THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 463: The One Beyond Omnipotence

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The alleys of Rimala Al-Sahara were cold and merciless, echoing the harsh realities of survival on this red planet. Water was scarce here, and fresh fruits more so.

In the narrow shadowed paths, a little girl with raven hair and dirt-smudged cheeks rummaged through the refuse for scraps. Her small hands, trembling from her fever’s chill despite the heat of the desert, clutched at a piece of stale bread like a treasured prize. Her clothes, mere rags, hung loosely around her frail body.

Picking up the juicy apple, she began to run. But a large hand yanked her by the collar and threw her against the floor.

A shopkeeper's boot, heavy and merciless, descended upon the girl's back with a thud that seemed to echo through the empty alley. "Thief!" he roared, his face a grotesque mask of fury.

The girl, propelled forward by the force of the kick, fought to maintain her grasp on the bread. The angry shopkeeper kicked her for a bit more, before huffing in fury.

"Leave it and get out! Stupid thief," he yelled, but the girl's grip only tightened.

In the end, she grunted to herself and handed him the apple. The shopkeeper took it and turned around with a gruff, but the little girl took the chance to snatch the bread that hung from his pocket. That must be his lunch, but the little girl didn’t care, she hadn’t eaten in days.

She grabbed the bread and ran. But the shopkeeper stopped her again, delivering a kick to her side, sending her tumbling to the ground. “This little rat…!”

The little girl gulped and her knuckles whitened around the coarse loaf, her belly aching with a need that overpowered her fear. The man loomed over her and she gulped.

Anticipating another assault, she winced, but what came was not a blow but a sudden, surreal blue glow that cut through the dimness. A message hung in the air, its digital script bizarrely out of place against the filth-streaked wall behind it.

[Ding! The Gamer wishes to talk to you.]

“....” She blinked at the unexpected apparition, a sliver of wonder piercing her survival-hardened shell.

Yet, the instinct to escape was stronger. The man seemed to be taken aback by her odd expression too, and the little girl used that chance to turn her back on the floating words and bolted, the bread pressed against her chest as she wove through the labyrinth of alleys.

…

Finding solace in the shadowed recess of an abandoned edifice, the little girl sank to the ground, her back against the cold, unforgiving stone. She ravaged the bread with bites both ravenous and deliberate, each mouthful barely denting the void within her.

As she ate, the lack of water made her choke and cough in surprise when the blue glow reappeared, insistent and revised.

[The Gamer has broken a few rules. In particular, Rule #3 of Batch A3 has been broken. Your authorization is needed. Summon the Gamer?]

This time, she couldn't look away; her eyes, a striking green that belied her squalid state, fixed upon the words. A flicker of comprehension ignited within those depths, a recognition of something far beyond the grim reality she occupied.

“....”

Her eyes twitched in annoyance.

With a heavy sigh that seemed too weary for her young years, she dropped the act. A light of ancient wisdom flickered before her eyes, unsuited for a girl who couldn’t even steal an apple.

“Why the hell is the System trying to lie to me? Fuck, I am on a vacation.”

The sigh fell like a stone into a still pond, and the world around her responded. Time stretched and stilled, colors leaching from the surroundings until everything was a still picture in grayscale.

She stood, her stature rising, growing, shifting. The ragged child disappeared, and in her place emerged a figure of cosmic allure. Her form grew into adulthood, the reflection of celestial beauty, a living nebula clad in the fabric of the night sky, her essence the very universe itself.

With a snap of her fingers, reality bent to her will. The alley, the city, and the entire plane of existence she had occupied were left behind as she ascended to her rightful domain. Stars and galaxies passed…. Hyperverses and Omniverses passed as her form moved through the wormhole between realities and she materialized upon a throne suspended above an endless canvas of cosmos.

Galaxies swirled beneath her like currents in an ocean of stars, as she took her seat. Her realm began to sing, narrating a song of her choice and mood, as if a sound player.

“Brother, you should have taken the invitation. I was busy, you know?” she said to the empty air, and a reply came promptly. It came from nowhere yet everywhere.

“Right, busy getting kicked. Anyway, this shouldn’t take too long, just like last time. Treat it like a tea break.”

“Alright,” the girl shrugged as the voice vanished. Now in her true form, she extended a hand, her fingers weaving through the constellations as if plucking the strings of fate itself.

With a gesture of divine command, she summoned the foolish Gamer who dared try to trick her, her voice echoing through the dimensions.

"Let us see what tale you have spun, Dormant Seed."

* * *

As Neji's form flickered and vanished in the castle chamber, he found himself in a realm that defied imagination. The transition was abrupt and disorienting, yet the scene that unfolded before him was of such staggering magnitude that it momentarily stilled the very essence of his being.

He was kneeling amidst an endless expanse, where time and space seemed to converge into an intricate dance of cosmic wonder. Above him, the sky was not a sky but an unfathomable tapestry of universes, each a glowing proof of the boundless reaches of existence.

Stars, galaxies, and nebulae wove through the fabric of this celestial vista, painting a picture of eternal creation and destruction. But that wasn’t all; a million [Icons] sang in the high sky, some new forming every second, and some old withering away.

-「Let the sky fall, When it crumbles, We will stand tall, Face it all together…」

They sang [Skyfall] as if they were merely a music player for the single entity who sat in before Neji.

She looked like the embodiment of the cosmos itself. Her form was both terrifyingly alien and hauntingly beautiful, a paradoxical blend of the human form and the infinite vastness of space. Her eyes, pools of golden luminescence, held within them swirling galaxies, their pupils like black holes drawing in all light, all reality.

There was a distinct beauty mark near one of her eyes, which reminded Neji of someone unpleasant.

Her hair cascaded around her like a river of stars, each strand a universe, pulsating with the life of a trillion worlds. There were stars in her hair as if each strand was a universe of its own. One of her hands ruffled that hair, while she looked down at him from the chair she sat on.

[Admin #2 | Raki Amonorthine.]

[She Beyond Omnipotence - Devourer of Dimensions - Eliminator of Conundrums]

She regarded Neji with an expression that was as uninterested as the void itself. When she spoke, her voice was the symphony of creation, a sound so profound and alien that Neji felt his very soul tremble.

“■■■■ ■■■■, ■■■■.” she said a bunch of incomprehensible words and blinked. She tilted her head at him. “■■■■?”

Neji's mind struggled to grasp the enormity of her presence, along with her words. Her very being seemed to distort the reality around her, bending the laws of physics and logic to her indomitable will. Even in this realm, that must be something of a home to her. All of his senses were stunned; her presence stupefied his vision.

Realizing his mortal limitations, she uttered. “Ah, ■■■■. ■■■■ [Greater Omni Dimensional Translation].”

The entity suddenly said words Neji could understand, and a system prompt flashed.

[Ding! Greater Omni Dimensional Translation has been enabled.]

“It should be working now,” now that Neji could understand her, his ears bled. Blood began to trickle from his ears, yet he made no move to stem the flow, captivated by her voice. He wanted to hear more. He could listen to her voice till death, he-

“Ugh, weakling. Enhance [Gamer’s Mind] Three Thousand Percent,” she spoke, and Neji’s body stilled.

[Ding! Gamer’s Mind has been enhanced by 3000%!]

In an instant, clarity surged through his body and mind, making him leap backward, with Kurai held protectively in his arms.

“Now you’re back to normal,” she said, her voice still sounding like delicious wine, but Neji could contain himself now. “Welcome back, Gamer. It has been a while.”

“...?” Neji looked at her wearily while his mind raced.

Confusion clouded Neji's mind. 'Welcome back?'

What the hell was this entity talking about?

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