Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3811: Bright II

Silence.

He loved silence amidst advancement the most!

Noah stood amidst the ruins of scorched roots and shattered stone, surrounded by the still-smoking remnants of battle. The area where the forest once stood was now reduced to blackened ash and molten bark.

Above him, glowing words etched themselves across the air in shimmering runes.

|+15 Resistance Archetype Points|

A soft crimson-gold pulse followed as the authority from the notification surged into his body.

Noah didn’t speak.

He only watched.

He should have had fifty points left.

But now...90

The 25% increase in Origin Resistance he’d unlocked had granted him an unexpected return.

A rare return of +25 Points, and now an additional +15 from these Golems!

His lips curled faintly.

If he continued this, catching up to the points of Originus Venerant entities...would not be a dream.

Even though right now, with an average of 400-500 points to spare, Entities like Master Shen, Hannibal, and Etheopa were far ahead, and they may keep their leads as they can likely shred through Green Tier Living Origin Golems and even possibly the Imitation Mutated Inevitability!

So he had to work even harder if he wanted to bridge this gap.

In the depths of his being, he felt the impact immediately- his Complexity Quotient and Purity Quotient accelerating like stars collapsing into new heights.

He was getting ever closer to the 600,000 point that looked like it might have taken a whole week or more normally!

By the time he raised his head again, the glowing cage of vines that had enclosed him crumbled into dust, fading away into green-gold motes of dissolved authority.

Sigrid rushed toward him immediately, her expression complex.

She didn’t speak.

Just stood beside him.

Then came the steady steps of Master Shen approaching with a stern face.

His eyes swept over the aftermath, his gourd still in hand.

”This Labyrinth is vast,” he muttered. ”The opportunities here... are absurd.”

He drank.

”I’ll be targeting another region of this place.”

Noah didn’t speak yet.

Master Shen continued, ”But outside, my other body is already moving. Hannibal’s situation is being... managed.”

Then he looked directly at the two of them.

”It’s still my duty to protect you two,” he said bluntly. ”So don’t try to run off. Otherwise...”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

”...what will you do if you meet Hannibal alone?”

He lifted the gourd again and drank, no smile on his face.

Right after, green-gold waves of light erupted from beneath his feet. From his back, a pair of gleaming wings unfurled- sharp, radiant constructs of Living Origin Authority.

Then, without another word....

BOOM!

He launched skyward, shooting toward another region of the vast world-sized Labyrinth.

Noah watched him vanish into the distance, on the other side of the tree!

Beside him, Sigrid’s breathing steadied.

The silence returned once more.

Since the cage had crumbled, Noah looked further ahead. Where more Golems waited.

And above...where an Inevitability waited even more!

With sharp eyes, he couldnt help but turn to Sigrid and ask.

”Anymore memories? Anything about the story of the Creature?”

...!

A hopeful question. But...

Sigrid shook her head.

And Noah gave a light nod with a smile while patting her head as he stepped ahead.

”Then for now, lets make some progress...”

Crimson gold flames surge around him as he was ever curious to see just how many more boons could be obtained from this place!

If the Key from Sigrid led here...why? What connection did it have to the Loom? And what place would the key he held born from Hell Terra Firma lead to? There were many questions, and not enough answers!

—

Somewhere Else within the Living Origin Labyrinth...

It was a realm unlike any other.

A sealed domain where the seas shimmered not with water, but with Living Origin itself. Endless tides of crimson gold rolled calmly beneath clouds of the same shade, each droplet and vaporous wisp humming with the thrum of complexity.

It was serene.

Alive.

And at its center floated a man.

His skin glowed like polished suns, golden and unblemished, as though no scar, no fault, no blemish had ever dared form on him. His eyes were closed, but behind their lids... danced thousands of runes.

The runes of Beginning. Of Origin.

He was still.

Weightless.

Yet the air around him warped. Threads of complexity coiled and uncoiled around his frame like serpents of destiny, responding to his very presence.

The Living Origin Authority didn’t just flow through him.

It lived in him.

It breathed in him.

He was not a guest of the Labyrinth!

Suddenly...

HUUM!

Light surged in the distant clouds. A burst of spiraling brilliance unfolded above him as a creature appeared.

Small.

Winged.

Feminine in form, with flowing red-gold hair and eyes like spinning runes.

She was only a few inches tall, yet the power radiating from her frame would silence entire Domains.

The man opened his eyes calmly.

”Labyrinth Guider,” he greeted.

