Two of them gradually fade from view, leaving only one, which displays the chat history between him and the Manager.
The Manager swivels towards her staff, observing all of them scrolling through their screens. “Matrix decoded, resources identified, transporters deployed, and code validated with zero errors,” they speak in unison before wiping their screens clean. They transfer their codes to the manager’s screen, who proceeds to rearrange them. As a red dot materializes over her screen, she plucks it up and deposits it into the chat box. “Just a single click away,” she responds to Kal.
[Ding! A successful system link has been created.]
[Bonus experience earned for smooth one-time coding.]
[Percent — 0% failure.]
Kal disregards the remaining system messages, for a zero percent error rate is not only optimal but also the bare minimum requirement. A green light illuminates the galaxy, swiftly catching up to the void mana before surpassing it and enveloping the adjacent galaxies.
Glutten senses the initial wave and perceives Kal at its epicenter. However, the second wave throws him off balance, causing him to collide into the neighboring planet. The creatures in the vicinity sense his presence and frantically flee to safety.
Vertical green lines burst forth from every corner of the planet, causing the movements of the lower-level creatures to decelerate, while those at higher levels struggled to conceal themselves. Little did they know, Kal’s code had now taken over their entire galaxy.
Glutten experiences a heavy sensation in his head as he rises to observe the planet now adorned with green lines. Each line comprises an amalgam of strange numbers that he recognizes and even stranger symbols he cannot comprehend. They glitch back and forth between numbers and symbols, all while holding onto their neighboring letter like a bizarre, shape-shifting chain. “Integration,” he murmurs before turning towards Kal. “You’re a Gloom-in Void being, donned in celestial armor, that possesses the System Engineer class!” His eyes widen, and his jaw melts away. Now, Glutten understands why Narzex’s proud warrior spirit crumbled halfway.
However, facing someone possessing all three traits seemed impossible. They could barely withstand anyone with even one of those abilities, and confronting an opponent with two or all three of them was akin to a suicide mission. It was a hopeless fight. “This isn’t fair. In fact, it’s not even a fight,” Glutten laments while gazing up at the ascending black hole. “What terrible luck. Now what?” He turns to Narzex, who had already accepted his fate and now floated closest to Kal, amused by the black hole. Haranu was motionless, either from fear or defeat. None of them had the necessary resources to outrun a black hole, assuming Kal would even permit them to move a single inch. Frustration welled up inside him, and Glutten exploded in anger. “Why are you even here?”
Kal tilts his head towards Glutten, his default expression enough to terrify him into silence. Glutten trembles in fear, sweat dripping from his body and shrinking him as drops of purple goo fall away. Kal’s crooked smile returns to his face. “I’m your one-man doomsday salvage crew. The cavalry couldn’t make it,” he replies.
“Salvage what?” Haranu interferes.
Kal spread his hands wide and gestures around. “All of this,” he lamented. However, all he saw were piles of planetary debris and the lifeless bodies of those warriors who fought the war, now drifting aimlessly in space. He struggled to point out specific items, as the wreckage was all that was left. “Well… What’s left of it?” He exclaims and turns to witness the horrific sight of a neighboring planet colliding with another. “Maybe I need to hurry before there’s nothing left to salvage.”
“To where?” Glutten asked.
“A new universe.”
“What about this one? My kingdom due north here?”
Kal gestured upwards, drawing attention to the spectacle above. “All is being transported,” he proclaimed, as massive runes illuminated the sky. Five towering pillars emerged, forming a swirling vortex between them. Some of them were pulling in living creatures, while others were draining entire oceans and tearing away entire mountains. A few even siphoned off the very mana from the planet and its surroundings. “Your universe, for whatever reason, is draining the life out of your celestial objects - your planets,” Kal explained. He then pointed to a unique set of five pillars that were burrowing into an empty planet and removing its core. “The immense imbalance has created a huge black hole, threatening to suck in what little life and resources remain in this part of the universe. That is why we have decided to clear the vicinity before it’s too late.”
Haranu raised a pertinent question, “If you knew about this catastrophic imbalance, why didn’t you intervene and stop the war from happening in the first place?” Her gaze was sharp and unwavering as she fixed it on Kal.
Kal chuckled before responding, “Side effect of a five-minute nap.”
“I don’t understand?”
“Well, you see, it’s not exactly my area of expertise, and we are severely understaffed at the moment, so we are all clocking ridiculous hours.” Haranu appeared perplexed, so Kal elaborated. “I might have fallen asleep and drifted off into a void on my way here.” Kal’s laughter died down as he realized that no one else found it amusing. “Anywho, I went to your respective planets and found out you planned to fight your wars in this galaxy. Good plan to fight so far, but it also gave me another chance for another power nap.”
Narzex stood up, utterly incredulous at what he had just heard. “You mean to tell me that all of this,” he gestured at the devastation surrounding them, “was caused by a nap?”
“No! All this is because you attacked before-” Time slows down as Kal felt a pricking sensation. He tilts his head to see a huge spear just behind his forehead, about to penetrate his skull. As time resumed its normal pace, he steps aside and dodges a massive spear. Following the spear’s trajectory, he finds Haranu converting another one of her tails into a spear. The surrounding space cracked. Colors distorted as they seemed to bend and enter the spear. “A power nap caused us all of this and you laugh.” She glares at Kal. “We lost our elite, set commandments in place, lost our homes.” Haranu took a large step forward, brandishing the spear with deadly intent.
Before she let go of the spear, she found Kal sitting on her shoulder, facing the other way. “Don’t go blaming me for all your ᚨːəᚨî choices.” Kal snatched the spear from her hand and drove it through her feet, pinning her to the ground. “Your universe dying is your fault. You placing commandments before knowing what you were up against was your choice. Not wanting to find peace, these constant wars are what drained your resources and lead to the creation of a void.” Kal snapped the spear in half and used the pieces to pin her other leg to the ground. “All of you would have been dead soon. That’s why you started this last war, to decide who would lead your armies into the other universe.” He snapped his fingers, and Glutten appeared to his right. With another snap, Narzex appeared to his left. “If you’re finally done ᚨːəᚨî up. I’m here to save your ᚨːəᚨî asses.” He curses them, shattering his last screen into four pieces.
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