522. The Primordial

522. The Primordial

The world changed.

The Devil’s domain shimmered, then shifted. It rapidly spun and changed shapes, turning from a dodecahedron to a diamond to an incomprehensible form in space— a tesseract.

I watched as the black hole winked out of existence. The light from its accretion disc vanished, and the floating mundane objects hovering in stasis melted away. I stumbled back as if the ground at my feet was moving without me, then I raised my head at my dad.

Sal just looked on as the fractal walls of this pocket spaced flashed with iridescent colors.

“What’s going on? What are you talking about? What are you showing me?”

I tried to steel myself, but a powerful force kept me back. I was pinned against the wall, gritting my teeth as my wounds flared. But the Devil was hardly affected by this— he stood at the opposite side of the shifting room, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared into a void of nothingness.

“You are nothing, Salvos.”

“What?”

I blinked, still not understanding what my dad was saying. He spoke callously, not even turning his head to face me. The pocket space continued to move, and I caught a glimpse of the world beyond this room as its walls flickered. In that vastness of everything, I saw nothing.

There was nothing there.

Nonexistence. Emptiness. No black hole, no frozen trees, and no falling stars. There was no light; there was no darkness. I couldn’t perceive anything beyond the Devil’s world— not even with my spatial senses. My mind couldn’t comprehend it. It was like I had lost my ability to even see when I stared into that void.

And finally, a set of words flashed in my head.

Now Leaving [Nexeus].

Suddenly, my body grew extremely cold. I lost sense of my fingers, and my legs went numb. It was like I was thrust into the deepest depths of the ocean— only to be yanked and thrown into the sky where the stars hung high. The world wheeled around me as I tried to regain my bearings, and I barely managed to cast my gaze towards my dad.

“Where are we going?”

I asked as a trickle of fear ran down my back. Sal didn’t answer the question. He merely continued speaking, shaking his head.

“You claim to be special. You waltz around, praising yourself just because you’ve become a Lesser God. But in the vastness of the multiverse, you have accomplished nothing.”

“The… multiverse?”

I stared at my dad. I grimaced, trying to pull free from the pressure exerted against me. I managed to stake a step forward, grunting.

“How are we— oof!”

I was sent flying as the pocket space came to a halt. I crashed right before my dad, and he glanced down at me with a dismissive gaze. He turned around as I rubbed my head in pain. He spread his arms wide and gave me an eerie smile.

“Look at it, Salvos. Do you see it?”

I stumbled to my feet, before pausing. My brows snapped together as I looked up past my dad. He gestured to the world around us, and I pursed my lips.

“I… still don’t see anything.”

I tried narrowing my eyes— focusing on the glass-like panels of this pocket space. But once again, I saw nothing beyond. It really was empty. An endless abyss that made me shiver just from staring into it.

Sal peered at me, before chuckling. He shook his head as he sighed.

“Of course not. And that is proof you are still nothing.”

I glanced back towards the Devil as he raised a hand. I opened my mouth to protest, and he snapped his fingers. The fractal world flashed. The iridescent shimmer returned briefly, only for broken shards to flit down towards him. They circled around my dad as he pointed at me, and I reeled.

“You can’t see it because you are weak.”

The first of the shards flashed. A fogged image shimmered into existence on the glass-like surface. It shot past me, and I saw—

A witch knelt before the ruins of a city. She could not have been more than twelve years old, but death and destruction surrounded her everywhere she turned. Corpses upon corpses strewn about the rubble and ash as a looming shadow approached her. Tears streamed down her eyes, and she cried out in pain.

I blinked. For whatever reason, that young girl looked familiar. But I knew that she was not even from my world. It was completely different from my world. Even though it was an image, I sensed… almost no magic there. Like magic had died, and only the lingering flames of the arcane remained.

“Who…?”

I started, but the image shifted, then vanished. The shard shot back towards Sal as he strode towards me. My dad shook his head.

“You have no ambition.”

A second shard flew my way as I stumbled back. Another image flashed, and I squinted at what it showed as it shot past me.

A cultivator stared up at a golden nimbus cloud. Her jade green hair was tied into a long braid, and she leapt up into the emerald sky. Lightning thunder around her as she laughed, tugging at the world’s essence to do her bidding.

Again, the shard returned to the Devil as he came to a halt before me. His gaze bore into me, and I nervously backed away.

