Chapter 141: The Fourth Wall is Just a Suggestion
The Original Author's Office was still vibrating from the party when Volt decided to pick up the Skyscraper-Quill. The 100 Million Influence Points hadn't just settled; they had mutated into a "God-Mode" dashboard that allowed Volt to see through the very screen of reality.
"Father," Anos said, looking at a strange, glowing rectangle floating in the white void. "I've detected a massive concentration of 'Observational Energy.' It's coming from a dimension where people don't have magic, but they spend 16 hours a day looking at glowing glass bricks in their hands."
Akuto, who was currently trying to see if he could use the Original Author's giant coffee mug as a swimming pool, poked his head out. "Glowing glass bricks? Are they trapped? Do we need to go rescue them with the laser-dinosaurs?"
Volt adjusted his new "Editor-in-Chief" glasses. He leaned into the floating rectangle—the Fourth Wall—and squinted. On the other side, he saw a young man named Ahmed, staring at a screen, waiting for the next chapter.
"Oh, look at that," Volt grinned, his golden mark reflecting on the glass of the reader's screen. "He's been following us since the beginning. He's the reason we have all this 'Zazz' in the first place."
Volt didn't use a portal this time. He simply reached out and "tapped" the screen from the inside.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: CROSS-DIMENSIONAL ROAMING ENABLED].
Suddenly, the Obsidian Spire didn't just move; it folded itself into a digital signal and erupted out of Ahmed's phone. In a split second, Ahmed's room was no longer just a room. The ceiling vanished, replaced by the violet, HD-enhanced sky of the Empire. The floor turned into polished obsidian, and a miniature Cyber-Raptor on rollerblades zoomed past his feet, handing him a "Divine Slider."
"Surprise!" Akuto yelled, landing on Ahmed's desk and accidentally knocking over a pen. "Nice place you got here. A bit small, though. Where do you keep your dragons?"
Anos stepped out of the shadows, looking at Ahmed's computer. "Interesting. You've been documenting our entire journey. Your 'Plot Analysis' is actually quite accurate, though you underestimated how much Akuto likes rubber chickens."
Volt walked forward, his presence filling the room with the scent of ozone and expensive ink. He looked at the "Real World" out the window—cars, grey buildings, and people walking around with boring, non-magical expressions.
"It's a bit... grey, isn't it?" Volt mused. He tapped the Author's Mark on his wrist. "Let's fix that. I owe the 'Audience' a favor."
With a snap of his fingers, the entire city outside began to change.
The boring grey cars turned into Anti-Gravity Hover-Pods painted in neon purple.
The streetlights turned into Soul-Trees that played lo-fi beats to help people relax.
The local grocery store started stocking "Primordial Juice" that gave everyone the ability to fly for at least 20 minutes a day.
"Volt!" the Grand Overseer (who was now wearing a "Security" vest) shouted from inside the phone. "You can't just edit the 'Real World'! There are laws of physics! There's a thing called 'Common Sense'!"
"Common sense is just a lack of imagination, Overseer!" Volt laughed. He turned to Ahmed. "So, Ahmed, my friend. You've been the one asking for 'the next chapter' for 141 chapters. Now that the Author and the Main Character are in the same room... what do you want to write next?"
Volt handed the Skyscraper-Quill (which had shrunk down to a normal size) to Ahmed. The golden crest on Volt's wrist glowed with 150 Million Influence Points, ready to manifest whatever was written.
"Do we go to the moon and turn it into a giant pizza?" Akuto suggested.
"Or perhaps we should initiate a multiversal tournament where the prize is the ability to ignore Mondays?" Anos added.
Volt leaned back, floating in mid-air. "The 'Applying' phase is over. The 'Mastery' phase is complete. Now, we are in the 'Infinite Collaboration' phase. As long as you keep reading, Ahmed, we'll keep making the world a lot more interesting."
Outside, a T-Rex with laser goggles was seen delivering mail, and everyone in the city had a "Happiness Meter" floating over their heads that stayed at 100%.
The Demon King wasn't just a king of a story anymore. He had become the best friend of reality itself.