Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse-Chapter 5123: Ego! I

The power emanating from Beowulf was more than a hundred times greater than what Noah had faced during their original confrontation. The Primordial Architect who had attacked with intent to claim his Infinity had been transformed into something far grander through imprisonment and forced cultivation.

But the eyes behind that empty armored helm held no pride in this advancement.

They held fear.

Immense, undeniable fear when they turned toward Noah!

Noah didn’t look at this fucking rat.

He simply waved his right hand again.

HUUM!

Another figure emerged from THE Hadean Desmoterion, this one taking form with presence that somehow exceeded even what Beowulf displayed.

THE Living Elemental materialized beside the armored Primordial Architect.

His form shifted through configurations of fire and water and earth and air, elemental authority that had been refined through the same process Beowulf had undergone. Blue gold light saturated every aspect of his constantly changing existence, Quintessence Infiniforce and Observable Force having been integrated so thoroughly that it had become part of what he fundamentally was.

|THE Living Elemental.|

|Classification: THE Second Scale of Vakochev’s Scales of Existence. Nascent Hadean Lifeform.|

|Skeletal Structure: 156 bones at Proterozoic classification. 50 bones at Hadean classification.|

|Organ Systems: 52 organs at Proterozoic classification. 26 organs at Hadean classification.|

|Current power output exceeds Beowulf by approximately 23%. Among the stronger Nascent Hadean entities currently in existence outside of your direct lineage.|

...!

When THE Living Elemental finished materializing, his elemental form turned toward Noah.

Fear painted itself across features that shifted between states too quickly for most to track. The same fear that Beowulf displayed, the same recognition of what stood before them and what that presence meant for their continued existence.

Noah looked at THE Living Elemental with distaste that didn’t need to be hidden.

"The armored Primordial Architect will give you a glimpse of the ones you’ll fight," he said, his voice remaining calm despite the expression on his face. "And this shitty, good for nothing Living Elemental is another Second Scale you can struggle against."

His gaze swept across his gathered people.

"I would have acted as the one to fight against you all, but I haven’t fully gauged my own strength yet. I don’t want to accidentally collapse you all while sparring."

A pause that felt almost casual.

"So for now, just hang on with these trash enemies. Once I’ve fully acclimated to my power, you’ll all face me."

...!

Incredulous reactions rippled through the gathered crowd.

Barbatos smiled wryly, her dark gold eyes holding amusement.

Others looked at Beowulf and THE Living Elemental with something approaching pity.

This was a Primordial Architect who had existed for eons, who had accumulated power that most beings couldn’t comprehend!

And Noah called him trash!

Training dummies for his people to sharpen themselves against.

HUUM!

Terrifying power bloomed from the two released prisoners as they prepared for what was about to occur.

They moved with fear driving every action, because they understood something that Noah’s people were only beginning to grasp. If they didn’t sufficiently accomplish what they had been brought out here to do, if they failed to provide adequate pressure for transformation, if they were deemed useless for even this purpose...

Once they returned to that prison where time moved extremely differently, they would be punished for years.

Ozymandias was waiting, and Ozymandias had learned new methods of discipline during his own transformation!

---

Twenty hours remained until the Civilizational Holy War.

Noah was overseeing many things across THE Infiniverse when part of his consciousness received a tug of emotions. He frowned at the sensation. A moment later, he sent a body out to investigate.

The location was a distant place in the endless Wastes.

He appeared in a region that had become a swirling multicolored sea due to the Quintessence Infiniforce saturating everything. The waters churned without pattern, colors bleeding into each other. Half submerged in these impossible seas, a massive shattered Shelter of THE Loom rose from the depths like the corpse of a fallen giant.

The structure had been destroyed!

Atop the shattered Shelter, a figure materialized.

THE Living Emotive didn’t appear as an illusory visage gathered from ambient emotions this time. Her existence was fully present, an accumulation of feelings so dense and real that she pressed against the surrounding environment simply by being there. Chaos swirled around her form in visible currents, authority she had claimed mixing with the emotional resonance that defined her nature.

She was manically beautiful.

Her features held symmetry, every angle and curve designed to draw attention and hold it captive. But there was something wrong with that beauty, something manic beneath its surface that made appreciation feel like a trap. Her smile stretched too wide when she looked at him!

Her hair shifted colors as he watched.

It moved through shades that corresponded to nothing external, responding instead to emotions that flickered through her existence faster than most beings could track. Red bled into violet bled into gold bled into black, the transitions happening without pattern or warning. One moment she seemed wreathed in passion, the next in something closer to despair, the next in triumph that had no apparent source.

Noah’s gaze remained cold as she looked at him and smiled brilliantly.

"You..anh, you detest me..."

Her voice carried weavings that pressed against his consciousness, each word layered with emotional weight that would have influenced lesser beings.

She was not so manic as last time. Her words were more coherent!

