"Today is my third day since transmigrating."
"There's nothing here, just endless darkness. It's like a pitch-black tomb, burying me alive."
"Hey, what's going on? Is anyone out there?! I'm not dead yet, why am I buried?"
Gao sat in the darkness, feeling his body tightly bound by inky bandages. He couldn't move, surrounded by boundless loneliness and confusion.
He transmigrated? Who transmigrates into something this bizarre?! Even a satellite spirit could at least see the continent below, right? Was he just imprisoned here?
Or was he already dead? Was this the afterlife?
Gao rubbed his temples, exasperated. But then, he noticed his body could move slightly, as if the tight bandages had loosened, allowing faint wriggles.
Still, he didn't know the boundaries of this darkness. He wanted to go home. Gao walked for ages, unable to escape the void. He didn't feel hunger, didn't thirst, couldn't even die. Time flowed slowly, leaving only endless solitude in this nothingness.
He tried to feel temperature changes, but couldn't sense cold. He longed for hunger, but forgot its meaning. He wanted to die, but death eluded him.
Around him was only infinite darkness. Chaotic mists churned, making the void monotonously bleak. Gao labored to etch diary entries in his mind, lacking paper or pen, carving them into his consciousness.
He felt his hand move, a jagged amalgam of shattered glass and metal. In rage, he pounded his body, laughing as it broke and reformed.
He went mad.
This was the tale of his 1,383rd year since "transmigrating."
Countless limb fragments swirled in the air, crumbling to dust or reassembling before Him. He admired His work, then heard faint noises beyond the darkness.
In the void, a colossal shadow seemed to birth itself. Its form was vast, exquisitely beautiful, yet newly born, gazing around in confusion. As it emerged, the darkness cloaking Gao's body faded, revealing layers of starry skies. Gao instinctively reached for the stars, only to find a hazy veil blocking him, untouchable.
Gao cursed, flopping back, refusing to move. He listlessly wriggled, his outer veil pulsing faintly. Extinguished stars bore chaotic mists, dissipating over time. The Mother Goddess of Depravity roamed the cosmos, birthing life wherever She passed. Yet Her cannibalistic creations vanished swiftly. Annoyed, She watched a sinister silhouette and a white-robed light figure emerge from the chaos.
Seeing them, Adrian's eyes traced intricate patterns. His mind surged with data on the two gods and myriad-shaped figures—His selves across worldlines. The High-Dimensional Overseer understood: humanity had begun in the universe.
The Celestial Worthy and God Almighty, born rivals, clashed incessantly. Sometimes, while God Almighty herded the Mother Goddess's children, the Celestial Worthy stole His followers with a flick of theft. When God Almighty ignored Him, the Celestial Worthy discarded nascent life, leaving them as Marionettes to fend for themselves.
God Almighty tried converting the Celestial Worthy's Marionettes. As the Celestial Worthy toyed with two civilizations, God Almighty freed His Marionettes, turning them into His believers before the Celestial Worthy could react. Enraged, the Celestial Worthy retaliated fiercely.
The civilizations caught in their tug-of-war perished entirely.
The Mother Goddess of Depravity, sowing life's seeds, lazily watched their feud. The three Pillars, beyond mutual annoyance, couldn't truly harm each other.
Until a hapless fool appeared, changing everything.
This fool was the newborn Son of Chaos, unluckier still for catching the Celestial Worthy's eye.
God Almighty and the Celestial Worthy balanced each other, neither prevailing while rational, sparing all-out slaughter. But the Son of Chaos tipped the scales. From Sefirot to pathways, the Celestial Worthy dominated him. Thus, the Celestial Worthy shifted focus to the Son of Chaos.
Theft, deception, sealing.
From that day, the High-Dimensional Overseer watched the Celestial Worth pummel the pitiful Son of Chaos daily. Gazing into the Celestial Worthy's starlit eyes, Gao felt a primal "hunger."
Devour it.
Devour it.
Devour it.
Devour it.
Devour it.
Devour it.
Devour it !!!
