Infinite Mana in the Apocalypse - Chapter 4401
Chapter 4401: You! III
Noah stared at the terrifying scene of obsidian-crimson flames of Hunger bathing this entire region of the Transcendent Quantum Folds, painting existence in colors of annihilation rather than simple destruction.
His perception drank in the devastation all around…not just the immediate conflict, but the cascading consequences spreading outward.
In the distance, the Justiciar that had been conducting its systematic massacre had stopped.
Its hazy white form stood motionless, its featureless face turned toward their direction with what could only be interpreted as stupor…as if witnessing something that it absolutely did not expect.
Plans are falling apart.
The thought crossed Noah’s mind.
They had intended to follow this Justiciar after its false genocide concluded, track it back to whatever base of operations these entities emerged from, gather critical information.
But now…
Noah shook his head, refocusing on the scene of devastation below where Khor already had her head raised, preparing to take another bite after exposing Schrodinger as THE Living Paradox.
We need to be certain.
He focused his gaze on The Living Concept Schrodinger and The Living Quantum Schrodinger, activating The Lens of Civilization with deliberate intent.
And prompts materialized above their heads.
|SUBJECT: Living Concept Schrodinger|
|SURFACE THOUGHT: Rage at loss of Living Paradox body – fragment of self terminated|
|DEEPER THOUGHT: Confusion at being called THE Living Paradox.|
|CORE EMOTION: A small sense of Fear at power the being above possesses – survival odds calculated as minimal|
|DEEPEST TRUTH: “THE Living Paradox? Me?! What the fuck is this bitch smoking?!”|
…!
Noah’s eyes shone sharply as he processed what The Lens revealed.
First, it showed this capability was truly terrifying!
Seeing inner truths, thoughts that beings themselves might not consciously acknowledge…
Oh!
And second…
Even Schrodinger himself does not believe he is THE Living Paradox.
But believing was one thing, and being was another entirely.
They had undoubtedly witnessed the image of Schrodinger, exactly as he appeared now, standing as THE Living Paradox over Khor’s corpse in that recovered memory. The face was identical. The presence recognizable despite the shadowy obscuration.
So what’s happening here?
Noah’s eyes flashed sharply as he studied Schrodinger with renewed intensity, searching for answers to questions.
Is this something similar to Khor? Blocked memories or suppressed identity? Or is something else entirely going on—some manipulation or deception?
They needed to understand before rushing to collapse and destroy as he did not want to trigger anything catastrophic if things truly turned out to be the case.
Noah called out to Khor.
“Khor, lock them down if you must. Restrain, contain, prevent escape. But do not continue collapsing…not yet. Even these Schrodingers here do not believe in the depths of their existence that they are THE Living Paradox. Let us understand first. Hunger must be patient.”
…!
He understood her rage more intimately than she might realize.
If someone had orchestrated his death, stolen his fundamental essence, killed his family, used his accumulated efforts as raw materials for their own designs….he might be doing exactly what she was attempting now.
But they needed understanding before committing to something irreversible.
Khor’s figure trembled as she barely contained herself, her voice emerging strained as she kept her gaze locked onto the figures below.
“Outsider,” she said, each word forced through clenched teeth, “I respect you a great deal even if I haven’t expressed it directly. I am thankful for everything you have done for me, regardless of what I have contributed in return.”
Her obsidian-crimson flames intensified.
“But this creature below me must die. Anything tied to THE Living Paradox must be collapsed…collapsed completely, whether it believes itself to be part of THE Living Paradox or not. I understand many things could be occurring. Remnant Will. Machinations. Deceptions. But what matters most is that it involves THE Living Paradox.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“Outsider, I understand your caution and appreciate your approach. But I must tell you there is not much time. The Paradoxical body I just collapsed…I intended to devour all of it. I hungered for every particle, every fragment of its existence. Yet I was only capable of splitting it in half and collapsing it completely.”
She paused.
“For some reason, its corpse, its body was not capable of being devoured. Whatever may be occurring right now, Outsider, it is imperative that we do everything possible to turn every single iota of what is known as Schrodinger to less than ash. Before whatever is happening completes itself.”
