They all call me an Outer God.

Schwarz knew where he was from the beginning and followed him wherever he went, because there was indeed an inseparable "blood" relationship between the Primal and the Nameless Mist.

That's right, yes, it's the original creation, so it's only natural that it would favor Ria.

Based on this relationship, Nameless Mist Neorg Sohip could even be considered the brother of the Chaos-Hidden Nyarlathotep.

Perhaps He had already sensed something, which is why He was so anxious about losing Ria.

Nyarlathotep's soul is responsible for guarding the original body, while Neog Sohip's avatars are responsible for guarding the original divinity.

The original meme was "idiot," which means that even an idiot superhuman who wants to become a demigod needs to pass through the hurdle of Ria, but achieving meme zero becomes wishful thinking.

The extraordinary have very little chance of becoming gods; their path has long been monopolized by the gods.

Ria used to have the same worries, but now all his worries are gone.

But there are newer and bigger problems.

"You should know that we rejected that proposal."

As countless dim figures surrounded Ria and were about to play music for him with their heavenly flutes, Ria reached out and grabbed the tentacle that was covering his eyes.

"I will not become the original."

He then forcefully and unequivocally pried it off, restoring his vision.

"I promised it I wouldn't put myself in that kind of blind and foolish situation."

Did you promise...it?

Nyarlathotep seemed to be deep in thought.

[Does "it" refer to an avatar of the nameless mist?]

He did not utter the true name, but referred to it by its honorific name, and at this moment the golden light of the surrounding eyes became even more striking.

Those few words, "I object," still pierce Nyarlathotep's heart like a nail.

I see, I see...

Unknown gazes were cast upon eyes in all directions.

Nameless Mist, do you intend to oppose me?

I clearly warned you to do your job within the rules and not to interfere with my script.

"That has nothing to do with it."

Ria suddenly tightened her grip on the tentacle, crushing it into ashes in an instant.

This made Nyarlathotep look at him with a slightly different eye, since according to His thinking, Ria should not be able to exert enough power to resist Him at present.

"Regardless of my identity, I only see myself as a human being, and the fate of humanity is to fight against the Outer Gods and resist the stars in exchange for living space."

“I have offered you a prayer. Since you have made a deal with me, you should know that our deal is not over yet. The most important thing is for you to help me find the Radiant Sun in exchange for a promotion opportunity. We don’t have much time left to fight against the calamity.”

Do you know what you're saying?

Nyarlathotep seemed to have heard a very funny joke.

[You're trying to stop the jinx from waking "you"—how foolish, how ridiculous!]

[After knowing all this, you still want to see yourself as an ordinary human being, just a human being?!? From the perspective of an Outer God, what would you do?!]

"From the perspective of Outer God..."

Ria closed her eyes, then gently lifted them, her tone indescribably eerie and cold.

"From the perspective of the Outer God, I am the original creator, a being whose soul is superior to everything in an absolute sense, an independent individual."

"No one has the right to manipulate me or use me as a puppet, not even you, Nyarlathotep. Praying to you is just a formality, not an admission that you are superior to me."

I'm not interested in your script; on the contrary, you should obey my orders unconditionally.

Although I don't know my past personality, judging from my current self—

My compliance with you is based on the premise that you can only develop according to my wishes. What you perceive as indulgence is simply that everything is under my control.

Isn't this the essence of forced trade? That's capital—offering a little something in return to make subordinates work like oxen and horses, doing it willingly and happily.

【…】

You truly have never possessed any humanity.

"That's why I need to study. From the past to the present, I've been learning about human nature... But in the process of learning about people, am I learning well enough?"

At that moment, Ria suddenly smiled dimly, his body transforming into an invisible mist that dissipated from the tentacles and the shadowy figure of the dark musician.

His purpose was achieved.

"Thank you for telling me so much and telling me the truth. I really like these things. Remember to send over the rest of my payment."

I don't accept your script, but I have a new one here that you might be willing to visit or even act in—"

Do you like the theme of "The hero will defeat the evil dragon (the calamity star) and rescue the princess (the radiant sun)"?

Come join me in acting it out, my friend. Consider this an invitation to play along... it's nice to occasionally take on a positive role.

Ria's figure vanished like rapidly sublimating dry ice, followed by the eyes in all directions, which grew increasingly dim until they disappeared completely.

Ha...hahahaha...hehehehe, hehe ...

[Haha ...

The shadowy figures holding flutes stood frozen in place for a long time before finally bursting into wild laughter, clutching their instruments. Their laughter started out gloomy and hoarse, but eventually became extremely sharp, filling the entire space with a frenzied celebration.

[Azathoth...Azathoth!]

[This is so unexpected! He actually managed to turn the tables and brazenly invite me to participate in His script under these circumstances.]

[This is insane! Insane! This is the first time anyone has dared to say something like that to me.]

The puppet said to the manipulator, "What's the point of you just dictating the script and watching us play? We can be puppets together and have fun together."

Nyarlathotep found it utterly ridiculous. He couldn't help but feel angry and irritable, but hidden within those emotions was a hint of joy and elation.

In the end, all the noise subsided into silence.

In the boundless darkness, an obscure murmur suddenly swept by, gone like the wind.

【OK】

Ok.

He admitted that he had been incited.

……

Ria woke up to find himself still in complete darkness, the "minute" still not over. He moved his aching limbs, hearing them creak and groan, and realized that the Faceless God's mask was now on his face.

"Good morning, my noble, handsome, and beloved father. You're awake so soon. Why don't you sleep a little longer?"

When Ria heard the mask suddenly start talking, she almost threw it away, but her own survival instinct saved her life.

"Don't throw me away, I'm just a fragile, mysterious object!"

