Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4197: Powerful! I

The moment was surreal.

Days ago, a measure of time that felt both impossibly long and laughably short...the very concept of an Inevitability had been a distant, terrifying abstraction.

They were the stuff of legends, the mindless hunger that pruned the branches of existence!

If someone had told him then that he would one day stand on a shore of his own making, with a newborn, fifty-trillion-purity Inevitability nudging affectionately against his chest like a housecat seeking attention, he would have deemed them fucking insane.

Those Inevitabilities? The ones that devoured everything? Hah!

Yet, here he was.

He ran a hand over the writhing, paradoxical surface of the creature before him. The tentacles were not solid, not liquid, but something in between, a texture like solidified impossibility that was both smooth and infinitely complex.

They pulsed with a gentle warmth, a nascent, innocent hunger that had not yet learned the cruelty of the wider Folds.

He was in complete control. He felt the unbreakable bond thrumming between his existence and that of the nine new beings born from his Shore.

They were extensions of his will, weapons forged in a crucible of his own design.

Khor floated beside him, her ancient, abyssal eyes regarding the scene with a thoughtful smile.

”A measure of a good existence,” she said, her voice a soft, melodic hum against the quiet backdrop of the Radiant Shore, ”is whether a Young Inevitability likes them or not. You may just be a good existence, Outsider.”

Noah blinked at her words, a faint, almost imperceptible smile touching his lips. ”Well,” he replied, his tone calm and measured as he continued to pat the tentacles of the adoring creature, ”this good man is planning to have these Inevitabilities consume the Everythings of Dead Existences. There are nine of them right now, but there will be more and more in the future. You wouldn’t have any issues with me commanding them and sending them out of the Shore?”

He was probing, testing the boundaries of her philosophy, of his control.

He held her Symbolic Heart of Hunger, a supposed guarantee of absolute authority. But the more he witnessed her power, the more he suspected that for a being like Khor, absolutes were merely suggestions.

She might just be capable of breaking free of his control whenever she truly wished.

Khor’s smile widened, her eyes sparkling with a mischievous light. ”Outsider, the Way of Existence of Inevitabilities is to devour. I would encourage you to send them out so that they could live freely. If any perish in their journey... then it was simply meant to be. That is their way.”

She paused, her gaze turning thoughtful as she surveyed the sprawling, magnificent Shore.

”But is it not interesting? THE Loom is supposedly surrounded by countless Inevitabilities, and now you have Inevitabilities in your Shore. Even though there are only nine currently, when you have thousands, or millions... you actually begin imitating THE Loom.”

She laughed, a sound like stars colliding in a distant galaxy. ”Haha, maybe your solution of turning your Shore into a bastion that could withstand whatever is coming is more viable than you believe.”

HUUM!

Noah’s eyes shone with a sharp, tyrannical light. The idea resonated with a deep, fundamental part of his being.

Not just to survive, but to build his own sanctuary, his own version of THE Loom!

”Let’s hope that’s the case,” he said, his voice a low murmur. ”I’ll continue seeking this solution. And also all the other ones...”

He turned his attention back to the nine creatures before him, his demeanor shifting from contemplative to commanding.

He did not need to raise his voice; his will alone was a shout that echoed through their nascent consciousnesses.

”Attention!”

As if he were a drill sergeant and his words were law, the nine writhing masses of hunger, each exceeding fifty trillion in either complexity or purity, snapped into a perfectly straight line.

Their stellar obsidian eyes, once filled with innocent happiness, now held a focused, eager attention.

Noah looked at them, a general surveying his new, impossible army. ”Do you want to devour Everythings?”

The response was a glorious, silent explosion of enthusiasm. Their tentacles waved wildly, a forest of writhing, eager appendages.

A collective, psychic YES! boomed through the Shore.

He nodded, a gesture of profound satisfaction. With a wave of his hand, thousands of sparkling, milky-white drops of the Sacred Mead of Existence materialized in the air, a celestial rain of pure, concentrated potential.

The taste and elevation it offered were unrivaled, and the tentacles of the Young Inevitabilities shot out with lightning speed, snatching the falling drops with gleeful hunger.

Noah’s eyes softened as he watched them feast. ”Enjoy this,” he said, his voice a gentle murmur that carried across the sands. ”Soon, you will be deployed to fight The Dead.”

WUU! WUU!

A chorus of cute, eager sounds of agreement erupted from the nine creatures, as if the prospect of facing the ultimate anathema to life was the most exciting thing they had ever heard.

He shook his head, a smile touching his lips. He turned back to Khor, who had been watching the scene with a fond, almost maternal expression.

”Are there any other wonders that you messed with? When it comes to the Early Veiled Shore and what it can now do as a Radiant Shore.”

Khor blinked and looked away, a flicker of something that looked suspiciously like guilt crossing her ancient features.

She coughed, a delicate, soundless gesture. ”Well, I didn’t really do too much,” she said, her tone a little too nonchalant. ”But I did tweak a little something regarding your Sacred Totems.”

His Sacred Totems.

Noah’s attention sharpened. It was long overdue for him to ring another, to call forth a new Land Lifeform.

Heidrun, his first, was providing indispensable resources, her Mead of Existence a cornerstone of his rapid advancement.

Yoshinami, his second, was a weapon of absolute, terrifying power, capable of decimating anything below a Quadrillion in complexity. He knew he needed to elevate them both further; the corpses of The Dead would serve as perfect nutrients.

If he could get Yoshinami to the point where she could act multiple times a day, and against foes of ten or fifty quadrillion... the possibilities were heavy!

He turned his gaze to the distant pastures, where a certain majestic white goat was arrogantly nibbling on verdant-gold herbs.

His stare must have carried some weight, for Heidrun shivered, her head snapping up to look at him with a suspicious, almost accusatory glare!