Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4238: Khor’s Rage! II

On his conceptual screen, he watched the scene outside The Loom’s Aegis.

The assembled Dukes of Law, after their initial, furious assault, had mostly fallen back. Their analytical minds had correctly deduced that their attacks were not only futile but likely counterproductive. He smiled.

He knew they would sense their authority being not just repelled, but devoured, soon enough.

Now, the second part of the plan was in motion. Even if they knew they were being played, they would still have to play.

Malphas was already at work, his shadowy crows spreading the gospel of a newfound sanctuary, a rumor that would soon draw the greedy, the desperate, and the powerful like moths to a conceptual flame.

He saw Royal Law Tristesse still lingering at the edge of the Aegis, her pride and curiosity warring within her.

She and a few loyal Royal and Honored Living Laws were still probing the barrier, their authority a gentle, insistent pressure against his defenses.

A devilish thought sparked in Noah’s mind. He gave a silent command to the Aegis.

Spur their greed a little more.

As Tristesse’s next wave of authority washed over the blue-gold barrier, a small, almost imperceptible fissure of light appeared.

From it, a few shimmering droplets of Sacred Mead of Existence and a single, radiant leaf from a Transcendent Veilmoss gushed out, as if the barrier had momentarily buckled under the strain.

They were crumbs, insignificant trifles from his vast stores, but to those outside, they were treasures beyond measure. He watched as Tristesse’s eyes widened, her professional curiosity instantly consumed by a raw, acquisitive hunger!

Yes. They would play!

His attention finally turned from the grand stage to the drama that had just arrived on his Shore.

His son, Henry, stood with Liora, and between them was her father... Bob.

Noah’s eyes, burning with the quiet intensity of his newfound power, settled on the bald-headed being with whom he shared a strange, complicated history.

”Little Bobby,” he said, his voice a calm, even tone that somehow managed to be both a greeting and an assessment, ”you don’t look too good.”

Bob’s entire form was a study in contained violence!

His white-gold skin was taut, his muscles bunched as if he were constantly resisting an internal explosion. It looked as though a great and terrible beast was trapped within him, clawing to get out.

He looked at Noah, his eyes a mixture of gratitude, awe, and a profound, bone-deep weariness.

”While I have to thank you for taking care of my daughter and... rescuing me,” he said, his voice strained,

”I don’t think I can stay. Inside of me... the Mutated Inevitability is too strong. Especially when surrounded by a place that is just...”

He shook his head, his gaze sweeping over the Radiant Shore, at the impossible trees, the teeming Aquarium, the glowing Totems. The Tenders.

His mind simply could not grasp the scale of what he was seeing.

Liora, her face a mask of anxious concern, turned to Noah. ”Sir,” she pleaded, ”can you do anything about this? Can you separate him from the Inevitability?”

At her words, Noah’s gaze shifted to Khor, who had floated over with an expression of pure, unadulterated interest.

She looked at Bob, a specimen of great curiosity, and with a single, delicate tap of her finger, his struggling form was lifted into the air, held in a gentle, inescapable grip.

His body began to wriggle, his face contorting in panic. ”Wait... don’t let it out!” he cried.

Khor simply shook her head, a gesture of ancient, paternalistic authority. ”Little Bobby,” she said, her voice a soothing, yet absolute, command.

”I am The First Hunger. Why would I be afraid of any Inevitability? Hush.”

She tapped the air again.

The motion was calm, almost casual, but the effect was apocalyptic.

Bob’s body convulsed, and from his very essence, a being of pure, obsidian hunger was torn forth.

Obsidian tentacles pulsed and raged, a vortex of insatiable appetite that immediately began devouring the rich, ambient authority of the Shore.

Khor frowned, her abyssal eyes narrowing as she looked at this new creature.

”How long,” she asked Noah, her voice now devoid of its usual playfulness, ”have these so-called Mutated Inevitabilities been like this?”

Noah shook his head. He didn’t know.

Khor’s frown deepened. She sensed something wrong, something fundamentally, profanely incorrect.

She moved forward, her tiny hand reaching out to grasp one of the writhing, obsidian tentacles.

Her power as The First Hunger buzzed, a low, dangerous thrum as she connected with the creature.

Her expression, in the span of a single heartbeat, shifted.

Curiosity became confusion. Confusion became dawning horror. And horror... became an incandescent, all-consuming rage.

HUUM!

”WHO DID THIS?!” she bellowed, her voice not a sound, but a shockwave that tore through the very fabric of the Shore.

”WHO MUTILATED INEVITABILITIES AND DID THIS?!”

BOOM!

Her Haki was unleashed.

It was not a controlled, measured release of power.

It was an avalanche of pure, absolute darkness that blanketed everything! It did not just obscure the light; it consumed the very concept of it.

In an instant, every being on the Shore who had not reached the Quadrillion threshold in Complexity and Purity...Henry, Liora, Moiraine, Titano...froze!

They were not just immobilized; they were suspended, their consciousnesses snuffed out like candle flames in a hurricane, their bodies locked in a state of existential stasis. Time itself, within the Shore, froze!

HUUM!

|CATASTROPHIC HAKI EVENT DETECTED|

|Source: Khor, The First Hunger.|

|Effect: Widespread Existential Stasis Induced.|

|Analysis: The emotional release of a primordial being has resulted in the temporary cessation of all activity for existences below a critical power threshold. Time and biological functions are suspended.|

The avalanche of darkness did not stop at the Shore’s edge. It bled out, through the Aegis, into the Folds.

Outside, the Dukes of Law, still probing the barrier, felt it.

A wave of pure, unadulterated dread that had nothing to do with emotion and everything to do with a fundamental violation of existence.

Their minds, their very beings, were overwhelmed. In a terrifying moment of shared horror, they too began to lose consciousness, their forms slumping in the void!

Only three of the strongest, their bodies blazing with the light of powerful Early Tools of Law that had activated instinctively, remained awake, their faces masks of pure, uncomprehending terror!