Reflected in Eriri's clear blue eyes were the figures of Noah and the two goddesses. In that instant, she felt as if an arrow tipped with a heart had pierced her chest.
Her slender hand instinctively clutched her heart—like she'd just been struck by Cupid.
"Ah! So handsome! Every detail—his looks, aura, expressions, even his gaze—is so accurate! At least one percent, no! Maybe even a ten-thousandth resemblance!"
"I thought this would just be another annoying rich girl trying to exploit me and Utako-sensei, but this cosplay is actually spot-on~"
"It's almost identical to how I draw Lord Heavenly Principle, the Infinite Dragon God, and the Red Dragon God Emperor!"
"Still not quite what I imagine, but getting this close—I'll forgive you for dragging us here."
Utaha Kasumigaoka came back to her senses, cheeks flushed as she quickly looked away from Noah. Just one glance at him had made her heart race.
It was far too accurate. Unbelievable.
To think a fan could cosplay her perfect vision of Lord Heavenly Principle, Ophis, and Dream so well.
"L-Looks like you were sincere about this. In that case, I won't hold it against you."
"If you want a signature… that's not out of the question."
She had never liked attending conventions, thinking most cosplay was far too off the mark—more like an insult to her work.
She never imagined it could be this close.
Just looking at the two girls' reactions made it obvious they didn't believe any of it.
Takashi Matsubara said, "Um… Utako Kasumi-sensei, Kashiwagi Eri-sensei, you've misunderstood. It's not what you think."
"They're not cosplayers but actual characters from the story. It's a bit complicated, so please let us explain."
Utaha Kasumigaoka's dark red eyes shifted to Takashi. "And you are? Balding uncle?"
Pfft…
Everyone chuckled but held it in.
Takashi froze. "Balding… cough, my name is Takashi Matsubara, author of Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier. This is Selesia, the heroine of my novel."
Utaha blinked. "Oh~ never heard of it."
Pfft…
Takashi stood there, mortified. "Well, I'm just a regular bestselling writer. It's no surprise you haven't heard of me."
Marine sweated nervously, whispering, "I feel so bad for Mr. Matsubara… That self-intro totally flopped."
Selesia sighed, palm on her forehead. "Ugh…" She felt like her toes were curling inside her shoes from the cringe.
Just as she was about to say something to cut through the awkward silence—
Aki Kikuchihara stepped in. "Let me explain. I'm Aki Kikuchihara, director of the National Emergency Response Department. Here's the situation—blah blah blah…"
As expected from a government official, she quickly and clearly laid out the background and key points.
Utaha Kasumigaoka sighed and gave them a look like they were idiots. "It's not April Fools, is it? Or did you install hidden cameras and start streaming some sick prank show?"
"If so, my lawyer will be sending your production team a letter."
Eriri put her hands on her hips and scolded them. "Do we look that dumb to you?"
"I admit you found some impressively accurate cosplayers, but what you're saying is just nonsense. Even a grade-schooler wouldn't buy it."
"Uh…"
Masaaki Nakanogane muttered, "I knew it wouldn't be that easy to convince them. Still, this scene feels oddly familiar."
He looked toward Ryou Yatouji, who crossed his arms. "Yeah, no one's going to believe something that sounds this ridiculous."
Yuya Mirokuji clicked his tongue. "Tch, so we'll have to show off some real power to make them even consider the possibility, huh?"
Marine panicked and shouted, "W-Wait! You're not seriously thinking of hitting two girls, are you?!"
Clap! Clap!
Two sharp claps echoed, drawing everyone's attention.
Noah slowly rose from the sofa, a playful smile tugging at his lips.
"Alright, enough arguing. Let me amuse—cough, I mean explain things."
"Seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving. Let me take you all on a journey across the realms."
Smiling, Noah strolled over to Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri, his presence emanating an overwhelming divine aura.
In that moment, he seemed to loom magnificently large in everyone's vision.
They were thrust into a shared hallucination. In their minds, Noah became as vast as Mount Everest, while they floated in midair, looking up at him.
"Ah—!"
Shouts of astonishment escaped every mouth.
Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri had handled book signings with over 100,000 attendees, but nothing like this surreal spectacle. Their eyes flew wide open as they screamed.
Behind this colossal figure, five luminous halos of five different colors emerged, radiating unfathomable mystery.
The shock left everyone utterly speechless.
Hummm...
A dreamlike aurora of multicolored light enveloped the room, detaching them from the real world.
From Noah's perspective, all he had done was wrap the room in a dream-bubble, collapsing it into a semi-dimensional space, and letting it slide toward the endless semi-dimensional realms.
"Ah! Wh-What is this?!"
In the next moment, their surroundings had transformed into an endless wilderness.
Griffins soared in the blue sky; elves and beastmen waged war in the forests.
Everyone snapped back to awareness and looked around in shock and awe.
They were like tourists flying through this world, their eyes beholding countless fantastical scenes they couldn't even begin to imagine.
A massive robot flew above a medieval town, jolting Takashi Matsubara back to his senses.
"Ah! Th-This is my imagined world! The world of Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier!"
Selesia exclaimed, "This! This is the royal capital!"
In the next instant, their vision jumped again—this time to a new fantasy realm.
Shunma Suruga gasped, "Th-This is... my imagined world!"
In a blink, another world appeared. Visions rained from the sky. Primordial gods shaped time and space. The world was evolving. A crimson dragon flapped its wings, creating the Endless Planes.
Utaha Kasumigaoka's dark red eyes reflected the incredibly lifelike scene. "The Teyvat I imagined... no, this is real!" The air, the breeze, the strange floral aroma—it was all real!
At the center of her gaze was the man who had cosplayed Lord Heavenly Principle…
In this moment, he was divinely sacred, transcendent, perfect—the embodiment of every kind of beauty in the world.
This wasn't cosplay. He really was Lord Heavenly Principle!
The raw impact of that realization was overwhelming.
"It's real! It's really real!"
Noah turned his head, his golden eyes glinting faintly, lips curled into a playful smile as if he'd found something amusing.
To Utaha Kasumigaoka, that moment struck her very soul—it felt like salvation, like love, like happiness. She wanted to become a moth and fly into that sun that seemed so close.
Her dark red eyes glowed, her cheeks flushed with shyness.
She was a genius, someone who had suddenly gained unfathomable talent at the age of seven. Admired and praised by all, she had thoughts that ordinary people could not understand.
She had fallen in love with the protagonist of her own story.
At first, she thought it was mere admiration, but eventually she realized—she was hopelessly in love with a character born from her own imagination.
She even thought she was sick. How could a perfect protagonist from a fantasy possibly exist?
At the same time, her interest in real-life men had gradually waned. Unconsciously, she began to compare every boy she met to the ideal character in her mind.
Ba-dump ba-dump...
Her heart was pounding wildly.
He was real… the real Lord Heavenly Principle.
The perfect male protagonist of her imagination truly existed—right before her eyes.
And he was leading her, with power beyond omnipotence, across countless worlds like a falling star.
Eriri felt the same as Utaha Kasumigaoka.
Much of her inspiration aligned perfectly with Utaha's. The two of them were often regarded as inseparable twin geniuses.
Time passed swiftly. Everyone streaked through one world after another like shooting stars.
The semi-dimensional realms, existing between reality and illusion, was absolutely real to those whose dimensions had been lowered. Everything they experienced here felt utterly authentic.
They soared through the worlds of their own making—the ones they imagined—before breaking through the bounds of those worlds and reaching beyond.
There, outside the worlds, they saw the structure of the multiverse: massive orbs of light floating in a sea of dreamy purple.
Countless light spheres revolved around a colossal pillar of multicolored light.
The closer to the pillar, the larger the spheres. Nearest to it was the semi-dimensional world known as Teyvat.
Orbiting Teyvat were innumerable small orbs, circling like moons.
Above the pillar of light hovered the reflection of a blue planet.
It was as if they were looking up at the sun from the deep sea.
That was Earth. The pillar of light was the manifestation of Dream Truth.
Noah's golden eyes flickered faintly.
