Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4322: Do Not Idolize! I

Schrodinger stated that he knew where the entrance to a Shelter that could survive The Fallout was!

At such words, Noah’s gaze, which had been a calm, almost leisurely thing, sharpened into a point of absolute, tyrannical focus.

The air in the small, world-sized bubble grew heavy, the starlit environment seeming to hold its breath. Beside him, unseen by the two ancient Paradoxes, the crimson-blue holographic figure of RUIN/EDEN materialized, her voice a cool, clinical whisper in his mind.

|Based on my analysis of his existential signature, Master, the subject ’Schrodinger’ genuinely believes his words to be true. He is not bluffing or engaging in theatrical misdirection. Whether the information itself is accurate... is a variable that remains unknown.|

Noah looked at Schrodinger, his expression remained a perfect, unreadable mask.

His voice, when he spoke, was a low, resonant, and utterly imposing thing. ”To clarify,” he began, each word a carefully placed piece on a board of vast scale, ”you know the entrance into THE Loom?”

...!

At his words, Schrodinger and Leonore Rureaux looked at each other once more. Schrodinger then smiled, a brilliant, almost dazzling expression of pure, unadulterated amusement. ”Well now,” he said, his voice a playful, conspiratorial hum, ”I am going to continue with my assumption that you already know a whole lot, similar to us, so I’ll keep talking. If ever you are lost, just let me know. So... no. I do not have knowledge of the entry to THE Loom. That is an impossibility. THE Loom will never be open, or even have the possibility of opening... until after The Fallout has taken place. Nothing can go in or out. What I have knowledge of is a subsidiary of THE Loom. A small portion of it where those who designed THE Loom... kept their toys.”

BOOM!

Their toys.

”You should have met them already,” Schrodinger continued, his smile never wavering. ”The Justiciars. The Arbiters.”

...!

His expression then shifted. The smile vanished, replaced by a look of cold, callous rage so profound it seemed to make the very starlight around them curdle.

”For the designers of THE Loom,” he hissed, his voice a venomous whisper, ”it wasn’t enough that countless existences would collapse. One designer in particular wanted to continue harvesting from its Way of Existence. Its Way of Emotive. That despicable, shitty, bum clusterfuck of an existence, Emotive, placed behind a protocol where as The Fallout approached, its tools would appear to begin reaping and rousing even more emotions.”

...!

”To let all remaining existences know they would perish, and as a form of mercy, some would be collapsed even before The Fallout came, the whole thing displayed until the day of The Fallout. What just happened with Aeternitas Glacies was exactly that. To induce fear. To rouse emotions. Because The Fallout itself is not enough... but for their Way of Existence... they will milk it for even more.”

...!

BOOM!

Noah’s eyes flashed with a chilling light. Beside him, Malphas’s arms trembled slightly, not with fear, but with a deep, resonant fury. He glared towards Schrodinger. ”THE Living Emotive experienced negative and positive emotions differently,” he stated, his voice a cold, hard blade.

”Their Way of Existence would be even more boundless when it fed on positive emotions. Such a thing would not be put in place by THE Living Emotive. They are not like this!”

Malphas had spoken out, his loyalty a shield against the accusation.

Schrodinger’s eyes turned sharp, squinting as he analyzed the butler. ”How would you know THE Living Emotive’s nature so well?”

...!

Malphas did not reply. He stared at Schrodinger coldly, then turned to Noah and bowed, his form a perfect expression of regret. ”I apologize for my outburst, My Lord.”

Noah nodded towards him, a silent acknowledgment. ”It’s okay.”

His head turned, his gaze sweeping over the vibrant, beautiful garden around them. He sighed.

The Way of Existence.

He thought of the Ways of Emotive and the other Living Existences. He even wondered about the Way of THE Creature. Did all of them treat the countless lifeforms across Existence as their Civilizations? Was this the reason for the endless, teeming life that permeated the Folds?

”Living Paradoxes and how they live day in and day out... feed The Way of Paradox. The Civilization of Paradox,” he mused aloud, his voice a low, contemplative rumble.

”Origin feeds the Way of Origin, Law feeds The Way of Law... and so on and so forth.” He turned back to Schrodinger, his gaze a sharp, analytical probe. ”Where in this does THE Creature come in? Do you know of The Way of THE Creature?”

...!

At his words, Schrodinger shook his head. ”That is inconsequential. His Way does not matter. Because THE Creature abandoned us. He went silent. With his nature, he wouldn’t have allowed THE Loom to come to fruition, and yet it did. Why is that? Why did he leave us? Why did he abandon us? WHY?!”

Towards the end of his words, Schrodinger’s voice rose to a furious, almost desperate, roar. Leonore Rureaux placed a hand on his shoulder, her touch a calm, steadying anchor in his storm of rage.

”THE Creature did not abandon us,” she said, her voice firm, unwavering. ”I and others always believed that something happened. Something we do not know. Maybe THE Living Existences did something. There is a lot about history we do not know. There is the Curse overflowing across The Dead that we know THE Creature was involved in. The Veil that THE Creature was involved in. We may be misunderstanding many things here...”

...!

Schrodinger looked at her, his expression weary, his rage giving way to a deep, ancient bitterness. He shook his head.

”The dangers of idolizing a common existence as if any of them were different...” he began, his voice now a low drum.

”Idolizing someone can lead to de-existentialization, where we project a fictional image of perfection onto them, denying their own, flawed existence. When they inevitably fail to live up to this image, it leads to intense disappointment and even bitterness. Heavy, heavy bitterness. It can lead to defending inexcusable actions or ignoring evidence of wrongdoing that are blatantly there.”

...!