Cosmic Ruler - Chapter 549

Chapter 549: Outer Gods
As Aiden stood at the center of the newly forming reality, something stirred beyond the veil of existence. It was subtle at first, a faint tremor in the vastness of the void, but then—it screamed.

A soundless wail rippled through the fabric of the new universe. Not a voice, not a language—just pure hunger.

Aiden’s gaze snapped toward the edges of creation. The boundaries of this reality, fragile and still forming, began to splinter. Tendrils of absolute nothingness slithered through the cracks, writhing and pulsing with a presence that should not exist.

Then, they came through.

The Outer Gods – The Beings Beyond Reality

Aiden’s grip tightened on his sword as figures emerged from the ruptured edges of the world. They were not like anything he had ever faced before—not divine, not cosmic, not even conceptual.

They were Outside.

They did not belong to the cycle of existence. They had never been bound by fate, nor had they been affected by the collapse of the old order. And now, they had noticed the birth of a new reality.

And they were hungry.

The Watcher, the once-silent observer of fate, flinched. Their form flickered, distorting as if struggling to remain coherent. “They should not be here,” the Watcher whispered. “They were never meant to exist within creation.”

Aiden narrowed his eyes. “Then why are they here?”

The answer came not in words, but in action.

One of the Outer Gods descended.

The First of the Outer Gods – Y’Vhorr, the Devouring Absence

A colossal presence loomed over Aiden, its form shifting between incomprehensible shapes. Maws within maws. Eyes that did not see. Limbs that bent through dimensions that did not exist.

Y’Vhorr, the Devouring Absence, opened.

Not its mouth, but reality itself.

Aiden barely had time to react as an entire sector of existence vanished. Not destroyed. Not erased. Simply gone.

His mind processed it instantly—these were not just beings of destruction. They were beings that consumed reality itself.

His sword pulsed, its golden and abyssal light roaring to life. He had rewritten fate, he had severed the divine cycle—but could he sever something that was never meant to exist at all?

Y’Vhorr descended further, its tendrils of non-existence reaching toward him.

Aiden’s blade clashed against the void.

Aiden stood at the highest point of existence, where time and space had yet to fully form. A new reality had been forged, but it was fragile. The vast cosmos stretched before him, newborn stars flickering like candles in the dark.

His presence alone was shaping this world. He had risen above all previous hierarchies—gods, demons, fate itself. Yet, something felt wrong.

There was an itch in his soul, a sensation of being watched. Not by the Watcher, nor any entity he had previously encountered.

No.

This presence was different. It didn’t belong here.

Aiden closed his eyes, extending his perception beyond the physical. His senses, honed across countless battles and dimensions, swept through the fabric of reality itself. He sought to understand what was out there—what had changed.

And then, he heard it.

A whisper.

Not a voice. Not a thought. Something more primal.

Aiden’s breath stilled. The whisper did not speak—it devoured.

The stars flickered. Aiden’s eyes sharpened, his gaze tracing the heavens. Something had shifted.

He reached out with his authority, attempting to stabilize the flow of existence. But then, his hand froze.

There was something wrong with the space beyond.

A crack had formed—no, not a crack. An absence. A place where reality simply wasn’t.

Aiden stepped forward, his divine energy illuminating the dark void. Nothing stared back.

And then it moved.

The absence twitched, almost as if it had acknowledged his presence.

Aiden’s grip on his sword tightened. “What… are you?”

There was no answer. Just the whisper.

And it was getting louder.

A golden ripple spread through the cosmos, and a familiar figure materialized beside Aiden.

The Watcher.

But something was different. Their once all-seeing eyes flickered, as if struggling to remain fixed in this reality.

They looked at Aiden, their usually expressionless face twisted in something Aiden had never seen before.

Fear.

“Aiden,” the Watcher spoke, their voice strained. “They have noticed you.”

Aiden’s gaze darkened. “Who?”

The Watcher turned their gaze toward the creeping nothingness. Their expression wavered.

“They were never meant to exist within creation,” the Watcher murmured. “Yet, now that the old world has fallen, the barriers keeping them out are… breaking.”

Aiden frowned. “You’re saying this is my fault?”

“No,” the Watcher said. “This is the fault of reality itself.”

Aiden clenched his fist. The void at the edge of creation pulsed, the whisper growing into something deeper.