The world of Dream Truth—what a peculiar thing.
But if it isn't annexed, this world would remain a weak single-universe—a weak Endless Planes type of single universe.
Once it is annexed, all these semidimensional worlds would be turned into real plane worlds.
At that point, they would all become part of Teyvat's Endless Planes.
Teyvat had long evolved beyond time into spacetime.
After the annexation, the Cosmic Nexus would naturally recalibrate these semi-dimensional worlds.
All the girls from stories related to him would become genuinely connected to him.
As the sole Creator, all those related to him must also be unique.
Even if they exist here within stories, it's impossible for duplicates to form.
Dream Truth does not yet have the power to imprint information about a Creator like him.
Anyone unrelated to him can be left alone.
Eventually, this semi-dimensional Teyvat will transform into a parallel universe—albeit only at the weak single-universe level.
Heh… At that point, those gods will rack their brains during the True Name Gift Game.
Teyvat is a strong single-universe. The parallel Teyvat is weak. The parallel version will inevitably lose.
But once the True Name Gift Game ends, that so-called parallel Teyvat will become an ordinary subordinate universe.
Those related to him could not exist—no matter how trivial, even if he merely remembered their names.
Buzz… buzz… buzz… buzz…
With a single thought from Noah, everyone saw themselves being pulled toward the colossal multicolored pillar of light.
As a blinding radiance filled their vision, the next moment they found themselves once more in the original VIP lounge.
Everyone was dazed, their expressions blank, drenched in sweat. No one made a sound except for heavy breathing.
It took several seconds before they began to recover.
Takashi Matsubara gasped, voice trembling: "Was that... was that a hallucination?"
Ryou Yatouji said, "It must've been… a hallucination… right?"
Meteora quickly shook her head. "It wasn't a hallucination. It was real." She stared in disbelief at Noah, who appeared as though he'd never moved from the sofa.
"Lord Noah... truly possesses the power to traverse freely and even take others across countless story worlds. Unbelievable."
Selesia gulped. "T-This is way beyond Altair's level…" She didn't quite understand it, but she knew—this was something unimaginably powerful. After all, his setting was that of a Creator.
Noah turned to Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri, smiling. "Well then, do you have any questions? I can answer them now. But only now. I won't be answering again later~"
"Ask anything you like. I am omniscient and omnipotent, after all."
Before anyone else could speak, Utaha Kasumigaoka's heart pounded furiously. She nodded instinctively.
"Y-Yes, you are omniscient and omnipotent—no, more than that, you embody every great force in the world."
After all, she was the creator of Teyvat.
Of course, the information Noah had projected back then was vast but not detailed—it was only what he wanted Utaha Kasumigaoka to know.
Eriri quickly stepped forward, eyes sparkling as she looked at Noah. "You're really Lord Heavenly Principle! How is this possible? Why did you appear in the real world?"
Noah tapped the table, and in an instant, fruits and pastries appeared atop it.
"Why did I appear in the real world, you ask? In other words, you want to know the truth of this world, right?"
That was indeed what everyone present wanted to know. But the truth of the world was something they only vaguely sensed, never fully grasped.
Yuya Mirokuji widened his eyes, shaking off his earlier shock. "Wait—do you know?"
"Ah, that's right! We saw it!"
"My world was a huge glowing orb. And that purple cosmos, and the multicolored pillar at the center! What exactly were those?!"
Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on Noah.
He smiled and said, "This world is quite unique."
"Why do created works become real worlds? Why do characters from those works appear in the real world? Why indeed?"
"Could it be... that the creators are actually gods?"
Gulp~
Takashi Matsubara and Takayoda Gai both swallowed hard.
Especially Takayoda Gai—he had almost been kidnapped by a character he created, saved only thanks to the timely arrival of Selesia and Meteora.
Noah had altered the original fate line, so he hadn't been taken by Alestrea.
Noah continued, "Of course not."
"It's all because a foreign Dream Truth descended upon Earth. That's what caused all of this."
He turned his gaze to Utaha Kasumigaoka. "So, Utaha, you should understand—what is Truth really?"
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