The fairy-like being nodded solemnly and spoke with a voice like chiming bells.

”O Origin Descendant... new creatures have entered. From the Folds under the shade of the Living Paradox.”

...!

A faint crease appeared between the Origin Descendant’s brows.

He didn’t speak right away. Instead, he turned slightly, raising a single hand.

Around him, the crimson-gold clouds stirred.

”The Labyrinth,” he finally said, ”does not make mistakes. If it allowed their entry... even creatures related to Paradox have their place.”

The Labyrinth Guider hovered a little closer as she nodded and continued.

”Most are average. A few... Originus Venerant-level beings. Their Complexity and Purity are respectable, but not extraordinary. Some have already stumbled into the Imitation Inevitabilities. More continue to die.”

WAA!

”...As expected,” the Origin Descendant murmured.

His voice was soft. Deeper than the sky. Calmer than sleep.

”Against Imitations,” he continued, ”even they will fall. Unless...”

He looked to the havens.

”...unless their Origin is true. Clear. Undoubted.”

The Labyrinth Guider tilted her head.

”You believe one or two might qualify?”

She asked, and he answered with a sense of skepticism.

”If even a few of them begin to touch their real Beginning... then yes. It is enough.”

...!

And then, he waved his hand and showed his palm.

No words.

Just intention.

Before him, the crimson-gold clouds parted to form a perfect platform of golden light. On it spun nine miniature Wheels of Existence...inside a Garden.

A Garden on his palm that looked to be inches wide and light years at the same time.

Inside each of the Wheels of Existence in the Garden?

The pulse of life itself could be felt. Wheels that had never undergone Breakings, on the palm of his hand!

In each wheel, countless strands of frequencies swirled- each one a nascent reality, brimming with unborn life.

The Origin Descendant gazed upon them.

His expression unreadable.

And he whispered to no one in particular as he shook his head.

”Existence continues to be unfair. Brutal. Many are dying, and many more will die in its weavings. Living Paradox, just like in the Stories of the Earliest Folds, continues to cause issues. At the end of the day...is it simply and truly...inevitable?”

...!

The Wheels kept spinning.

And the Labyrinth breathed.

—

The roar of crushed bark echoed under his steps.

Noah surged upward along the massive, winding roots of the Tree, each one thicker than canyons, the curvature of its trunk like the bones of a titan. Forests thrived atop the root-lines. Valleys of leaves. Groves of ancient origins.

And above—treasure.

He could feel it. Amidst his calculations and tyranny. He could feel it!

He breathed in as he loved even the air of this place.

The True Source of Loot within his core shimmered in anticipation.

Behind him, Sigrid remained grounded, watching, her hands clenched at her sides and her eyes glowing brighter than ever.

And in front of him?

Twelve.

Twelve Green Tier Living Origin Golems burst forth from hidden groves ahead and beside him. Their bodies were forged from stone laced with living runes, burning emerald veins of condensed existence pumping through their limbs.

One bore the form of a spearman inscribed with [Warden of Roots].

Another wielded two blazing fists and bore the brand of [Thorned Reaper].

Others had names—[Forest Devourer], [Emerald Sentinel], [Grove Enforcer].

All of them radiated Living Origin Authority.

But Noah?

He cracked his neck.

And stepped into motion.

”Let’s dance.”

BOOM!

The first one lunged with an earthen spear, its runes buzzing as Noah ducked low beneath the arc, planting his foot and twisting into a brutal upward strike.

A golden rune flared over his fists.

[Runic Origin Hand-to-Hand Combat] pulsed in his veins.

He was testing out the capabilities of this Garden to the fullest extent as the ability of hand to hand combat was a unique one, where his muscles felt like they remembered movements forged for hundreds of years.

Every motion was a weapon.

Every blow, an execution.

|Your attacks now scale with Living Origin Energy. Runic Emblems reinforce your joints, granting passive reactive ignition runes on contact. Runic momentum increases with successive hits.|

Runes, runes, and more runes. They seemed closely connected with Origin itself!

With this ability...

He didn’t need spells.

He was the spell.

CRACK!

A punch smashed into a Golem’s leg- an eruption of crimson gold detonation runes erupted from impact. The limb blew backward in a spiral of stone and blood-light.

The other Golems rushed.

Three from the left.

One above.

Four behind.

Noah moved like a beam of crimson gold light.

He twisted around a flanking Golem’s punch, catching its wrist, and branding it.

