The artificial sky of the tutorial zone was cracking. The earthquake, triggered by events far outside their 'Scenario', subsided, leaving Kim Dokja and Klein Moretti standing on their rapidly destabilizing island.
Then, the final, reality-breaking message appeared.
['World Will' falls in love with 'Star Stream'!]
Kim Dokja stared. He blinked.
He, a man who had read an apocalypse 3,149 chapters long, who had faced 'Outer Gods' and put up with Yoo Joonghyuk's character, felt his 'Status' waver.
This... this was not in the novel. This was not in any novel. This was the most absurd, 'cringe-inducing' plot twist he had ever encountered. His thinned [Fourth Wall] offered no protection. He felt... embarrassed. He felt the second-hand embarrassment for the entire universe.
And then, it got worse.
['Star Stream' is blushing!]
"Ugh..." Kim Dokja staggered, clutching his head. He felt like he was about to faint, to 'log out' from the sheer, unadulterated absurdity.
The Channel exploded.
[Many Constellations are in a state of chaos!]
[The Constellation 'Midday Sun' is covering his face!]
[The Constellation 'Aeacus of Mercy and Righteousness' is roaring, asking what this nonsense is!]
[Several Demon Kings are questioning the 'Star Stream's' sanity!]
[A number of Devils are howling with laughter!]
[The First Devil is opening a bag of 'popcorn' at the sight of the drama.]
[An Outer Deity
[An Outer Deity
Klein, whose Spirituality was completely spent, could only watch. He didn't understand the context of 'Star Stream' or 'World Will', but he understood the concept.
Back in the 15th-floor cafe on Genkelope, the RRRRRRRUMBLE stopped.
Hajin, Arianna, Cheok Jungyeong, and the 'Secretive Plotter' all looked up from the table.
Hajin's smartwatch pinged.
[System Update Notice]
[A universal update is being prepared.]
[Estimated Time: ??? (Pending start of 'New Arc')]
"Well," the Secretive Plotter said, his handsome face froze as he sipped his tea. "That was... quite unexpected."
He was so shocked that he didn't even use his real voice.
Arianna, in her nun hood, let out the faintest, almost imperceptible scoff.
Then, a new window—a neutral, merged-system message—appeared before all of them.
[The 'Star Stream' and the 'World Will' are initiating a universal update. All system maintenance will be finished soon.]
"What does that mean?" Hajin asked, his voice tense.
[It means,] the Plotter said, [that the two entities are merging. They stopped resisting each other. This has consequences.]
"We are trapped," Arianna stated, her voice cold. As she spoke Loenese, Hajin's [Observation and Reading] window popped up, translating her words perfectly.
'Huh? Since when can my skill do that?' Hajin thought, momentarily distracted.
"It has been almost a month since the 'Collaboration'. We are sealed within this 'Demon Realm'—or 'Devil Realm', whatever you call it. The 'World Will' is using its authority, preventing anyone from reaching the 'Human World'."
[World Will considers us 'invaders', so we either need to use Baal's method or wait for the merging. All communication is severed,] the Plotter continued. ['Dokkaebi Bag','Channels', her connection to the 'Goddess'... all are in maintenance. This 'update' may be the first sign of stabilizing... or breaking.]
Hajin processed this. "A month... Then... what about Earth?"
Arianna's voice became a sliver of ice. "That is the problem. We don't know anything. But, we are not the only ones trapped here. They are."
[When the worlds collided,] the Plotter picked up the thread, [several Outer Deities and Outer Gods were caught on this side. If thе World Will allows, and we are given a path back to Earth... 'They' will come with us. The 'Astral Barrier' will be bypassed we suppose.]
"If the Astral Barrier of the Original Creator is still in place of course."
"So," Hajin said, his knuckles white, "we're the first line of defense."
[Correct.]
"But the problem is that we don't know the situation on Earth, Plotter told me that before he got pulled in the Demon Realm because of the Universe collision Sakyamuni couldn't seal the Apocalypse Dragon and it was released into Cosmos."
[But the good news are that Indescribable Distance, one of Outer Gods…]
'At this point my head hearts of all this 'Outers' and new terms, bruh…' Kim Hajin complained inwardly.
The Plotter continued. [… was pulled into the Demon Realm with me. At that moment three Outer Deities from Arianna's Universe appeared. For some reason Tower of Wish was also transported here along with all the heroes, djinns that were there at the time. Chaos erupted. The First Devil Baal didn't like it.]
"Gahahahaha!" Cheok Jungyeong suddenly laughed, slamming his barrel down. "You should have seen it, Black Lotus! It was a glorious battle! The battle with Orden stood nowhere near! The First Devil Baal! That 'Distance' fellow! The whole sky was on fire!"
[A great battle shook the core existence of Demon Realm,] the Plotter said, cutting through the enthusiasm, [As a result, a Storm of Probability arose of such force that had never been seen before. Half of the Devils, many Constellations and Demon Kings were caught in it, Agares, Metatron, Michael, Poseidon, Odin also died.]
Cheok Jungyeon nodded sadly, a single tear welling in his eye. "A true pity! It ended too soon!"
'Gyeong, you never change, heh…'
[There were other complications,] the Plotter said, his gaze distant. [When 'Uncertain Mist' of Arianna's Universe clashed with 'Indescribable Distance'... it was discovered they were 'selves' of the same being, from different worlds. They began to merge, birthing a new, unstable entity.]
"The 'Disconnected Film Theory'. The same thing that happened to Jungyeon."
"Correct. Eventually the Great Probability Storm was stopped by Baal, his power was absolute here. But the damage was done. Your 'World Will', drawn by the chaos, began to seep into the Demon Realm naturally from the 'Tower of Wish', trying to restrain the Devils," Arianna said.
"The creation of Baal to invade the Earth played a dumb joke on him, ha-ha-ha. How ironic." Kim Hajin laughed. He couldn't be more happy that the final villain of the story experience a setback.
The Plotter continued. [Since then alliances have formed. Many of your 'Devils', and many 'Constellations', Outer Beings have aligned with each other. Forced by scenarios. But, so have we.]
"We have already engaged one alliance," Arianna said. "We successfully... neutralized five Devils and one Sequence 1 Angel from the alliance led by 'Mother Tree of Desire'. But we were forced to retreat by a second alliance."
Suddenly, Cheok Jungyeon, his voice, as if replaced by the other person:
"Our biggest win was when one of the Outer Deities, called 'Supernova Dominator' was defeated in a battle against Second, Third and Fourth Devils with Demon Kings alliance, we prepared a trap and stole all the Beyonder Characteristics from 'Supernova dominator'. To be precise they were absorbed by 'Him'."
He pointed his big finger(;3) at Secretive Plotter.
'Hm, but Klein told that you need to take potions one after another… But didn't say the reason why. I'm gonna have to have a loooong talk with Dokja and Klein after they finish the tutorial.'
[We've heard a lot about your achievements. So we have an offer for you, Black Lotus, would you like to join us, 'The Apocrypha'?]