Masami Eiri

Masami Eiri (英利 政美, Eiri Masami) is a character of the anime miniseries Serial Experiments Lain where he plays as the main antagonist. In the end, it is revealed that he had "never existed all along" by another of Lain's personas of the Wired.

Personality
Masami believes that the only way for humans to evolve even further and develop even greater abilities is to absolve themselves of their physical and human limitations, and to live as virtual entities—or avatars—in the Wired for eternity. He can be described as cunning, ambitious, determined, and slightly egotistic. All his planning and creations are an obvious result of his intelligence and skills. (Ironically or unironically,) Masami may also seem to have a god complex.

Story
Masami is the key designer of Protocol 7 which evolved the Wired. While working for Tachibana General Laboratories, he illicitly included codes, his own memory, enabling him to control the whole protocol at will and embedded his own mind and will into the seventh protocol. Because of this, he was fired by Tachibana General Laboratories, and was found dead not long after.

Becoming a conscientious virtual entity in the Wired able to distribute information in it, he founded the Knights that would become his worshipers making him a God.

He claims to have been Lain's creator all along, explaining that she is an executable software program (artificial intelligence, or multi-agent system) in a physical form.

As the Wired started to merge with the real world, Masami has been able to manifest physically to Lain in the real world wanting her to complete the merge and abandon her physical body. He fails as Lain refuses to see him as a god and in result his new physical entity get distorted. He became an abominable floating creature sprouting a prehensile tongue and bizarre fleshy growths all about his misshapen body. Lain then killed him by crushing him using telekinesis to destroy his body with her computer hardware and equipment.

When Lain reboots everything and everyone, we see Masami one last time grumbling on his way to work for Tachibana, idly threatening to quit. He has a very normal and formal appearance. The Lain of the Wired then says that he has never existed all along. And even if he had, he would not gotten any ideas of becoming the almighty virtual God of the Wired.

Quotes

 * "I am you. Surely you have already been aware that another you has always existed in the Wired."
 * "Then what, Lain?"
 * "Very good. Give it a try. You were born with that kind of power inside of you."
 * "That is not another you, it is the real you. The real world's Lain Iwakura is merely a hologram of her. You are a collection of artificial rhibosomes. You never really had a body to begin with."
 * "If you really love her like you say, why don't you try connecting with her?"
 * "It seems like you have bug. Let me give you a thorough debugging."
 * "Are you telling me there's been a god all along!?"
 * "An acting god!? What do you mean!?"
 * "It's a lie- A lie!!! I'm omnipotent, do you hear me!? I'm the one who gave you a body in the real world, and this is the thanks I get!? You are scattered all over the Wired!!! I gave you an ego!!!"
 * "What do you mean!?"

Etymology

 * The name Masami means "government" (政) (masa) and "beautiful" (美) (mi).
 * Masami's surname Eiri means "excellent, fine" (英) (ei) and "benefit, advantage" (利) (ri).