*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

A clock alarm was ringing at 4:00 am before it is stopped by the hand of a young man.

*Yawn*

After stretching his limbs, Niel got up from his bed and then got his towel, and went straight to the bathroom. As soon as he was done bathing, he stopped to look at himself in the mirror, and his eyes were immediately fixed on the yellow tattoo on his back. It was the crest of his family, or so his parents told him.

"Did mom really have to tattoo this on my back?... Then again, I was the one who asked for it to be on my back, still, I just don't get why she and dad were so adamant on me having this... I guess I won't have to worry about donating blood.", He looked at the tattoo on his upper back and even touched it, before frowning and leaving the bathroom.

Niel's parents had passed away 1 year prior and he was getting used to the fact to the point where at moments he would forget they are no longer there. His father was a diabetic and his mother got a tumor that developed into cancer, and maybe by a cruel joke of destiny they died together.

This has led Niel to isolate himself from the outside world and focus on his hobby to not drown in his own sorrow.

Once he was done dressing up, he went to the kitchen got 8 eggs then prepared scrambled eggs with toast, and got some orange juice to drink with his simple breakfast.

"Maybe I should order some stuff or go to the grocery store, it's not healthy for me to be eating so little at breakfast." Niel decided once he was done with his breakfast and had begun washing his dishes for some reason even though the dishwasher was right there, but then looked at the frying pan and simply put it in the dishwasher.

-Later-

Niel was now immersed in playing the VRmmorpg, Neo True Reality online, similarly to how he did so almost every other day. This was a part of his life that he had gotten too used to and would have a lot of trouble quitting.

He was one of the first 10,000 players to own the game and so had an early start, even so, he's not some elite or pro gamer, he's doing good when compared to most, to the point where he's even in the top 1000 highest leveled players in the world, but that's all he's accomplished in the game. It was an endless grind, but he simply couldn't keep up with players that had guilds and or companies behind them. He was basically at the pinnacle of solo players.

The reason this was possible is because his father was a pro gamer and introduced him to the gaming world at a young age. When Neo True Reality online came out, Niel's father managed to get not one but two of the 100 first copies of the game to be sold, 7 years ago. At the age of 12, Niel started his first character.

It had been a week since Niel became a 19-year-old, but he didn't bother celebrating his birthday since he saw it as a waste of time. Since playing Neo True Reality online was entertaining and also paid the bills, he just focused on that.

By now he had been playing for about eleven hours and it was time for his lunch break, even though it was 4 p.m, he still wanted to keep playing, but he knew it would be no good for him to skip lunch.

His rather small gaming room had a capsule and blue walls decorated with all kinds of things posters, figurines, and bodypillows. Inside the capsule was Niel just logging out of N.T.R. online.

"If I finish eating in fifteen minutes, I won't lose much. Though if I drag on too long, I might lose my spot as the 927th highest level player in the game, and I might have to resort to PK to get my spot back... I should just go eat and fast.", Niel said to himself as he disconnected his body from the helmet and all the other wires on his body.

"Hum... This is weird. Did my capsule malfunction?", He asked himself as he tried to open the capsule but it just wouldn't respond to him.

"I guess I'll have to use the emergency protocol to get out. Why did this have to happen though? Such a waste of time!", He said with a dissatisfied expression as he moved his body to the left side and there was a panel where he started introducing the commands.

[Command input invalid.]

That was the message he was got.

"What? Why isn't it working? Am I going to have to call technical support?!... Yup, forget losing my spot as the 927th highest leveled player, with how long it's going to take to fix this capsule, I'll be lucky if I'm still in the top 2000s!" Niel tried to input the command a few more times, before reaching to his phone in his pocket and calling technical support.

After having to listen to music on hold for half an hour, someone finally picked up.

"Good afternoon, I'm Selena Hartfield and I'll be assisting you with your issues today. How may I be of help?", A woman picked up and provided to say the usual for technical support.

"Yes, I'm stuck in my capsule and the emergency code isn't working.", Niel said in a neutral tone, but his expression showed that he didn't want to be doing this.

"Mister, may I have your name?" 