"Who are you calling father?" Ria questioned it, even though she had never been married in either her previous or current life, so why did each of them make her seem like she was old and vigorous?

Although he is indeed quite old in some respects.

Ria tore the mask off her face and held it in her hand, only to find that its appearance had changed. The original "faceless" mask now had a mouth, which was completely bright red, as if it had been smeared with blood.

“It’s a bit disgusting.”

Lia's aesthetic sense had long been distorted; mouths were not within his aesthetic range, and as he spoke, he was about to smash it.

"Stop! Spare the mask! I have value. I am a tool specially left behind by Lord Fuxing Chaos to help you solve your problems. I can answer how to fight against the calamity star. I also have Lord Fuxing Chaos's divine power stored within me. You can't just destroy me like this!"

"Snapped!!!"

"what!!!"

Before it could finish speaking, Ria threw it to the ground without any mercy.

Surprisingly, the mask didn't break. In fact, it even emitted a human-like scream.

Now Ria had no choice but to pick it up again and confirm its quality.

"The quality is good."

"Of course, my hardness is on par with carbon 60, but I'm still fragile. By the way... Father, you really enjoyed hitting me just now."

"Come on, hit me again, throw me hard."

Ria: "...?"

Is this still an M?

He felt his lips twitching slightly and immediately asked the mask to change its name, anything but "father".

Finally, at Ria's insistence, the mask changed its address for Ria from "Father" to "Mr."

The change in the faceless mask probably also means that the Chaos of the Fury indirectly acknowledges Ria's ways and is willing to assist him before Gherros's demise.

Although Ria felt that Little Swarth didn't seem to like it very much.

Okay, it's not just "seems".

Little Swarth didn't like it at all.

According to the mask's self-introduction, its name is "One Thousandth of a Face," and it is the embodiment of one of the creative personalities of the primordial chaos.

It possesses absolute wisdom and guiding power. When faced with any unsolvable problem, wearing it allows one to share the divine power of subduing chaos for a short period of time.

Everything has its side effects. The side effect of this thing is that it easily feels lonely and insecure, likes to chatter incessantly, and will silently break down and die if it is not responded to within a day.

"It sounds so tragic."

The image of the mask in Ria's mind has changed from that of an m to that of a miserable and melancholic m.

"Do you know that I lost my parents when I was young and grew up with my grandfather? My grandfather contracted a tea garden, and I was responsible for selling tea for him."

But my grandfather fell ill, and all the burdens of the family fell on my shoulders. To help my grandfather, you are willing to buy…

“I don’t want to.” Ria interrupted it as soon as it started telling some of the oldest jokes imaginable.

He decided not to waste any more time arguing with it and instead began asking it the key questions about the radiant sunrise.

For example, how likely is it that I can successfully save Guangyao Rising Sun with my current strength? What kind of helpers do I need to find? What preparations should I make in advance?

"Save the glorious rising sun?"

One-thousandth of a side may seem unserious on the surface, but when Ria asked it about these key points, it still quickly gave an answer.

Is it the radiant sunrise I've been thinking of?

“Sir, to rescue Radiant Sun, we need to at least advance to the level of Meme One, but advancing to Meme One requires Radiant Sun’s permission.”

"Doesn't that create a vicious cycle?" Lia frowned slightly.

"No, no, no, how could this be a vicious cycle? Most people can only think that they must save the sun, and if they can't save it, it can only wait to die."

But is it really that simple? He is an outer god who governs the entire solar system and whose element is fire.

The corners of the mask's mouth turned up even higher.

"Don't underestimate the Radiant Sun. While the calamity star is eroding Him, He is also eroding the calamity star itself. The Radiant Sun maintains the balance of the solar system. Since the system is still operating smoothly, it means that He is not in any serious danger."

Mr. Ria, if you wish to come into contact with the true Radiant Sun, we can certainly try to bypass Gherros's investigation and use the authority of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as a stepping stone to His spiritual realm.

The radiant sun is always considerate of its subordinates. When it senses the presence of a subordinate, it will not stand idly by and will choose to meet with you, whether it wants to or not.

Then you can legitimately pray to Him, explain the situation, and claim that you killed the original angel under His command and became the first angel of His memes.

"But you just said that the Radiant Sun has always treated his subordinates well. Would He so easily agree to let me kill His angel?"

"He had no choice. Since those angels had mistaken the Lord they followed day and night and were corrupted by Him, it could only mean that they were all a bunch of useless people."

The Radiant Sun can only trust you; you are its only chance to escape the clutches of the Calamity Star. This will be a game of mutual exploitation, where everyone is both using and being used by others.

But meeting the true God is not an easy thing. Your body and consciousness are bound by the evil star. Ordinary prayers will only be accepted by the evil star unless He actively avoids the evil star's surveillance and looks for you.

But given His current physical condition, this is clearly impractical.

You need some special methods of attraction.

"What means?"

"Hehehe, Mr. Lia, do you know what asceticism is?"

“Practice hard…”

Of course, Ria knew what asceticism was. In some countries in the past, some believers practiced asceticism, which was completely different from prayer. It meant that believers gave up worldly desires such as fine clothes, three meals, and plenty of sleep, and diligently practiced the Way, cultivating the Middle Way of selflessness.

The underlying logic of this cultivation method is to shield oneself from worldly connections, reduce interference in the pursuit of truth, and focus on using the connection between the body and the universe to perceive the truth.

This typically involves rigorous physical and mental training, such as prolonged meditation or sitting meditation.

"Do you think these can be used to connect to the true, radiant sunrise?"

"Of course not, but the probability of doing so is much greater than the probability of connecting with Him through ordinary prayer, sir."

The power of devout ascetic practice should not be underestimated. (End of Chapter)