Chapter 49: Emptiness

Transformed into Cosmic Horror in a Sci-Fi Universe – 49

“Huff, huff…”

The terrifying fragments of the colossal monster shattered and scattered into space. Kon Arche and the other three adversaries panted as they watched. They had been given the mission by the will of the universe, “I will grant you power, so confront the great evil.” Following the pull of this power, they had come here and, quite literally, fought and defeated the giant monster.

It was a battle for the survival of the universe. They had emerged victorious.

“We won.”

“…Phew.”

Kon Arche, Lowie Hendrik, Celine, and Kotritas—these four adversaries were overjoyed that they had prevented the universe’s destruction with their newfound powers.

“Whew! That was incredible!”

“You’re the best! Where did you come from?!”

“Thank you for saving us!”

The surviving Union soldiers also expressed their immense gratitude and joy to the adversaries. Of course, since this was space, their voices didn’t carry, but the overwhelming emotions reached the four adversaries clearly.

“Kon Arche, that was an incredible ability.”

“Hey, you’re the Meias elder’s disciple, right? I think I’ve seen you before.”

“…Good job.”

“Hmph, I don’t talk to the likes of Lubarans.”

“…”

“Well, maybe you’re not so bad after all.”

The four adversaries, though newly acquainted and somewhat mismatched, seemed to be in good spirits. Despite not knowing each other well, they had fought back-to-back, risking their lives as comrades.

“Ah! Those filthy elder bastards! Let’s drive them out of the Union! They used us as shields and ran away when things got dangerous.”

“Yeah, if anyone should lead the Union, it should be heroes like those four.”

“Right, right!”

Among the Union soldiers, there was a gLowieng consensus to oust the elders who had abandoned them. It seemed the wartime situation had completely ended. But then—

Swoosh─

“…Huh.”

A soldier noticed something and pointed above his head.

“Huh? What is it?”

“What’s wrong?”

Following his gaze, the other soldiers looked up and saw it.

“……”

“What… is that?”

A massive, blood-red eye was staring down at them. S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Ah…”

“Oh no…”

It was strange. The eye wasn’t within the universe. It was as if they were fish in a bowl, looking out at a person beyond the glass. The eye seemed to be observing them from outside the vast aquarium that was their universe.

The moment they faced it, everyone froze. No, they couldn’t move.

It felt as if all control over their bodies had been stripped away. What was causing this? Paralysis? Fatigue? Or perhaps… fear. When faced with an indescribable terror, living beings become unable to move, as if their bodies had already given up on life. It was as if they were being told to abandon hope because escape was impossible.

The others felt the same. No one could move upon seeing the massive, blood-red eye above them. Astonishingly, this wasn’t limited to just them. Across the entire universe, every living being was looking up at the enormous, red eye floating above.

In the universe, there is no inherent up or down. There are only directions where gravity acts and where it doesn’t. Yet, regardless of the direction of gravity, the eye looked down upon every living being, as if it existed in a dimension beyond the universe, in a place that was “above” everything.

The terror was beyond description. Just facing it caused their bodies to freeze. Many realized what it was. They had come to an understanding.

“…Ah.”

An outer god. One that looked down upon the entire universe as if it were a toy. A top-tier outer god. Or perhaps something even beyond that…

In any case, the moment Kon Arche saw that eye, a realization struck him.

For some reason, a passage from a book he had never read came to mind. The moment he faced its massive eye, an unbearable terror arrived. Just by facing it, the fear exceeded the tolerable limit of his body.

It seemed impossible to confront it. Even though they had just annihilated an absurdly powerful outer god-level monster, it wasn’t because their strength had waned. Even if the four adversaries were in perfect condition, they could never stand against it. No, they wouldn’t even be able to reach it. It existed somewhere beyond this universe, somewhere mortals could not even touch.

But why? Why had it appeared in our universe? Why did it suddenly look down upon everyone, bringing all things in the universe to a halt?