“Why are you showing—”

I started, but he just flicked a finger. More shards shot my way as I flinched from each of them. My eyes darted from screen to screen as various images flashed before me. All the while, Sal just spoke acidically.

“There is an infinite number of universes out there, my dear daughter.”

I spun around in a daze, trying to keep track of everything the Devil was showing me.

A teenage redhead marched through the streets of an empty city.

“There are worlds you could only ever imagine.”

His words echoed in my head, and I recoiled. I staggered back as my senses were overwhelmed.

A slime poked herself in the middle of a dark cavern.

“There are places beyond the Nexeus you wish you could visit.”

I caught myself from falling, but the dizziness refused to fade. I clenched my jaw just to remain standing before Sal as the images didn’t stop coming.

A turtle lay at the bottom of the sea, hiding from the creatures lurking beneath.

“But you are no worldwalker. You are no planeshopper. You are no realityskipper. And you certainly are no one special.”

A hero stood alone atop a broken moon. Space warped around her, and time refused to work. Her eyes flickered, darting towards the screen—

And the images vanished. The final image shard past me, now showing nothing as I dropped to a knee. It was like my dad’s words themselves were hurting me. However, I knew it was my perception being overloaded by these worlds I could hardly even comprehend.

The shards shattered, and I tried to get back to my feet. The Devil smirked as he looked at the way I was swaying back and forth. He caught me from falling, holding me up. I looked up at him as he chuckled.

“Come now, my dear daughter, are you still going to tell me you are someone special?”

I tried to work my jaw, but he took a step back, gesturing wide towards the glass-like walls of his pocket dimension. Everything shifted, and an image flashed over the walls. Like we were now hovering in another world.

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“Why do you matter when there are True Gods out there capable of creating entire universes out of nothing?”

Sal’s voice boomed as his pocket space shook. But the trembling came from beyond his words. I stared past him with round eyes at what unfurled before us.

A man sat in a white world. An empty world. A blank canvas expanded all around him, but he didn’t move. His golden locks held still, and his eyes remained closed. He raised his head—

And the Devil’s pocket space cracked as the image vanished. I yelped, nearly falling back. What… how— My hands quivered, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. I was shaking just from the sheer presence of that lone man. My dad laughed maniacally, still holding onto me.

“There are beings who have amassed armies that could trample over the forces of the Demon King, the Spirit Lord, and Humankind combined!”

He gesticulated wildly as a new image flashed into existence around us.

A metal world jutted out of the ground. There was no sky above— no darkness and no clouds. A dome of nonexistence fell upon this vast sphere, and countless figures poured forth. Only a single figure stood unmoving. A being made of metal craned his neck towards the cracked pocket space. His army suddenly paused, before mechanically turning towards us all at once. They charged our way—

And Sal snapped his fingers. I blinked as the world beyond faded away once more. I slowly processed what just happened, before looking back at my dad.

“Were they going to kill us…?”

The Devil smiled at me with a crazed gaze as he nodded.

“Indeed, my daughter. We would have died if we hadn’t left when we did.”

“But you’re the Devil—”

I tried to protest. But Sal silenced me as he clamped my jaw shut.

“And I am nothing as well.”

Once again, there was a flash of light, revealing another world I had never seen before.

Figures waited in the darkness. Alien beings that wore no uniform form, surrounding a large table. Some had tendrils for limbs, while others had tails. Only a single one of them was standing— a lizard-like man with green scales. None of them reacted to the appearance of the pocket space. After all, their gaze had already been fixed on us.

It was like they had somehow anticipated our sudden appearance. I gaped at them, and the scene changed.

“There are those out there who have conquered many worlds.”

Sal spoke as he let go of my jaw, swiping at the screen. The world spun as if we were flying through space, before we abruptly came to a halt. I stumbled forward, kneeling against the glass-like floor. I looked down through the transparent ground and once again saw a different world.

An ashen-skinned figure admired the roots of a giant tree. It spread throughout the vast cave chamber, and an army waited behind him. He closed his eyes, cursing as he tightly clutched onto a single leaf.

I waited for someone— anyone— to react to us. But nothing happened. I frowned, getting back to my feet as my dad sneered.

“And there are those out there who have only conquered their own world.”

The Devil simply waved a hand dismissively as the world changed. I looked around, watching new worlds unveil themselves to me. Places that didn’t seem real— where the logic of Nexeus didn’t apply. But they were real. They existed. Somehow.