Transformed into Cosmic Horror in a Sci-Fi Universe

Transformed into Cosmic Horror in a Sci-Fi Universe

EP.75 Azathoth

Oh, they’ve completely lost their mind.

This reaction is getting a bit boring.

[ How truly evil. ]

As I was thinking that, Idra approached from the side.

Such an incredibly beautiful appearance.

I created this Demon Lord based on her looks, but there’s certainly a beauty and atmosphere that no created being could ever match.

So, evil, huh?

It does seem like it might have been a bit excessive.

Making a being born as an adversary destroy the very things they were meant to protect, and then resurrecting someone who committed suicide only to completely shatter their mental state.

Even if it was to satisfy my curiosity, it was undeniably a wicked act.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I feel any guilt about it.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve already come too far.

Well, this test was quite interesting, nonetheless.

An experiment to corrupt the adversary and guide them to bring about the destruction of the world they were meant to protect.

It didn’t go as planned, so I had to try it several times.

If I directly brainwashed or controlled the adversary, it would be easy, but that would be ambiguous to say the adversary attacked the universe.

I tried all sorts of methods to deliberately guide them.

Using a beautiful Demon Lord modeled after Idra to seduce them.

Guiding their subconscious to think that the extinction of humanity was the easiest path to peace.

Appearing in their dreams to add a bit of mental corruption and cloud their judgment.

In the end, by pulling all of that together, I was able to see the adversary truly destroy the world and eradicate humanity.

To think that a being created by the will of the universe could be made to act against that will.

Even though there was some interference, the fact that it could be guided like that with just that much was incredibly interesting.

I could use this to conduct various other experiments.

For example, an experiment to see if another adversary appears when we turn the original adversary into a destroyer bent on annihilating the world…

Oh, now that I mention it, I’m curious.

Should we try it right now?

[ How about we take a break from that for a while? ]

[ Hm? ]

Idra looks at me with desperate, pleading eyes.

[ I know I can’t stop you. You’re that kind of being, after all. But… even so, couldn’t you pause these terrible acts for just a little while? If you need something interesting, couldn’t you observe the elves? ]

Well, when a pretty lady asks like that, even I can’t refuse.

The fact that I want to grant a beautiful person’s request even without any sexual desire shows that beautiful beings have a power that makes you want to listen to them, regardless of lust.

Well, I am an eternal being without the concept of time anyway.

It’s not like anything will happen just because I postpone the order a bit.

Then, for now, shall we observe Eugene and the elves’ SF world with Idra?

We’ll do the adversary experiment later.

[ …? ]

As I was thinking that, I suddenly felt like someone was watching me, so I turned around.

But there was nothing there except the countless universe bubbles that usually occupy my laboratory.

What’s this? Could there be a being that found me among all these universes?

It’s impossible for a conceptual being capable of perceiving outside the universe to spontaneously arise within a universe.

Or… is it from the outside?

Maybe it’s a top-tier outer god like me.

I thought that, but I don’t sense any such presence either.

I don’t know what it is.

An illusion?

No, was I even capable of having ‘illusions’ to begin with?

As I was pondering this.

Swoosh─

[ …!? ]

My surroundings changed.

I was definitely in the laboratory space just a moment ago.

Nothing can be felt.

No color, no space, no concept… nothing exists.

It’s truly ‘void’.

What on earth is this?

It’s not any universe, nor is it an interstice.

What in the world is this place?

As I was thinking that.

[ Dangerous element. Eliminate. ]

A voice came from somewhere.

An outer god? Is it an outer god?

An outer god that can move me somewhere else without me noticing?

Was there ever a being with such an absurd power?

Even the one called ‘Yog-Sothoth’, considered the pinnacle of outer gods, shouldn’t be able to do this?

Moreover, it doesn’t feel like an outer god at all.

Even I can’t sense anything in this void and existence.

What… exactly is happening here?

#

I felt a gaze.

The gaze that was looking at me.

The Origin noticed it.

How?

No being should be able to sense its gaze, which both exists and doesn’t exist.

So how did that one notice and realize it?

Is it because it’s an avatar created by itself?

Is it because it possesses a part of the most fundamental power?

No, if that were the case, it should have noticed much earlier.

The fact that it didn’t before means something has changed.

[ Experiment. Knowledge. ]

Creating universes and gaining new knowledge through various experiments.

Those must be increasing its power without a doubt.

With that power, it has been gradually growing the strength that was given to it, the strength within itself.

It has nurtured enough power to even notice its gaze, which shouldn’t exist.

[ Dangerous element. Elimination required. ]

That is dangerous.

Among the fragments of origin it has scattered, that one is particularly dangerous.

A fragment of origin that grows on its own.

If left alone, it might grow even more powerful and approach the true Origin.

The answer is to eliminate it preemptively.

Having reached this conclusion, the Origin drew it into its cradle.

[ Dangerous element. Eliminating. ]

The red-eyed form, seeming to understand its words, quickly tries to sense its surroundings.

Of course, that’s impossible.

This place, the origin of the world and the void itself, is none other than itself.

It was already as good as being in its stomach.

Now it’s just a matter of digesting it properly.

Just as it thought that and was about to extend the power of Origin to it,

Crack─

[ ? ]

Suddenly, as if blocked by some force, the power of Origin approaching it was repelled.

The power of Origin being repelled?

That’s impossible.

Literally, Origin is the source.

The beginning of everything, the inevitable endpoint, and the unknown that nothing can reach.

That which absolutely exists yet doesn’t exist, a contradiction that is not a contradiction.

It cannot miss or fail to reach anything.

[ Why? ]

It doesn’t make sense.

Why.

Even though it understood the meaning of that question, it never imagined it would have something like doubt.

The Origin, known as ‘Azathoth’, felt the emotions of ‘doubt’ and ‘confusion’ for the first time.

And immediately, it was able to deduce the reason.

[ The power of Origin. Only the same power can oppose it. ]

There’s only one thing that can resist the irresistible power of Origin.

The same power of Origin.

Of course, that one is its avatar and one of its direct creations, so it possesses a fragment of Origin.

But that’s just a tiny fragment.

No matter how much knowledge it accumulates and power it grows, it can’t stand against the real Origin.

It’s on a different level entirely.

There’s only one conclusion.

Another Origin has sprouted.

Something that absolutely cannot exist in this world in twos, other than itself.

It has become two.

[ Interference impossible. Interference impossible. ]

If that’s the case, Azathoth can do nothing.

It is the closest to Origin and is Origin itself.

At the same time, it is also a being without origin, a being that doesn’t exist.

If there’s another being of equal Origin, they absolutely cannot interfere with each other.

The moment it was moved here, exposed to the power of Origin, the fragment became a seed.

And then it grew into a sprout.

At that moment, they become separate entities that can no longer interfere with each other.

[ Exile, independence is the best option. ]

The only fortunate point is that its power is still just a sprout.

If it weren’t for that, the order of this world would have already started to split in two and collapse.

Up and down would become the same, right would become left, the distinction between hot and cold would disappear, heads would become feet and feet would become heads.

Before that happens, it must become a separate Origin.

It must build its own world and become an Origin like itself there.

It’s like a multiverse.

Two parallel Origins that cannot interfere with each other come into being.

To explain this and convey its intention, it needed to have a conversation with that sprout.

[ Conversation required. ]

It requested a conversation like that, but.

[ Why should I? Shit, why would I talk to some bastard who suddenly brought me to a weird place and is trying to do weird things? ]

After saying that, it disappeared from the Origin with a poof.

[ ……. Confused. ]

And so Azathoth, while existing, felt the emotion of confusion for the second time.