Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3812: Unbeatable I

A screeching Inevitability blazed in the skies.

Noah stood with his hands behind his back, eyes cold.

His mind had long since dissected the tale.

The Creature... had offered everything.

First, in the name of empathy. Then, in desperation.

Heart.

Lungs.

Almost its Beginning.

All to try and change the nature of something that could not be changed.

An Inevitability.

And when there was nothing left to give, it had offered its all to the Living Paradox to be saved.

Noah’s gaze didn’t waver as he stared at the Imitation Mutated Inevitability screeching high above, its mass growing, wings multiplying.

"To survive against inevitability," he murmured, "the Creature had to give itself to Living Paradox. To give everything."

That was the lesson.

A rule, carved in agony.

The creature had tried to break that law... and lost everything in return.

Just as the last echo of the Inevitability’s shriek faded, a green-gold flash swept across the treetop.

Master Shen descended.

Wings like blades of emerald light folded behind him as he landed beside them, expression stern.

He didn’t waste time.

"It looks like I’ll have to distribute the rest of my Resistance Archetype Points," he said, eyes locked on the towering threat before them. "To face that thing properly."

He turned slightly, his voice steady, directed at Sigrid now.

"A moment ago, when I struck it... I heard a ’no’. Was that due to your overabundance of caution and cate for me?"

There was no jest in his tone.

No warmth.

Just the weight of a question.

Sigrid didn’t hesitate.

"No," she said, voice quiet, firm. "It wasn’t about you."

"...I see."

She turned away from him, eyes on the Inevitability.

"That creature in front of us... is not one you defeat by simply overpowering."

She spoke slowly.

"Attack it, and it will devour your efforts. Grow stronger with each one. That is its nature."

Silence.

Master Shen took in her words.

Then said lowly, "Then how exactly do you fight something like that?"

At his side, Noah remained motionless, his voice calm.

"The answer lies in the story."

Sigrid nodded.

Her expression calm, but the light in her eyes pulsed brighter as she looked into the burning horizon, toward the thrumming mass of inevitability.

And then... she continues the story that held a clue on how to defeat an Inevitability!

"I’ll tell you the rest of the story of the Creature...once it gave everything.

The moment that the Creature was at its lowest and filled with desperation, he gave away his everything to the Living Paradox to be saved from the Inevitability.

And in that moment, the Living Paradox filled him- laughing, victorious, woven from whispers and riddles.

The Creature, hollowed and shivering, turned its thoughts toward the Inevitability that still devoured him. It looked up through the light bleeding from its cracked soul and said weakly,

"I have given you my all. Keep your end of the bargain and save me."

And the Living Paradox... tilted its head within him.

"Do you know," it asked, voice soft like falling ash, "how to end something that is insatiable? How to defeat what is inevitable?"

The Creature had no answer.

No strength.

Its body only continued to shine brighter and brighter with the light of paradox- its pain, its self, all twisted into something Else.

The Living Paradox chuckled with delight and replied:

"You give it everything."

...!

And the light erupted.

Crimson.

Gold.

Colorless.

Colorful.

Waves of paradox burst outward from the Creature’s frame, and the Inevitability- hungry, wild, insatiable- drank it all.

It howled in ecstasy as it took everything in.

It expanded.

It grew.

It became a new boundless star across the Earliest Folds of Existence, a writhing sun of greed and joy and devouring as truly, it took Everything.

Everything.

It could be looked at differently for many.

One’s "everything" is not another’s "everything." A beggar’s treasure may be a king’s defecation. That same shit is everything to a plant as it would devour it greedily as fertilizer. The gift of the innocent can flood the seas, while the offering of tyrants barely fills a cup.

But Creature didn’t understand.

How was the Living Paradox able to give so much?

The light kept pouring out of him- but he was no longer dimming.

He should have been gone.

Empty.

But the paradox kept giving.

He finally asked, "How are you giving everything this freely? Are you not paying the cost?"

And the Living Paradox smiled.

Not with warmth.

But with cunning, curling truth.

"Oh, I am giving everything," it said. "But something else is paying the cost."

"For I," it whispered, "am the Living Paradox."

"And one of the things I deal in... are Inevitabilities."

...!

The Inevitability roared with euphoria.

Its nature, once starved and singular, was now bursting with light.

It looked upon the Creature, now the conduit of paradox, and said with strange peace,

"You have changed my nature. I feel... full."

And yet, within the Creature, the Living Paradox only laughed.

The light grew brighter.

More came.

More still.

The Inevitability widened its eyes as it began to swell beyond reason.

It cried out,

"Stop... I have changed. I am full. I am no longer-"

But the Living Paradox did not stop.

And the light poured still.

Poured endlessly.

Flooded the Inevitability, whose voice turned from joy to fear.

"I cannot hold anymore-!"

And here, the Living Paradox said simply,

"Those who wish to swallow everything..."

"...will learn they cannot bear its weight."

And then...

BOOM.

The Inevitability exploded.

Its body could no longer hold the Everything it consumed.

From its core burst the Creature’s heart.

Its lungs.

Its stolen pieces.

From it burst the light.

The Living Origin.

The Living Concept.

And the echoing light of Paradox.

It scattered.

Poured out into the Folds.

Across existence.

Unclaimed.

Unbound.

Unstoppable.

The Living Paradox, seated within the Creature’s hollowed frame, only watched the aftermath with widening eyes that were no longer the Creature’s.

It laughed, slow and full, its weavings burning with schemes.

And whispered into the silence of the folds.

"Now that you’ve given away your Everything, Creature, without even knowing what you truly were..."

"...I shall use your Everything..."

"...to spread my weavings over Everything."

And the folds trembled.

As if dreading what was to come.