Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3996: Trembling! III

Many Dukes throughout the assembled forces looked toward the cluster of Paradoxes with gazes that carried undisguised animosity.

For many of them, the relationship with Living Paradoxes had been defined by warfare that stretched across eons...conflicts in which Diviticus and other Dukes present had killed uncountable numbers of their allies.

The idea of accepting such beings as partners rather than enemies required adjustments to thinking that had been refined through countless cycles of violence and retribution.

In this moment of heavy contemplation, Moiraine began to float back toward Noah’s position.

Yet Noah’s mental voice reached her consciousness with firm instructions that halted her advance before it could draw unwanted attention.

’Do not,’ he conveyed, ’Remain where you are and continue appearing as the source of enhancement that benefits all present.’

...!

His expression grew heavy as he observed this unfolding situation with the seriousness it demanded.

Right now, he seemed to be nothing more than an Extra with very little apparent power while Diviticus commanded center stage.

But this was okay!

Noah released a sigh that carried the weight of choices, acknowledging that he had chosen this path when he made the Festival of War resonate from Moiraine’s position rather than his own.

Not being in the spotlight every now and then was okay.

At this moment of personal reflection, Noah found himself sympathetically understanding how all those discarded extras in his own fable must have felt when their contributions were overlooked in favor of more prominent characters.

The sensation of being reduced to irrelevance despite possessing capabilities that exceeded those who commanded attention was humbling!

It was in this moment of heavy contemplation that existence itself convulsed!

A blaring purple brilliance blazed from above as reality tore itself open to accommodate the passage of someone whose presence was heavy.

From the temporal rift emerged the visage of an extremely gorgeous woman. Her stellar purple hair flowed like liquid starlight given form and direction, while her dress seemed to contain within its fabric the compressed essence of temporal authority refined to its purest expression.

She smoked a pipe whose contents blazed with inner radiance, yet her attention focused immediately upon the figure of Duke Schrodinger with the kind of recognition that suggested their relationship stretched across eons of history.

”I thought I smelled a dirty beggar in my Transcendent Temporal Folds,” she said. ”How many millions of years has it been now, Schrodinger? Since when did you let children begin speaking for you?”

As she delivered this casual insult, she barely glanced toward Diviticus, yet that momentary attention carried within it the weight of assessment and dismissal that made the assembled Paradox Duke’s expression grow cold.

This...was Aion, the Temporal Watcher...a being whose authority over time itself had been legendary since epochs that predated current existence!

Toward her provocative words, the beggar-looking Schrodinger smiled with patient amusement that suggested he had been expecting exactly this development.

”Sometimes,” he replied, ”one has to sit back and let the younger generation lead. Age brings wisdom about when to act and when to observe.”

...!

Aion smoked her pipe with movements that seemed to slow time around her position, each inhalation drawing in possibilities while each exhalation released certainties into the surrounding space.

She nodded as if considering his response, then...

WAP!

She vanished from her position above the battlefield, reality bending around her passage until she materialized directly beside Moiraine!𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

”You have gotten rusty, old friend,” she said to Schrodinger with voice that carried across impossible distances without losing any of its clarity. ”I can see your gaze and the hungry attention of this loud Diviticus looking toward this Moiraine here with calculations...”

She gestured toward the Living Paradox whose position had become the center during this battle!

”She appears to have come before you other Paradoxes to lend aid against Dead Existences. If anyone should have a seat at the table of governance, should it not be her? Young, perhaps a bit weaker than established powers, certainly easier to manipulate into serving larger agendas...”

Schrodinger’s smile deepened at her provocative analysis.

”You are letting your true thoughts be heard out loud again, Aion,” he observed with gentle reproach.

Aion nodded with calm acknowledgment of his criticism.

”Of course. I believe in being straightforward about intentions and motivations rather than hiding behind pretense and manufactured courtesy. And what I want most in this situation is the precise opposite of whatever you are seeking to achieve, you manipulative fucking beggar.”

BOOM!

The exchange between these terrifying beings carried undertones that spoke to conflicts and competitions that stretched across eons of shared history!

Their true auras flared outward at this moment as... everything began to tremble.

They were called Dukes by those who required classifications and hierarchies to understand the scope of power they witnessed.

But truly, their accumulated authority exceeded any normal Duke by margins that rendered comparison meaningless. They were Existences at a stage of power that very few beings across the breadth of reality could claim to understand.

Some even speculated that they had reached heights of capability comparable to those achieved by beings who had walked the Earliest Folds when power flowed according to principles that current reality had forgotten.

Others whispered that they might be comparable in authority to young Early Creatures themselves!

But the signature manifestation that truly defined their transcendent nature was their capability for Existential Trembling...the ability to make all surrounding weavings of existence shake through their presence alone, their aura affecting the atmosphere and environment of the very fabric of Existence itself!

Standing before such beings, one would feel their very existence trembling!

As two terrifying existences looked at each other, the bodies of everyone and everything nearby vibrated in response!

Existential! Trembling!

Only a single being had felt his hands begin to shake before his eyes turned utterly livid and filled with tyranny as he told his own body...Don’t you fucking dare!

And right after, his glorious standing and distinction as an Early Creature flared as for him and him alone in this region... he did not tremble.

He would not tremble!