Something hungry.

And for the first time since he had rewritten fate itself, Aiden felt a shiver run down his spine.

The silence that followed the Watcher’s words felt like a suffocating void. Aiden kept his gaze locked onto the creeping absence beyond reality, his mind racing.

“They were never meant to exist within creation.”

“Yet, now that the old world has fallen, the barriers keeping them out are breaking.”

Aiden’s fingers twitched around the hilt of his sword. Barriers? Had the collapse of the previous reality done more than just wipe out the known power structures?

“Explain,” he said, voice sharp.

The Watcher let out a slow breath—an action that was unusual for them. They had always been composed, distant, as if above emotions. But now, they looked disturbed.

“Aiden,” the Watcher said slowly, “do you know why your previous universe remained intact for so long? Why its reality, despite all the wars, divine battles, and even your ascension, never truly broke apart?”

Aiden narrowed his eyes. “Because there were rules. Laws that held it together.”

“Exactly,” the Watcher said. “But those laws weren’t natural. They were forged, reinforced by something beyond even the highest gods. A barrier, built by the true architects of existence.”

Aiden’s grip tightened. “And when I rewrote reality…?”

“You shattered it,” the Watcher whispered. “The Outer Gods were always there, lurking beyond the veil. Waiting. Watching. But as long as the old framework remained, they had no way in.”

Aiden remained silent.

So that was it.

His rise had come at a cost. He had reshaped reality to ascend beyond all known limits, but in doing so, he had unknowingly dismantled the chains keeping something far worse at bay.

Aiden turned back to the creeping void. It moved again, twitching unnaturally. Like a wound that refused to close.

He extended his hand, channeling his authority. Golden threads of existence wove together as he attempted to repair the damage. But the moment his power touched the void—

It pushed back.

Aiden’s eyes widened. Something was resisting him.

The whisper grew louder, forming something almost like words. Not in any language Aiden knew, but he understood.

“You… see.”

Aiden’s pulse slowed. That whisper—it wasn’t just a voice. It was a presence. A will.

He took a step back. “Watcher. Tell me. Have these Outer Gods ever spoken before?”

The Watcher’s expression darkened. “No.”

Aiden exhaled, his breath forming a thin mist despite the lack of cold. “Then this isn’t just an invasion. This is something else.”

The void quivered, and the whisper changed.

“You… understand… too late.”

Aiden moved.

In an instant, his blade was drawn, golden runes of pure existence igniting across its surface. He slashed toward the void—

And the world screamed.

The moment Aiden’s sword touched the void, a sickening crack echoed across the cosmos. Reality itself convulsed, as if rejecting the very notion of what was occurring.

And then—

It opened.

From the depths of the absence, something crawled into existence.

It was… wrong.

Not a creature. Not a god. Not a demon.

It had too many shapes. Too many eyes, too many arms, yet no form at all. A paradox given flesh.

Aiden took an involuntary step back. He had faced divine entities, eldritch horrors, beings of pure destruction—

But this thing felt fundamentally different.

It was as if it didn’t belong in any reality.

The Watcher trembled. “Aiden… we need to go. Now.”

But Aiden wasn’t listening.

His instincts screamed at him—this was a being beyond anything he had ever fought.

And yet…

A slow grin formed on his lips.

Aiden’s golden aura erupted, pushing back against the suffocating presence.

“This is my reality,” he said, raising his blade. “And you’re not welcome here.”

The thing didn’t respond. It merely twisted toward him, its form shifting endlessly—

And then it lunged.

Aiden’s blade met the abomination’s charge head-on.

The impact was wrong.

It wasn’t the clash of steel against flesh or armor. Instead, it felt as though his weapon had struck a concept, something that wasn’t meant to be touched.

The world around them fractured for an instant—colors inverted, time stuttered, and for a brief moment, Aiden saw everything.

A glimpse beyond reality.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself back to the present. His sword pulsed with golden radiance, an anchor against the madness threatening to consume him.

The creature twisted, shifting through impossible shapes before splitting into two, then three, then dozens of warped reflections of itself.

Each one moved at the same time.

Each one spoke with the same voice.

“You… cannot… unmake… what was never made.”

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll see about that.”

His grip tightened on his sword, and he moved.