Epilogue

The world of Placeholder waited with bated breath for the outcome of the fight between the Demon King and the Hero.

The majority knew little about what was happening in it beyond the fact that the Hero was somehow dying to the Demon King… repeatedly.

The constant bombardment of notifications was starting to make even the most stalwart of believers in the “almighty System” have questions, but thankfully, there was one final one that put all of that to rest.

System : The Hero has given his life to slay the Demon King! The cycle of Heroes and Demon Lords has come to an end. Now begins the Age of Peace!

That was a cause for celebration… and a cause for mourning.

Despite their Hero’s best attempts, not everyone could be saved from the final demonic threat. Many Soldiers lost their lives, and there were casualties among the civilians as well, especially among those who refused to evacuate.

There was also millions of gold worth of property damage, but at least that gave the people something to focus on.

They rebuilt. Together. Jhilsara was able to play a key part in that, mobilizing the considerable resources she had built up over her years of administrating the Hero’s finances to help the places that were impacted the worst.

Lhoris and Kithaela also assisted to a lesser degree, but after the worst was taken care of, they mostly decided they would take it easy for a while and went on a vacation… to the newly cured lands of Besti.

It seemed that the leaders of the world had finally gotten that treaty hammered out.

Speaking of giant tracts of now usable land, the time wastes also underwent quite the change. Where before it was certain death to enter and anyone who tried would soon die of old age or become unborn, the effects were much more limited after the final Hero’s stunt.

Or maybe that was the fact that the world’s new admin removed the whole “forbidden” part of most of the schools of magic that fell under Impermissus. It’s hard to tell.

Anyway, things went well for the newly liberated world. With Gertrude’s sacrifice in the pits of Hell, the portal was closed, and there was no longer any easy access for demons to the surface.

Not that some idiots didn’t manage to get it in their heads to try summoning them, but no world is perfect.

… And they also had an interesting enemy to face with that.

Dave, Son of Dave. All of them. It turned out that with the Demon Lord’s defeat, they no longer had a nemesis and instead became a sort of quasi-paladin/anti-demon adventurer.

It’s a strange name for a class, but then again, Placeholder itself was a strange world.

Speaking of worlds, Earth had its own share of changes. It was no longer a “feeder world” with NPCs that the System basically ignored. It was now a first-class world with all that entailed.

That likely meant that it would go off the carefully crafted rails that it had been put on, but all anyone could do was wait and see.

However, the Heroes that had returned there seemed to be doing well.

Erica got the confidence to face her bullies. Kilroy continued his janitor position and even managed to talk some sense into that chucklehead grandson of his, Leroy. Jeremiah was still missing, but he was in the care of an Admin who was still looking for a good world to send him to.

Perhaps the biggest change was with Jared Null. He still had lost his brother… but the story was slightly different than before. Instead of disappearing mysteriously at a Comic Con convention he instead died preventing a major disaster. The details were a bit fuzzy, but at least Jared had closure.

Oh. Jared also had a new girlfriend… who looked suspiciously similar to a certain Bard from another world.

In other words, he would do just fine.

But that’s just the Earth Heroes. There’s still the end of the Placeholder Heroes and… well, unfortunately, they couldn’t get much of a happy ending in comparison. That’s a difficult proposition when all of them are dead.

The one thing that they did get, however, was the assurance of being remembered.

And a part of that was because the autobiography of a certain Demon Lord came out as promised… and the Heroes played a huge role in that book.

How could they not, after all of the time he spent with them?

As a result, the information in the Hall of Heroes and Demon Lords became even more complete and filled in. Each individual Hero in there had details about them filled in by the one who was their greatest foe.

However, that’s not the biggest change that came to that hall. No, that came with how it handled the final Hero and Demon Lord.

The halls now wrapped around, and placed prominently at the end of both was a new figure. One half of him, face in a scowl, wicked staff raised to cast a spell. The other half, with a serious expression on his face, and an impossibly large sword resting on his shoulder.

The statue was listed as being for Titus… the Redeemed.

Some argued against him existing as an actual Hero. Others would come to say it was metaphorical for the duality of man. Still others would see it and believe that no one was beyond redemption.

