Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3904: Fishing in Troubled Waters! III

An instant.

That was all she needed.

Moiraine vanished like a breath stolen by Existence itself!

In the space where she had stood, a Glyph of the Protagonist shimmered into existence, its intricate lines gleaming with radiant white-gold brilliance.

It pulsed with the authority of a Living Origin and scattered waves of white gold authority in this region as if to say- a Living Origin was here and responsible for this!

Existence groaned right after.

A low, grating sound like reality being bent backward screamed out into the Nullvein Gravewake Folds.

And where the Living Paradox had been only moments ago, there was now only ruin. From its fractured death, horror emerged.

It was...

An Inevitability, malformed and twisted, began to bloom from the frayed threads of its paradoxical existence. It stood tall and eerie, flanked by multiple rising disfigured humanoid things- Living Collapses!

Their skin was a stretched, bleeding white, their movements jerking as if their bodies were unsure if they were meant to stand or slither. Bone cracked outward in grotesque angles.

"Sin!"

"SIN!"

They chanted with horror and victory.

One Living Collapse turned its head, and its face tore in half as if trying to form expression, only to fail. The air warped around them, screams blooming and dying in the same breath.

Then came the boom.

A thunderous golden light shattered across the Folds as the Honored Living Golden Paradox descended, his nine wings flaring out behind him in a blaze of majesty and fire. Nine halos floated behind his head in perfect geometric balance, each one carved with paradoxical truths, each one humming with a song of order and collapse.

He landed with fury in his eyes as he looked around!𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"In an instant!" he growled.

He looked down upon the site where one of his own had been felled. He saw the budding Inevitability. He saw the Living Collapses, their bodies crawling out of the unraveling paradox. He saw the death of one of his flock!

And his eyes went still.

"Liar’s Paradox," he spoke with booming coldness.

The authority in his voice reshaped the weavings of existence.

The Inevitability, barely born, shrieked without sound. The Living Collapses spasmed, their grotesque limbs clawing at an unseen force. And then, they vanished in the pure severance of presence. They were never there. Not anymore.

Only the golden blood on the ground bore witness.

Liar’s Paradox. A philosophical construct weaponized into an existential truth. It meant that if something existed that should not, its very assertion of existence became false. And if wielded by one with enough Paradoxical authority, enough power to enforce that contradiction, the contradiction won.

To lie about reality... was to change it.

The Honored Living Golden Paradox looked upon the crystalline remnants left behind- glimmering shreds of Living Origin Authority now laid bare. His voice fell coldly as he turned to the Living Paradoxes surrounding him.

"A coward strikes among us. An Honored Living Origin, skulking in shadows, targeting our weakest. From now on, you will move in groups of ten. No one walks alone. Should a Living Origin show themselves, do not engage- signal and await reinforcements."

His words struck like commands of reality. The others nodded, their eyes grim.

And then...

Purple light shimmered.

From the massive concentric wheels of the Chronosect of Threadbound Folds, figures began to descend. Time Sentinels, draped in violet robes and trailing threads of stilled seconds, emerged with hesitant reverence.

Behind them, the Tower Master, a stooped figure of Originus Venerant realm bowed so deeply it seemed he might fracture.

"To what honor do we owe the presence of Foldless Ones this day?" he asked, voice thin and filled with reverence.

The Honored Living Golden Paradox descended slowly, his feet never touching the specks of Origin as he hovered before the Tower Master. His gaze was pure disdain.

"Did you see anything?"

The Tower Master trembled.

"We felt the presence of an honored Foldless One, nothing more."

His words were pitiful. Empty.

With one motion, the Honored Living Golden Paradox flicked his fingers.

Time halted.

The Time Sentinels collapsed. One by one, their forms disintegrated into long, thin threads of unraveling time. The Tower Master gasped, his hands reaching upward as if in prayer- and then his body collapsed, his eyes still open in silent terror as he fell into dust.

"Useless!" said the Honored Living Golden Paradox.

His aura roared outward in gold and black flame, seeping into every Wheel of Existence nearby, unraveling the protections the Chronosect had painstakingly built as he searched.

If he was annoyed, he would simply kill.

For why would one bother or worry when looking at those that were akin to mere ants?!

---

In the Early Veiled Shore, the waters hummed.

Noah watched them, serene.

A single ripple moved across the sands as the air twisted.

Then, she appeared!

Moiraine!

Elegant. Burning. Breathless.

Her black and gold robes billowed softly as she descended in spirals of paradoxical light. In her arms, wrapped in the firm embrace of golden Authority, was the beheaded corpse of a Living Paradox. It left her and struck the ground with a muted boom, the sands darkening to a glimmering gold as blood spilled.

Noah’s gaze did not move immediately. He stood still, a piece of a Marine Lifeform caught in the breeze dangling from his hand. His other hand raised, shading his brow as he watched her approach.

Moiraine stood tall, though her breath was just barely uneven.

"I kept it under an instant, Sir Osmont."

He smiled.

"Yes," Noah said, his voice smooth and rich, like smoke curling through velvet. "You did."

He stepped forward. The corpse was enormous, even in death. Its wings were crumpled, its face still twisted in confused disbelief. The clean line of beheading gleamed with the finality of paradox undone.

Noah crouched before it, his fingers grazing the golden blood.

He spoke softly, more to the body than to anyone else as he sighed.

"Perhaps you believed yourself to be a function of purpose. That your authority made you vital. That your life held meaning in how you served." He tilted his head, voice low. "But that was illusion."

He stood again, slow and measured, looking down with the weight of understanding pressing behind his eyes.

"Your death, however," he continued, "has value. In that stillness, in that severance- you finally matter. You, a Living Paradox, finally matter."

And the air pulsed.

A prompt shimmered into view!

|The Early Veiled Shore has discovered the corpse of a lifeform that can be designated as an Early Living Land Lifeform.|

|Its corpse is equivalent to 75 Sacred Bodies of Early Living Marine Lifeforms. Would you like to devour it?|

Noah smiled. A warm, chilling smile!

He didn’t answer. Not yet.

Instead, he looked to Moiraine. She stood with her back straight, her golden eyes reflecting nothing but loyalty and shadowed brilliance. Her presence alone made the winds of the Early Veiled Shore swirl tighter.

A Foldless One.

And now, a terrifying weapon that he could direct and swing!

He then looked back at the body.

And nodded!

...!