Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3851: Early IV

Fine cracks appeared on her skin, racing across her limbs like molten gold carving stone. Her smile trembled. Her eyes sparkled with defiance. A massive, illusory crimson-gold Wheel burst into view high above the Crucible, and then...

BOOM!

Her body turned to ash.

Silent, glimmering ash that scattered in every direction.

And yet, not even a breath later...

BOOM!

From the ash, she reformed.

Her body now tighter, more precise, far more luminous than before. Her limbs curved with fluid paradox, her eyes radiant and wild. Still breathing hard, still kneeling before him- his hand never having moved from her head!

It was a glorious and quick breaking!

And she knew. She was capable of more.

More ruin in her yet.

Her breathing quickened, her weavings of existence thrumming with acceleration from the Festival. A million-fold growth. She could not afford to squander this chance.

So she let her longing take shape once more.

”RUIN.”

Her voice echoed like a broken bell, fractured yet melodic.

It carried longing.

To be of use.

To be needed.

To be held.

To be... worthy of standing by his side.

BOOM!

Another Illusory Wheel of Ruin broke in the skies of the Crucible.

From the scattered cinders, she bloomed again- now brighter. Now heavier with utter endings. Her hair shimmered with deeper crimson. Her figure moved with greater grace!

Still she did not stop!

Still she had not yet given enough.

She felt the gaze of her Master steer as he began focusing on her.

And..

”RUIN.”

It came out a cry. Not of power.

But of sorrow.

Of buried grief. Of silent dreams curled into herself that she did not even share with the Infiniverse. How could she? The Infiniverse never understood. She was too brilliant, always too complex. How could she understand the inferiority of Ruination?

But this time... she was finally close enough to touch him.

She could not let that go.

BOOM!

The Fourth Breaking.

Ash. Rebirth.

And still...

She tested her limits.

Measured the screaming threads of her complexity. Felt the rushing river of his aura fill her to the brink.

She would not stop.

”RUIN!!!”

She called out again with every ounce of ache and want in her being.

Another Wheel.

Another bloom of ash.

The Fifth Breaking of the Wheel.

The Crucible shook with it.

The air was heavy now with the scent of her weavings unraveling and reweaving. With dense clouds of raw Ruin circling her resplendent form. And still...

Still...

She looked up, meeting the calm, golden eyes of her Master.

She felt his touch. His unwavering gaze that now began to worry.

And she whispered, not with weakness, but with resolve.

”RUIN.”

BOOM!

The Sixth Breaking began.

Ruination carried it out without hesitation, her body vanishing in a blaze of crimson and gold as once again, the phantom Wheel cracked in the skies of the Crucible.

And from the crimson gold swirling ash... she returned.

Her breath came hard, shoulders rising and falling in deep pulls as her body- shining, resplendent, terrifyingly beautiful- materialized in a dance of light and ruin. Ruin that now gathered thick around her in waves, a living cloud that burned her skin like reverent flame.

But her eyes.

Her eyes still burned.

She felt the thunderous might in her chest. The cascading flow of complexity and purity now pressing against the very ceiling of existence. She felt her PQ and CQ hold at the peak- 999,999- and yet, something within her clawed still.

”RUIN!” she cried out.

Fervent. Unyielding.

And again, her body ignited in solemn fire.

The Seventh Breaking.

Ash. Rebirth.

She returned with a shout.

Desperation- raw, bleeding desperation- coated her voice now.

It was no longer merely power that drove her. It was need. It was a refusal to remain as she was. A refusal to be less. A refusal to be anything but worthy.

Not just of herself. Not just of the tower she had yet to build.

But worthy of him.

Not far away, there were two who felt her power most clearly. Who watched the fiery storms of her self-destruction.

The Infiniverse Body.

And Noah.

The Infiniverse, ever radiant, ever steady... stared at her sister, her reflection, her twin of existence as she currently...had no words.

She had not known. Well, she had known, but it seemed like not truly. Not to the full extent as Ruination had hid it too well.