As for me, I see it mostly as super cringey. That half-and-half statue is super ugly and doesn’t capture me in my best light at all.

… You didn’t forget who was the one telling you this story, did you? And you didn’t think a little dip in corruption would be enough to end it, right?

Okay, okay. It totally would have been more than enough. So, I guess I better finish the story before you ready the pitchforks.

---------

“Take my hand!” a voice called out into the corrupted void.

A voice? I asked. Impossible. I immediately dismissed it as a figment of my rapidly deteriorating mind.

“Take my hand!” it called again. “Hurry!”

Joshua? I thought. I was either crazy… or I was looking at my one and only lifeline.

The admin who wasn’t afraid of corruption.

The immediate problem I ran into was that I didn’t even know if I had a hand anymore, but I tried to reach out to him anyway.

His hand reached down, and my body reformed from there down as he yanked me out.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I… think so,” I stated after a moment.

It had taken a few seconds to figure out how to work my mouth again.

“Walk with me,” he said. “It’s not safe here.”

I pointedly did not look down at the corrupted void that was somewhere below me and being shunted off into who knows where, and tried to follow at his side.

He caught me as I staggered and tripped, but after a moment, I was good to go, and we walked.

“So,” I started. “You died… but you’re not really dead. And you’re an admin, but you aren’t afraid of corruption.” I paused, unsure if I should continue.

“Go ahead and ask your question,” he said.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“To answer that, you will need your memory back,” he stated. I furrowed my brow because I hadn’t realized I lost any, but then he added. “All of it.”

He placed his hand on my shoulder, and there was a flood of images in my mind.

Succeeding in my plan. Destroying everything. And then a trial with the Judge of Creation, a being of pure light who-

“That was you!?” I blurted out, and my entire body locked up in sheer terror.

“Yes,” he stated simply.

“I-I-I-I’m sorry for not recognizing you.. umm…your honor, or should I call you-“

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“You can call me what you always have,” he replied gently.

“But one time I called you my man Josh!” I blurted out.

Joshua laughed. “And is it not allowed for friends to give each other nicknames, Ty?”

“Ty,” I stated dumbly. “Friends.” Then, shaking my head to clear it. “Yeah. Uhh… Friends. I would much rather be your friend than your enemy.”

Joshua just nodded. “And I, you.” Then, gesturing with his hand, “Come. We have quite a bit to do, and another decision is waiting for you.”

We continued walking, and I even saw a portal up ahead, but I had dozens of questions.

The preeminent one being-

“Am I dead?” I asked.

“That depends on your definition,” Joshua replied as we approached the portal. “From the standpoint of Placeholder, the Demon Lord and Hero are no more. From the standpoint of your normal body, it has been entirely destroyed. You have also ascended to a different plane of existence.” He beckoned me to the portal. “Speaking of-“

We went through it together.

And my breath was torn away.

I entered into a world… no a universe with a billion stars. Pinpoints of light off in the distance, but I could somehow see them all.

But they weren’t just lights. No, looking at a single one showed me the admins. Millions of Angels, demons, fantasy races, and even humans, all looking over their worlds and making changes.. or fighting each other.

“Welcome to the OmniverseEngine,” Joshua replied, his hand sweeping wide. “Game Master Titus.”

“Game Master?” I blurted out, my head whipping to look at him. “I’m an admin? Just like that?”

“Not just like that,” Joshua shook his head. “You spent many years as a candidate, grew familiar with the inner workings of a world, and then also happened to slay the current admin of your world, causing a vacant position.” He paused. “Though, we do need to have a talk about your distressing habit of weaponizing corruption. This is the second time I will need to establish a law against that.”

I chuckled weakly. “Yeah… sorry.” Then I frowned. “Wait. So all of this time a candidate was just… an admin candidate? Someone who could become an admin?”

Joshua cocked his head. “Yes. It was a position that marked you as a protected entity, made you immune to server rollbacks, and allowed you to create manipulation points. What did you think that candidate meant?”

I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut. “Guess I never really thought about it,” I muttered.

That was horribly embarrassing, but thankfully, Joshua didn’t let me dwell on it too long.

“Now, before we get to your decision, there is one thing that is non-negotiable,” Joshua stated.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied. “What is it?”

