Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4042: Oh, Order! V

Duke Valen nodded, beginning to transmit information to Schrodinger.

A terrifying Living Quantum, its form existing in seventeen states simultaneously...turned toward them with attention that made probability itself pay notice. ”What do you plan to do?”

Schrodinger’s smile deepened, containing layers of meaning that contradicted themselves at every level. ”I plan to display a show of force... and then a show of mercy.”

HUUM!

He stood, his beggar’s robes somehow managing to convey majesty despite their tattered state.

”You see, sometimes after a display of overwhelming force...after showing what devastation could be unleashed, what horror could be made manifest, showing mercy instead makes others breathe such deep sighs of relief that they actually thank you. They thank you for not destroying them, for showing restraint, for being merciful. They forget that you shouldn’t have threatened them in the first place. They’re so grateful for what didn’t happen that they overlook what did.”

His smile grew mysterious, containing paradoxes within paradoxes.

”I plan to get... a thank you, that’s all.”

The others on the mountain shook their heads...some with multiple heads, some with concepts that served as heads.

A Living Dimensional, whose voice existed in frequencies that created their own spaces, boomed out a warning.

”Don’t make things too crazy before the Kleos Concordat.”

Schrodinger smiled and said nothing, but his eyes were already seeing something else entirely.

Those eyes...windows into paradox itself, contained layers that defied observation.

One moment they were watching and observing others on this mountain, seeing them in the present, in the past, in futures that might never be. The next moment, they were observing the vast Transcendent Paradoxical Folds, seeing through space and time as if such divisions were merely suggestions.

His body in the Transcendent Paradoxical Folds had those same mysterious eyes.

His beggar-like figure stood surrounded by waves of obsidian-gold paradox that made reality uncertain about whether he existed or not.

He took a single step...just one, and space folded around the simplicity of the action.

BOOM!

His terrifying aura manifested near the entrance of a certain Doorway to the Loom with the casualness of someone who had always been there.

He observed calmly as Duke Gwendolyn’s Paradoxical body watched the blazing white rays of Order blooming from the Doorway with barely contained panic.

Her attention shifted, drawn by the weight of his presence, and her veiled face turned toward him.

Even through the veil, her expression was readable...shock transforming into something approaching horror as she recognized who had appeared.

Schrodinger looked at her veiled face with a smile that contained genuine amusement.

He laughed internally, knowing she must be wondering how he had arrived so quickly. How he had known exactly where to appear. How he had crossed distances that should have taken seconds or a minute in less than a heartbeat.

’Silly girl,’ he thought with something approaching fondness. ’You told me even without knowing. You... might as well have sent me an invitation.’

He shook his head at her naivety, finding it almost endearing that someone so astute could be so blind to certain realities.

It was a wonder that both she and he carried the distinction of Dukes. If all Dukes thought like her...linearly, obviously, predictably, how different the vast Folds would be. How fucked the Folds would be!

How much simpler. How much more boring.

He saw the blooming white-gold portal beside her, recognizing the pathway through which Duke Valen and the others would soon arrive.

Reinforcements rushing to protect THE Living Order, to secure her, to control her resurrection.

But he didn’t attack.

As he had told the others, he was here for a show of force... and then mercy.

He smiled and nodded toward Gwendolyn with the politeness of someone acknowledging a neighbor. Then, with the casual air of someone calling friends to dinner, he snapped his fingers.

BOOM!

Space trembled paradoxically, reality trying to decide whether it should break or bend. One terrifying aura of Duke-level Paradox began to appear, then another, then another, each arrival making existence less certain about its own rules.

Duke Elagabalus materialized first, his form a contradiction of youth and ancient age that hurt to perceive directly. Duke Diviticus emerged from nothing, her presence making the air itself question whether it existed.

More followed...two dozen Dukes of Paradox, each one a violation of what should be possible!

HUUM!

They looked toward the brilliant light of Order emanating from the Doorway with expressions of distaste, as if the brightness itself was offensive to their nature.

Because it was trying to make their existences... ordered. Trying to impose structure on beings that existed specifically because structure shouldn’t apply to them.

It was a violation. An insult. A challenge that could not go unanswered!

In addition to the Dukes, hundreds of Honored Living Paradoxes began to appear, their forms filling the space around the Doorway like an army of impossibilities. Each one radiated power that could unmake Prime Living Existences with casual thought.

In the distance, Duke Gwendolyn’s face...even veiled, visibly paled with shock and horror.

She stood alone before all this!

The reinforcements she had called for hadn’t even arrived yet, and already she was outnumbered twenty to one. The white-gold portal beside her seemed suddenly fragile, a candle flame before a hurricane of paradox.

Schrodinger stood at the center of it all, his beggar’s appearance doing nothing to diminish the terrible authority he commanded.

He had arranged this...all of it, with a few words and perfect timing.

Now came the interesting part.

The show of force was here.

Then would be the mercy that would make them grateful for what he didn’t do!

As he hummed to himself, the white gold portal beside Duke Gwendolyn shone brightly as one powerful Living Origin after another began to come out.

Each was at the level of a Duke, but as they appeared, all the expressions were changing one by one as what they were coming into was so horrendous, that one could easily mistake it for a trap.

All around, they were surrounded by living paradoxes- more than twice a dozen Dukes of Paradox as they were double their number!