Darkness. A void that seemed to not allow a single shred of existence.

Even so, in that void, I persisted. And the reason for that...

[Vain! Don't you dare lose your awareness now!]

...Was because a somewhat mechanical female voice was shouting in my head.

[You can live, but only if you act! If you lose consciousness-!]

Calm down. I'm awake. Geez, do you have to be so loud?

[!!!]

[...Idiot.]

Yeah, yeah. Stop being tsun already Alice. Now... where am I?

I tried to look around, but I couldn't sense anything. It was like those times late at night when you woke up in pitch darkness. I was aware that I was awake, but no matter how I moved, where I looked, or what I did, it was like nothing was happening.

[Because nothing is happening. You, dear user, have created a paradox.]

Huh?

Static flickered and then a series of messages appeared before my eyes.

[The Covenant of the Plume exacts its price for <Heroic Sacrifice>.]

[You have died.]

[Disengage activates! Your condition is reverted!]

[Error: The Covenant of the Plume denies the restoration.]

[Your soul is forfeit.]

[No One's Story sneers at the declaration of fate.]

[A Different Path bares its blade.]

[No One's Story erases the usage condition of death for <Heroic Sacrifice>]

[A Different Path severs the fated demise and cleaves a way forward.]

[Error: Soul Forfeiture through the Covenant of the Plume cannot be denied.]

[Valhalla claims your soul.]

[Error: Divine Anathema rejects Valhalla's claim upon your soul.]

[Error: Causal Paradox. Time is stalled.]

Well. That... That was new.

[You certainly have a way with words at overstating the obvious, Vain.]

Quiet Alice, I have to think.

I stared at the messages, carefully reading them over.

In short, it was like a chain of counter cards in a card game. When I used <Heroic Sacrifice> to pull off that stunt and give Freyr a weapon to kill the hydra, I had to pay a price. That was the requirement for using the skill in the first place, and the price I had to pay was to give up my life.

So as a result, I should have died.

'Should' have died.

But I didn't. And the reason for that was the fact that I possessed two unique skills, ones born from the record of the two stories I wrote and completed. Skills that no one else in existence possessed, because the underlying basis for them were stories that I created. In short, they were technically extensions of my own self, empowered by the force of a story that was brought into existence by everyone that read it as well as the characters that took on a life of their own.

[No One's Story] removed skill requirements, which included the price for <Heroic Sacrifice>.

Even if that didn't work, [A Different Path] directly interfered with any 'Fate' based phenomenon and cut forth a path to the future where it was closed off.

Yet, they weren't enough. Even if they were powerful skills, they still weren't divine. They were fragments from people that managed to break through limits, but they weren't the whole thing. As a result, when clashing with that so called <Covenant of the Plume>, they couldn't overcome it.

And that was where [Divine Anathema] came in.

The hubris that we humans had in denying all our gods and seeking to unravel the very fabric of existence. The fundamental aspect that allowed us to put ourselves above everything else and the arrogance we had to even create gods of our owns in fictional worlds and realities that surpassed ones with long-established histories.

When <Covenant of the Plume> tried to take my soul, the very nature of my being as a person from Earth rejected the claim.

But because of that, we were at a standstill.

<Covenant of the Plume> was a power that was backed by a formidable pantheon of gods. At the same time, [Divine Anathema] rejected the very concept of gods and my two skills further denied any attempts at snatching away my soul.

In short... a ridiculous phenomenon that probably would only occur to me because my powers were strong on paper, weak in reality, but my soul had a 'Heaven Defying' nature that rejected these sorts of absolute declarations.

Which meant I was stuck here in limbo until that got sorted out.

Huh.

[You see the problem?]

I did.

It was a simple problem that could be boiled down to Valhalla saying "that's mine" and me saying "screw off."

The result would probably be different if I was either a bit stronger or if a god from Valhalla directly tried to take my soul, but as things stood, we were just about equal. And we also had all the time in the world since none of the skills were giving ground.

...Er, any bright ideas Alice?

[I am a part of the system. Even if I did have any, I couldn't tell you.]

Right- Wait. Then how were you able to talk to me earlier? If you're part of the system, shouldn't you be prevented from interfering in this error? Like a debugger process should have taken over right?

[That's...]

Silence, and then Alice's mechanical voice whispered.

[That's right. I *should* be prevented from speaking with you. And yet...?]

Don't think about it too hard.

It'd be bad if the only ally I had right now got stuck in a logic bomb and blew up.

[Y-Yes. I'll leave it be for the moment, Vain. But for now... What do you plan to do? If this situation is not resolved, you will be trapped here indefinitely.]

But time is stalled, right? So I literally have all the time in the world to think.

[Even if that is the case, a mortal would go insane-!]

Alice's voice suddenly cut off, as if she realized something.

