A Multiversal Journey Beginning as a Supreme Sovereign

The Fourth Calamity was powerful because they knew this was virtual.

But once the Fourth Calamity learned that this place was real, that all the "NPCs" were living people, their morality would inevitably collapse.

Ulbert would truly kill people, but Touch Me would absolutely protect the weak.

"I remember there was some setting called the 'Eight Desires Kings.' They all died out because of internal conflict."

Saigō gently shook his head.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to visualize the Mother of Evil Gods.

The next instant, Saigō arrived in a dark, empty world.

This dark void was Saigō's greatest secret!

He Who Is Yet to Be Born

Endless darkness stretched on, with only Saigō's consciousness existing within it.

This darkness was the "afterlife world" Saigō had once experienced. It was here that he received the Mother of Evil Gods' gift.

With a thought from Saigō, a male humanoid figure appeared within the darkness.

He was tall, slender in build yet containing boundless strength. He had black hair and black eyes, with features of demonic beauty. He did not look human, but rather closer to something inhuman.

This was Saigō's humanoid form. Before entering the game, in that Cyberpunk reality, Saigō had looked exactly like this.

Within this darkness, Saigō felt invincible, possessing the full strength of the Mother of Evil Gods.

But that was only within this darkness. Once he left it, all Saigō possessed was the power of one of the Six Great Devils.

"Even becoming one of the Six Great Devils grants only incomplete power."

Saigō murmured softly.

A throne reaching into the heavens appeared behind him. Saigō sat upon the Mother of Evil Gods' throne, one hand propping up his chin.

With every breath he took, this absolute darkness and evil breathed with him, as though the darkness and evil possessed a consciousness of their own.

If he had to describe it, this darkness was like a mother's womb, while Saigō was an embryo—an embryo that had yet to grow.

Under normal circumstances, a mother would obtain nutrients and deliver them to the fetus, allowing it to grow strong.

But tragically, the Mother of Evil Gods had already passed away. Saigō, growing within her body, had lost his means of obtaining nourishment.

In truth, Saigō's essence existed within this dark womb. The present Saigō was, in theory, someone yet to be born.

Only by obtaining sufficient nourishment and completely taking form here could he break through this darkness and truly be born into the world.

Without nourishment, he would not grow. His power would become fixed, and he would lose limitless possibilities.

Thus, finding nourishment that would let him grow was Saigō's most urgent task.

Unfortunately, Saigō had no idea how to obtain the nourishment that would allow him to grow. It certainly was not something like protein or carbohydrates.

Newborn babies followed their instincts and drank their mother's milk.

Previously, Saigō had also instinctively used the power of this darkness to send out "invitations" into countless worlds.

Saigō did not know what those invitations were for, but since he instinctively did such things, they were likely related to the nourishment he needed.

Ever since sending out those invitations, Saigō had been waiting in anticipation.

Yet after all these years, those invitations had still received no response, and he had gained none of the nourishment he required.

This made Saigō wonder whether he had guessed wrong. Perhaps the invitations he had instinctively sent out had nothing to do with the nourishment he needed to grow.

To that end, Saigō had exhausted his intelligence and conducted all kinds of experiments, yet he still obtained no results and found no path toward growth.

"Forget it. There's no need to rush. I am now a true demon, and theoretically my lifespan has no end. If I keep searching slowly, one day I will find what I need."

"...Besides, even as the Demon of Decay, though my power is incomplete, it is enough to face most crises."

Saigō comforted himself this way, trying to calm his mind.

With a turn of his wrist, "Avesta" appeared in his hand.

This Simulated Star Creation Chart, which carried the cosmology of Zoroastrianism, not only possessed unimaginable might beyond mortal comprehension, but also contained texts recording the mythological stories of Zoroastrianism.

In Zoroaster's creation myth, the story lasted only twelve thousand years, divided into four periods of three thousand years each.

This Simulated Star Creation Chart was likewise sealed. At the very least, the current Saigō could not unleash all of its abilities and could only use the power of the first three thousand years.

"During the first three thousand years, there was only a mass of light and darkness in this universe."

"...Within the light dwelled the one true god, the God of Good; within the darkness dwelled all evil, the Mother of Evil!"

Saigō's voice was low and imposing as he recited the contents of "Avesta."

Avesta translated to "knowledge." It was here that Saigō learned of the Mother of Evil Gods' existence and discovered that he had received her gift.

At the same time, Saigō learned everything related to the Mother of Evil Gods, such as the six demons she had created.

"Malice," with wings that covered the sky, three heads and six eyes, and mastery over a thousand kinds of magic;

"Chaos," which symbolized the universe's heat death, followed the second law of thermodynamics, and caused order to collapse;

"Destruction," a spirit said in legend to be the incarnation of the Mother of Evil Gods, which destroyed everything;

And "Aging," the most powerful of the ten forms of death, which was the Spiritual Divinity Saigō currently possessed, among others.

These were all forms of power differentiated from the Mother of Evil Gods.

Even if only one form was completed, attaining the Omnipotence Domain and tearing apart stars would be no difficult task!

However, Saigō's other demon forms had yet to be unsealed. Even the domain of "Aging" had not reached the level of "omnipotence."

If he had to assess his current self, there was only one fitting description—his future held great promise!

"Just how long will that future take?"

Saigō muttered. Shaking his head, he rose from the throne reaching into the heavens. "...Forget it. I should return to the Great Tomb of Nazarick first."

