Snap!

With a casual snap of his fingers, Ash cleaned up all the messes they had made.

The grass was pristine again, the air fresh and sweet with the scent of flowers, and everyone was suddenly fully dressed — though the lingering flush on their faces still clung to them.

Ash looked at Isis with a calm, intrigued smile, his reddish-purple eyes steady.

"While I don’t know her personally, she’s a pretty interesting figure," he said, referring to Minx.

"The Lord of Gifts... the Treasury of Existence itself walking around as a little girl. That’s not something you see every day."

"The... Treasury of Existence?" she asked, unaware of the true power behind the name.

Truth be told, Ash didn’t know either—but now that Minx was in his domain...

’There’s nowhere you can run, little Minx,’ he thought with a smile. ’Since you’ve come here... you won’t be leaving.’

Out loud, he added, "The Treasury of Existence... I’m not sure how deep her powers run, but she can basically grant anyone whatever they desire."

He turned to Creara and Unara, his tone steady yet calm.

"Go check it out. But don’t act until I give the signal. Just figure out what she is—nothing else."

Creara smirked, cracking her knuckles with a playful, almost devious spark in her eyes.

"Understood. We’ll keep it low-key... probably."

Unara let out a delighted giggle, twirling into the air and clapping her tiny hands together.

"Ooh, spy time... this is going to be fun~"

With a flicker of light, the two spirits along with Isis disappeared, darting off to watch Minx without making their presence known.

Ash was now left alone with Shia, Lirael, and Elysia in the peaceful meadow.

He glanced at Shia and Lirael, his expression softening slightly as he spoke.

"You two... wrap up the Realities within Nonexistence with the others," he said, already planning to start reading the Novel again.

Who knew what new information might come to light?

’Well, it’s almost time to go claim my other wives~’ he mused, knowing the next step was clearly the Prime Expanse.

That was where Ancestor Seeker resided, and beyond that, Eve and Eliya were still somewhere out there.

"I want everything ready before we move on to the next phase."

Shia nodded, still flushed but composed as she adjusted her clothes, a small, satisfied smile on her lips.

"Understood, brother."

Lirael, still a little dazed from the intense moment, gave a small, obedient nod, her red eyes resting on Ash with quiet affection and a trace of lingering desire.

"...But," she hesitated, "what about your grandfather?"

She knew what she had agreed to, but they couldn’t just pretend nothing had happened... could they?

"Don’t worry Grandmother," Ash said casually waving it off. "I will handle it, perhaps before you return."

Shia and Lirael exchanged one last glance before vanishing through a soft portal, leaving Ash alone with Elysia in the peaceful meadow.

The moment they were gone, Ash leaned back against the tree, the Codex materializing in his hands once more.

The black-and-gold pages flipped open on their own, the golden text resuming exactly where he had left off, as if the Novel itself had been waiting for him.

Without wasting time, he began to read.

The words formed in real time, elegant and precise, bleeding onto the page like fresh ink.

"In the First Reality of Nonexistence, Male stepped through the rift and witnessed the beginning of time..."

Ash’s reddish-purple eyes narrowed slightly, his expression shifting from casual interest to focused attention as he absorbed the details of Male’s transformation.

He witnessed it all—whether seen or read—the merging with the colossal eye, the raw scream as Nonexistence burned into him, the sudden ascent to 21st-dimensional existence.

A low, curious hum escaped him.

"Hmm, so he technically met the Father, huh?"

Elysia drifted closer to his shoulder, reading along in silence before murmuring,

"I would say so, apparently he’s the Child of the End."

She muttered in agreement, her voice low.

"It looks like things are aligning... if he’s your counterpart..."

She didn’t need to finish the thought—if they were counterparts, and he was the Child of the End, that made him the Son of the Father.

By contrast, Ash would be the Child of the Beginning, the Son of the Mother.

But somewhere along the way, things had taken a sharp turn.

Ash had long since started playing his own game, while Male, he was becoming exactly what the Father had always intended.

Ash continued reading, his fingers tapping lightly on the edge of the book as the text described the thresholds within the Prime Expanse.

To be more specific he was reading about Kagami’s and Kaguya Chapters.

He learned about the eighteen massive war camps, each one a bastion preparing for the eternal conflict at the boundary.

He paused, a smile forming as he read more about the coliseum.

"It makes sense now," he said, feeling a few pieces click into place. "The final thirty-six warriors—eighteen from each side."

It was something he understood well; it was as if the Mother and the Father were nurturing the finest seeds from their lower realms, preparing them for what was to come.

"However, if only nine from each side of existence survive..." he murmured,

"If I’m not mistaken, or unless I’m missing something... these final eighteen will act as a catalyst."

He wasn’t sure exactly what the catalyst would be, but he suspected it might mark the start of the final war or game.

Still, it was a catalyst he had no intention of allowing to happen.

The next section detailed his wives’ growing determination — their unspoken agreement to support him more actively, their plans to gather powerful gifts and items to help him ascend further.

Nia’s relentless conquest, Vaeloria’s fight against the sword ancestor, Raven’s hunt for the Core of Eclipsing...

Seeing this, Ash’s expression softened with quiet pride.

"Ah, you gotta love them," he murmured.

"Hm, don’t you think little Nia is on her way to becoming an Endless Reality?" Elysia remarked, as though if one remembered correctly.

An Endless Reality was one that existed within a greater one, yet contained what seemed to be infinite realities of its own.

Ash chuckled.

"Well, I wouldn’t expect anything less from her," he said, genuinely impressed, as he had never intended for them to turn out that way. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

He hadn’t really seen the point before, but now... it didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Then the text shifted.

"In Reality 18, the Lord of Gifts — Minx — entered Pantheos..."

Ash’s posture straightened immediately, his reddish-purple eyes sharpening with serious focus.

As he continued to read, the description of her assimilation with the Akashic Records made him lean forward.

"Now this is something...." He muttered as he definitely didn’t expect her to have such an ability.

Which made her all the more dangerous.... but even more of an enigma.

"Connecting with the Akashic Records... That would make her an integral part of Pantheos itself. Something that exists as long as Pantheos — or I — exist."

In truth, he should have been able to erase the Akashic Records completely, but those days had long since passed.

By now, the Akashic Records were nothing more than a slumbering spirit, much like Elysia, Creara, and Unara.

The Records were the very soul of Pantheos, which meant she was Ash’s own soul.

The Soul... he had long since moved beyond its limits, yet, like the other spirits, it was still just an embodiment—a vessel through which his powers could be transferred to them.

Elysia’s golden eyes widened slightly beside him.

"That’s... dangerous." She said as if she became Ash’s Soul.... who knew what else would happened.

Ash continued reading however.... in just the next few lines as she began traveling with Ellyn and Aurora.... her presence in the novel completely vanished.

He paused, eyes fixed on the empty space where the words should have carried on. A slow, intrigued smile tugged at his lips.

"She’s not just Omnipotent anymore," he murmured. "She’s headed straight for the Meta Wall."

Elysia drifted closer, her tone gentle yet grave.

"Minx... the Treasury of Existence itself choosing the Akashic Records over establishing a second Treasury..."

"Just who are you?"