Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4161: The Dead Do Not Stay Dead! II

The words landed like physical blows.

The Dead did not stay dead!

Several Dukes, Honored, and Royal Living Existences actually rose from their thrones, their understanding of victory suddenly revealed as delusion.They had fought, had won, had celebrated their triumph over Death itself. But Death, it seemed, didn’t acknowledge defeat.

Elysia continued, her voice growing colder with each word.

”The Wandering Territories had means prepared for the thinning of The Veil...contingencies developed over eons, tested through catastrophe, refined by necessity. Those preparations will now fall short because Living Existences... some or all of you... made the ridiculous choice to play with Death and accelerated this entire process.”

HUUM!

The accusation landed in the air like a blade waiting to fall. Before it could fully settle, Origin Ama Gias’s eyes blazed with white flames that made local space reconsider its temperature.

”The Living Origins and other Living Existences do not play with Death,” she declared, her voice carrying the righteousness of someone who had already decided their own innocence.

”The Living Paradoxes, on the other hand, made moves recently where, as always, through their hands, things become tainted and worse.”

She turned toward the section of Living Paradoxes, her gaze finding the terrible form of Goliath and the seated figure of Schrodinger.

”Living Paradoxes are the bane of existence itself. Through them, endless Inevitabilities have continued to rise, spreading chaos where there should be order. And now they called for this Concordat after taking the Corpse of an Early Creature and desecrating it.”

Her voice rose with each accusation.

”Once more, they give rise to endless agony and death. The only ones at fault, the only ones Fold Dwellers should be aiming their weapons at...are Living Paradoxes.”

BOOM!

The words were heavy with the weight of blame being firmly assigned, responsibility being deflected with the skill of eons of practice!

After hearing them, Schrodinger only smiled.

It wasn’t a pleasant expression.

It was the smile of someone who had just heard exactly what they expected and found their pessimism about existence justified.

Beside him, Goliath’s massive serpentine form shifted slightly, eyes flashing with calm light that carried more threat than any display of power.

Origin Ama Gias was forced to look away, her gaze unable to stand against that paradoxical stare for more than moments.

The admission of weakness was subtle but unmistakable...she who accused could not even meet the eyes of the accused!

Noah watched this play out with fascination that made him consider manifesting popcorn for the show.

The dirty laundry of existence was being aired with abandon, accusations flying like weapons.

He waited for Schrodinger to reply, to defend, to counter-accuse.

But the beggar-paradox simply continued smiling, looking upward as if the ceiling held something far more interesting than this predictable drama.

Shockingly, it wasn’t the Paradoxes who responded.

Elysia Firmhand’s cold voice cut through the silence with the precision of someone who had been waiting for exactly this opening.

”Who had the Corpse of the Early Creature before the Living Paradoxes?”

The question landed like ice water on flame.

She continued without waiting for an answer that everyone already knew.

”Did the Coalition of Living Existences not hold this Corpse in their enclaves? Did you not study it, feast upon it, benefit from its impossible flesh? And you say you do not play with The Dead? You claim The Living Paradoxes have all the blame while your own hands drip with the same corruption?”

WAA!

Immense silence followed these words. On his throne, even Noah leaned forward slightly, his interest genuinely piqued by this turn of accusation.

Throughout the amphitheater, the faces of many Living Existences soured like milk left in sunshine.

The Living Paradoxes brightened considerably, with Schrodinger actually chuckling...a sound that suggested he was watching a grand show that didn’t even involve him, just happened to be occurring in his vicinity.

Elysia’s voice took on a philosophical weight as she delivered her closing argument.

”When one plays with The Dead, they invite even more death to themselves. It’s not a curse or punishment...it’s simply the nature of things. Death recognizes those who handle it, marks them, follows them home. Those who have played with that Corpse...The Dead will come for you the most.”

...!

Her gaze swept across every section, touching each faction with equal weight.

”What the Living Existences have done over the years...Living Paradoxes and all others included, has only thinned The Veil more and more. Each experiment, each attempt to harness Death’s power, each corpse preserved and studied... all of it has been an invitation written in the language Death understands.”

She paused, letting the weight of collective guilt settle.

”Now, coordinated action must be taken before things reach truly catastrophic levels. Not finger-pointing. Not blame assignment. Action. Or would you prefer to continue this theater while The Dead arrive and devour everything you claim to protect?”

The question hung in the air, and for once, nobody seemed eager to answer.

—

Death and endings.

They were concepts so fundamental that existence itself was partially defined by trying to avoid them!

They came through countless doors, wearing infinite masks, arriving when expected and when not, sometimes as mercy and sometimes as cruelty.

A heart could simply stop between one beat and the next.

A star could burn through its fuel and collapse into darkness.

A civilization could forget why it existed and dissolve into constituent confusion. An idea could be proven wrong and cease to matter.

Death was democratic in its inevitability, yet infinitely creative in its methods.

In the Earliest Folds, many tales were shared among those who shaped reality.

But there was one story that, for the most part, stayed with those involved in the events...not from secrecy but from a kind of embarrassed hindsight that made all parties wish they had paid more attention.

At an unfathomable moment in time, when concepts were still learning what they meant, THE Living Emotive went to see THE Living Concept.

The latter was deep in its work...and barely looked up when Emotive arrived.

”Not now,” Concept said, its form flickering between abstract and concrete. ”I don’t have time for your shenanigans today.”

THE Living Emotive smiled at this dismissal with the particular brightness of someone who had already decided the conversation would happen.

It radiated harmlessness the way a volcano might radiate warmth...technically accurate but missing the essential danger.

”It won’t be long,” Emotive said, its voice carrying every possible emotional inflection simultaneously. ”I simply wanted to ask a question. You’re so wise about these things.”

Concept’s form solidified enough to perform what would eventually be called an eye roll. ”Fine. What do you want to know now?”

THE Living Emotive tilted its head with innocent curiosity that should have set off every alarm that existed and several that didn’t.

”Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, if one wanted to completely destabilize and cause chaos upon the Folds, how do you think would be the most effective way to go about it?”

...!