With just a casual blink, Ash effortlessly pulled together three extraordinary forces at once: the Divine Command of Definition, his own Quantum Power, and the freshly obtained Dark Matter.

Without hesitation, he fused them into one, uniting their immense power in a single, seamless act.

HUMMMM!!!!!

The three powers twisted and fused within him, their natures intertwining and elevating one another. What was emerging was something entirely new — a power that existed between visibility and invisibility, between definition and the unknown.

It was not louder than Quantum, nor heavier than Dark Matter.

Instead, it was something that existed just beyond direct perception — a force that could influence all the things that were unseen.

Before the evolution could get too turbulent, Elysia raised her hand.

The Codex appeared in front of her, its pages already flipping open on their own. She glanced at him with a small smile before beginning to write.

"And so, the One God’s evolution flowed effortlessly, without a single misstep. All powers merged as one within the Oculus Unus, bringing forth something entirely unprecedented."

The moment she finished writing, Ash felt the power settle even deeper, becoming a natural part of him rather than something foreign.

Nia watched the entire process with interest, her dark eyes glowing faintly.

"...So?" she asked, tilting her head. "How does it feel?"

Ash blinked his eyes slowly a few times, feeling the new power settle deep within them. A faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Heh... it’s perfect," he said. "But we still have a lot to do, so let’s focus."

By "we," he meant himself — but Nia and Elysia both understood that whatever progress he made would eventually benefit all of them.

The changes brought by the Unseen Divine Power were far from minor.

From this moment onward, every member of Ash’s Pantheon gained access to a new conceptual state — the State of Unseen.

It wasn’t something they had to activate consciously at all.

It existed as a passive layer over their existence, allowing them to step partially outside of direct perception when needed, or in other words to step completely out of the novel’s writing.

They could now fade from the awareness of others more naturally, hide their presence even from any beings that may still be stronger than them.

For Ash himself, the effects ran much deeper.

He could now shift into a state where he wasn’t merely cloning himself or projecting his presence — he could become everywhere and nowhere at once.

In this state, he operated within the Realm of Unseen, a conceptual layer that existed just beneath the surface of all things and nothing.

While in this state, he became completely undetectable to anything.... literally.

He could now see truths that were normally hidden from the narrative itself.

He could also conceal truths — whether they belonged to the plot, a character’s fate, or even fragments of the story’s structure.

Additionally, he gained the faint ability to weaponize The Unknown — a power that drew strength from things that had not yet been defined, observed, or understood.

It was only the surface of what the power could do, but even this much was already significant.

Ash exhaled slowly and rolled his shoulders, as if adjusting to the new weight of his existence.

Nia watched him with interest, while Elysia remained quiet, already sensing that he was moving on to the next matter.

Ash then spoke again, his tone shifting into something more focused.

"Next," he said, "are the four essences inside of me."

He closed his eyes briefly, turning his attention inward.

The four powerful essences currently residing within his body were as follows: The Origin’s Essence, which stemmed from the basic nature of Existence and Nonexistence.

Then came Isness, the evolved state of the Origin’s Essence.

The third was the Unseen Essence, so named because it represented an even higher form of Isness.

This one emerged from his bond with Minx, elevating him to something greater than a mere First Absence.

Lastly, there was the unnamed fourth essence, a mysterious force born from within Pantheos itself.

These four forces were incredibly potent, but they existed in a somewhat unbalanced state. Ash could feel that they weren’t yet working in perfect harmony with one another — or with his current self.

Ash blinked.

In that instant, he used his new ocular powers forcing the four essences within him to converge.

The moment he did, a violent reaction erupted from inside his body.

HUMMMMM!!!!

The four essences tore their way out of him.

It wasn’t a clean or graceful process.

CRACKKK!!!

Ash’s chest split open with a sickening, wet sound, with golden and void-black light pouring out like blood as the essences violently ripped themselves free.

His body jerked upward as if pulled by invisible strings, and he began floating into the air against his will.

The force was so intense that the space around him started to distort, cracks of white light fracturing across the void like shattered glass.

Elysia immediately tried to use the Codex to stabilize the situation, but the moment it appeared in her hands, the book erupted into golden flames.

It burned away in seconds, reduced to nothing but drifting embers that vanished into the air.

Nia’s dark eyes went wide.

She reached for Ash on instinct, but her body started rising off the ground without her consent. Her gaze hardened to a sharp glare, her voice dropping to a low, tense murmur.

"What the hell is going on—?"

Before Elysia could even attempt to answer, the four essences collided in the space above them.

BOOOOOOM!!!

A massive, silent explosion of light and conceptual force erupted outward.

The impact was so overwhelming that it didn’t just shake the space around them — it tore through the very fabric of their current reality.

Ash, Nia, and Elysia were violently pulled into the blast.

When the light faded, the three of them found themselves standing in a familiar, boundless white void.

The air hung motionless, and the ground stretched out beneath their feet, flat and unending.

In front of them sat the Author at his simple wooden desk, surrounded by his white boards. He was casually leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, holding a pen between his fingers as he looked at them with a relaxed, knowing expression.

Ash stood in the center, his chest still faintly glowing from where the essences had torn out of him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Nia was on his left, her posture tense and ready, while Elysia stood on his right, her eyes calmly scanning their surroundings.

The Author tapped his pen lightly against the desk and spoke in a casual tone.

"Welcome back."