Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4323: Do Not Idolize! II

”THE Creature was born. THE Creature will die, or is already dead. THE Living Existences can be killed just like you and I. Just look at THE Living Order. Deader than Dead. All of them...They eat. They shit. They hate. They fear. They may be higher on the Scale of Existence than us... but they are still that. Existences. I will never fucking idolize them. Not ever again.”

...!

His words were heavy, each one a stone dropped into the silent, contemplative pool of the garden.

Malphas looked down, his own thoughts a swirling vortex of loyalty and doubt.

Noah’s eyes, however, shone with a bright, tyrannical light. ”THE Creature had his Way of Existence, and we have our own,” he declared, his voice a calm, absolute verdict. ”Yes, we are no different. Regardless of what happened in the past that we do not know, it is the present and future that matter the most. So... this Shelter. Where is it, and how can the vast lifeforms of all Folds be relocated in it to survive The Fallout?”

...!

At his critical question, Schrodinger fell silent. He picked up his drink, downing the entire cup of Sacred Mead of Existence in a single, decisive gulp. His eyes shone with a new, sharp light as he looked at Noah. ”When a Justiciar appears again,” he said, his voice a low, conspiratorial whisper, ”just follow it back to where it came from. Track it. Let it lead you to its base, and it will be a Shelter connected to THE Loom. A tiny little subsidiary. A Garden of Hope. A line of salvation. Reach it, and one may just survive The Fallout.”

...!

A heavy silence settled over the garden.

|Master, the new information has been analyzed.|

|The subject ’Schrodinger’ is proposing a high-risk, high-reward infiltration mission. The ’Garden of Hope’ is likely a forward operating base or a manufacturing facility holding the Justiciars and Arbiters.|

|Feasibility: If such a location exists, and if it is indeed a ’subsidiary’ of THE Loom, it may possess a degree of the same protective qualities. It is a viable, if exceedingly dangerous, path. There is no harm in seeing if this is actually true.|

Noah looked at Schrodinger calmly, the two of them locked in a silent, analytical gaze. Finally, Schrodinger spoke again.

”That is one of my goals, anyway. Even if my methods are questioned. Even if some lives are lost. All life will be extinguished in the near future if this solution, or another, is not attained. Since you seem to have enacted your own Way, you have your own drive to survive, and you might even have the mindset of wanting to save those in your Way of Existence. If your existence can cause this body of mine here to feel a sense of suppression, your power could tip the scales if need be. I partly came here to say this, to make sure that you would not be a force of interference in my plans. If we are all going towards the same thing, even better. There is no harm in having an Early Creature with unknown origins bearing the grunt of the weight of Existence. After all... why should I be alone in suffering?”

...!

Why should he be alone in suffering? The words were a quiet, terrible confession, a glimpse into the profound, ancient loneliness of the being before him.

Schrodinger believed himself to be carrying the weight of existence on his shoulders, a self-appointed, and perhaps, self-deluded, savior.

Noah shook his head internally. In existence, one could believe they were a chosen one, a herald, a bringer of apocalypse. But what mattered in the end... was power. Power would ultimately decide what role one played.

He had come across many who thought themselves saviors, and yet they had the highest body count of those they killed.

He did not even have to look far as when he looked at himself...oh!

As Noah was thinking this, his gaze, and the gazes of Schrodinger and Leonore, snapped outwards. Their perception pierced through the blue-gold barrier of their isolated domain, to the chaos beyond.

Behind the teeming, anxious crowds of Living Existences, a massive, flat vessel had appeared, a silent, obsidian white omen in the swirling void.

And on it... were entities so terrifying that their mere Haki caused the nearby Prime, Honored, and Royal Living Existences to lose consciousness, their forms slumping in the void like puppets with their strings cut.

Oh!

Noah’s eyes focused, his perception, now a thing of wonder, dissecting the new arrivals.

He saw...Early Creatures!

Dead ones!

And at the forefront, one who shone with tremendous radiance.

He saw... Tatiana, a queen of ordered death, her complexity a staggering 4 Quintillion. He saw the regal, half-skeletal Valerius, his power a calm, terrible 3.5 Quintillion. He saw the others, a legion of The Prime Dead, their power a silent, crushing wave!

|Alert: High-threat entities have arrived.|

|Source: The Folds of The Dead.|

|Primary Signatures:|

| - [Tatiana – The Ashen Dreaming Queen] – 4.1 Quintillion Complexity.|

| - [Valerius – The Silent Regent] – 3.5 Quintillion Complexity.|

| - [Legion of the Prime Dead] – Average Complexity: 2.5 Quintillion.|

...!

Oh!

Beside him, Leonore’s voice was a low, dangerous hiss towards Schrodinger.

”Now might be a good time for you to awaken a stronger body. Otherwise, we all may just be fucked.”

The Prime Dead had arrived. But as Noah watched, a final, chilling detail registered in his perception, a detail that was confirmed by a final, terrible prompt from RUIN/EDEN.

The gazes of the newly arrived legion, their collective, silent will, was not focused on the assembled forces of the Living, nor on the curious Paradoxes, nor on the enraged Origins. Their attention was fixed, with a profound, almost religious, focus, on the blue-gold fortress of the Infiniverse.

And their bodies, their very auras, were surrounded by a brilliant, pristine, and utterly familiar white light.

|Analysis of The Prime Dead legion is complete. A significant and unexpected anomaly has been detected.|

|Their authority is not just that of The Dead. It is... intertwined with the authority of Order.|

...!

Order.

Oh, Order!