Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4143 Collective Ascendancy! V

The words had barely left his lips when she felt it begin.

Even though he had stopped holding her chin, even though there was now space between them, she felt him everywhere.

Blinding beams of green and gold light wrapped around her form like an embrace made manifest. Above her, clouds gathered- those impossible clouds that had no business existing here but did anyway because he had called them forth.

The light didn't just touch her; it pressed against her from all directions, concentrated waves of purity and complexity flowing into her being with relentless certainty. And throughout it all, she could feel him in the light. His essence, his touch, his presence pressing against every aspect of her existence.

It was... exhilarating.

She ordered her existence with deliberate force, commanding her knees not to buckle, her expression not to reveal the overwhelming sensation of being completely surrounded by him.

She stood tall, proud, refusing to show weakness even as power beyond comprehension flooded through her channels.

Her eyes fluttered…a momentary lapse in control that she would deny if asked, as the prompts began to materialize before her vision.

These words of information that she had begun seeing since joining him, since becoming part of his impossible story.

|You have received an Endowment from The Early Creature, Osmont|

|The Harvest Festival celebrates your accumulated efforts|

|Your dedication to Order while embracing chaos has been recognized|

|Your role in stabilizing impossible growth has been acknowledged|

|Complexity gained: +5,000,000,000,000 (+5 Trillion)|

|Purity gained: +6,000,000,000,000 (+6 Trillion)|

|Additional Boon: Order Authority enhancement - 300% increase in imposed structure|

|Additional Boon: Chaos Resistance - Can maintain Order in 500% more chaotic environments|

|Additional Boon: Synergy with The Early Creature, Osmont - Shared authorities amplified|

|Current Total Complexity: 10,842,000,000,000|

|Current Total Purity: 11,156,000,000,000|

|Classification Update: Duke-level power achieved|

|Benefit: Can impose Order on Duke-level existences|

…!

The words gradually faded, leaving her standing in the aftermath of transformation.

She raised her hands slowly, watching them as if they belonged to someone else. Through them…through her entire being, she could feel it coursing like liquid starlight, like ordered chaos, like structured impossibility.

The power of a Duke.

Duke.

And it had come from a wave of his hand. A gesture. A decision that he had made as casually as someone choosing what to have for breakfast.

She almost shook her head in disbelief but caught herself. When she looked toward him, he had that smile again. That warm, devilish smile that made her want to abandon all pretense of order and just jump into his arms, to show him exactly how much affection THE Living Order was capable of when properly motivated.

But she had to remain strong!

So she clenched her fist, feeling the new power compress reality around her grip, and spoke with as much composure as she could manage.

"I have exceeded ten trillion. My Order can now impose itself in even more terrifying ways. The chaos of battle, the entropy of destruction, the disorder of existence itself…all of it will bend to my will now."

His smile widened, and then…shockingly, impossibly, wonderfully, he reached out and patted her head.

The gesture was gentle, affectionate, almost paternal if not for the electricity it sent racing through her form. She kept her wits about her, barely, and slowly moved back because she could sense his intention shifting, his attention moving to the next recipient of his impossible gift.

Because right after her…

"Come!"

He spoke the word toward Moiraine.

Sigrid found herself watching with an intensity that she told herself was mere curiosity. She didn't feel particularly competitive with Moiraine or any of the other women in his orbit.

Competition would imply she cared about her position relative to theirs, and she was THE Living Order…she didn't need to compete with anyone.

But she couldn't stop herself from observing every interaction, cataloging every gesture, analyzing every word exchanged between them.

Was he soft with them as he was with her? Rough? Imposing? Did he touch their chins with that same electric gentleness? Did he pat their heads with that same affectionate condescension that somehow made her feel treasured rather than diminished?

She wanted to know. Needed to know. For…purely analytical reasons, of course. Nothing else.

When Moiraine approached, moving with that liquid grace that seemed to be her natural state, and looked at him while uttering a simple, respectful "Sir," Sigrid found herself holding her breath.

Noah smiled at Moiraine…warmly, genuinely, but he did not reach out to touch her chin. He did not guide her gaze upward with that burning finger.

He simply began the endowment process with the same casual power but without that particular intimate gesture.

Sigrid found herself clenching her fist in victory.

It was absurd. Childish. Completely beneath someone of her standing.

THE Living Order shouldn't care about such trivial distinctions. The fact that she had received a simple touch on the chin while someone else had not shouldn't fill her with this warm sense of triumph.

Yet it did.

That small gesture, that brief moment of contact, somehow meant more to her than the fact that she had just gained enough power to stand as a Duke!

More than the transformation of her very existence. More than the enhancement of her Order Authority to levels that shouldn't be possible.

She stood there, watching him work his impossible magic on another, feeling simultaneously powerful beyond measure and completely, utterly conquered.

She was THE Living Order, fundamental force of existence, bearer of structure itself.

And she was also, apparently, a woman who had fallen so completely for someone that a pat on the head could make her feel like she had won the greatest prize in existence.

The thought should have bothered her more than it did. Order meant control, structure, predictability. What she felt for Noah was none of those things. It was chaos wearing the mask of order, disorder pretending to be structured, pure impossibility masquerading as inevitable truth.

And again…did she not give up her Everything of Disorder?!

She was a woman who had heavily fallen but did not seem to truly know it yet.

Or perhaps, she thought as she watched him work, as she felt the Duke-level power coursing through her transformed existence…perhaps she knew exactly how far she had fallen.

She just didn't care.