Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4498: At The Darkest Hour III

In the Cultivation Citadel, Noah’s thoughts burned brightly.

The weight of existence pressed down on him like the gravity of a collapsing star. The crimson-gold flames continued their endless feast on his being.

But in the midst of all of this excruciating pain, his mind remained unbearably clear.

And currently a single thought was burning through the haze of agony. A single idea crystallizing with perfect clarity.

The idea and reality that THE Immolation Of The Sacrilegious Savage would have no answer, no counter, no solution... unless you possessed the distinction of THE.

And he knew someone with the distinction of THE!

THE Dead Order!

He closed his eyes with agonizing slowness. In the next moment, he focused his weavings of existence toward that unique space that held The Veil which divided him and Sigrid from THE Dead Order on the other side.

The domain that didn’t really exist anywhere in physical Observable Existence, but in a unique conceptual space where Sigrid was siphoning The Civilizational Authority of Order.

At this moment, the scene shifted to that ethereal realm.

In that space between spaces, Noah had already made distance and moved away from Sigrid who was looking at him with pained eyes.

Even here, even in this conceptual domain, his figure was burning with crimson-gold fire that refused to be extinguished.

...!

On the other side of The Veil, THE Dead Order sat upon her throne of white marble and looked at him with a particularly unfavorable expression.

In the last few hours, with Sigrid becoming more and more powerful naturally, her rate of siphoning Order had become even more immense. The flow of Civilizational Authority being drained through The Veil had increased to torrential levels.

So THE Dead Order was not their biggest fan at this moment.

But even she tilted her head with curiosity and looked at those flames burning around his figure with something like astonishment in her ancient eyes.

”What did you do?” she asked.

Noah looked at her through The Veil with eyes that burned despite the pain, his voice steady despite the cost of speaking.

”Are you familiar with the curses of entities with THE distinction?”

She replied with incredulity that he could even ask such a question. ”You can say that.”

He nodded slowly and continued with that same terrible calmness. ”I seem to have pissed off THE Living Elemental, and that pathetic excuse for a fire has proceeded to brand me with THE Immolation Of The Sacrilegious Savage. A constant excruciating burning that cares not for Complexity or Purity. An indefinite burning until I collapse my own existence.”

...!

As he said this with such casual matter-of-factness, THE Dead Order looked at him with sheer incredulity written across her features.

”How are you not dead?” she demanded. ”How have you not collapsed your existence already?”

...!

Noah looked at her calmly through the excruciating pain, his gaze unwavering.

”The two of us are some of the few powers that exist outside of THE Loom. We both wish to survive The Fallout and come through on the other side stronger than before.” His voice carried the weight of inevitability. ”An answer to The Fallout lies with existences that have the distinction of THE. You have such a distinction, even if you do not have the full power of THE currently.”

He paused, letting his words sink in.

”If you and I were able to come to an understanding... maybe The Fallout would be something that we can easily get past. This is what I have always thought. Right now, faced with this ordeal, would you happen to have an answer or solution or knowledge regarding how such a curse could be taken care of?”

His eyes gleamed with something dangerous.

”And to show my goodwill...”

Noah nodded toward Sigrid, and in the next moment the massive river of white Order that was flowing from the other side of The Veil to Sigrid stopped abruptly. It rapidly reduced and became a barely imperceptible line as barely any Civilizational Authority of Order was being siphoned anymore.

...!

THE Dead Order looked at such a scene with somber eyes, looking at Noah as if he were a dead man walking as she asked with genuine curiosity, ”What exactly did you do to make THE Living Elemental so enraged that he would exert his authority outside of THE Loom? With the suppression of Existence itself laid down by THE Creature, any entity with THE distinction would pay a heavy cost to unleash even a semblance of their power like this outside THE Loom. Just what did you do?”

Noah did not answer such a question.

He simply floated closer to The Veil with deliberate movements, appearing inches away from it, close enough that the flames around him cast dancing shadows across her throne.

He asked again with calm tyranny amidst all the burning, ”Do you have a solution?”

At such a direct question, THE Dead Order became utterly still as if she were thinking carefully about her options.

