I Became An Eldritch Horror-Chapter 26: Faceless (2)

The living room of Daniella Zhāng’s home had returned to its previous state. Fixing a wall or two was nothing for me.

What I needed now was information, specifically what had changed in the last two thousand years. Knowing those bastards, they wouldn’t sit around and leave things the same way I remembered them.

"That’s all I have to say regarding the topic." Daniella, who sat beside me, pointed at the laptop displaying the current state of the world. "If I had known who you were, I wouldn’t have brought you in."

"That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?" I replied with a grin.

Daniella’s explanation was straightforward. After the war two thousand years ago, after my magnificent battle against the universe and my eventual sealing, the gods had decided to change a few, or rather many, things in the world.

One thing I was certain of was that they somehow knew I would escape, which meant their guard would always be up.

’Good thing I haven’t caused a scene yet.’

After my sealing, the first thing they did was contribute over half their power, no matter how strong or weak they were.

Most of that power went into creating the vessels for the Mirror of Truth. The rest was used to push civilization forward, adjust the power system, and fortify my seal.

It was a wise decision to change how orders worked. Anyone with half a brain cell would know that if I returned while they remained in their present state, it would be over for all of them.

Mana was changed to Qi. Advancement shifted from defeating strangers in your rank to understanding Qi and your personal order.

Spirit beasts, dragons, and other elements of Chinese mythology were introduced, turning the world into a modern cultivation realm.

Even so, their plan didn’t fully work.

I had noticed several changes in my body since escaping. The first was the presence of Qi instead of mana, which my body had already adapted to. But even with that adaptability, I couldn’t use my powers like before.

Next was how easily my mortal skin could break. Using only ten percent of my strength was enough to cause visible cracks.

Last, and certainly not least, my order had become limited because it hadn’t fully comprehended the altered laws of the world.

ALMIGHTY. An ability capable of changing the laws of the world in any way I saw fit. In the beginning, I could change only one law, but at its peak, I could stack up to three.

That was the reason no god or outer being could kill me, no matter how hard they tried.

Unless you were absolute nothingness or far above all laws and concepts in the universe, you couldn’t stop it.

The reason I lost in the end was simple. I wasn’t absolute.

Yes, I was stronger than all beings. Yes, I stood above nearly all laws and concepts, time, space, causality, energy limitation, and the rest.

But I was still bound by the higher narrative. It was something only those who had stepped across that threshold would understand.

Freedom does not exist. Being above all laws is not possible. As long as the absolute narrative exists, true transcendence is impossible. That single fact led to my defeat.

Why do you call yourself alive if you are supposedly beyond all laws?

Why do you possess a specific ability if an absolute being can use and create everything?

Why is nothingness, an "absolute existence," still the absence of something?

Why can the world never fully collapse and always return?

Why does your ability even have a name?

Why can humans perceive and understand you?

These reasons are why being beyond concepts does not exist. Why would you want to surpass others or even be scaled against them if you are absolute?

I accepted that truth during the final battle. And the higher narrative was what allowed those bastards to bring me down.

As long as it exists, the world will not end. It is an absolute force that favors no one, loves no one, hates no one. It simply exists and not at the same time.

And because of the balance I brought to the universe, I was spared and merely sealed. But to the Outers, I am nothing but a ticking time bomb.

The higher narrative had helped them before, but that did not guarantee it would help again. It was impartial.

That was why the Mirror of Truth was so valuable to them. It was the only artifact capable of displaying power close to the higher narrative and capable of killing me.

I had witnessed the strength of such a force. That was why I needed that mirror as well. Even if it granted me power beyond that threshold for only one moment, no one would be able to stop me.

I would lay waste to the world and every bastard in it.

Realizing I had been releasing killing intent, and noticing Daniella had gone visibly pale, I calmed myself.

"Those bastards really went out of their way to kill me," I muttered. Sacrificing half their energy. Such fools. I will still steal the mirror right under their noses and show them how useless their efforts were.

"Still," I turned to Daniella, "I don’t understand how they can create a being capable of touching something connected to the higher narrative. Shouldn’t it be impossible, since concepts like ’touch’ and ’use’ are beneath it?"

Panting slightly beside the center table, Daniella sighed. "How would I know that, if even you don’t?"

I nodded. "Makes sense."

After a moment of thought, I continued. "With that out of the way, I suppose we should begin."

Daniella raised a brow. "Begin what?"

I smirked. "My registration, of course."

"Don’t tell me..."

"Yeah," I said. "We’re heading to the academy."

—

A/N:

This author’s note is to welcome you all to my new work, I Became an Eldritch Horror. I hope you enjoy it and support me with power stones, golden tickets, and by regularly reading the Chapters. I will do my best to create a story you will all love.

I am posting this on December 7th, which means it is my RF day. I will not be doing a massive release as usual, but I will be updating three to four Chapters per day for this week, and I hope you keep reading daily so I can gain better features next week and help the book grow.

Thank you all for your support so far and for what is to come.

—Water7