The [Origin Rune Brand] triggered.

A whisper.

Then...

BOOM!

The branded rune on its forearm exploded, sending cascading eruptions down the length of its torso.

Its limbs trembled.

Noah was already airborne, riding the explosion like a step-stone as his foot came crashing down onto the cracked core of another Golem’s chest.

Runes sparked.

Fire surged.

CRASH!

A wave of crimson gold fire detonated outward, fracturing bark-like armor.

Another punch.

Another strike.

He caught a spear mid-lunge, twisting it around, stabbing it back into its wielder’s head, and then leapt forward as he slammed both palms into the earth.

BOOM!

Flames erupted in every direction.

One by one, the Golems shattered.

Six down.

Seven.

Eight.

The remaining four tried to retreat, and yet Noah shot forward with [Runic Origin Flame Aura] surging around him, igniting every step with crackling firelight.

He didn’t stop.

Elbows.

Knees.

Headbutts laced with runes.

Every strike was layered in Origin!

Every scream of the Golems was the hymn of their death.

One final Golem grabbed him from behind.

He let it.

Only to drop his weight and twist viciously like a sumo wrestler.

CRUNCH!

He shattered its grip and his own hand dislocated from the violent motion.

BZZT!

He snapped it back into place with one hand, his eyes filled with savage fire of brilliance!

Then, as the last Golem limped toward him, he raised his finger like a gun.

”Boom.”

The branded rune on its core of existence flashed.

And detonated.

Sigrid gasped from below, her eyes wide with awe as if she were watching a grand show.

High above the world tree’s titanic trunk, Noah stood surrounded by smoking rubble, fractured soil, and broken golemic limbs.

Still as a statue.

Breathing calmly.

And smiling.

Fighting with all parts of his body was a unique experience!

The flames curled behind him like wings as he turned toward the glittering crimson gold chest nestled in the crook of the tree.

The Treasure.

The flames in his body howled with resonance.

His True Source of Loot burned with longing.

The time had come.

—

Somewhere far above...

Past walls woven of pure Authority, across firmaments made from layers of interlocked Living Origin lattices, there existed a hidden region.

It was a domain of threads.

Millions of crimson-gold strands shimmered in every direction, each humming with layered resonance.

Each thread was a path.

A fate.

A beginning.

A treasure.

And among them hovered a single presence- no larger than a child’s hand, but pulsing with existential clarity.

The Labyrinth Guider.

The crimson-winged fairy.

Her body shimmered with fractal filigree, eyes wide and unblinking as she floated through the lattice of threads. She moved like silence itself, light and reverent, touching nothing... until she stopped.

Her fingers closed around one glowing string.

It buzzed with chaotic intensity, its frequency shifting.

”...?”

She tilted her head, inspecting the string as it pulsed. At the end of this particular thread was a treasure chest- one of the many buried within the Labyrinth.

A chest nestled in the crook of the titanic World Tree.

Inside the glowing panel hovering just above it, a scene played out in real-time.

A being with a crimson-gold aura was nearing the chest, flames wrapped around his form like obedient specters. His movements were precise, eyes clear, steps silent with purpose.

She blinked once.

Then frowned faintly.

”...Huh.”

The Labyrinth Guider drew the thread upward slowly, inspecting its tail end where the probability runes flickered. Normally, all outcomes were prewritten. Balanced.

But this one?

It was actively shifting.

The chest’s reward was... changing.

Drifting toward a more favorable outcome. Not by outside influence. Not by interference.

But by the very presence of the one approaching it.

As though his Origin demanded it.

As if it rewrote probabilities just by being close.

The Guider looked closely, parsing the runic tremors.

”A somewhat unique Origin...”

Her voice was soft.

Untroubled.

She tilted her head again, wings flickering behind her.

Then she gently released the thread.

Letting it fall back into place.

For now, she would only watch.

High above the scorched valleys of the Origin Tree.

Noah stood still before the treasure chest nestled in the root-socketed platform.

The golden bark beneath his feet radiated quiet heat. The air was laced with static, carrying faint reverberations of Origin Authority.

His True Source of Loot simmered with anticipation.

Far below...

Sigrid’s form pulsed with glowing crimson-gold waves.

The nodes she had unlocked across her Exclusive Living Origin Garden Archetype: Mother of Origin shimmered across her being. Runes trailed like falling petals behind her.

Her knees bent once.

And with a single leap- no wings, no aid- she soared.

BOOM!

