**Auxiliary Chapter 0: The Final Equation**
The sky was the color of a dying bruise.
There were no stars left. The Outer Gods had eaten them, one by one, extinguishing the lights of the universe like candles in a drafty room.
Zayne sat on the throne of the High Heavens. It was a seat made of white gold, designed for the Ruler of Existence.
Currently, it was floating on a fragment of rock drifting through the void.
Zayne looked down at his sword, *Ragnarok*. The blade that had severed continents and slain Demon Lords was now chipped, dull, and covered in black ichor.
[Player Count: 1 / 12,000,000,000]
"Just one," Zayne rasped. His voice was like grinding gravel. His throat was dry; he hadn't drunk water in three days. He hadn't needed to. At Level 999, his body was immortal.
But immortality was a curse when there was nothing left to live for.
"Zayne."
The voice didn't come from the air. It vibrated directly into his skull. It was a sound that tasted like copper and felt like despair.
A rift opened in the space before him. A singular, massive eye peered through—an eye the size of a galaxy, swirling with a violent, violet energy.
The **Endbringer**. The zeroth Outer God.
"YOU HAVE FOUGHT WELL," the entity droned. "BUT ENTROPY IS ABSOLUTE. SURRENDER YOUR SOUL."
Zayne stood up. His golden armor was shattered, revealing scars that glowed with fading mana.
"I calculated the odds," Zayne said, lifting his broken sword. "In 14 million timelines, humanity loses. We were too slow. Too divided. We relied on the System too much."
"THE SYSTEM WAS A MERCY. A CRADLE."
"It was a cage," Zayne corrected.
He stepped forward, walking on the empty air.
"I played by your rules. I leveled up. I built a guild. I saved the princess. I killed the Dragon." Zayne's eyes burned with a cold, terrifying fury. "And it wasn't enough."
The giant eye narrowed. "AND NOW? YOU ARE ALONE. A KING OF ASHES."
"Correct," Zayne nodded. "I am a variable that ran out of value."
He dropped his sword.
*Clang.*
It hit the floating rock, the sound echoing in the silence.
The Endbringer paused. It had expected a final, desperate charge. It did not expect surrender.
"I SURRENDER," Zayne said, spreading his arms. "Take me."
The Eye pulsed. "ACCEPTANCE. GOOD."
A tentacle of pure violet energy—**Void Essence**—shot out from the rift. It was the power of erasure. It didn't burn; it simply deleted existence.
It struck Zayne in the chest.
Zayne didn't scream. He didn't dissolve.
Instead, he *grabbed* it.
His hands, coated in the last dregs of his Mythical Mana, dug into the intangible energy of the Void.
"WHAT?" The Endbringer's voice spiked in confusion.
"I told you," Zayne grinned, blood leaking from his teeth. "I calculated the odds. The only thing that can kill a God... is a God."
He didn't try to fight the Void. He pulled it *in*.
He opened his mouth and bit down on the energy stream.
*CRUNCH.*
He swallowed the concept of Nothingness.
[Warning: Soul Integrity Failing.]
[Warning: Unauthorized Energy Source Detected.]
[System Crash Imminent.]
Zayne's body began to crack like porcelain. Violet light beamed out from his eyes, his mouth, his pores. He was being unmade from the inside out.
But he held on. He used his Level 999 willpower to bind the Void to his very soul.
"You wanted to erase me?" Zayne laughed, a sound that shattered reality around them. "Too bad. I'm taking you with me."
"STOP! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! YOU CANNOT REVERSE ENTROPY!"
"Watch me."
Zayne clapped his hands together.
**[Skill: Chrono-Break (Ultimate)]**
**[Cost: All Levels. All Stats. Life itself.]**
**[Additional Catalyst: The Essence of the Endbringer.]**
The universe screamed.
The galaxy-sized eye widened in terror as it was dragged into the singularity forming in Zayne's chest.
"See you in the Tutorial," Zayne whispered.
The world went white.
And then, silence.