"I can feel it, you know. That emotion! The distaste you hold for me radiates so strongly that I could locate you across Observable Existence simply by following its trail. Though you seem to be inside a place I cannot lock down as all emotions inside of it...are locked deeper than even THE Wyld..."

She stepped closer across the shattered surface of the Shelter, her bare feet leaving impressions that glowed with residual feeling.

"Most beings try to hide their emotions from me. But you don’t bother. You let me see exactly how much you wish I would disappear from your awareness entirely."

Her smile didn’t falter.

"I find that oh so refreshing. It is why right now...I pulled on my emotions of logic and coherence to speak oh so clearly to you. Do you like my words? Straightforward! Formal! And I havent rhymed anything just yet which is hard...ah!"

Noah said nothing, simply watching as she spoke.

"I should explain something," she continued, her hair shifting through blues and greens. "My fixation on you isn’t arbitrary. It’s in my nature to become fixated on whoever controls the most emotions across Observable Existence at any given time. The being whose presence influences how others feel simply by existing."

She tilted her head, studying him with eyes that held too many colors simultaneously.

"That was Abaddon for a time. Then THE Creature, when he burned away his classification and began doing things that made even ancient entities feel fear. Then it was Erwin, THE Living Paradox, when his machinations began affecting the information that shapes how beings perceive their circumstances. "

Her smile sharpened.

"But now it’s you. It...has always been you! You’re like a beacon to me! A lighthouse that every emotional current eventually flows toward."

She paused, seeming to consider her next words carefully despite the manic energy that radiated from her.

"I know that history can interfere with future. What happened before and what I did before colors how you see me now. My actions towards Malphas and many others...Oh, and I even tried to kill you! Silly me! But hey, look at us now? Not too long ago, you slapped me until all my teeth fell out! Ahh.. I play that memory constantly to remember how much you detest me! So I will proceed slowly, carefully, in whatever manner causes you the least displeasure."

Her hair cycled through colors that suggested submission beneath their shifting surface.

"If you command me to kneel, I will kneel."

She knelt as she spoke, demonstrating rather than merely describing.

"If you command me to lick, to beg, to be a worm crawling at your feet, I would do it. If you command me to collapse myself entirely, to end my existence because my presence offends you..."

Her eyes met his from her kneeling position.

"Oh...fuck, I’m realizing now that I really might just do that too! Sheesh! That would not be too ideal but...oh! That is my nature when my fixation has become this strong. I cannot help what I am."

Noah’s expression didn’t change, but he continued listening.

THE Living Emotive rose from her kneel with fluid grace, her hair now settling into steadier shades of purple and silver.

"After claiming Chaos and siphoning the power of all emotions across Observable Existence, I changed tremendously. I gained access to understanding that had been hidden from me before. And I found out something pivotal."

Her voice grew more serious, the manic edge retreating slightly.

"For Primordial Architects and other lifeforms at THE Second Scale who want to infuse themselves with Infinity without going mad, the most critical factor is actually Ego. Their emotion. Their sense of self refined into something that can withstand pressure that would dissolve lesser consciousnesses."

She began pacing across the shattered Shelter, her words flowing with the cadence of genuine discovery.

"To go against the madness of Infinity, they amplify what they affirmed with their Civilizational Anchor. They further enhance and inflate certain emotions to be so strong within their Ego, within their existence, that they develop an unfathomably high resistance to Infinity depending on how amplified a singular or multiple emotions are."

Her pacing stopped as she turned to face him again.

"So I realized something that contradicted what I had always assumed. At the peak of power, you don’t find mindless sages who have attained some nirvanic state and abandoned all feeling. Emotions and the state of being are actually deemed unfathomably more critical at higher classifications. The conscious mind, the unconscious depths, the raw impulses of extremely powerful beings are all cultivated specifically to bear Infinity."

Her hair shifted through golds and whites as she spoke with increasing intensity.

"I found all of this out because the structure of THE Wyld became clear to me after I claimed Chaos and pulled on all emotions. Where power concentrates. How authority flows. The configurations that determine who rules and who serves."

Her eyes blazed brighter.

"THE Deliverance and three others of his stature rule THE Wyld. Four beings whose power exceeds everything beneath them by margins that make comparison meaningless. And THE Deliverance and these other top dogs, they have a direct connection to something grand. Something that provides them with advantages that Bounded Lifeforms shouldn’t be able to touch."

She stepped closer to Noah, her voice dropping lower.

"My fixation. My fascination. My...Anchor. The reason I came here despite knowing how much you detest me...was to give you information of those in the Civilizational Holy War, but also..."

Her hair settled into pure gold.

"Do you know about THE Gilded Ones?"

...!

Noah stared at her coldly.

The distaste remained, rooted in history that couldn’t be erased through useful information. She had done things that earned his hatred, and no amount of kneeling or offering would change that foundation.

But he was pragmatic above all else.

And this being who disgusted him may just prove to be an anomaly more disgusting than Erwin or even come close to rival...THE Creature!?