"...In any case, with my current power, protecting myself should not be a problem for now."

With a thought from Saigō, the darkness dissipated, and he returned to his room in the Great Tomb.

On a high mountain of the Teyvat Continent, a man in a white robe stood with his head raised, his face hidden beneath a hood.

Behind the hood, his tied ponytail swayed in the mountain wind, giving him a dashing and elegant air.

The man held a pitch-black slip of paper between his fingers. He said nothing, his eyes beneath the hood fixed intently upon it, as though contemplating something.

Beside him, a Giant Dragon formed from pure Geo energy watched the black slip of paper in the man's hand with its vertical dragon eyes.

The Geo Dragon resembled a giant tortoise, with two horns growing from its head and a sturdy body like an ancient boulder standing atop the mountain.

"Morax, this thing is dangerous."

The Geo Dragon's voice was like terrifying thunder. Seeing that the man's consciousness seemed wholly immersed in the black slip of paper, it could not help but remind him.

The man called Morax came back to his senses.

He nodded slightly, then spoke in a steady, inscrutable voice like stone weathered by endless ages.

"...By universal rationality, it is indeed dangerous. It is not something that belongs to this world!"

The Astonished Geo Archon

Morax lowered his head to gaze at the strange black slip of paper in his hand and remained silent.

He had obtained this object by chance not long ago.

Several months earlier, Morax had seen a strange star cross the False Sky in the eastern heavens and fall upon this land.

Following the feeling in his heart, he and his friend Azhdaha went to where the star had fallen and ultimately discovered this black card.

As the "Geo Archon," Morax had been born upon this land for nearly three thousand years.

As one of the most ancient gods, he was greatly experienced.

Yet even so, Morax had never seen the energy that seeped from the black slip of paper.

It was a power that absolutely did not belong to the Teyvat Continent, nor even to the Outer Sea of Darkness.

Although very little power remained on the black slip of paper,

even Morax's heart of stone, tempered over three thousand years, had produced a terrifying sense of dread from the depths of his soul upon sensing that power.

Even stone feared such unimaginable might, let alone other living beings.

Not even the Heavenly Principles could make him feel this way.

"Morax!"

Seeing Morax's attention return to the black slip of paper, Azhdaha grew worried and spoke again to remind him.

As an elemental lifeform born beneath the earth, with a mysterious connection to the ancient Seven Dragon Kings, Azhdaha was no inferior to the Geo Archon in strength alone.

Naturally, Azhdaha could also see the strangeness and terror of this black slip of paper.

With merely a trace of power leaking from it, Azhdaha knew that, compared to the slip's true owner, neither it nor the Geo Archon was worth mentioning—like the glow of a firefly before the bright moon.

If possible, it was best not to have any connection with such a terrifying and mysterious being.

It feared that Morax would be bewitched by the power on the slip of paper, so it spoke to remind him.

It was not that Azhdaha did not trust Morax.

Rather, there was something called "Erosion." It caused long-lived beings like them to suffer mental collapse over the endless years, lose their reason, and even undergo changes in thought, as if they had become entirely different people.

Therefore, they had to be cautious.

"Do not worry, old friend. I have not been bewitched by the power upon it."

Morax carefully examined the black slip again. Other than its pitch-black surface, there was only a strange symbol upon it.

The symbol resembled an eagle spreading its wings, yet also the sun radiating its brilliance. Above it was the profile of a woman's face, exquisitely beautiful.

"I have traveled the land for thousands of years, yet I have never seen such a symbol."

After speaking, Morax temporarily put away the black slip of paper.

"Morax, this thing is too dangerous. If certain people obtain it, it may even bring about a great disaster. It would be better to seal it away."

Seeing Morax put away the black slip, Azhdaha still felt uneasy and spoke again.

"This power does not belong to this world. If we seal it rashly, who knows what unforeseeable consequences it may bring? That would be unwise."

"...Besides, I have a feeling that this thing may prove useful in the future. Let me keep it."

Hearing Morax say this, Azhdaha did not continue trying to persuade him.

It had absolute trust in this friend who had granted it sight, made three agreements with it, and traveled the land alongside it for three thousand years.

One god and one dragon stood amid the mountains, gazing into the distance.

At the foot of the mountain, villages were scattered across the land like stars.

Within the villages, men tilled the fields, women wove silk, elders sat beside the farmland, and children laughed joyfully. It was a scene of happiness and peace.

Gods loved humanity, and Morax, as a god, loved humans as well.

Beneath this starry sky, disasters never ceased.

Humans were weak and could only seek the protection of gods.

These villages at the mountain's foot were precisely those protected by Morax, the Geo Archon.

The land upon which these villages gathered was called "Liyue." Morax's people had settled here, becoming Liyue's first inhabitants.

However, Liyue's land was rich and fertile, so naturally it could not belong to the Geo Archon alone.

Many gods lived here with the people under their protection. For hundreds of years, they did not disturb one another, preserving a rare peace.

Yet Morax was far-sighted and knew such peace would not last.

The present peace existed only because the land was vast, the population sparse, and resources abundant.

But if one day a natural disaster struck, humanity multiplied until resources became scarce, or some external force intervened, this land would inevitably be engulfed in war.

"Very well. I have no desire to contend for supremacy, but if that day truly comes, I will protect my people and let them live in peace."