The Indolent Slayer

Planning a staff appreciation day is difficult enough with normal employees. When your staff includes reformed Night Beasts, a chaos entity, and a tiger who considers staying awake for an entire meeting a heroic achievement, it becomes something else entirely.

"Perhaps we could have team-building exercises?" suggested a hopeful Night Beast, its tiny official hat slightly askew.

The last team-building attempt had accidentally created a temporary dimension filled with motivational posters and endless trust-fall exercises.

Mingyu, who was chairing the planning committee from his horizontal position on three cushions, opened one eye.

"Too much work. Best team building happens during synchronized nap time." Mingyu muttered.

The meeting room looked like what would happen if an office supply store had a dream about cosmic forces.

Xizhao, now Head of Creative Chaos (a title that mostly meant keeping regular chaos from becoming boring), was taking notes with five different tentacles of void-stuff. Each tentacle wrote in a different language, two of which hadn't been invented yet.

"What about a potluck?" Aunt Bao proposed, already planning ways to prevent the food from developing consciousness. "Though we should probably ban interdimensional ingredients after last month's incident with the self-aware soup that tried to start a philosophy club."

Night Lord Wei consulted his schedule with the precision of someone who had traded world-ending ambitions for perfect administrative efficiency. "We need to consider everyone's needs. The junior shadows require regular darkness breaks, the chaos entities need reality-bending spaces, and Mingyu needs..." he glanced at the dozing tiger, "well, anywhere with a flat surface."

Li Xuan, who had been creating frost patterns in the shape of organizational charts, raised a practical concern about last year's meditation session.

Three departments had achieved temporary enlightenment and started filing their reports in haiku form. Elder Yan still kept those particular scrolls in a special section labeled 'Bureaucratic Literature.'

Bao Ping bounced excitedly in his seat, causing only minor violations of gravity. His suggestion of a talent show was met with a unanimous "NO MORE TALENT SHOWS!" from the entire room.

Even Assistant Justice, his rabbit companion, seemed to cringe at the memory of singing shadows and dancing paperwork that had gained artistic ambitions.

Rui Lin offered her culinary expertise, presenting shadow-fire party snacks that told jokes while being eaten. The dumpling's cosmic comedy routine earned nervous laughter from the committee, especially when one punchline temporarily altered the nature of reality.

Ideas bounced around the room like confused butterflies: a relaxation competition (vetoed when Mingyu was declared the automatic winner), shadow puppet theater (the puppets became too self-aware), and interdimensional office tours (postponed after the infinite filing cabinet incident).

"What we need," Mingyu said suddenly, causing everyone to jump as they'd assumed he was asleep, "is something that lets everyone do what they're best at while doing as little as possible." The room fell silent, even the laws of physics leaned in to listen.

Xizhao's suggestion of a Festival of Rest caught on immediately. Every department could demonstrate their most efficient ways of achieving peace, from the Night Beasts' comfort patrol techniques to Li Xuan's cooling relaxation zones.

The preparations began with military precision, if military campaigns involved comfortable seating arrangements and scheduled nap times. Aunt Bao's kitchen became a laboratory of tranquility-inducing treats, while the Night Beasts practiced synchronized shadow-lounging.

Elder Yan created new filing systems: "The Taxonomy of Tranquility" and "A Comprehensive Guide to Classified Comfort." His brushes worked overtime, though they insisted on taking regular breaks and forming a brush workers' union.

The festival transformed the imperial gardens into distinct zones of specialized peace. The Shadow Sector offered the most comfortable darkness ever achieved, while Li Xuan's Frost Fellowship created cooling pavilions where summer heat transformed into gentle breezes.

Rui Lin's Tranquility Tastings achieved new heights of peaceful pleasure, serving Serenity Soup that gave diners glimpses of universal harmony. Bao Ping's Accidental Zen Garden surprised everyone by becoming a hit with cosmic beings who traveled light-years to contemplate his clumsy patterns.

Xizhao's Chaos Comfort Corner offered visitors perfect disorder within perfect peace. At the center, Mingyu's "Epicenter of Effortlessness" demonstrated the highest form of doing nothing, with visitors achieving enlightenment just by watching him nap.

Emperor Feng's visit validated the festival's success, though he politely declined the Night Beasts' offer to experience "temporary void absorption for relaxation purposes." The day concluded with only one minor incident: a meditation cushion achieving enlightenment and requesting to start its own department.

"You know," Night Lord Wei remarked to Mingyu as they watched their successful staff appreciation day conclude, "when I was planning to consume the world in eternal darkness, I never imagined I'd find more satisfaction in organizing perfect peace."

"Mmm," Mingyu agreed, somehow looking even more relaxed than usual. "Amazing what a good rest and proper snacks can accomplish."

The universe itself seemed to sigh in contentment as the first annual Festival of Rest set a new standard for staff appreciation across all known dimensions.

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(Somewhere in another Realm)

A being with dark eyes and a heavy aura around its sphere looked at a screen in the air that was invisible to his surroundings.

The being was looked like an elf. Well, there were lots of elves out there but this was no weak elf. This elf had just destroyed a system— in fact a planet had lost its orbit around its own Sun due to this elf just landing on that planet. This elf stared at its screen and watched how Gao Mingyu ruled and protected his people with an indolent approach.

He indeed was an Indolent Slayer. The elf smirked, blinked and the screen vanished into thin air just like it had emerged from.

The elf using telepathy summoned a house-elf. In an instant, the house-elf disappeared. It was a messenger elf.

The elf proceeded to address his people about an upcoming battle. One that was already won. So they thought. They knew nothing of Mingyu's ways to conquer.

Will Mingyu conquer? Or will he have to adopt a new system to annihilate this new evil?