Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3676: Point of No Return IV

Codes of Existence.

Living, breathing weavings of Existence- that was how he saw Runes. And if he engraved his Runes of Existence onto the True Source of another...

He could rewrite their living code.

He could alter their living record.

Or, in the case of the Dead Things, their Dead Records.

When the Dead Things had thousands of Runes engraved across their bodies, they realized- too late- that the output of their True Sources was gradually being cut off. Their bodies could no longer express it freely.

Which gave the tendrils of Ruination more freedom to unravel their existence, as even more golden Runes latched onto their Dead True Sources.

When a million Runes were branded into their forms, more than half of their True Source output was severed.

”OOOH!”

They roared in maddened defiance, while opposite them, the figure of the Origin Singed watched Noah, his expression carved from stone.

Once over half of their True Sources were bound and suppressed, the unraveling through Ruination intensified. Their bodies were consumed—wrapped in countless crimson tendrils.

And then, hundreds of millions of golden Runes locked into their essence. Soon after, their Dead True Sources ceased all expression.

…!

What they could express was no longer their own.

The Codes of Existence themselves bound to their essence, rewriting their very function-sealing their ability to even spread their weavings.

It was a horrifying act.

And as it took form, Noah floated toward the two bound Dead Things.

Their forms shimmered, incandescent golden Runes glowing across their surfaces, engraved deep into the framework of their existence.

He stood before them, eyes cold, hands clenched. The Runes binding them flickered and began to tear them apart.

Noah was literally ripping them to pieces.

He was furious.

He was livid!

”Give me your memories.”

HUUM!

”Give me your records.”

WAA!

”Give me everything.”

…!

He hadnʼt gotten what he needed from Bob.

So he took it out on these two.

And in doing so, he scattered their remnants into the Cradle of Purity, officially and personally destroying two Dead Things almost entirely by his own power as the wary Origin Singed floated nearby, gaze sharp.

Even then, his eyes flickered again. Changed and altered.

He looked inward.

And what he sensed stopped his weavings cold.

Something was devouring his True Source.

A sensation so vast and terrible that it should have been impossible not to notice—yet here it was, eclipsing over half his True Source before he even felt it.

This had been happening for some time.

Likely ever since…

Ever since his weavings of existence had been rewound. Healed.

When…!

His eyes flared with light. He looked at the back of the entity tearing the Dead Things apart.

One man. Against a half-shattered white Wheel of Existence sunken to his chest, nearly collapsed- had managed to reverse the unraveling.

But in that act of reversal, he had done something.

”What did you do to me?”

The Origin Singedʼs eyes burned as he shouted the question across the space between them.

What had Noah done?

Noah didnʼt turn. Didnʼt glance back at the flaming white-gold body of the being whose weavings he disapproved of. His reply came low and sharp.

”I did nothing. I simply didnʼt move to correct anything.”

He had seen the Great Usurperʼs weavings within the Wheel- had seen him use Bobʼs necrotizing strike, the one that shattered an Absolute Complex True Source of Existence. A strike that shouldʼve ended someone like the Origin Singed.

And Noah…had simply let it happen.

He might have even helped.

Because…

”You donʼt seem to be using the True Source of the Singed well enough. Let someone else do it on your behalf.”

…!

His words, cold as the abyss, landed like blades.

The Origin Singedʼs face twisted, knowing over half of his weavings were no longer his own- commandeered by something else.

”The Wheel weaves as the Wheel weaves,” he said stiffly, maintaining a hold on his composure. ”But the Wheel will not stand for this.”

A threat. Thinly veiled.

The Wheel would not allow one of its Protectors to be usurped.

But Noah never looked back. He kept ripping apart the weavings of two Dead Things.

His reply?

”What could you possibly know of what the Wheel wants… and doesnʼt want?”

HUUM!

With that, the body of the Origin Singed began to tremble.

Behind him, the illusion of a flickering white Wheel of Existence pulsed, then blinked in and out of view.

A moment passed.

Then his body went completely still.

Seconds later, his head rose.

His expression shifted.

And then…

A wide grin bloomed on his face.

”Holy shit.”

The voice was not the Origin Singedʼs.

It belonged to someone else.

To the Great Usurper.

He lifted his hands, staring at them—at the vibrant True Source bubbling inside him. Then turned toward the shattered illusion of the white Wheel behind him.

And grinned wider.

”Even if itʼs broken,” he said, awed, ”the remnants of an Absolute Complex True Source are fantastic. I used a shred of their last authority to conduct the quickest and most thorough Subjugation of a Source.”

His voice surged with power.

In mere moments, he had seized one of the mightiest True Source entities born of the Wheel—and made it his.

A radiant True Source, flickering with corruption and purity alike, danced across his fingertips. Remnants of a Dead Absolute Complex True Source still burned within his soul.

Noah finally turned, looking at his old friend.

His voice came calm.

”The living and the dead donʼt mix… so how do your weavings feel?”

The Great Usurper stood within the body of the Origin Singed, cloaked in dead souls from Bobʼs weavings. Bathed in the True Source of another.

He smiled.

”My existence remains living. And with these pure flames of the Origin Singed, I can purge all traces of Dead Sources. But…” he tilted his head slightly, eyes distant, ”All weavings of Dead Things are calling to me now. Iʼm getting faster. More precise at usurping the souls of the Dead. Itʼs like theyʼre missing something vital—something that makes it easier for my weavings to spread. I think…”

He paused, then nodded.

”I think Iʼll chase more Dead Things. Head to the Infinite Ravines, where this guy just was. You good down here?”

…!

The Great Usurperʼs path shimmered into existence before him.

And as Noah finished clearing the Wheel of Existence of all remaining Dead Things—the only ones that remained were already waiting… in the Infinite Ravines.