NovelPantheon

Void Sword

Three Divine Artifacts PartRegenerated and active as of Chapter 246

History

The Void Sword is Catastrophe's signature Part and one of the Three Divine Artifacts left by the Ancient Three Gods. It is first named in the Bizarre Factory's record of the Sole King. During Catastrophe's descent through Jaehwan, the transparent sword pierces Nokmyeong Chundo and turns the victim into a Forgotten One under Catastrophe's command. (Chapters 85, 96)

Catastrophe's later contract grants Jaehwan three uses of the sword. The first accompanies the massacre of the Great Lands lords in Chaos; another manifestation while climbing the Branch leaves Jaehwan's hand blackened by soul contamination. Access depends on the Link between the two, and Maiad can sever that Link through Plausibility Destruction. Its unexpected restoration before Jaehwan fights Jerome is understood by Jaehwan as renewed permission from Catastrophe, but that explanation remains his inference. (Chapters 95–98, 165–167, 192–220)

After the Link returns, Jaehwan uses the weapon against Jerome and Maiad. Its Time Infection touches Maiad inside Deus Ex Machina, while Maiad produces an incomplete copied Void Sword as a key for his world-scale Setting. During Jaehwan's passage toward Panopticon, he learns to divide the original into more than ten blades but cannot use them to break the time-dense darkness or contact Catastrophe. Catastrophe later descends again and regenerates the shattered artifact into a blade with no visible end. (Chapters 220, 233–246)

Properties and use

The Void Sword controls time through an effect called Time Infection. A pierced soul rapidly contaminates, loses its existing identity, and becomes a Forgotten One loyal to Catastrophe. Catastrophe explains its design through the contagious nature of Clothes: the blade forces touched existences into the same state and thereby increases the wielder's Followers. (Chapters 96, 204)

The weapon is dangerous even to an authorized user. Jaehwan feels as though his soul will be torn apart when he swings it, and Catastrophe's Forgetting blackens his hand unless he suppresses the spread with World Power and Forgotten One Severance. Its manifestation is also Link-dependent; communication failure or deliberate Link severance can remove access. (Chapters 165–167, 185, 192–193, 240)

Its authority is powerful but not absolute. Maiad's enormous World Power can overpower the advantage it offers, his imitation performs at less than half the original's efficiency, and multiple divided swords still fail to cut through Panopticon's time-dense passage. The artifact can dissolve, shatter, and regenerate rather than behaving as a permanently fixed physical blade. (Chapters 220, 233–246)

Associated characters

  • Catastrophe: Catastrophe creates and owns the artifact and controls Jaehwan's access through their contract.
  • Jaehwan: Jaehwan borrows the sword, develops its divided form, and endures its contamination.
  • Maiad van Declan: Maiad severs the artifact's Link and later reproduces an incomplete counterfeit.
  • Eoduksi: Eoduksi's Ash Sword imitates the Void Sword under a stricter duel condition.