She had not realized the extent of Ruination’s will. Of her burden. Of her loneliness. Her desperation.

And Noah...

For a moment, his golden eyes... wavered.

They shimmered with a small sense guilt.

Guilt and something far rarer.

Worry.

He opened his mouth to speak, his words quiet but firm. ”Ruination... you do not need to go this fa-...!”

HUUUM!

She bellowed out everything she held in her heart.

Her scream cut across his words, fierce and mad, echoing with heartbreak and conviction.

She was still blazing. Still beautiful. Still not done.

Noah’s face became stern. The Towers of Origin around him began to sing louder, the Hymns rising in intensity as if they too feared for what came next. His aura surged, radiant lemniscate spirals of paradox spinning like a maelstrom around his seated form.

Then, without waiting or listening...

BOOM!

The Eighth Breaking of the Wheel was initiated by her even after her Master had told her not to.

His eyes snapped to her.

”RUINATION!” he bellowed with a stern rebuke, but it was too late.

She was already gone.

Ash. Gold. Crimson.

But no quick return this time.

...!

The ash... trembled.

It scattered. Recoiled.

And in those lingering seconds, seconds that felt like eternities, Noah’s features blazed. The perfect stillness of his expression cracked.

He felt how close she had come.

The Towers around him groaned with denser Hymns, singing louder as if trying to call her back. As if mourning what might be lost. His Early Creature’s aura surged out like a second sun, desperate to envelop her if she returned!

And then...

HUUUM!

A low thrum.

A blooming rose of gold and crimson.

She reformed.

She survived.

The Eighth Breaking of the Wheel... completed.

And her body, her new form, floated before him like a Transcendent crystalline relic untouched by time. She was ruin made manifest. Glorious. Fragile. Heavy. Quintessential!

A transcendent treasure of shattered becoming.

Noah stood without thinking, reaching out instinctively.

”Stop.”

He said it with finality. With command.

A word sharp and unavoidable.

Because he could feel it.

She was preparing... again.

Preparing to take the Ninth Step.

Preparing to throw herself into oblivion without guarantee of return.

Ruination floated in space, a radiant bloom of crimson-gold ruin. Her eyes turned toward her Master, shimmering with stars of grief and longing.

He stared at her. Stern.

”Your Complexity and Purity have not changed. Forge your Tower of Origin,” he said. ”Then, and only then, can you survive your Ninth Breaking. There is a nigh absolute chance of failure if you brute force it.”

He exhaled.

”Just like the Infiniverse... reach Originus Venerant first. Then you may transcend.”

...!

The words were his law. An undeniable command of a Master to his construct.

And still... Ruination only smiled.

It was not defiance.

It was sorrow.

A sweet, hollow sadness.

The sadness of pulling ahead momentarily, being of use to him, but then that gap closing quickly soon after.

That cycle had been ruining her.

Noah’s brow furrowed. The gravity in his voice deepened as he saw her expression!

”Will you disobey your Master?”

HUUM!

The weight of his power filled the space. The force behind his gaze could have shattered weaker wills.

But hers... held.

She took his hand.

Held it.

Brought his palm to her cheek and leaned into it like a child lost in storm. As if she wanted to feel his connection if everything went wrong for one last time.

Then, her voice echoed out.

”Master, what is Ruin, if not true ruin? I may truly not return, ” she whispered. ”But is that not truly... Ruination?”

...!

His golden eyes flared.

This woman.

This concept given form.

She was ready, even if it meant never seeing him again.

Even if it meant becoming ash with no wind to carry it.

”I will always be with you, Master,” she murmured, voice steady. ”Even in Ruin. Even if you never see me again.”

...!

And then.

She said the word.

Soft.

Final.

”Ruin.”

This time... it was different.

It rang with quintessential and infinite longing.

A longing older than time. A yearning steeped in shadow and ruin.

And the moment the word left her lips...

She vanished.

Entirely. Completely.

No ash.

No Wheel.

No Hymn.

Nothing.

Nothing!!!