Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3836: End His Beginning! V

Within the wheel of Noah’s existence.

The voice of the Living True Source of Quintessence rose. Deep, calm, and filled with unshakable gravity.

”Our state is critical,” Quintessence declared, stepping closer to the spinning core of the Living Wheel, which now bore creeping lines of gray calcification. ”We face an attack not in flesh, nor in light. It is a weaving of existence that does not require one’s presence- only the echo of a name and the print of a record.”

He raised his hand as if to illustrate, and a thin ripple danced across the gray edges of the wheel’s core.

”A strike from an entity whose complexity and purity exceed our own by hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. A strike whose method bypasses defense, because it attacks through what we have done and who we are known to be.”

The seated figures watched, each clothed in their own hue. Tyranny, still and regal in purple. The Protagonist, golden eyes gleaming with cold ambition. Cheats, tapping a finger against his chin, calculating possibilities. Paradox, a flickering shadow of gold and black.

”Even Originus Venerant entities would fall to such a strike,” Quintessence said quietly. ”And yet...”

His words lingered.

”We did not.”

All eyes turned toward the heart of the wheel.

The area of calcification trembled- faint, but trembling. From beyond it, thin waves of black and gold Paradox washed forth. Waves of white brilliance crashes down.

They flowed like ocean tides, rising again and again, fighting the spreading gray.

”We did not,” Quintessence repeated. ”Because others are holding us.”

His Mother. Sigrid! And...

”Two Foldless Ones are also pouring their strength into us. We are being shielded by paradox itself.”

He turned slowly, looking to each manifestation of Noah seated around the wheel. ”They intend to push us toward becoming Originus Venerant. If we attain it, this attack will lose its fangs. It will fail to breach the wall of closed-off existence.”

His shoulders lowered, the weight of inevitability pressing into his words.

”But there is not enough time.”

Tyranny narrowed his gaze, and even the Protagonist went still.

”There is not enough time,” Quintessence repeated.

He lifted his hand and pointed. Toward a figure robed in flowing white.

”Thus, we shall take a risk,” he said, his voice now hard as stone. ”It is not truly a risk, but the only path before us.”

The white-robed figure rose, his movements gentle but sure. Light clung to him, quiet and complete.

”You,” said Quintessence, eyes locked onto him. ”You are the Living True Source of Origin. So how could our beginning and purpose be extinguished while you yet exist?”

A heavy silence fell, pierced only by the faint thrum of the wheel.

Origin nodded. ”The reason we have not crumbled to ash is because I am here. One Living Origin cannot so easily erase another. Not when that Origin is housed within us.”

Quintessence gestured. ”Come.”

Origin stepped from his spoke, the threads of white drawing behind him. He floated forward, until his bare feet touched the calcified edge of the core.

”We require more,” Quintessence said. His gaze shifted. ”Paradox. Come.”

The shadows stirred. From within the folds of the golden black spoke, the Living True Source of Paradox rose. Light bent strangely around his figure as he moved, his body obscured in part, revealed in others. He said nothing, but his presence echoed with a thousand conflicting truths.

Paradox took his place beside Origin.

Then Quintessence spoke again, his voice ringing across the spokes like a bell across water.

”Wrath!”

Flames ignited from a distant spoke. The True Source of Wrath stood, crackling with red and black fire.

”Chronos!”

Time shivered, and the True Source of Chronos emerged, draped in robes that shifted through ages.

”Singed! Veritarch! Quantum! Relativity! Summoning! Infinity!”

Each name brought forth a figure. The core of Noah’s wheel filled with light, with conflict, with silence, with promise.

After Origin and Paradox, True Sources relating to Emotive, Temporal, Elemental, Law, Quantum, Dimensional, Spiritual, and Conceptual were all called out!

Ten figures stood around the multicolored light of the Living Wheel, each draped in their robes of Truth. Origin stood cloaked in a white so radiant it reflected nothing. Paradox pulsed black gold, his robes seeming to fold into themselves. Chronos shimmered with a time-laced shimmer, while Singed bore scars of elemental fury across his crimson coat. Veritarch glowed with an austere lawfulness, and Quantum flickered between forms. Relativity swayed with rhythm that could not be measured. Infinity stood utterly still, wrapped in a robe that looked like the night sky. Summoning and Wrath, however, flickered. Dim, as if waiting to be.

Quintessence watched them all.

His eyes held the weight of reason. His voice cut through the wheel like a firm bell. ”All but two of you,” he said, tone deep with the burden of choice, ”have attained the state of Living True Source. Only Wrath and Summoning remain.”

His gaze moved to the two flickering forms. ”A Living Origin attacks us now. But what of the next one? What if the attack comes from a Living Spirit or Elemental? We cannot let ourselves be left vulnerable again.”

A quiet hum filled the Wheel.

Quintessence’s voice carried power now. ”We need to gain the Living Authorities of all ten Archetypal Truths. If we can unify them, if even just for a moment, or forever, then we may forge something that not even the Foldless Ones can touch.”

...!

The Wheel trembled in agreement.

Cheats looked up, his eyes gleaming with sharpness. ”You want simultaneous amalgamation of Wrath and Summoning through the Living Autognosis Engine?”

Quintessence nodded.

Cheats nodded and continued while stretching his hands. ”Been accumulating and holding quite a bit of authority in reserve. Might as well spend it.”

A ripple of resolve spread across the spokes.

Then, at the very center of the Living Wheel, the illusions danced into view.

Noah’s mother, Amelia Osmont, cradled one body with tears silent and glowing. The Infiniverse Body held another like a statue in a storm, and her brilliance kept the stone at bay. Sigrid touched foreheads with the third, tattoos lighting her devotion. Moiraine surged through the skies of the Goldfolds carrying the fourth, her wings bleeding paradox.

Quintessence locked eyes with the image of Amelia. Her light... it was different. Stronger than what help Moiraine, the Infiniverse, or what Sigrid provided. It halted the decay at a stronger rate than all three others combined as with her there, how could his beginning be eradicated?!

HUUM!

A Living Origin had tried to end his Beginning. His Purpose. But his beginning was too grand. His purpose had yet to bloom. He could not fall.

”Amalgamate!” Quintessence roared.

Light flashed.

The Living Source of Cheats threw back his head, both hands raised. ”With the turn of the Wheel...so shall Wrath be Living. With the turn of the Wheel, so shall Summoning be made Living!”

The Wheel began to turn.

Wrath responded first, a red storm igniting its form. Flames of judgment burst outward, not mindless anger, but searing will. Its body roared with justice unbound, force turned righteous.

Summoning followed, glowing an arcane blue, ribbons of summoning circles wrapping around its limbs. From within, echoes of infinite beings stirred. The fury of Wrath bound to the invocation of Summoning forged something new.

Both were baptized by the Wheel.

Both became Living.

The Wheel pulsed.

Ten lights flared now across the spokes. Ten Living True Sources. Authority forged in each branch of existence.

Origin. Paradox. Wrath. Chronos. Singed. Veritarch. Quantum. Relativity. Summoning. Infinity.

A Living Origin. A Living Paradox. A Living Emotion. A Living Temporal. A Living Elemental. A Living Law. A Living Quantum. A Living Dimensional. A Living Spirit. A Living Concept.

Separate no longer. Not fractured. Not lesser.

In the vast, unknown folds of Existence, there had always been Living Existences. Powers that stood apart. Independent. Sovereign.

But now, on this day, Noah held all ten.

And when the final light of Summoning became Living...

Wonder bloomed!