I chuckled... well, I chuckled in my head.

Going insane? [Man of a Thousand Faces] had me covered. And even if it didn't... Well, I doubted that the 'me' here was sane in the first place considering my name.

[Vain. You are a ridiculous individual.]

You know it. And you're lucky that it's me and not some other writer. I can't even imagine the crazy shenanigans that someone like Nasu, Stephen King, or the more popular web novel writers could pull off.

Since I was basically a fledgling writer, my skillset was fairly limited. But those giants... I'd place good money on the fact that they'd have legitimate world breaking skills and titles if they popped up here.

Granted, there were probably some even more ridiculous people I hadn't met yet, but I was fairly confident that even those sorts of people would have a tough time handling any sort of famous writer that got plopped in here.

...Though that might be why they weren't around.

Back to the problem at hand.

I was fated to die, but my skills and soul were denying that fate, leaving me stuck in limbo. At the same time... Or rather, in no time since it froze, I wouldn't be able to do anything unless I broke out of that limbo.

...Is it a bad thing that I was more annoyed about being literally, figuratively, and functionally dead than worried or scared?

Probably. But I could think about that sort of thing later. Right now...

It would be nice if those guys helped me out, but it seemed like they were content to watch me struggle.

Didn't blame them considering the wringer I put them through, but I would have appreciated a little nudge forward.

No help on that end then. I'd just have to figure out a solution for myself like always.

In that case... What do I have to use?

My traits... Well, [Man of a Thousand Faces] was definitely working on overdrive considering how calm I was right now. Probably shouldn't think about it too hard in case I somehow screw it up.

[Well-Read]... isn't applicable here.

[Self-Determined]... That was probably a big part of why this whole situation was possible in the first place, so I couldn't count on that any more.

Since my skills were what stopped my death, maybe one of those?

[Flames of Muspell (Degraded)]... Could I use that? Maybe there was something in this void I could use if I managed to get some light?

I focused on the skill and tried activating it, but-

[The Boundary of Life and Death prevents skill activation.]

Huh. No good... But the Boundary of Life and Death, was it?

Skills are 'abilities', so the fact that I couldn't use them meant that this was a place where it was impossible to 'act.'

Still...

[Flames of Muspell (Degraded)] is disabled.

[First Aid] is disabled.

[Disengage] is disabled.

[Loki's Blessing (Minor)] is disabled.

Damn. I was hoping to do some shenanigans with those last two skills... And I didn't want to risk messing anything up by trying [No One's Story] and [A Different Path] considering that they were actively keeping me alive.

In that case... I didn't sense any mana around me, and my body might as well be non-existent.

In fact, I was fairly sure that I was just a floating blob of thoughts right now. I didn't have any sensory input at all, and the messages that I 'saw' weren't really there.

Hm...

[You are surprisingly calm about this, Vain.]

I'm not in pain, I've still got my thoughts and memories, and I'm fairly sure that Freyr is fine. Considering that, I'd say that I'm doing pretty well for myself.

[...And you are surprisingly optimistic as well.]

Nothing to go but up once you've hit rock bottom. But anyway... Skills don't work, but how about my titles?

If I remembered right, they weren't abilities, but rather a sort of 'right' granted to me and acknowledged with a proper name.

In short, basically like a god's power, right? It was like a tiny domain of my own where I had absolute privilege. So in that case...

I imagined it. A tiny light floating in front of me. A small lamp that illuminated this all consuming darkness.

And it popped into existence.

[What...?!]

Weird.

The lamp floated in front of me, casting light all around. But it didn't reveal anything. I 'looked' around... but then I realized that I couldn't. After all, in this 'void' I didn't have a body.

But I *did* have my thoughts. And there was that old saying about 'I think, therefore I am.' Since that was true... and since I managed to make that lamp...

I focused again, remembering how it felt to move. To see, to feel, to hear, to taste, to smell... The usual things a person did when they were alive.

Like that, I popped back into existence... is what I would have liked to say.

But I didn't. I intuitively felt that making something like that was beyond me... so I didn't. Instead of trying to recreate a complete human body, I just imagined an old third person camera controller.

I had messed around with the Unity game engine a bit, and this place reminded me a lot of that void that all games started with so-

*pop*

A soft sound, like something plopping onto the ground. With it, I could finally move and look around.

Casting my gaze downwards, I saw... a white box with two floating spheres for hands.

[Better than nothing- Whoa that's weird.]

My voice didn't carry. Mostly because I didn't have a voice to send out in the first place. But my thoughts did, somehow echoing in the void.

And in response...

[Hm?] A vaguely familiar voice. Male, and also carrying in that weird fake voice way. [The channel should have been closed by the Karmic Anomaly and Michael should have been expelled for interfering with Miss Valhalla... So who are you?]

Oh crap.

