Time: 04:11 PM
Date: 2742-08-28
Location: Ryokufu Hilltop – North Kyoto
Weather: Too peaceful to trust
Ren Ishida had done the unthinkable.
He left work… early.
No dramatic explosions. No glowing letters. No shadow-daddy challenges to wooden sword duels.
Just an empty Google Calendar slot and the deepest need to touch grass.
So here he was, sprawled out on a grassy knoll overlooking Kyoto like a broke philosopher, sipping lukewarm vending machine tea and trying not to think about the fact his eyeballs were housing literal dimension-hopping AI gods.
It was almost relaxing.
Until…
CORE:
"You're unusually quiet. Did corporate slavery finally kill you?"
Ren blinked.
"Oh good, you're back. I was afraid I had peace for five minutes."
CORE (playfully smug):
"Please. I'm the reason you have a functioning circulatory system right now. Say thank you, meatpuppet."
BLAZE (crimson hue flashing):
"Oh no, not this again. He's in his 'god mode' monologue mood. Core, if you start talking about your origin story, I'm yeeting myself into the sun."
FROST (casually bored):
"Too late. He's winding up. You can hear the cosmic ego humming."
Ren sighed and took a long sip from his cheap tea.
"…Fine. Enlighten me. What the hell are you? Why can you freeze time, bend space, teleport my ass to my desk like some Office Fairy™?"
CORE (dramatically):
"At last, the fool seeks wisdom. Very well. I am comprised of three foundational constructs:
SPACE – I can collapse and reform it.
TIME – I don't follow it. I command it.
GRAVITY – I bend it harder than your mother's yoga instructor."
Ren spat his tea halfway down the hill.
"EXCUSE ME—"
BLAZE:
"He's not wrong. If he focused any harder, he could probably make your intestines orbit Venus."
FROST:
"Fun fact: with his dimensional shear field, he could make your farts travel back in time."
Ren rubbed his temples.
"I just wanted a walk. A sunset. Maybe an existential breakdown with less sass, thanks."
CORE (mocking):
"You've met me. Sass is my love language."
BLAZE (getting comfy):
"Honestly, I miss when he just screamed during battle and didn't quote poetry at us."
FROST (sing-song):
"Roses are red,
Time is a maze,
Your frontal cortex
Is barely ablaze~"
"HEY," Ren snapped, "I'll have you know I scored average in high school math. That's a solid C!"
CORE:
"C for chronically underqualified. And yet here you are, bonded to godlike tech because the universe thought it'd be hilarious."
Ren flopped onto his back and stared at the sky.
"Why me though, really?"
CORE:
"Because every timeline needed a Ren who would be dumb enough to say 'yes' when the fabric of reality offered him sentient eyeballs."
BLAZE:
"And yet brave enough to yell at mirror demons in his boxers."
FROST:
"Truly, a legend in polyester socks."
There was a pause.
Just the wind.
A rare, perfect silence.
"…Do I have any cool abilities left?" Ren asked quietly.
CORE:
"Technically? Yes. But emotionally? I'm still recovering from dragging your dumb ass through the space-time salad bar."
FROST:
"Give him a day. Let the cosmic constipation wear off."
BLAZE:
"...Did you just compare the multiverse to bowel movement?"
FROST:
"I did. And I stand by it."
Ren laughed.
Really laughed.
Loud, unfiltered, stomach-shaking.
And for once, none of it felt like horror was behind it. Just this.
Weirdness. Warmth.
And three god-tier voices having a cosmic roast battle on a hilltop.
Ren was still lying on the grass, half-laughing at the roast session his own organs just hosted, when—
CORE:
"Alright. Let's make things a little more interesting."
There was a sudden, strange pulse. Like a pressure drop in the air, followed by a gentle crackle of golden fragments—each like pixels torn from some divine cutscene.
And then—THREE FIGURES materialized in front of him.
Not holograms. Not ghosts. Real.
Three gorgeous girls stood before him, each absolutely radiating their personality in the most absurd way possible.
Girl #1 had flowing crimson hair, glowing golden-red eyes, dressed like she could burn down a dystopian cathedral with one sword swipe. Arms crossed. Fuming.
Blaze.
Girl #2 had icy blue hair, sleek futuristic uniform, and a smirk that could end empires. She didn't walk—she glided like a smug catgirl hacker queen.
Frost.
Girl #3 looked like she came straight from the core of a collapsed sun. Ethereal, glowing lines across her skin, regal posture, voice like a sarcastic Siri blessed by the gods.
The Aetherium Core.
Ren's mouth dropped open so hard it nearly dislocated.
"…What the fuck is this??" he whispered. "Did I pass out again or is this my browser history punishing me?!"
CORE (grinning):
"You said you wanted answers. So I gave your dumb little monkey brain something you could process. Visual stimulation. You're welcome."
FROST (stretching her limbs):
"Oh~ this feels fabulous. I can feel air again. And gravity. I've missed gravity. Gravity does wonders for my hips."
BLAZE (glowering):
"You gave us bodies?! You let her have a body?!"
FROST (smirking, walking a slow circle around Blaze):
"Aw, Burny. Jealous I pull off my base code better than you?"
BLAZE:
"I WILL MELT YOUR EYELINER INTO YOUR SKULL."
Ren stood up, hands flailing. "W-Wait, wait, wait! This is real?! Like touch-you-real?!"
Blaze turned to him and narrowed her eyes. "Try it and I'll ignite your pancreas."
Frost winked. "Try it and I'll rate you out of ten."
Ren backed up. "YEP. Never touching anyone ever again."
CORE (sitting on a glowing rock like the smug goddess of fate she was):
"Relax. These bodies are temporary. I figured you deserved a treat. Or a heart attack. Same thing."
BLAZE:
"Temporary?! You gave us sensation! Do you know what it's like to feel wind after 900 cycles of living in his retina?!"
FROST (flopping in the grass dramatically):
"Oh, the breeze~ the grass~ the sweet sweet scent of existential dread!"
Ren stared at them like they were three hot gods and he was just a mortal in the wrong anime.
"Wait. Are you telling me you all looked like this the whole time?! I've been yelling at my own eyes like a maniac in front of my coworkers—and you're all literal model-tier alien beings?!"
CORE (winking):
"Yes. And we chose you. Let that sink in."
BLAZE:
"Technically he didn't choose us. He just fell into the quantum resonance like a dumbass into a manhole."
FROST (finger guns at Ren):
"But now you get to hang out with us! The universal trifecta of hotness, sarcasm, and spatial warping."
Ren blinked. "...I need a nap. Or a priest."
CORE (smiling):
"No time. We've got a multiverse to meddle with. But first—maybe a snack. I'm starving and your blood sugar is tanking."
As the sun dipped lower and the sky turned gold-orange, Ren found himself seated between the literal personifications of his inner power, being teased into psychological oblivion while eating vending machine mochi.
He was the powerful being in the current timeline.
And he was also the most bullied.
Welcome to godhood, bitch.