Noah looked at her with eyes that seemed to pierce through layers of existence, and as if he could seemingly see inside of her being and what decision she was about to make, he said with quiet certainty, ”In your head right now, you are debating two choices. I do advise for you to lean towards the better choice for your sake and mine.”

...!

At such presumptuous words, THE Dead Order smiled with a sense of brutality and calculation. She leaned back on her throne and laughed with genuine amusement.

”Since you already seem to know then I will choose the other choice,” she said with cruel delight. ”Why would I help you? You are an antagonist against what I wish to achieve. And now that you have been struck with such an affliction, your existence will likely collapse itself soon enough, even though it should have done so some time ago.”

Her smile widened.

”After you are collapsed... this little vile Young Order you have been defiling, who is so emotionally connected to you that she is holding back tears right now as you burn... she would lose her protector. Any semblance of Civilization that you are building will crumble. And once the one protecting her has crumbled, I can send my Guides of Order to the other side of The Veil without worry and claim that vile Young Order beside you. I will erase her existence completely and fuse with what she has.”

HUUM!

She spread her hands as if presenting an obvious truth.

”All of this just works out perfectly for me. Why would I not choose this path? No, Osmont. There will be no help from me to you. You have been an interesting little character in this grand play of Existence. But it is now time for you to make an exit. Like many other insignificant beings since The Earliest Folds, you will be forgotten very, very quickly.”

Her eyes glittered with malicious satisfaction.

”Even though I do admire the fact that you are able to stand here and even talk... while experiencing an attack of a Civilizational Authority from an entire scale of Existence above you. Now that is something worthy of note. You are akin to a little chicken that has been thrown into burning boiling oil and yet somehow you are refusing to be burnt and cooked.”

She laughed again, the sound echoing across the domain.

”That burning oil will only increase in temperature, Osmont. And as soon as you collapse... I will make my move.”

...!

Her eyes shone with a sadistic brutality as she threw her head back on her throne and laughed at his misfortune with genuine glee!

She continued with utterly ugly words dripping with schadenfreude. ”Haha, I never expected to feel thankful for that shitty Living Elemental. I will give him your regards when I come across him after The Fallout. When I have my revenge against him and all the others. I will...!”

She was so deeply entrenched in her words and laughing at his misfortune that she only realized what had happened in the next moment.

She looked down with sudden alarm to see the figure of Noah... floating right beside her throne, his burning hand reaching out and touching her leg.

In the next instant, crimson-gold flames began to spread and ravage across her form like wildfire!

...!

THE Dead Order opened her eyes with absolute incredulity and shock, her mind unable to process what had just occurred.

Noah used that instant moment of shock to rapidly shoot back across to the other side of The Veil with desperate speed!

THE Dead Order then howled out in rage as the flames climbed higher up her body!

Immense waves of Order erupted from her like a tsunami, blanketing down on the flames that had already covered half of her lower body!

”YOU CAN CROSS THE VEIL?!” she roared with disbelief and fury mixing together. ”You sycophantic fuck!”

Noah looked at her from the safety of the other side with an utterly cold and tyrannical gaze that held no sympathy whatsoever.

”Watch your language, O pristine and righteous Order,” he said with quiet venom. ”I told you to make a different choice. You did not. So now... we share the same affliction.”

His eyes blazed with satisfaction despite the pain.

”I sincerely hope that you have a solution for it.”

...!

BOOM!

Rageful waves of Order erupted like volcanic fury as shockingly, Noah observed seas of white authority trying desperately to press down on the flames that were rising to cover the massive body of THE Dead Order.

They were shockingly slowing the advance of the flames from covering her entirely, the Civilizational Authority of Order combating the curse with desperate intensity.

Noah could feel the eyes of THE Dead Order vibrating with immense pain and incredulity mixing with absolute rage, and her domineering voice bellowed out in the next moment with a single word that shook the entire domain.

”OSMONT!!!”

The roar was primal and furious and filled with a pain she had not experienced in eons.

Noah simply watched with cold satisfaction as THE Dead Order experienced the same burning he had been enduring, and he waited to see what choice she would make now!