“The matter of the time loop. You will need to-“

That was as far as he got before I groaned in revelation.

“AltSys was me?” I paused. “Again? I already knew that one part of AltSys was future me, but the other part was just… future, future me?” I buried my head in my hands. “So, I was the one causing my own problems all along.”

“People are often the primary source of their own troubles,” Joshua replied. “Though, not usually in the same manner.” I groaned again as he chuckled. “So, I take it you will close the loop for good now? Ensure that everything happened as it should?”

“Yes,” I replied. Admin going down was undoubtedly the best ending, so I would ensure it took place.

I was not looking forward to watching my own suffering once more, however.

Fortunately, I had a question to take my mind off that.

“What was the choice I have to make?” I asked.

“Do you see that small cluster in the southwest quadrant?” Joshua asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Wow, that’s really on the edge. Pretty far away from everything else.” I frowned. “And it seems like it’s entirely home to demons.”

“It is,” Joshua nodded. “And that is the location of Placeholder. Deep in demon territory.” He paused. “Thus, the choice. You must close the time loop, but after that, you need not remain an admin. You would not be able to return to Placeholder, but I am sure that your brother would welcome you back with open arms on Earth.”

I thought about that momentarily, but I never really knew Jared.

“And the alternative?” I asked.

“You will be surrounded by enemies,” he stated. “You will need to keep your true allegiance a secret and start from the bottom as one of the weakest. Failure will mean death at the hands of demons, and there will be no reinforcements available to you.”

I sucked in a breath but then nodded slowly.

Before I could help it, it turned into a brief laugh.

“So, business as usual, then?” I asked with a smirk. “When do I start?”

-----

A few months later

“Ten thousand apologies, your lowliness!” I shrieked as the Sector Administrator kicked me. “That’s all the manipulation points I have!”

“How did we get such a useless replacement?” he scowled. “Temper Tantrum was a poor admin, but even he fulfilled his quotas, you worthless sloth demon.”

I didn’t respond but only cowered.

He looked at me and frowned. “An extra 1000 next month. And you’ll give me the spare manipulation points you’ve tried to hide over there.”

He gestured towards the other end of the admin room where I had poorly wrapped a few manipulation points in inverted space.

“Of-of course!” I nodded, wide-eyed. I reabsorbed the manipulation points and then walked over to a console.

“Umm.. uhh…” I stated, scratching my head. “How… how do I start a transfer again?”

“Move over,” the Sector Admin growled. He shoved me to the side, logged in with his own credentials, and then submitted a request for my manipulation points.

I quickly allowed it through, and then the admin left after roughly smacking me upside the head.

“Sucker,” I stated as the Sector Administrator left me behind, and the illusory realm collapsed.

It had taken me a long time to figure out how to fake a world-view area, complete with fake admin panels, in my own personal space, but luckily, all that work on the Mindscape had paid off.

Literally, in this case. The Sector Administrator had been kind enough to give me a copy of his login credentials, and he would come to find some of his manipulation points mysteriously missing.

… Not immediately, of course. I had to make sure that I gave enough time before I pulled the trigger so that he didn’t think it was me. But the long con was going to be 100% worth it.

Humming, I went to the real portal to Placeholder, and it was back to work on my project.

Fixing Placeholder. All of it.

Things had gone well so far. I’d handled the obelisk explosion easily, removed System-Bound oaths since they were far too close to mind control for my liking, and had been working hard on the biggest of problems.

Grapples.

I was close to a breakthrough. I was sure of it.

At least, until I started the next simulation.

“No,” I said in disbelief as it failed once again. “Protons and neutrons are coded as grappling each other!?” I groaned and stared up at the ceiling.

It’s all grapples. I thought. All the way down. I can’t fix that. That can never be fixed.

I was pretty close to attempting to find out the System’s view on complete rewrites of physics when suddenly the world shifted.

I was no longer an admin. There was no magic at my fingertips. The only thing that was there was a young man standing there looking at me in shock.

“How!?” I yelled as I slammed him into the wall of the tiny modern-day apartment I found myself in. “How did you summon me!?”

“I don’t know!” he yelled in fear. “I was just trying to make soup!”

My eyes finally took in the rest of the surroundings.