"It's Niel Fasetis."

"Understood, Mister Niel. You said you already tried your emergency code, correct? Could you please tell me your capsule code and your emergency code?" 

"Yes, I've tried and it wasn't working. As for my capsule code, it's ************ and my emergency code is *************." 

"Good, Mister Niel, I've looked and it seems your capsule was due to maintenance for 2 years, that is most likely the reason it malfunctioned. Technicians will be sent to your location to liberate you and check your capsule. I would like you to confirm that you are indeed in ******* as it is registered?"

"Oh, I've actually changed residence since then and I'm now residing in ********** instead."

"Ok, the technicians will be there in between 1-3 hours, is there anything else I can be of help with?"

"No, thank you that's all..." He said and after a goodbye, he sighed.

"I really don't like having to deal with people... I'll just put the time I still have to good use and get back to playing." Not having much else he could do, Niel went back to playing N.T.R. Online.

[Welcome to Neo True Reality Online.]

Niel input his account and then character selection appeared.

[Nihil Asfet-Chain user.Lv: 100]

[Dragonrider69-Dragon rider.Lv:69]

[Algar Strive-Battle mage.Lv:304]

"Man, I haven't played as Nihil in a while, though it was my first character, I kinda abandoned it when I discovered I was misdistributing my stats as well as the fact I never managed to pass the class advancement quest, so I couldn't level up.", Niel felt a bit nostalgic looking at his three characters. Since he usually just enters the game directly without going through character selection.

"Then it was Dragonrider69, it was a pity I couldn't find any good dragon to have as a companion, because of that I couldn't do much damage or take that many hits, which for a solo player like myself would not work."

"Finally my best character Algar, I got lucky and got this far, but objectively Nihil had way more potential, I just ruined it too badly... You know what? I feel like playing with Nihil one more time, yeah I'll do that while I wait for the technicians." Having decided that, Niel logged in with his character Nihil Asfet.

-Later-

In a spacious room, with crystal blue walls and floor, there are various symbols everywhere, and at the center of it all at the end of the room, is a throne, black, blue, and purple with engravings all over it. Sitting on this throne is a young-looking man with a crown and very outstanding clothing that is very striking and full of color. His eyes are pure white and both his skin and his short hair grey. Piercing him is a buster sword as large as his whole torso, blood dripping from him as the sword shines bright colors like a rainbow, and his body twitched in response. From his mouth, a single strike of blood, but his expression that seems to be frozen in time carries a smug aura and a smile so disturbingly wide only a clown or statue could mimic it. His right hand is laying on the arm support of the throne and is positioned almost as if extended to someone while his left hand is holding the top of the blade of the buster sword piercing him.

The room has only one more person in it. Laying on the ground is an individual, this one being transparent and silvery with no discernible physical traits. 

"Arrrghhh! *cough* *cough*!", A groan of pain escaped its mouth as it lay on the ground.

{Look at who has come to visit me, If I were not in such an uncomfortable position, I would give you a proper greeting.} A frivolous and slick voice could be heard, but no noise came to the room.

"Where am I?... This doesn't look like the map I was last in, did the game also malfunction?... Why does my head hurt so badly?!", The transparent being asked various questions as soon it came to its senses while grabbing what seems to be its head.

{You're in my domain... At least what used to be my domain. Also, I suggest you forget the logic and common sense of your world or at least keep it secondary since it might actually help you, and about your... Head, if you can still call it that in your current state, hurts because you've experienced both just experienced death and traveled to a private domain in soul form. Quite an impressive feat if you ask me.} The words of the voice keep coming and could be perfectly heard by the transparent being.

"... Dead... You're saying I died?... How?! How did that happen?!...arrgggh!... My head!... It exploded?", The transparent being panicked for a bit and even got its headache worsened, but soon, it came to a halt as some realization hit it.

{Ahh, you actually remember, how wonderful.}

"So, what now? You said this is your domain, but who are you?" 

{Good, the questions I needed! I am the very one and only Lucius Omega. I'm a being that has high mastery of many things among them divine and cosmic power are no exception, most mortals call beings such as myself Gods. If I had to call myself a God of anything, it would be Nihility and Infinity. So, I guess I'm a little important. 