…!
Her words caused Noah’s eyes to pulse sharply as he looked down at the scene below.
Fucking hell.
His eyes flashed decisively.
The two remaining Schrodingers and Leonore Rureaux looked from Khor to Noah as if waiting for a voice of reason to calm things down, to negotiate, to find solutions through dialogue rather than violence.
But in the next moment, Noah gazed at them with coldness and immensity.
He sighed.
And…
BOOM!
His body erupted with radiant blue-gold Primus Mana, his entire existence seemingly becoming another heavy mountain about to crash down below without asking questions or seeking explanations.
At such a scene, the two remaining bodies of Schrodinger bellowed with shock and incredulity.
“WE ARE SCHRODINGER AND NOTHING ELSE!” they roared, their voices overlapping in desperate denial. “WE ARE A HERALD MEANT TO SAVE AS MUCH OF EXISTENCE AS POSSIBLE FROM THE COMING FALLOUT! WE ARE NOT THE FUCKING LIVING PARADOX!”
They screamed this while their Principles gathered around them!
But even as they protested, from above, Khor’s mouth opened again to take another bite.
And Noah’s existential weight came crushing down like an indomitable mountain accepting no resistance.
Schrodinger and Leonore Rureaux witnessed both forces descending simultaneously and howled with all their accumulated existence, power erupting in final desperate defense.
Yet the complexity of the bodies present…barely a few Quintillion combined, were too low compared to what they faced from above.
Decimation was the only possible outcome.
At such a terrifying moment in time, at such a critical juncture of existence…
“Wowee… that was unexpected. I’ve woken up a little early…”
HUUM!
A terrifically deep voice reverberated across all of nearby existence, resonating through dimensional frequencies.
Alongside it, all billowing forms of complexity and purity froze.
Above, Noah’s gaze turned ashen as recognition crashed through his consciousness.
That voice.
He had heard it before…in Khor’s recovered memory, speaking to THE Weavers with casual cruelty while holding her stolen Heart of Hunger.
The voice felt like corruption given sound. Deep and ancient, grating against existence itself as if its very presence was an offense to reality’s established order.
Yet simultaneously, it commanded respect and reverence simply through being heard, as if acknowledging its presence was involuntary submission.
That…is the voice of THE Living Paradox.
…!
Noah looked down as past Khor’s livid figure, the two remaining Schrodingers paled.
They turned slowly, horror dawning across their features.
The corpse of the Paradoxical Schrodinger…which had been held by Leonore Rureaux, empty husk after Khor’s devastating consumption, rose up with its two halves separated but moving.
…!
A corpse by all reasonable definition. Terminated. Collapsed. Its existence ended.
And yet something utterly ancient billowed inside of it like smoke filling empty vessel.
The two halves of the corpse stretched, limbs extending in ways that defied the fact they were no longer connected.
Dark tendrils…not quite tentacles, not quite shadows, but something that existed in uncomfortable space between, erupted from the split edges and reached across the gap, seeking to rejoin severed halves.
The eyes of this corpse pulsed with sudden awareness, beginning to radiate pure crimson-gold light that suggested something vast occupying limited space.
And even before the halves fully reconnected, even while the body remained split down its center, the lips…also separated, moved independently yet in perfect synchronization, speaking with that deep, grating voice that made existence itself recoil.
“No… I could have sworn I collapsed you completely and took your Heart of Hunger…”
The corpse’s head tilted with curiosity that bordered on mockery, crimson-gold eyes focusing on Khor above with recognition.
“How the heck are you still existing, Little Inevitability?”
…!
All of Existence strained and shuddered.
As if a weight too heavy had appeared at a place it shouldn’t.
Noah looked at it and understood one thing that would have been a potential reason for his failure in surviving The Fallout.
And the voice of this thing alone caused everything nearby to freeze.
Because this wasn’t just power speaking.
This was THE speaking.
The voice of something that had reached scales of existence where normal rules became optional suggestions.
THE Living Paradox, in an unknown and unexpected capacity, had made an unimaginably early entrance!