Chapter 273: Ruin

Chapter 273 – Ruin

"Providence." Noah uttered with a small smile on his face as his threaded white runic eyes gazed at the sky.

He might have said these words softly, but their implications were truly monstrous and blasphemous. So much that reality itself shook in awe.

Because it had seen, witnessed, something utterly inconceivable. Something that shouldn’t exist.

The pocket space of Shadow started to unravel and destroy itself, as if not able to bear the weight of this simple word.

But that’s not only the space, even Shadow himself recoiled in horror, wondering what kind of nightmare he was witnessing at this moment.

Soon, they found themselves in the void, where nothingness coursed freely without any resistance, without any bounds.

Noah stood there and, for a fraction of a second, he sensed a gaze on him. A gaze so ancient, so powerful, so vast that for a moment, Noah’s whole existence began to crumble, unable to even survive a simple casual glance of such a being.

But his existence was held together by Providence, his system’s name, and also by...

{Noah Vaelgrim, this is becoming ridiculous.}

The Records chimed.

{You have created a whole new concept. A concept so dreadful and heavy in implication that it shouldn’t exist, but you made it so.}

{This is a concept only available to you. And no one will ever use it, not even your future progeny.}

{Your title, The Blasphemer of Reality, has been acknowledged in all realities.}

{All beings from this reality will know you by this name from now on.}

The Records paused, and though their tone didn’t change, Noah could feel an undertone of concern and gravity threading through their words,

{Be strong, fast, Noah.}

That was all they said before vanishing, leaving behind a smiling Noah.

"This... this is getting interesting, isn’t it, Providence?" Noah asked.

[Indeed, Noah. And it’s the perfect time to tell you our new abilities,] Providence’s voice echoed inside Noah’s mind.

It was a woman’s voice—sweet, feminine, powerful enough to drive the most divine, the most ancient progenitors to their knees with just the cadence of her breath.

Noah closed his eyes and,

"Fine but first can you please say some perverted words? I just want to verify something," he asked.

Providence smiled.

[I am so eager to be fucked by you, Noah.]

The moment these words echoed inside Noah’s mind,

"Fuck..."

He almost came.

...

The whole of reality shook in awe because of Noah’s action—of creating the thread of Providence and embodying it.

You were expecting all beings to feel it, right?

But here’s the thing, compared to when the universe shakes and every single being inside feels it, when reality itself shifts... only a few special beings can sense the ripple.

Because it wasn’t a concept most could understand or even be aware of.

"Records... why?" a voice echoed through a realm of black sands, shattered statues and endless wind. Here, time didn’t flow. Space didn’t exist. Nothing lived. Nothing existed. Nothing but one thing—Ruin.

In the middle of that decaying ruin, a being levitated above the black sands.

It was a skeletal giant cloaked in rusted iron and black velvet, with a face hidden beneath a mask carved from the skull of what seemed to be a divine being. His ribs were open like gates, and within his hollow chest, a dying star burned.

It was a magnificent sight. And a dreadful one.

"Why did you block my eyes?" he asked again. His voice was like a dying star—a changing star—a star of ruin... fated to bring devastation to everything in its path, because the more he spoke, the more the realm itself decayed and withered into further ruin.

{The entire universe would have been destroyed if we didn’t,} the Records answered calmly, as if familiar, intimately so, with this being.

{And we cannot afford that. You know it. We are already too weak to fend off those invasions. We cannot weaken ourselves further by destroying a universe.}

The being stayed silent for a moment, then...

"Records, stop taking me for a fool. You never protected a universe, even when I or the others acted. So why now?"

"And why did I feel the birth of something so ridiculous from that universe?"

{It’s our concern.} The Records responded flatly.

The being smiled—a smile so fierce that the entire realm drowned in deeper ruin.

"Are you challenging me?"

The Records didn’t answer.

The being laughed louder.

"Fine. I know it’s one of your pets you favor. But if this one turns out to be a disappointment like the rest of them in the past..."

"... then don’t blame me for acting out next time you block my sight."

There was silence again—until a small, girlish laugh echoed through the ruined space.

{This one... this one will surprise you all. Especially you, Ruin.}

And then they vanished.

Leaving behind Ruin.

"If what I felt is indeed from him... then sure. But..."

Ruin grinned like a lunatic.

"Do you think he’ll survive long enough to use that power correctly?" he said, though his voice wasn’t heard by anyone—not even by the Records.

He flicked his finger and—

"Go. Nip this sprouting thing in the bud..."

A streak of black light shot from his finger and sliced across the void, heading toward a very specific direction.

The direction of a certain universe.

The universe our dear Noah happened to live in.

...

Beings were already plotting against Noah, but there was one thing they didn’t know.

They didn’t know the power, the concept, the law, the pillar—call it whatever you want—but they didn’t know what he had obtained.

Except the Records.

And when you have a power that taps into Providence...

"Danger..." Noah muttered as he raised his head toward the sky. He was looking at the thread of Providence, a thread only he could see.

And right now, he was sensing danger. Warnings sent by the thread itself—even though he still couldn’t perceive the exact source of the threat.

’I’m being targeted. Is that the gaze I felt? Is that why the Records told me to get stronger fast?’ Noah wondered to himself, the pieces falling together in his mind.

’Reality, huh...’

’Things are indeed getting interesting. But dangerous, too. I have to remember—I’m not alone. I have a family with me. So I need to get stronger, and make them stronger, too.’

And right now, his only path forward was through the Origins.

So he had to get them.

But first—

’Show me your new abilities.’ Noah asked Providence, ready to witness what he had unlocked.

All of this, while Shadow stood quietly by the side, feeling intimidated by Noah all of a sudden.

’Truly... what the fuck is this?’

—End of Chapter 273—