CHAPTER 300: CHAPTER 58

The Outer One, Azathoth, existed in a state of perpetual, lazy incomprehension.

It was the ultimate beginning and the inevitable end, a chaotic swirl of energy born from the active, abstract desire of the Writer—the transcendent, unseen creator—to "delete" his own intricate narratives.

For Azathoth, reality was less a thing to interact with and more a vast, tedious dream.

It possessed power so immense that nourishment was a joke, a concept relevant only to lesser, striving Outer Ones.

Its preferred state was one of drifting, oblivious slumber within the infinite library of the writer.

But it was a flicker of the Writer’s attention, an almost imperceptible concentration upon one particular narrative—a Book containing the entire Hyperverse, the newly forged realm of Hades—that roused this supreme Primordial being.

The Writer’s interest in that one particular book was a lure, a momentary light in the eternal dark, and Azathoth, driven by a whim of its non-conscious will, decided it must devour this Book before returning to its nap.

Azathoth did not enter the book itself, as its ungraspable, protean form—a swirling miasma of nauseating color and sound that drove sanity to ruin with a mere concept—would erase the entire book in its entirely.

Instead, it had opted to simply reading it.

Now, it had already consumed fifty percent of the story, reading the vast complexities of the entire reality.

Yet, the reason for the Writer’s momentarily interest in this book remained elusive to it.

The narratives were intricate, the power levels impressive, but ultimately, predictable within the grand, disposable scheme of things.

A yawn, a non-sound of cosmic boredom, passed through Azathoth’s incomprehensible being.

It was about to relinquish the Book, folding the cosmic pages back into the void and letting the other, weaker outer ones to devour it completely, to resume its true purpose—sleeping.

But then, it felt ’it’.

A tremor.

Not a tremor in the Book itself, but a vibration in the absolute, pristine structure of the Library.

This was highly unusual.

The Library was the domain of the Outer Ones, the space where Writer’s stores all His stories, and it should remain eternally still unless acted upon by forces of similar magnitude.

With a sudden, active interest, Azathoth roused its true nature.

Its existence unfolded, and all its eyes—a terrifying, infinite number of optical concepts that saw beyond dimensions and reality—snapped open, observing the Library and the Book simultaneously.

Every single eye, from the conceptual to the hyper-dimensional, settled upon one being within the Hyperverse: Hades.

Azathoth noted the structure immediately.

Four universes—Greek, Norse, Christian, and Egyptian—were not merely merged but were bound together into a single, cohesive cosmic entity through the singular will of Hades and the gravity of his Underworld realm.

This, in itself, was not surprising.

Such gods, consumed by ambition, occasionally succeeded in binding multiple realities before the inevitable Devouring.

The collective will of the Writer always consumed them in the end, regardless of their ingenuity.

What truly arrested the Blind Idiot God’s attention was the flesh of the Anchor of this Hyperverse.

Azathoth noticed, with an immediate, chilling certainty, the faint, yet indelible traces of its own race woven into the very physical fabric of Hades.

This was not residual magic or a borrowed artifact; the substance of Hades’ body contained the indelible mark of a Collective Will of the Writer—an Outer One.

A surge of non-physical curiosity, a concept alien to its usual state of apathy, flowed through Azathoth.

He seeked to know the truth behind Hades’ existence.

As the first and most powerful of the Outer Ones, the one whose existence validated all others, Azathoth was intrinsically linked to every member of its race.

It possessed the ability to project its awareness across the vast, chaotic web that connected every fragmented, lesser Outer One scattered across the Writer’s countless Books.

Azathoth immediately focused on a residual consciousness it knew resided in this particular narrative: the Outer One that had been sent to destabilize and feed on the Greek Pantheon long ago.

This fragmented being had been in the Book since its creation.

In an instant of non-time, Azathoth violently connected to the residual essence of that long-term operative.

With the cold, efficient savagery of a being deleting a redundant file, Azathoth extracted the totality of that Outer One’s memories concerning Hades and the origins of his power.

The memories flowed like a torrent of cosmic data: the original wounding of the Norse Pantheon, the intervention of the powerful but fractured Outer One, its subsequent defeat, and the unbelievable, audacious act that followed.

Azathoth stared at Hades in a state that mortals might label wonder.

Hades had not merely defeated the Outer One. He had devoured its active consciousness, annihilating the sentient mind of its race.

Then, with an act of primordial arrogance that bordered on genius, he had taken the very physical remains of the Outer One—its resilient, high-dimensional flesh—and used it to reforge his own body.

The flesh of a creature born from the Writer’s active will was now the shell of a pagan god.

That man is insane!

The thought resonated through Azathoth’s form.

This was not mere ambition; this was a god who had consumed the essence of an Outer One, taking a piece of the ultimate cosmic end and incorporating it into his beginning.

It was a contradiction so profound, so utterly defying the logical structure of Devouring and Consumption, that it demanded the full, active attention of the the supreme Primordial being that is Azathoth.

