Death: Darkness, your friend over there is flirting with our treasure.

Fear: I see... he must have a death wish, flirting with Lust right in front of us.

Wrath: Who the hell is that bastard?? Say something, Darkness!

Darkness: Him? You can call him the Programmer or the Coder. He’s an Information Being, born from corrupted data leaking out of the Universe. He can manipulate the Universe’s information — basically, he can materialize virtual data to affect reality.

Coder: I was going to introduce myself, Darkness. You ruined the cool intro I prepared!

Darkness: Suck it up.

Coder: I’d like to invite two more friends.

Darkness: Who?

Coder: Logician and Narrative. Like me, they’re also formed from leaked Logic and Story from the Universe. But Narrative has two selves — Absolute Order and Absolute Chaos. I’m inviting Absolute Order. As for Chaos... he vanished. No one knows where he went.

Greed: You talk too much. In the end, can you break that invisible wall or not?

Coder: It's tough. We'll need more help. That wall is MetaConceptual. Seems like it was set up by one of the Elder Gods.

Sloth: MetaConceptual... what’s that...? yawns

Coder: You don’t know? Ah right, you sleep all day and never bother learning anything. MetaConceptual means it’s a Transcendent Concept —Transcendent and Above all Fundamental Concepts of the Universe. Only Elder Gods can possess and control MetaConceptual powers. If anyone else tries, it’s like a moth flying into a flame.

Envy: A concept beyond all basic concepts of the Universe? So how do you destroy it?

Coder: I’ll ask for help from another Elder God.

All demons: ??

Lust: Wow~ You can actually do that? Teach me how to call one too~

Coder: That Elder God met me right after I was born. I think He found me interesting since I’m made of raw information leakage. He said if anything fun comes up, just call His name across the Multiverse — and He’ll come.

Lust: Amazing~, the more I hear, the more I like you~

Coder: Heheheheheh. Anyway, that’s all for today. I’ll go contact Him.

---

Vortex House

Agene: Eric, you’re an uninvited guest. What do you want?

Eric: Since when do I need a reason to show up at my own house?

Oblivion: Cut the nonsense. Just say what you came for, Eric.

Eric: Nothing major. I’m just... intrigued by someone.

Knorl: Who could possibly intrigue an Elder God like you?

Eric: Nicolas Ventis.

As soon as Eric spoke, Agene crushed his teacup.

Countless Multiverses instantly collapsed.

Agene (coldly): What do you want with Nicolas?

Eric: Just want to confirm a few things~

Agene: You’d better be careful... if you so much as scratch him — I won’t hesitate to reset everything back to before nothingness.

Eric smiled slightly, raised both hands as if to say "peace," and vanished — but his voice echoed:

Eric: I promise I won’t do anything~

In Nicolas’ house

Nicolas: Can you introduce yourself now?

One of the visitors steps forward.

Nolan: I’m Nolan, President of the Global Association and Captain of C.A.C.D.

He pulls out documents and a badge to prove his identity.

Nolan: Behind me are Vice President Andrea, Awakening Division Head Lucas, and High Council of C.A.C.D, member Beatrice.

Beatrice: You said you had three Blessings? Is that true?

Nicolas: That was before. Now I have four!

Beatrice: Just as I thought. In over a month you’ve grown stronger... you might be one of the Chosen. Ancient High Council records say Elder Gods sometimes choose followers who pique their interest.

Nicolas: That’s right!

Beatrice: Which Elder God?

Nicolas: Sorry, I can’t say.

Lucas: Show us your Blessings!

Andrea: Yeah, let’s see them.

Nicolas: Umm... can you survive outside of space? Because if I activate them here... this planet will be gone.

They all nod. Nicolas then opens a portal and transports everyone (except Vandas) to another galaxy.

On a lifeless planet, atop a nameless mountain, the four stand observing.

Nolan: Where are we?

Beatrice (looking around): Seems like the Andromeda Galaxy — about 300 billion light-years from our star system.

Nolan, Lucas, Andrea: !!!

Nicolas floats at the galaxy’s center.

[Gluttonous Blessing] activated.

“Shhhrrip”— Just one faint sound, and in that instant...

The entire Andromeda Galaxy — trillions upon trillions of stars, suns, and nebulas — were devoured by an invisible void.

Only the planet where Beatrice and the others stood remained intact.

After consuming countless high-level demons and two Demon Kings, and with his [Gluttonous] and [Growth] Blessings, Nicolas transformed — like a cicada shedding its shell.

His physical strength increased dramatically.

Nicolas: Let me test my speed real quick.

He ran from the center of Andromeda to the Sun, and then back — in just four minutes.

Using spatial shift, he brought everyone back to his room.

Beatrice: I approve your strength. Speed is... decent. Want to join the High Council?

Nicolas: Huh? That speed’s only decent?

Beatrice: There are some people — you’ll meet them later — who are way faster. But give it a year, and you’ll outpace them all.

Nicolas: Faster than me? How fast?

Beatrice: Running across trillions of galaxies in a few seconds. Can you do that?

Nicolas: WHAT??? That’s impossible... Where are they now?

Beatrice: After we cleared the chaos at the Demuga Sea, they had no more work to do, so they went on a space vacation.

Nicolas: So... how big is our Universe exactly? Infinite or what?*joke*

Beatrice: Exactly. According to records from our previous “Administrator,” the Universe is boundlessly infinite — can’t measure the distance.

Nicolas: ?! For real? I thought infinity was just a philosophical idea...

Beatrice: It’s real. That previous Administrator was also chosen by an Elder God. After that, they left and only returned once — to deliver a data file before disappearing again.

Nicolas: Huh... I’ll join. But I want my freedom. I just wanna hunt demons.

Beatrice: That’s fine. Welcome aboard.

After some social chatting, the group leaves.

Nicolas lies on his bed, bored, and mutters:

Nicolas: Agene, are you here?

Agene: I’m always here.

Nicolas: Um... was what Beatrice said true?

Agene: Absolutely. But the Multiverse is even larger.

Nicolas: So it's real... I didn’t dare believe it at first.

A moment passes. Silence.

Nicolas: You still there?

Knock knock knock.

Nicolas: Huh? Who’s knocking?

Nicolas jumped out of bed and slowly walked toward the door.

Sound of the door unlocking...

Vortex House

Agene sat with eyes closed, brow furrowing slightly.

Agene (thinking): Why did the connection with Nicolas just vanish...? Something’s not right.

Agene disappeared from the room and reappeared outside the House.

As he was about to head off in search of Nicolas, suddenly—

???: Hey now, where you rushing off to? Why not stop and chat for a bit?

Agene’s expression darkened.

Agene: You... Why are you here? Move. I'm not in the mood for a fight.

He vanished instantly — but was abruptly pulled back to the same spot.

BOOM.

The stranger flung a sword that zipped past Agene — destroying countless Multiverses in its path.

???: Did I say you could leave?

Back in the real world, Nicolas opened the door.

Standing there was a young man with fiery red hair, grinning brightly. As soon as Nicolas opened the door, the stranger greeted him warmly:

???: Hi there! I’m your new neighbor. Nice to meet you!

Nicolas: Nice to meet you too! What’s your name? I’m Nicolas.

I’m Eric!

End of Chapter 5