Her body tore through the air in an arc of Origin brilliance before landing softly behind Noah, her breathing steady, her presence subdued.

Noah, without turning, reached forward.

And opened the chest.

HUUMMMMM!

The lid rose.

From within, blinding light spilled out, pure and untouched. It wasn’t aggressive...it was welcoming.

A radiance of Beginnings.

From this brilliance, two glowing green spheres floated upward, their forms pulsing with harmonic resonance. Beside them, a third item hovered.

A constantly shifting cube. Its edges never held a shape longer than a heartbeat.

A rune flared in Noah’s vision.

[Green Tier Living Origin Tear]

A Tear of unfathomable origins that allows for the beginning of many things. Absorbing this Tear grants +30 Resistance Archetype Points.

[Green Tier Living Origin Tear]

A Tear of unfathomable origins that allows for the beginning of many things. Absorbing this Tear grants +30 Resistance Archetype Points.

[Breakthrough Cube of the Beginning] :: A tool of mild existential frustration and cheating. Formed from the complaint of a million beings halted at bottlenecks. It senses what you cannot do and kindly- violently- makes it possible. When applied, it allows expansion beyond your limit, but whispers in your ear... ”You didn’t really deserve it.”

...!

Noah reached out, catching the green tears first. Cool, weightless, and radiant.

The cube dropped into his palm like a living question mark. It vibrated constantly, shifting between platonic shapes and absurd configurations, sometimes resembling a spoon.

Behind him, Sigrid drew closer.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the items.

And in the light of the two orbs and the cube, her pupils dilated, her breathing paused.

Something flickered in her.

A forgotten something as it seemed like she was remembering.

But before she could speak...

Noah calmly turned his hand, letting the loot flow into his Garden.

HUUM!

Authority surged through him in elegant waves.

He felt the 60 Resistance Archetype Points from the twin tears settle evenly across his Garden, his vines flourishing instantly in length and complexity.

Then...

He looked at the cube.

A slow smile crept across his face.

He focused.

And directed the Breakthrough Cube of the Beginning into his Garden.

BOOM!

The cube spun violently. A dozen runic glyphs exploded out like clockwork gears, embedding themselves across his vines and roots.

He directed it with surgical focus.

To the blockade.

Where his Existential Dimensional Lattices had halted.

81 for Paradox.

81 for Origin.

81 for Infinity.

81 for Manadynamics.

And many others...

The Cube pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Then, like a hammer shattering glass...

CRACK!

The barrier gave way.

BOOM!

The 82nd Lattice of Paradox formed.

Then Origin.

Then Infinity.

Then one after another, the cores of his existence began to expand again, like a dam burst under Existential pressure.

Noah inhaled deeply, his eyes shimmering.

His internal world blazed with new structure.

With new possibilities.

But as this happened.

As the treasure chest was fully opened!

Right after, the branch of this massive tree trembled as if it lost something, and in the next moment...

SCREE!

A booming screech was released from the tree.

A screech!

The moment it echoed, the slumbering Inevitability above opened a dozen wriggling eyes!

High above, nestled in the clouds of crimson and gold, the dormant horror twitched.

Crimson-gold. Wriggling. Layered in spirals of inevitability.

Each eye released a narrow beam of focused authority. Wherever that gaze fell, reality warped.

Stone turned to bubbling light. Air hissed and fractured. Leaves shriveled into fine powder.

The gaze alone... was ruin.

Noah’s expression hardened immediately.

His eyes narrowed.

Sigrid stood beside him, her fists clenched.

”That thing...” she said, her voice low. ”It’s far more dangerous than the Golems.”

Noah didn’t answer yet. His mind was already working through probabilities.

She turned her head.

”You might not be able to beat it.”

Still, he didn’t respond.

The branch beneath them screamed again.

And the Inevitability locked on.

A sudden snap in the air.

The sound of something breaking.

And...

BOOM!

A sonic rupture tore through the sky as the winged mass shot downward, its form shrinking and expanding all at once. Faster than a thought. Faster than Noah could track.

And then...

It arrived far too quickly!

Noah’s eyes widened slightly, but...

He wasn’t the first to move.

Sigrid was.

Her body shimmered with blinding white light, brilliant and sudden, radiant like a newborn dawn.

The power of her Archetype surged without hesitation.

[Mother of Origin] responded.

She stepped in front of Noah.

Hands raised.

Palms pressed together.

Her voice rang out, crystalline and fierce.

”[Flower of Origin]!”