A small, dingy kitchen, a cookbook labeled “Devilishly delicious home recipes,” and a salt pentagram awkwardly sprinkled on the surface of a bowl of tomato soup.

“What the f-“

The adventures of Titus will continue (eventually) in the fourth tale from the OmniverseEngine

Summoned Shorts:

A former demon lord’s quest to get put on the do-not-call list

Afterword and Acknowledgements

What a wild ride it’s been. 4+ years in the making, tons of emotional ups and downs, and a word count that is almost twice War and Peace.

I don’t think I could have ever imagined the series would be such a behemoth, but as the programmer adage goes, “We do this not because it is easy… but because we thought it would be easy.”

Jokes aside, it’s time to acknowledge everyone who made this book possible, and that starts with you, dear reader. Whoever you are, this series would not have existed without someone to read it. So, thank you for taking (on average) more than 2 literal days of your life reading my work. It is greatly appreciated.

Second, my Patrons over on Patreon. While there were never terribly many of you, you showed me that people were willing to pay for my writing, something which I wouldn’t have believed if you told me would be the case a few years ago. Your mere existence gave me an extra push to get things completed because I didn’t want to disappoint you… Or maybe less charitably, because I didn’t want to give out refunds if I missed my Patreon-stated targets. Either way, this book would probably have taken at least another year to finish without you… if it ever finished at all. Thank you so much for going above and beyond in your support.

Third, my parents. I cannot overstate how blessed I am to have you as my mom and dad. Your support has been constant, even though your adult son was writing a nerdy fantasy novel that was in no way a genre you would normally read. Thank you so much.

Fourth, my alpha reader. Afterwords are always a bit awkward when it comes to you since I know that you can read it and critique them. However, your help has been invaluable. Having a second pair of eyes to catch problems has helped so much with culling stupid issues and also with the anxiety I’ve felt posting things online for the world to see. Thank you for your help and your continued friendship.

Fifth… well, this one might get a bit soap boxy, but I promise this is the only time I will whip that out.

Fifth goes to Yeshua. You might recognize the transliteration in this novel of Joshua, but even more likely, you will recognize the more common transliteration… Jesus.

Similar to Titus, I am a sinner saved by grace. And I would never have thought to tell this story of one man’s trip down a dark path with redemption at the end were it not for the saving work of Jesus.

And if I were to summarize the gospel, I would do it with the following two verses.

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

And

Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

And it is my prayer that this story and those verses reach whoever they are supposed to.

Now, stepping off my soap box, what’s next for this series? Well, the answer is quite a few things.

1. A break. For an undetermined amount of time. As a sidenote, Patreon is going to be effectively discontinued after the public release is caught up since I don’t want anyone paying for literally nothing.

2. A rewrite of the trilogy. There is a saying that you don’t write any good words until you’ve written a million bad ones, and this series has put me over that mark. A majority of the story will likely stay the same, but there are some areas that can be improved and some chapters that need a full rewrite (looking at you, chapter 2 of book 1, which I lovingly call “point of view soup”). After that is complete, I will likely publish this for real (probably Amazon Kindle, but not Kindle Unlimited. I don’t want to deal with their exclusivity clause)

3. A redo of my website. I’m looking into making a custom wiki for tracking things about my book and keeping the full stats of all characters on there… at all points in time. As an example, I want you to be able to see the full stats of Titus at any chapter you please, and to try to make it so that you can set what chapter you have read up to so you can avoid spoilers. However, despite working with javascript daily at my day job, it turns out I know very little about website design. If this happens… it will be a while.

4. Book 4. Summoned Shorts, focusing on short(er) stories about Titus being summoned to various worlds. There are already some ideas kicking around in my head for this, but this might wait until after the rewrite. I’m not sure.

5. A video game. This is definitely the slowest-going, but the current plan is a 2D RPG called “/Dev/Null” which explores the adventures of an alternate Titus who was basically dumped, along with the rest of Jake’s party, into the trash bin. Making a video game solo is harder than writing a book, but I do have some unique ideas I’m looking forward to implementing. (Also, good and bad endings which means that poor Titus will likely not be catching a break there).

With that, you probably won’t hear from me for a while, so let me say it one last time.

Thanks for reading!

-Titus GM (Game Master)