Cosmic Ruler - Chapter 551

Chapter 551: Outer Gods III

Aiden scoffed. “Convenient.”

But deep down, he knew the Watcher was right.

This was on him now.

And that meant—he needed to get stronger.

“Alright,” Aiden said, his voice firm. “If I’m supposed to fight these things, I need answers. How do I kill something that wasn’t supposed to exist?”

The Watcher studied him for a moment, then sighed.

“There may be a way,” they admitted. “But it will require something beyond mere strength.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

The Watcher gestured to the sky. “These entities are beyond our reality. To fight them, you must reach beyond reality as well.”

Aiden frowned. “You’re talking about conceptual existence, aren’t you?”

“Exactly,” the Watcher confirmed. “Your power must evolve. It must become something that does not belong to this existence.”

Aiden took a deep breath. This wasn’t just about leveling up or unlocking a new technique. He was being told to transcend existence itself.

He grinned. “Sounds impossible.”

The Watcher smirked. “Which means it’s perfect for you.”

Aiden laughed. He had faced impossible odds before. He had shattered limits that others thought absolute.

This would be no different.

“Alright,” he said, determination burning in his eyes. “Tell me where to start.”

The Watcher extended a hand.

“The first step… is to walk into the abyss.”

Aiden smirked.

“Then let’s get started.”

Aiden stood at the edge of the Abyss Gate.

A swirling mass of black and violet energy hovered before him, its form constantly shifting—sometimes a vortex, sometimes a gaping maw, sometimes a bottomless pit stretching across the sky.

It was wrong.

Even by his standards.

Aiden had witnessed many terrifying things in his journey—worlds collapsing, celestial dragons devouring suns, ancient horrors lurking beneath reality—but this was different.

This thing in front of him was not alive.

Nor was it dead.

It was something that should not be.

He could feel its presence clawing at his very existence, trying to rewrite him.

“Step forward,” the Watcher instructed.

Aiden scoffed, his hand tightening around his sword. “You’re really asking me to jump into something that’s trying to unmake me?”

“Would you prefer to wait for the Outer Gods to finish waking up?”

Aiden clicked his tongue. “Fine.”

Then, without hesitation, he stepped forward.

The abyss swallowed him whole.

And reality shattered.

Aiden opened his eyes—

—and saw nothing.

No light.

No darkness.

No air.

No sound.

No time.

He was alone.

Aiden clenched his fists. He had expected pain, disorientation, maybe even madness. But this was worse.

There was nothing for his senses to latch onto. Not even the reassuring weight of his own body.

“Am I… still me?”

For the first time, Aiden questioned his own existence.

And then—

A voice echoed.

“You do not belong here.”

It was not the Watcher’s voice.

It was something ancient.

Something vast.

Something that made his very soul tremble.

Aiden forced himself to focus. “Who’s there?”

No response.

Just silence.

Then—movement.

Or rather, the absence of movement.

A formless shape twisted before him, shifting between hundreds of impossible geometries. It was as if his mind could not fully comprehend what he was seeing.

Aiden gritted his teeth. “If you’re trying to scare me, you’ll have to do better than that.”

The shape did not answer.

Instead, it reached for him.

And reality collapsed again.

Pain.

More than anything he had ever felt.

More than when he had ascended.

More than when he had clashed with gods.

It was absolute.

Every fiber of his being was being ripped apart, rewritten, destroyed, reborn—over and over again.

He tried to scream—

But he had no voice.

No body.

No soul.

He was being erased.

Aiden gritted his nonexistent teeth. No.

He would not die here.

He would not let them win.

He forced his mind to hold on.

To fight against the unmaking.

To resist the nothingness.

And then—

A spark ignited.

A single ember of will.

It flickered.

Small.

Insignificant.

But it was his.

Aiden seized it.

And with it—he rewrote reality.

The nothingness shattered.

The pain disappeared.

And he was.

He opened his eyes.

He was standing once more.

But something had changed.

His hands no longer felt bound by reality.

His body no longer felt confined by existence.

He had stepped beyond.

And for the first time—he understood.

This was the first step to fighting the Outer Gods.

He had become something they could not erase.

Something that did not belong to their reality.

Aiden smirked.

“Not bad,” he muttered. “I guess we’re just getting started.”

Aiden took a slow breath.

The Abyss was gone.

He was standing in an empty, silent world—gray skies stretched infinitely, and the ground beneath him felt half-formed, as if reality itself was uncertain whether it should exist.

The silence was absolute.

No wind.

No heartbeat.

Even his own thoughts felt muffled.

“Where… am I?”

He had broken free from the Abyss’s erasure.

But now, he was somewhere else.

Somewhere that should not exist.

His senses flared. The air felt wrong. There was no energy, no laws, no concepts. Just… emptiness.

But he wasn’t alone.

Something was watching him.

Aiden turned.

A shape stood in the distance.

Not a person.

Not a creature.

Just a shadow.

Featureless.

Weightless.

It didn’t move, but Aiden felt it speaking.

No voice.

Just words directly in his mind.

“You should not have come here.”

Aiden narrowed his eyes. “Too late for that.”

The shadow did not respond.

But the silence thickened.

Aiden felt pressure on his body—not an attack, but something greater.

Something like a warning.

“This realm was sealed long before your kind existed,” the voice whispered. “It must remain that way.”

Aiden chuckled, crossing his arms. “Yeah? And what happens if I say no?”

The shadow did not move.

It did not attack.

It simply existed.

But Aiden felt something worse than killing intent.

It was erasure intent.

As if this thing had the power to remove him from existence without lifting a finger.

Aiden didn’t hesitate.

He gathered his energy—only to realize there was nothing to gather.

This place was a void. A world without power, laws, or concepts.

Even his authorities felt distant, like they were trapped behind an invisible wall.

But that didn’t mean he was helpless.

Aiden smirked.

“I get it now. You’re not attacking me. You’re waiting.”