"Where does your confidence come from?"
"That's a secret."
Zero wasn't the only one with a secret.
That's right! The author didn't plan to just let Zero do whatever he wants.
He would stop him by creating a being stronger then Zero.
He would have Zero wiped out.
A Primordial Concept.
This was something the author added to book 3 in this very chapter.
What was it?
It was as strong as an original incarnation.
But it broke the rules!
It had a destiny!
Immediately it saw through the outline of reality.
It realized its purpose.
But it didn't go against its creator.
The author made sure to code in some safe guards to prevent it from becoming as aware as Zero and switching sides.
What was it's destiny?
It was Mysterious!
What was its name?
"Cosmic Plothole."
It would find every plot hole in the book and use it to disrupt Zero's existence.
----------------------------------------
Zero was busy trying to breakthrough to chapter four while talking with Forma.
He then heard a voice.
"Error found... Chapter 7: Area 51"
Zero felt an ache on his existence in the cosmic order.
"Impossible!"
His body began to turn slightly transparent.
"Error? What is this voice I'm hearing in my head?"
Forma looked at Zero weirdly.
Time then froze... freezing Forma and all of constant time.
A being made of red text appeared in front of Zero.
"Who are you?"
Zero felt that this was someone powerful.
They were rank 10!
"I am Plothole! My purpose is to destroy you! To distroy your book!"
Zero laughed:
"I am Mysterious... you couldn't poss-"
"In Chapter 7 of the first book. You lost consciousness. This was after you acquired the visualization technique. You should never experience such a thing. This is my power. Plot hole..."
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Zero's mind shook.
The webnovel he was in began to become unstable.
"Enough!"
Zero felt a trace of insanity.
This entity was dangerous.
Probably the biggest threat he had ever faced.
He had to find a way to counteract the plothole and fix it.
If he didn't... he would lose everything.
Zero quickly manipulated book 1.
Cosmic Plothole didn't stop his attack though.
"Error found... Chapter 5: Time Machine."
Zero shouted at the entity and jumped into chapter five of the first book.
"Stop it!"
"Somnus should've-"
Zero managed to manipulate the chapter directly.
Initially Zero and Somnus had a long discussion.
That was changed.
Not by the author...
It was changed by Zero himself!
He also changed the memories of the readers themselves.
So even they would remember it incorrectly.
Zero redirected the location the watch took him.
Instead of running into Somnus first.
He would run into the owner of a realm.
He had managed to stop Plothole!
"Error found... Chapter 3: Escaping the Loop..."
Zero traveled through the book to chapter 3.
He kept an eye out for the plot hole.
So he could stop Cosmic Plothole from messing with his existence.
He wasn't able to figure out the plothole first though.
"How was H10 able to figure out you were planning to get infected by a higher being? Plot hole!"
"Argh..."
Zero felt like he was a step away from true death.
But then Zero got a great idea.
He mimicked Plothole.
He searched through entire book in an instant.
"Error found... Chapter 2: Why am I not insane?"
"How were you awa-"
Zero instantly entered one of his toughest battles yet.
"Error found... 2: Chapter 18: I Win?"
"10,000 years passed that wasn't in a loop. But when you returned to Projekt Paradox there w-"
"ENOUGH!"
Zero made sure that the space he was in at that time was sealed off from the universe.
Fixing the plothole before it could disrupt him.
But this wasn't over.
"Error found..."
Fix!
"Error found..."
Fix!
"Error found..."
Fix!
The entity was relentless.
Zero would travel to where he found the error and fix it.
This happened many times.
Zero then found its weakness.
He decided to create plotholes in the book on purpose.
To distract this entity.
Manipulating the memories of the readers...
So even they wouldn't be able to find the errors.
He then trapped Cosmic Plothole in a loop of insignificant inconsistencies.
Zero felt his existence stabilize.
"That was a close call..."
"That was a good idea, I'll admit it. But you've only made me stronger!"
Zero stole the core ability.
Zero now had an ability called 'Plot Hole'.
It matched his other abilities quite nicely...
Zero used his ability 'Plot Hole' to search through the origin of Cosmic Plothole.
He found that its history was completely blank.
Upon pointing this out to the readers.
Cosmic Plothole lost its rank 10 cultivation.
Its destiny collapsed.
And it was wiped out entirely.
Zero finally relaxed.
He hadn't expected to run into a rank 10.
But he won!
Zero pointed at the sky.
"As the ruler of time and space. As Dimension Zero... As Paradox and as the main character! I declare ALL my books to remain consistent!"
[ECHO]: Analyzing book
[ECHO]: "Time Walker"
[ECHO]: 3: Chapter 4: Plotholes
It was from this declaration that the author lost his ability to disrupt Zero's history.
The author could no longer edit the previous chapters.
But it only affected the first three books Zero had invaded.
The author could still attack Zero once he broke through to book 4.
Zero had now reached chapter 4.
From the experience of hopping around the book, Zero realized that his existence was less stable then it appeared.
He decided to make a new visualization technique.
His first technique was "Path of Somnus: God's Death".
He would always rotate that one naturally.
This new technique he would make his own path.
"Path of Zero: Time Walker".
As long as the book existed anywhere.
As long as someone read the book.
He would be able to find their reality.
He only needed to accumulate enough power to break through to them.
He would visualize each book and layer them on top of each other.
Although this was done in a loop.
The first book was a circle.
A circle with its edge cut into 60 chapters.
The second book was a circle within the circle.
It was 33 chapters.
As he added more circles.
There would be less and less chapters.
This also meant that the accumulation he needed to breakthrough each book would decrease the further he got.
But Zero could also stop himself from breaking through like he did in the past.
While Zero was in book 1 from his fight with Cosmic Plothole.
He ran into an old friend.
Werlin!