Now! About your situation, you're in quite a fun one, some goddess of some random lower world similar to your world of origin has called for your soul and you'll probably be involved in whatever it is that she's planning.}

"Wait! If what you're saying is true, then why am I here? And How are you involved in all of this?"

{I'm not, I'm not a part of this. It was simply by mere coincidence that my ever-shifting domain passed by as your soul was crossing. Now you are here asking me questions.}

".... Okay, what's going to happen to be me now?"

{Many things could happen to you, but what most likely will occur is that you are sucked out of here and fall right where the goddess wants you, or you could always strike a deal with me to help you survive whatever plans she has for you.}

"You say that, but why would you want to help me?"

{Because I also need help, as you might be able to see, in quite an interesting position right now and eventually just how you have, someone who can actually take advantage of my current situation will appear, so, I will require external help and as the only here, I don't see why not use yours.}

"Ok... Still, how bad can whatever this goddess have prepared for me?"

{Typically Deities on her level like to summon souls of mortals from other worlds, specifically non-magic worlds to theirs, for two basic reasons. One, doing so creates a small gap that connects the two worlds which makes it possible for them to steal the magic that isn't used by the non-magic world, and two, souls capable of traveling between worlds are strong and make for good subordinates, apostles, heroes, and or rulers, aside from the knowledge they might bring to the world, so it's most likely going to be beneficial for them, and if it isn't they have ways to solve the issue, assassination things to be the main one though, and usually done by other world travelers too.}

"That sounds quite unpleasant, though I still need to know how exactly you're going to help me." 

{Simple, I'll give you the potential to become the greatest to have ever lived, as well as a 'tool' to get there. I believe that is a fair trade, what do you say?} 

Maybe it was only happening in its mind, but it saw the smile on Lucius' face widen even more.

"First, why are you in such a state if this is your domain? Why did they do this to you? Who did this to you?"

{You and your questions, I won't answer anymore after these. This like mentioned before used to be my domain, but it was invaded and overtaken then made into my 'cage. Because I caused a lot of trouble and destroyed multiple worlds, disturbed the balance of the Omniverse, and freed the beings of chaos from their seal... Oh, yeah, and I also killed a lot of Gods. 

If you can those who have mastery only over divine powers Gods, then these would be something akin to a super God or something similar, even though in the Omniverse they are mostly know as Cosmic Gods}

"... I'll take it... But, How am I supposed to help?" After some reflection on the matter, it concluded that it might be best to risk it here, and it wasn't like it was something offered for free which would have been way more suspicious.

{shake my right hand, and then pull the sword from my torso, don't worry, it will be easier to lift than it looks.} 

The transparent young man nodded and moved to the throne. Once in front of the throne, it extended its hand to shake Lucius' hand, and then after shaking his hand, it grabbed the sword with both hands.

*BOOM!* *CRASH!*

It was blasted onto the wall on the other side of the room as soon as it tried to grab the sword with both hands, and despite being a soul, visible damage was caused to the wall.

{You need to hold onto my hand in other to touch the sword, I probably should have been a little more explicit. Luckily you're a pretty strong soul, otherwise, it would have been inconvenient to wait for another one.}

"How nice of you." It was very sarcastic in response to Lucius' nonchalant attitude.

It got closer to Lucius again and this time held onto his right hand with its left hand and slowly and hesitantly grabbed the handle of the sword.

Unlike before it wasn't sent flying to the other side of the room. Now having a strong grip on the sword, it started pulling, and unexpectedly, the sword was coming out how Lucius' torso with immense ease, almost as if the sword was being repelled from his body.

*Flow* *crack* 

Blood was flowing from the body and the cracking of bones could be heard but Lucius said nothing, so it continued pulling until it was no longer possible to keep holding Lucius' hand while it was pulling the sword, though the sword didn't seem to be that much longer anyway.

{It should be fine for you to just pull it out now.}

It let go of Lucius' hand and grabbed the sword that was slowly starting to feel heavier than before with both hands.