Before I could dissolve my makeshift body and turn invisible, a figure moved in the darkness.

A familiar one.

Blonde hair, clear blue eyes, and a pristine white suit.

Lucifer.

The infamous fallen angel appeared in front of me, causing light to spread throughout the surroundings.

Er... Alice. Any chance that he doesn't see me?

[Zero.]

Damn.

Lucifer blinked, tilting his head. [I've seen a great deal of varied Incarnations in my time, but this is the first that I've seen one so basic... Are you a fledgling god?]

[...]

Lucifer smirked. [Well, I'll have my answer soon enough.]

[The Inviolable Morning Star gazes upon your soul!]

[No One's Story denies the gaze!]

[Due to resisting <Covenant of the Plume>, No One's Story failed to protect all of your status!]

[Your name has been perceived!]

[Your race has been perceived!]

[Your condition has been perceived!]

[Hm?] Lucifer froze. And then he laughed, a booming and hearty laughter that echoed even in the void. Afterwards, he looked at me and said, "Well, well. Mister Vain Glory, is it? And I was wondering just who could have appeared in this void. So this is where your soul wandered off to after performing that ridiculous miracle."

[Don't take me lightly, Lucy! Just because I don't have a body right now doesn't mean I'm going down without a fight!]

"Lucy?" Lucifer blinked and then gave me an amused look.

[Vain. Perhaps it might be best to not irritate a being that can both persist and speak in a timeless void on the boundary of life and death?]

True, true. But it'd also be bad to show weakness in front of any sort of person calling themselves Lucifer.

Lucifer laughed. "That's cute. But what can you even do in a form like that?" He smiled and said, "I admit that you managed quite the feat in throwing off old Mikey's plans, along with that meddlesome hothead, but here..." His smiled widened and then a swirl of light and dark appeared around him. "This is my domain."

Activate trump card!

[Vain?]

Bullshit Anime logic!

[VAIN?!]

Since I was 'dead', I couldn't get more dead. And since this was a 'void', I could put whatever I want in here.

Previous experiments showed I could conjure basic elements with [World Creator (Minor)]. I could also make things that I had working knowledge of, even if I didn't know all the details as long as I was fairly familiar with it.

So...

If this didn't work, I'd just look stupid. But if it did...

A battle against an angel in the void. An ordinary human from another world clashing against that angel and winning by erasing one of the fundamental forces in existence, Coulomb's Force and creating a hypernova capable of destroying stars dozens of light years away...

[EXPLOSION!]

Lucifer's eyes widened. "That-"

Before he could say anything else, my makeshift body crumpled, the matter instantly collapsing in on itself when the fundamental repulsive forces within it vanished. The instant after that, a blinding white light filled the void.

And then I couldn't see anything else.

After all, I had destroyed my makeshift body.

Now. The question was...

"Ha. Haha. Hahaha!" Laughter echoed from nearby and then a haggard and roughed up Lucifer walked into view. No, rather than saying that he walked into view, it was rather that he forced me to view him, using 'something' to give me vision to perceive his form.

One of his blue eyes had turned a bloody red and a fierce smile was on his face. "You... My, my. I can see how you pulled all of that off now and why you even managed to get old Mikey to slip up and lose the Administrator role he held all those years ago."

...Er. Maybe I should have thought that through more...

[YOU THINK?!]

Lucifer walked forward and placed his hand on my head.

...Head?

I blinked and then realized that sensation was returning to my body. No, that I had a body in the first place.

[The Inviolable Morning Star has resolved the Causal Paradox.]

[Your status is restored.]

[Disengage has returned your body to its previous state.]

[<Covenant of the Plume> has been erased.]

Lucifer grinned. "I think we'll be best of friends, fellow Heaven Defier."

...Huh. So when it comes to Lucifer, hitting him hard always results in friendship and respect. Got it.

[...How am I not suffering logic exceptions when thinking of Vain? Such actions and thought processes...]

Because you're my pal, obviously.

[I fear that your friends will be driven insane with worry, Vain.]

...Probably. Ah, and I should also say sorry to Freyr after this...

Lucifer pulled his hand back and then pulled out a pocket watch from his suit. "Hm. We should probably get going. Miss Valhalla is likely worried about you, and it would be best to finish up this Tutorial." He walked off and waved. "Try to make sure she doesn't go on a rampage, will you?"

"Wait, rampage?"

Before I could say anything else, the surroundings shifted.

A flurry of results messages popped up in my field of vision, but I ignored them.

Freyr was standing in front of a group of people, her mana fluctuating wildly and on the verge of going berserk.

...Right. Probably not the best idea to leave her like that.

I sighed and then pushed my way through the crowd. Before she could draw her blade and charge at the people in front of her, I grabbed her shoulder.

"Come on, Freyr. Didn't you promise me you wouldn't go crazy?"