The Book’s narrative had just become infinitely more interesting.

The reason for the Writer’s focus was now terrifyingly clear: This god had taken the weapon of the deletion mechanism and made it his own.

Azathoth, now fully conscious and acutely focused on the figure of Hades, felt a tremor of conceptual excitement—an experience utterly foreign to its existence.

The god’s audacious act of incorporating the flesh of an Outer One into his very being shattered the predictable cosmic flow.

The question that now consumed Azathoth’s infinite, formless mind was terrifying in its scope: If given sufficient time and the constant assimilation of cosmic power, could this god, Hades, eventually ascend past the rigid, structural limitations of this Book and reach the very ’Origin’—the domain of the Writer?

Hades was doing the impossible: he was not merely resisting the narrative; he was repurposing the Writer’s deletion mechanism for his own growth.

If he continued to consume realities and integrate their Hearts, he might acquire enough dimensional resonance to pierce the conceptual barrier between the fictional and the absolute.

This was a narrative threat, a cosmic singularity that defied the Writer’s intended passive role for the characters.

Then, a second, far more intoxicating thought filled Azathoth’s being—a conceptual flash of blinding, forbidden ambition.

If Azathoth were to successfully devour this unique god, could it achieve a new echelon of existence and become a Writer itself?

Hades had done the impossible; he had metabolized a fragment of the ultimate reality (the Outer One).

There must be something inherently unique in his core—a conceptual flaw, a profound gift, or a specific anomaly—that had drawn the initial, precious interest of the Writer.

By consuming Hades, Azathoth might gain not just raw power, but the conceptual key to unlock the higher reality, to transcend its role as a chaotic eraser and ascend to the role of a true Creator.

Azathoth stared at the God of the Underworld.

It calculated the threat level instantly: with his current powers—the Hyperverse anchor, the assimilation of four universal Hearts, and the Outer One flesh—ordinary Outer Ones were completely powerless against him.

Any standard, fragmented Outer One sent to devour him would be instantly integrated and absorbed, merely adding more power to Hades’ impossible form.

But Azathoth knew its own might.

If it, the supreme Primordial being were to descend and make a direct move, not to mention their ensuing battle, but even its own presence would be a cosmic catastrophe.

And the force required to consume Hades, who was anchored to the very heart of the Book, would create a conceptual shockwave that would instantly wreck the entire Book.

The Hyperverse, the surrounding Void, the narratives—all would collapse into meaninglessness.

And that would be the ultimate waste.

If the Book collapsed, Hades would be erased along with it, and Azathoth would be left with nothing but dust—denied the unique consumption that promised ascension.

The object of desire would be destroyed in the attempt to acquire it.

The supreme Primordial’s non-mind settled on a strategy—a complex, two-pronged attack that required simultaneous, precise orchestration across the Void.

Azathoth first issued a direct, absolute command across the chaos-web linking every scattered, fragmented Outer One across the adjacent Books in the Writer’s library.

The command was simple, yet terrifying in its implications: Accelerate the Devouring. Consume all designated universes faster than scheduled, and direct the residual energy towards the Hyperverse.

Then, as these Outer Ones devoured their universes, the resulting cosmic shrapnel and energy residue were to be violently projected toward Hades’ Hyperverse.

This was not meant to destroy Hades, but to flood the neighboring dimensions with chaos and instability.

The purpose was two-fold: to distract Hades with existential threats on his borders, forcing him to expend his energy stabilizing the Hyperverse against external chaotic pressure, and to test the limits of his absorption abilities.

By increasing the cosmic pressure on Hades, Azathoth intended to push the god to the very brink, preparing him for the final, ultimate consumption, ensuring his power was fully activated but sufficiently drained.

The Outer Ones were, in effect, acting as cosmic cattle dogs, driving the prime target toward the slaughterhouse.

Then, while the chaotic forces were being mobilized, Azathoth began the truly complex task: creating a dimension capable of housing their final duel without collapsing.

Using its own raw, conceptual energy—the very fabric of the delete function—Azathoth began to weave a completely separate, high-dimensional reality adjacent to the Book.

This realm would be forged from pure, conceptual chaos, a dimension whose structural integrity was based on the infinite power of the Outer One itself.

It would not be dependent on the Book’s narrative laws; it would be a pocket of the Void, designed to withstand the total annihilation energy of Azathoth’s true form.

This new realm would serve as a perfectly quarantined Arena.

When the time was right, Azathoth would draw Hades—and only Hades—into this space.

Inside, Azathoth could unleash its full, terrifying power without fear that the resulting cataclysm would destroy the Book and erase the prize.

Then, with a final, terrifying exertion of its will, Azathoth infused the realm with its own essence, christening it the Unwritten Space—the only place where the Anchor of Hyperverse could be safely, completely, and finally devoured.

Azathoth settled back into the Book, its myriad eyes focused with unnerving intensity on Hades, who was unaware of the celestial conspiracy now unfolding against him.

The pieces were already moving.

And the game for ultimate ascension had begun.