BOOM!

A blinding bloom of white unfolded instantly around them.

A flower, colossal and alive, unfurled its petals with protective force, each layer inscribed with millions of swirling runes.

Runes of Beginnings. Of Creation.

Each rune spun in perfect cadence. A hymn of life wrapped in light.

The Inevitability’s jagged limbs collided with the petals.

HUUM!

And were thrown back.

The creature shrieked, its mass flung through the air like a ragged comet.

The impact wasn’t just physical.

The white light burned.

But then...

It absorbed it.

...!

The Inevitability’s pulsing form swelled. Each layer of its flesh and entropy devoured the runes. Swallowed the brilliance.

The light became mass.

Another pair of wings unfurled from its sides, vast and crooked.

It had grown stronger.

By devouring the light of a Beginning!

This...was an Inevitability!

Sigrid breathed hard.

Her frame trembled faintly from the exertion of conjuring the Flower of Origin, her arms dropping slightly as the blooming white petals around them gradually dissolved into motes of radiant runes. Each breath she took shimmered with Living Origin Authority.

Noah stepped forward calmly.

He stopped in front of her, his eyes half-lidded, unreadable.

Then, he reached out and gently patted her head.

A gesture of thanks.

But beneath the surface, his thoughts moved like a sharpened guillotine.

’How deep does the Mother of Origin Archetype go? And how precisely... can I shape it toward what I need?’

...!

She was a boon. A beautifully, naive one wrapped in radiance and power.

Noah’s eyes shone faintly, the corner of his mouth curling.

He simply calculated quietly!

And then...

A voice cut through the heavy silence like a drunk thunderbolt.

”Ohh? So that’s why it was so noisy.”

From across the vast world-tree, another branch began to screech- a sound identical to the one they had triggered earlier.

Noah turned his head slightly.

Sigrid did too.

A blur painted the skies gold and green as a figure shot through the air fast.

It was Master Shen.

His gourd was in hand, his wings of Living Origin spread wide behind him, crackling with green-gold energy.

His expression was stern and focused.

He saw the Imitation Mutated Inevitability in the air, and without hesitation, he acted.

A spear of pure origin blazed into existence in his grasp.

No- it formed itself, its body etched with coiling green runes, feathered wings sprouting from its shaft.

BOOM!

The spear launched faster than thought.

It broke past the sound barrier, the light barrier, and any other barrier that dared to exist- reaching the Inevitability in a blink!

But beside Noah...

Sigrid’s face fell.

”No...” she whispered.

The impact occurred.

The green spear struck the mass of writhing flesh and tendrils- piercing it cleanly as an eruption of searing crimson blood sprayed across the air.

For a moment...

It looked like success.

But Noah’s eyes narrowed.

The Inevitability quivered.

Twitched.

And then... consumed.

It absorbed the entirety of the green spear’s force, devouring it into the spiraling layers of its grotesque flesh.

The wound sealed instantly.

Its body grew.

Another wing tore free from its back with a shriek that echoed through the folds of the Labyrinth.

SCREEEEE!!!

Its body surged forward.

Warping, vanishing...

And appearing directly behind Master Shen in the same breath.

Jagged tentacles erupted out, crashing into him like a nuclear impact detonated at zero range.

BOOOOM!!!

The shockwave rippled across the sky, bending space itself.

Sigrid exhaled slowly, her voice low and tinged with an eerie calm.

”...An Inevitability is hard to defeat.”

Her eyes watched the scene in the distance.

”It swallows everything thrown at it.”

Noah’s brows rose.

The smile returned to his face, sharp and serious as the enemy was deadly, and he did not wish to lose this body here!

He turned slightly toward her, crimson-gold eyes gleaming.

”You’ve remembered another part of the Story of the Creature.”

WAA!

Sigrid nodded once in affirmation.

The Inevitability shrieked again across the skies.

Its wings spread further.

Its gaze turned toward them once more.

Noah’s hand flexed as he began distributing the rest of the Resistance Archetype Points while crimson gold flames raged around him- his visage looking like a celestial titan ready for war!

”Then let’s hear the rest.”

...!

And so, Sigrid’s voice returned to a whisper, a melody of memory threading across the sky.

”The Creature wandered through the Earliest Folds of Existence...”

She looked ahead, but she did not see the branch, nor the flames, nor the looming Inevitability in the sky.

She saw a tale.

”...And beside it, an Inevitability followed.

The Folds were dark in those days. Lonesome.