The answer was simple. It had been watching all along. It was just that it hadn’t revealed its presence until now.

Why? That too could be roughly guessed. A lower-tier outer god-level colossal monster had suddenly appeared without warning. And as soon as it was barely defeated, a top-tier outer god seemed to lean in as if it had business to attend to.

Everything had been a mere amusement for it. It was a bet to see whether its creation would win or the will of the universe would prevail.

‘Then there’s only one thing left for us to do.’

It had its fun. And when the fun was over, it would discard everything. But it didn’t just leave, it revealed its presence and looked down upon all beings in the universe.

What could that mean? It meant that since its business was finished, it was now time to clean up.

This universe was nothing more than a simple playground for it. After having so much fun, isn’t it only polite to clean up thoroughly?

‘Ah… We were nothing but their toys.’

“Ha, hahaha.”

What did everything they had done amount to? They had worked hard to gain strength, embarked on adventures, and written books. Some had earned money to buy homes, met someone special, and had children… Each person had a life full of meaning, both to themselves and to those around them.

But in front of that being, such things held no significance. No matter how they had lived or what they had left behind, everything could be erased with a mere gesture from it. It wasn’t just about dying; the entire world where their lives were recorded would vanish as if it had never existed.

‘What was the point of it all?’

They had gained power from the universe and fought fiercely to finally bring down the colossal monster. But the conclusion they faced was merely the whim of an incomprehensibly powerful being.

‘Everything is decided by its whim. The fact that we are still alive, and that we will soon disappear… all of it.’

Emptiness. All emotions—fear, anger, sadness—disappeared, leaving only a profound sense of emptiness. There was nothing they could do. Nothing they wanted to do. They could only wait for their annihilation.

The red eye blinked, as if acknowledging their understanding. And then, immediately after that.

Everything vanished completely, as if it had never existed from the beginning.

#

…Oh, did I go too far? Even if they were clones, those were beings with personalities. No, no. Most outer gods don’t even bother creating clone universes, they just crush, slice, and burn whatever they want. Compared to them, I’m quite considerate. Yes, that’s right.

Anyway, it was quite enjoyable to witness and experience adversaries created by the will of the universe. Mortals wielding the four types of cosmic power—beings capable of causing supernova explosions with a mere gesture. Even though I made it somewhat feasible to defeat them, they still managed to take down a lower-tier outer god-level monster. The will of the universe is stronger than I thought.

…So where’s the limit? They couldn’t withstand my annihilation beam, but what about a mid-tier outer god? And I’m curious about the hypothesis I had earlier, “Would the same adversaries emerge under identical conditions?” If I were to create different adversaries, how would that process work?

Ah, I want to create multiple clone universes in a separate space and conduct various experiments. Should I set up a dedicated lab space like Nyarlathotep? That way, I wouldn’t have to worry about interference from other cosmic bubbles. But if I go to a completely separate space with no connection to the original universe, I can’t link back to it at all.

Ugh, why are there limitations even for an outer god? Shouldn’t I be omnipotent? Even if it’s a completely separate and isolated space, I should be able to connect it with my ultimate outer god powers.

…Hmm, that might be a bit too unprincipled. Ah! What if I did this instead? What if I copied the current original universe exactly as it is and moved it to an isolated dimension? Dalos seems to be just observing after completing Metalian, so it shouldn’t take long to make a perfect copy.

Even if there might be slight differences in incidents and accidents between the original and the clone, the environment would be identical, so events should unfold similarly. Oh, it would be interesting to compare the outcomes between the real original and the cloned original later on.

Great, let’s do that. As an outer god, playing on this scale should be more entertaining. Honestly, after spending ten years inside the universe with dramas and simulations, I was starting to get a bit restless.

…Hmm, but I should still consider the concept of “copyright” (?). I should ask Dalos for permission before cloning Metalian. While the Lubarans were abandoned by Ubbo-Sathla and don’t matter, Metalian is different since Dalos is actively observing it in real-time.