Creation Of All Things
Chapter 241 - 241: Bored

Old District 7 – Ten Days Later

Smoke rose from the collapsed alley walls. Screams echoed, cut short by distant thunder cracks that weren't weather—they were power.

Null stood in the center of it all. Quiet. Calm. Coat fluttering from an unseen wind. Rubble floated behind him, shattered brick and bone suspended midair like the world hadn't finished deciding if they should fall or not.

The villain in front of him—Codex—grinned wide with blood trailing from the side of his mouth.

"You're stronger than the Vault said."

Null said nothing. His right hand pulsed with thin rings of silver. His eyes were fixed, emotionless.

Codex laughed. "I could unmake a whole city with one word, you know that? Language is law, Null. All systems follow it."

Null raised a hand.

Codex's jaw snapped shut by force—his own words turning to dust before they left his throat.

Null stepped forward, his boots crushing energy-coded sigils written into the ground. "Creation obeys you," he said quietly, "but only because I allow it."

He flicked a finger.

A jagged spear of energy formed from nothing—clean, perfect, dense with force—and impaled Codex through the shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

The villain screamed through clenched teeth, energy bleeding from his skin like shredded data.

Null's voice was flat. "Next time you carve your glyphs into children, I'll erase more than your magic."

Codex couldn't speak. Couldn't even move. Null turned and walked away, letting the spear unravel into glowing threads that vanished into mist.

Above, news drones hovered, recording everything.

He let them.

He wanted them to.

Midtown Studio One – Live Broadcast: Vault Exclusive Interview

The stage was all chrome and white. A velvet chair, crystal lights above, sleek branding behind them: "Vault Vision – Hero Truths."

Sitting across from the interviewer—Miss Lenna Grace, a famous face of the Vault's media division—was Null.

Still in full black suit. Mask off, but shadow still coated half his face like smoke that wouldn't burn away.

"Thank you for agreeing to this," Lenna said with a practiced smile.

"I was curious," Null replied. "You all watch me. I figured I'd look back."

The audience laughed nervously.

Lenna leaned forward. "We'll get right to it. You've appeared in nine sectors. You've shut down six villain groups. You've damaged five Vault zones. Some see you as a hero. Some… something else."

"I'm not here for either," Null said simply. "Just cleaning up. And looking for someone."

She raised an eyebrow. "Someone brought you here?"

"A presence," he replied. "I felt something. Bigger than this place. Like someone wrote this world without finishing the ending."

She paused. "You believe this world is… artificial?"

"I believe someone touched it."

"And if you find them?"

Null stared straight into the lens.

"I'll remove their hand."

Silence. The audience didn't breathe.

Lenna cleared her throat. "Some of our Vault officers want to recruit you. Others believe you're too dangerous. Where do you stand?"

"I'm not standing," Null said, "I'm watching. And so far, your Vault is bloated, political, and scared."

"Scared?"

"Of someone like me," he said flatly.

Lenna didn't smile this time.

Null looked at her. "You wanted me here for answers. But this is a threat scan in disguise."

He stood slowly.

"Tell your handlers: I'm not looking for power. But I remember exactly how it feels to take it away."

The broadcast cut before he left the frame.

Two Hours Later – Abandoned Subway Line, Sector 3

Kilo's voice crackled in his earpiece. "Target found. Codename: Ardent. Fire-based. Ranked Tier-A by Vault. Wanted for thirteen kills. Six were heroes."

Null crouched above the ruined station entrance. His eyes narrowed. The heat below was unnatural—too dry, too clean.

He dropped in.

The air sizzled instantly.

Flames coiled around the broken tunnel like serpents, licking concrete walls, hissing at his presence.

A man stood there—shirtless, his body wrapped in moving fire symbols. Eyes burning white.

"So you're the Null," Ardent grinned. "You don't look like shit."

"You talk a lot for someone who's about to bleed," Null replied.

The flames rushed forward like a tidal wave.

Null didn't move.

They hit him head-on.

And vanished.

Just blinked out of existence.

Ardent's eyes widened.

"What—?"

"I erased the air your fire needed," Null said. "Try again."

Ardent screamed and launched forward, fists coated in sun-fire. Every step he took melted the rails beneath.

Null met him mid-swing. Their hands clashed.

Shockwaves tore through the tunnel.

Ardent's flames spiked, trying to incinerate the space itself. "I burn hotter than physics!"

Null raised his hand.

"I write new physics."

His fingers twisted.

The fire turned solid. Then brittle. Then shattered into crystal dust.

Ardent backed away, now wide-eyed. "What are you?!"

Null stepped forward.

"Bored."

He flicked his hand again—creating ten exact replicas of Ardent, all frozen mid-movement.

Ardent blinked. "What—what are those?"

"Versions of you," Null said. "From different deaths I almost gave you."

He pointed at one.

That version melted into lava.

He pointed at another.

That version screamed as gravity folded in on him.

The real Ardent dropped to his knees, gasping.

"Stop—"

"I already have."

The rest of the illusions vanished.

Adam crouched in front of him, calm again.

"You don't get to die," he whispered. "You get to live and remember."

He placed a mark on Ardent's chest—a symbol of absence. A curse of memory. Ardent would never sleep again without reliving this.

Vault HQ – Observation Deck

Lenna stood behind the security glass.

"Is he playing with them?"

"No," said Commander Hark. "He's warning them."

"Do we try again to recruit him?"

Hark shook his head. "We prepare for the day we have to stop him."

"And if we can't?"

Hark turned toward her.

"Then we pray he stays bored."

Underground Base – Command Chamber

Adam floated midair, meditating. Rook and Ivy monitored the room.

"No leads," Ivy said. "The anomaly you traced hasn't appeared again."

Adam's voice was quiet. "Someone's hiding it."

Slate stepped in. "Sir, a new trend. More people are starting to ask… if you're even human."

He opened his eyes. "Let them."

He rose.

"Let them wonder."

He walked to the central console. The map of the city spun slowly.

There was more work to do.

Villains to erase.

Threads to trace.

Whoever touched this world—

Was still watching.

But so was he.

And this time—

He was watching back.