Even the stars were unborn.

But there, amidst the untold vastness, the Creature and the Inevitability moved together, one walking with quiet steps, the other floating in silence, wriggling softly beside him.

At first, they spoke little. But over time... the Creature began to listen.

It spoke to the Inevitability. And strangely, it began to understand.

For this Inevitability... was a fractured one.

It had no purpose beyond hunger.

Its beginning had failed.

It had no imagination.

The Creature knew why- he had traded it away, long ago, in exchange for the Living Concept that gave him mana to act. And as a cost...imagination was taken.

So he looked at the Inevitability with eyes of empathy.

Because what was a creature without imagination?

A tool. A fate.

A death without thought.

For many years, the two wandered the Folds together, neither asking why nor where. They simply walked.

Until one day...

The Inevitability spoke.

”I am hungry,” it said. ”But I have nothing to eat.”

The Creature tilted his head. ”That is unfortunate.”

”My nature is inevitable,” said the being. ”It is to hunger. But I have nothing.”

And so the Creature, curious and kind, searched.

He found an empty Wheel of Existence, bare and hollow.

He offered it to the Inevitability.

It devoured it, and for a moment, it smiled.

But by the next day, the hunger returned.

The Creature did not grow angry. He merely searched again.

This time, he found an Ascendant Wonder of Existence, humming with ancient complexity.

He gave it to the Inevitability.

It devoured it eagerly.

And once more... it smiled.

But the hunger returned again.

And again.

And again.

Until one day, the Inevitability fell quiet.

Its body trembled. Its form unstable.

”I am sorry,” it said. ”My hunger will never end.”

”Then we must find more,” the Creature said.

But the Inevitability shook its head.

”No. There is a truth,” it whispered.

”A being born to eat will never be full. Do you know? There once was a phoenix that wished to be a tree. It planted its claws into the soil and waited. But its heart beat too fast, its flames too bright, and its dreams always wandered. In the end, it remained a phoenix. Because a nature may mimic, but it cannot lie.”

The Inevitability looked sad.

But then, it had an idea.

”If I am to change,” it said, ”perhaps another nature must be given.”

”By who?” the Creature asked.

”By you,” it said. ”If you give me something of yourself... maybe I will be full.”

The Creature tilted his head again. ”What would be enough?”

”Your Heart.”

And so, seeing the pain of the Inevitability, the Creature gave it his Heart.

He became weak. His steps slower. His light dimmer.

But the Inevitability smiled, wider than ever before.

”I feel... full,” it said.

”But maybe... maybe if I had your Lungs, I would be complete.”

And so the Creature, already weak, gave his Lungs.

The Inevitability bloomed in power. Its body throbbed with Origin, wings sprouting, its aura stronger than ever.

It hugged the Creature gently.

”I feel nearly done,” it said. ”Almost whole. But I think what’s missing now... is your Purpose.”

”Your beginning.”

The Creature paused.

This... he could not give.

”No,” he said quietly. ”This is all I have left.”

The Inevitability did not speak.

It only hugged him.

And as it did, it began to consume his Purpose without his consent.

It ate at his Origin.

And the Creature whispered, ”Why?”

And the Inevitability said little, but its voice echoed.

”I am inevitable. No matter how much you fed me, I was bound to take everything.”

And so...

The Creature wept.

Because regret had bloomed in his chest.

But...

Regret is a broken tool. It fixes nothing. It fills no hunger. And in the end, it is only a mirror you hold up when the damage is already done.

And as he withered...

As his light faded...

A familiar orb descended.

Spinning with laughter.

The Living Paradox.

”I warned you,” it said, voice ringing like chaos.

”I told you this was inevitable. And now... here you are.”

The Creature looked up, tears in his eyes. Living Origin Tears.

”...Help me.”

The Living Paradox sneered.

”You cannot pay my price anymore.”

”I’ll give you anything,” said the Creature.

”Anything?”

”Anything,” said the Creature.

The Living Paradox smiled.

Because it knew a truth that the Creature did not.

”I only want one thing...”

It floated closer.

”I want your everything now.”

”...Then take it,” said the Creature.

And in that moment...

The Living Paradox descended.

And the Creature... gave up everything.

And in return...

It gained something it could have never imagined.”

Sigrid stopped speaking.

The air felt heavy.

As if the very Labyrinth itself had listened.

Noah looked at her calmly, the gears in his mind already turning.

Something had changed. Again.

And far above them... the Inevitability screamed!