The High-Dimensional Overseer instinctively lunged outward, but the hazy veil, a prison, barred His escape. After eons of struggle, He halted, fuming.
With cold eyes, He observed the three Pillars roaming the cosmos, watching Outer Gods emerge, slaughtering for Sefirot and pathways. He saw the Demon of Knowledge erect grand structures in space, the Supernova Dominator destroy stars for amusement, the Monarch of Decay gaze at dying planets.
The High-Dimensional Overseer finally reclaimed sanity after millennia of madness, retrieving Gao's memories from consciousness's crevices, tracing past selves across worldlines. After pondering, He began reshaping His Sefirot.
Two Beyonder pathways within His Sefirot were slowly digested through instinctive Acting. As mastery grew, He lifted the hazy veil, making it translucent. With a paintbrush, He crafted memories—objects placed in His garden.
The Gaos, after brief panic, bonded, advising their core self on construction. Using a glowing crystalline limb, the High-Dimensional Overseer forged bizarre, majestic megastructures, transforming the veil's interior into a habitable, awe-inspiring garden.
Many years later.
"Core, I found a way out. Give me a Beyonder characteristic," an engineer-clad Gao said, coveting the Demon of Knowledge's domed canopy.
"I'll grant you Scholar pathway Sequence 3," the High-Dimensional Overseer paused. "I'll distract the Demon of Knowledge. Figure out the Domed Artisan's powers."
"Trust me."
The engineer Gao swore confidently.
The Demon of Knowledge, seeing the High-Dimensional Overseer charge, mobilized His vast structures. Energy and machinery flowed through the cosmos, attacking the veiled High-Dimensional Overseer fiercely.
The High-Dimensional Overseer's prior brawl with the Supernova Dominator was etched in Outer Gods' minds. This Outer God was ideal—non-confrontational, His adjacent pathways held by the Celestial Worthy and God Almighty—except for the Demon of Knowledge, whose symbolic overlap with Gao unnerved Him.
Who knew how the High-Dimensional Overseer grew? His form marked Him among the mightiest Outer Gods. Beyond the three Pillars and the Eternal Darkness, unanimously beaten to death by Old Ones, His combat prowess rivaled the Supernova Dominator. Initially, Outer Gods thought He excelled only in detection and stealth, evading even the Celestial Worthy's pursuit.
—The last fool chased by the Celestial Worthy* was the Son of Chaos, later the Genie.
Yet, when disputing planetary ownership—whether for the High-Dimensional Overseer's Favored or the Supernova Dominator—He unveiled the "High-Dimensional" in His name before all Outer Gods.
Actor Pathway Sequence 0: Veilshatterer.
That day, supernovae erupted, swathes of cosmos falling silent. The Supernova Dominator merged with the starry expanse, wielding entire regions as His domain, rivaling God Almighty's astral dominion. Yet the High-Dimensional Overseer's elusive powers were absurdly simple: no matter how many stars the Supernova Dominator detonated or how vast the silenced zones, He was unfazed. Veils unfurled, reflecting all attacks. Emerging from His Sefirot, each strike pierced space, skewing the Supernova Dominator's Sefirot.
The protracted battle enthralled both. The Supernova Dominator relished pummeling Him, while the High-Dimensional Overseer staved off boredom.
Had He not "accidentally" teleported a supernova onto the Monarch of Decay's head, He wouldn't have been ganged up on and killed by both.
Revived through His Favored, the High-Dimensional Overseer rarely resumed His diary.
The Celestial Worthy and God Almighty fell, and He resumed His long vigil.
Now, the Ancient Sun God walked the earth. Earth's gods emerged, vying for Beyonder characteristics and Sefirot. The Black Emperor died repeatedly, the Red Priest's wars ravaged the land.
Until the gods retreated to the Astral World, Beyonders faded, and the High-Dimensional Overseer opened His eyes again. He saw the third Old One's remnant awaken in panic, exhaling deeply.
The worldline He foresaw had arrived.
After brief hesitation, He crashed into Earth's barrier.
This is the tale of an unnamed Outer God.
(End of Chapter)