Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3790: Existential Anomaly II

She spun again.

Limbs flailing like a stranded bird, her ragged white robe fluttering in ripples through the empty space of the crystalline sphere. Her black-and-white hair floated in a lazy spiral, the strands catching the light from the fading Lattices.

Somehow, her spinning led her towards the glass containing her as her pale fingers...touched it.

And...

CRACK!

The sound echoed not through air, but through the Fold’s fabric itself. The entire surface of the crystalline bubble, once marked with hundreds of thousands of Existential Dimensional Lattices, so dense it would have taken a Primarch considerable effort to tear through...

It cracked.

A single, delicate touch from her hand.

Cracks raced out like spiderwebs of fate.

Then..

BOOM!

The glass shell shattered outward into a billion glimmering shards.

...!

She flinched, instinctively ducking her head and wrapping her arms protectively around herself, as though the shards might pierce her skin.

They didn’t.

They drifted past her like feathers of translucent starlight, fading into nothingness as they floated away.

Noah watched it all unfold, expression unreadable. His arms folded behind his back as his eyes shone brightly.

A being with no authority. No mana. No resistance. No status worth mentioning.

And yet she shattered what even Primarchs would have struggled with...in a single touch.

As if Existential Dimensional Lattices were nothing.

Was it instinct? A hidden force? Or something deeper?

She flailed again.

Still spinning.

Her expression was now tight with frustration as her arms moved, lips parting once more in a silent plea- again forgetting that space doesn’t carry sound for the mundane.

Noah’s voice drifted toward her then. Calm, dry and filled with authority that allowed it to ring out in the Expanse.

”Why are you flailing like this?” he asked, head tilted. ”You do realize... you could stop at any time?”

Her eyes widened slightly as they locked onto him.

A flash of something human flickered through her face. Surprise. Irritation. Hesitance.

Then, slowly, she raised her hands and began to sign.

[I can’t stop moving! Can you... please help??]

Even the way she signed was cautious, her eyes not leaving him, her body coiled like a trapped animal unsure if the hand reaching for her would strike.

Noah looked at her, his gaze faintly curious now.

This... anomaly.

A blank slate of existence wrapped in paradoxes.

She had no power, and yet power bowed in her presence as what she had just done should not be possible!

He considered the implications. What it would mean if his hand touched her, if there was a reaction.

There was only one way to find out.

No light flared from his hand.

No authority surged.

He simply moved forward and... reached out.

His palm settled gently on her head.

Her spin slowed, then stopped altogether as her body leveled out, finally floating upright in space. He moved his hands to her shoulders next, holding her steady.

Her breath came in shallow bursts. Her gaze darted across the space around them.

And she saw...

Chains.

Thousands of them.

Thick bands of golden fate, stretching across the shattered space and locking it into stillness. Her eyes followed the curves of the massive links, the shimmering expanse of folded brilliance that surrounded them.

Then, she looked at Noah again.

Deeply. As if trying to read something she didn’t understand.

Then her hands moved again.

[Where... am I? What is this? Who...]

She hesitated on the last sign, as if catching herself.

A pause.

Noah’s devilish smile returned.

He tilted his head ever so slightly, his tone light but laced with something more dangerous beneath.

”Let’s start somewhere simple,” he said. ”Why don’t you tell me who you are, so I better know how to help you?”

The moment hung between them.

And then...

She blinked.

Her brows furrowed.

A shadow passed over her expression.

Then slowly, her hand rose once more, pressing gently to her chin as if she was thinking deeply.

She pressed harder, eyes narrowing in frustration.

Then her hands moved once more in resignation.

[I... can’t remember.]

...!

Noah’s gaze sharpened.

His smile didn’t fade.

A being who did not remember her name. No source. No memory.

But the runes etched across her skin hummed with secrets.

She froze after what she signed.

The air, though technically nonexistent in the vacuum they floated within, seemed to still around her as her fingers dropped.

She could not remember her name.

Her lips parted faintly, eyes widening, disbelief creasing her browm

Noah’s eyes narrowed slightly.

”What do you remember?” he asked, his voice even, cutting through the stillness.

Her hands moved slowly. Hesitantly.

[I... I remember...]

But the signs ended there.

She stared down at her own trembling hands, then looked up with eyes that were no longer just lost.

They were scared.

And furious of the void inside her mind.

Noah observed the expression that passed across her face. It was not weakness he saw, but the beginning of resolve.

Still, she was disoriented. Anchorless.

He spoke softly.

”Your name,” he said, ”is Sigrid Ivano.”

...!

Her gaze snapped to his.

The triangular rune on her forehead pulsed gently, like it had heard him too.

Sigrid.

Her mouth moved as if tasting the syllables. Silent, of course. There was no sound here. No vibration of molecules.

And yet, she mouthed it again. Clearer.

Sigrid Ivano.

Her eyes lit with faint recognition. Not full awareness, but a hint of familiarity flickering at the edges of her blank canvas.

She signed again, quickly now.

[That name... it feels familiar.]

She blinked, then paused, fingers hesitating before moving again.

[Who are you?]

Noah didn’t rush his answer.

He simply looked at her.

Then said the name slowly.

”Noah. Noah Osmont.”

And right after that, the Fold trembled.

Not because of his words.

But because something... else was moving.

HUUM.

Golden chains of fate surrounding them began to stir.

Massive links, each one filled with hundreds of thousands of Existential Dimensional Lattices, shifted like serpents stirring in their sleep. Their creaking groan echoed across the space like the whisper of inevitability returning from slumber.

Then...

HUUM!

Figures began to emerge.

Master Shen, relaxed but no longer smiling.

Master Etheopa, cold and commanding, her gaze as sharp as destiny unraveled.

A few other Masters of Existence.

Primarchs followed behind them, and Solstice Veils, Monads...all arrayed like a tribunal around them

Around her.

Sigrid.

Dozens of Fold Dwellers now surrounded them with folded arms, brilliant True Sources burning along their skin, their expressions a blend of awe and caution.

Sigrid’s eyes widened in alarm.

She reflexively scooted back, spinning for a moment before reaching out and grabbing Noah’s robe with both hands and clinging to it tightly.

She looked around.

At the celestial gathering that now loomed around her.

Then signed again, desperately.

[Just what is going on?!]

Her hands trembled.

This was no act.

Whoever she had been before, whatever force had shattered that containment...this Sigrid Ivano had no memory of it.

Noah looked at her calmly.

At her cautious grip.

At her wide eyes.

And deep within, behind his unblinking gaze...

He calculated.

So many variables.

So much potential.

And no memory meant a mind ready to be filled.

A calculating smile curved the edge of his lips.

Because whatever she was...

He had just gained first access.

And in this game of wonders, first access could mean everything!