and Aria made their way to the deepest heart of the Valley: the Grand Forge, where the Forge Master, Aria’s former mentor, waited, defiant and alone.

Aria’s Master, a female warrior cultivator whose hands could destry mountains, looked at Aria with nothing but cold, distilled hatred.

Aria stepped forward, her armor shining.

“Master. I returned. I have become the Empress of War of the Void Empire. I have found my true path.”

The womsn spat on the obsidian floor. “You are an abomination, Aria. A tool of the devil. You traded purity for power, and loyalty for a tyrant’s bed. I made you what you were; I regret not destroying you when I had the chance. I will not forgive you for this betrayal, even now.”

The absolute, total nature of her rejection, so similar to Lilith’s mother, was devastating. Aria’s composure finally wavered, a flash of pure, heartbroken pain crossing her features.

Vahn watched, his face expressionless. He did not allow this corrosive, toxic relationship to continue.

“It seems she had made her choice, Aria,” Vahn said, placing a comforting arm around Aria. “She chooses stagnation and death over progress and life.”

With a swift, clinical motion, Vahn immobilized the Forge Master using a potent Void seal.

Aria, looking at the trapped figure, nodded, her pain hardening into resolve.

“She shall remain imprisoned, Husband,” Aria stated, her voice heavy.

“Yes. She will not be executed. She will simply be forced to witness the progress she rejected.”

Vahn agreed. The Forge Master was imprisoned in the deepest cell, locked in an unbreakable, perpetual punishment.

With the Divine Forge Valley now fully secured, Vahn immediately began to integrate its immense industrial capability into the Void Empire. He used the existing, incredibly talented manpower of the Divine Forge Valley—thousands of master crafters, engineers, and spiritual artisans—who had been forced into service for Emperor Sirius.

Vahn offered them purpose, freedom, and access to his boundless resources and superior Spirit Tech schematics.

Under Vahn’s command, the Forge quickly began to craft many more devastating Spirit Tech Weapons for his war effort. These were not just swords and armors; they were mass-produced, powerful spiritual firearms, energy shields, and localized anti-formation disruptors.

Crucially, Vahn directed the artisans to develop weaponry that could be utilized by the vast population of the Empire, regardless of their cultivation level.

Some of these weapons, simple to operate yet deadly against the Celestial foot soldiers, could be used by Non-Cultivators as well. This groundbreaking development, providing power to the powerless, made the mortals overjoyed. They were no longer reliant on the grace of powerful cultivators for protection.

“Anyone who wishes to join the army may now do so,” Vahn announced to the unified city.

Vahn added a necessary caution. “However, throwing mortals into the battlefield against Tribulation Realm masters would be extremely unwise. The primary role of these new weapons is defense and support. Their ultimate deployment is up to them.”

The offer, however, granted them agency and inclusion never before seen in Dalu.

Finally, Vahn retreated to the central Grand Forge, now laden with the most precious materials from the Valley, including Star Core fragments, Divine Ingots, and Monarch level Beast Cores—resources previously hoarded by the Celestial Empire.

Vahn personally began to Craft Divine Grade weapons for his wives, a final, intimate gesture of appreciation and power consolidation.

For Seraphina: He crafted the Staff of Eternal Life. Combining Star Core fragments with the purest Light Dao essence, it was a healing staff that could instantly regenerate entire legions and channel pure, annihilating light against the forces of darkness, capable of striking at the soul.

For Lilith: He took her existing Shadow Dagger, a relic of her father, and upgraded it. Integrating Void properties and the essence of a powerful Shadow Monarch Core, the dagger became the Blade of Absolute Nothingness, capable of cutting through the dimensional fabric and erasing any spiritual defense it touched.

For Aria: He forged a colossal, magnificent weapon: the Greatsword of Chaos. Utilizing Divine Ingots and the raw, untamed power of the War Dao, the sword was designed to channel both lightning and the Void, creating a perfect fusion of martial chaos and controlled annihilation. The ultimate weapon for the Empress of War.

Armed with new technology, a unified army, and personally crafted divine weapons, the Void Emperor was now fully prepared for the final, brutal campaign against Emperor Sirius and the Celestial Empire.