Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4955: Truly Live! IV

But before he left, he turned back to Noah with an expression that had shifted from enigmatic to sincere.

"Existence is vast and filled with terrors. A friend of ours loves to say this."

His voice held warmth that exceeded his usual detached nobility.

"Existence is also filled with unfathomable possibilities and wonders. Anaximander likes to say this."

Something like nostalgia flickered in those swirling multicolored eyes.

"If things were different. If existence was different... someone like Anaximander would have been much happier to be an explorer. Someone who looked to the stars, no authority within their existence, just curiosity and wonder that would take decades of his time, until he came to rest."

His flames dimmed slightly as he continued.

"Sometimes those existences with limited lifespans, who only live a matter of decades or a few hundred years, sometimes they live grander and more fulfilling lives than those of us who live for millions or billions of years or even eons."

The weight of these words pressed against Noah’s consciousness!

"Sometimes authority and power complicates. Sometimes you can live for eons and not be fulfilled. A long life is not necessarily a fulfilling life."

His multicolored eyes fixed on Noah with intensity that exceeded everything previous.

"So the most that I can tell you, as you go through the Adversity that you are going through, remember to actually live. To actually be alive."

"I played with the demarcation of life and death. Of Living Existences and Dead Existences. Of THE Veil between The Living and The Dead. And I found that at times, The Dead lived more than the living."

The words settled with weight that pressed against the fabric of existence itself.

"Live, Youngest. Live."

As he said this, the massive figure of THE Creature began to flicker and disappear.

Noah looked at this being calmly and took in all of his words. This was good advice, a counsel that most beings would spend eons trying to understand. The existential question of what it meant to truly live, to be alive rather than merely existing, to experience rather than merely endure, it was the kind of wisdom in itself.

But... it was already something that he was doing.

He wasn’t only obsessed with progression and achievement. He made sure to have multiple bodies moving within THE Infiniverse, to be farming, to be with his family, to be with his many women. He was living.

But...

Maybe he could live even more.

He thought about everything as he replied to THE Creature.

"Good luck on all your Adversities. And give my greetings to Anaximander. Until next time."

HUUM!

The massive Absolute Effigy of THE Creature smiled. He nodded lightly.

"Until next time."

He paused.

"And oh, go easy on her."

...!

With such words, THE Creature disappeared.

The surroundings flickered in and out of brilliance as Noah found himself back near that mountain in Alfheimr, the twilight of this Primordial Realm settling around his Absolute Effigy with familiarity.

But at this time, the massive manifestation of THE Creature was no longer there.

In that temple atop that grand mountain, THE Creature was no longer there.

As for what his last words meant...

Noah’s expression became cold as ice forming on still water.

He looked down at the mountain, his gaze piercing across many things to land on THE Living Emotive. She stood beside her bonded Undivided One, that great winged lion with its serpent mane, her pink Absolute Effigy burning with manic energy that matched her emotional nature.

The one THE Creature was referring to when he told him to go easy on her was this dumb bitch.

Because at this time, Noah could feel the silent weavings bound to invisible manic emotions that had flowed into the Undivided One beside Emotive undetected. He could perceive them with his elevated Geodesic awareness, could trace their paths with perception that curved along routes of minimal distance to find what was being hidden.

The same weavings were being sent toward him.

THE Living Emotive was actually trying to form another Bond, even though she had told THE Creature that she had utilized her last one on this Undivided One.

She had deceived the entity whose Bond she already possessed. She was attempting to claim Noah as well, to add him to her collection, to make him the fourth of THE Five that she had Bonded.

But of course, existence was filled with liars.

And THE Living Emotive was simply one of the worst ones.

She looked up toward Noah’s massive manifestation with expression that held none of the guilt her actions warranted. Her pink eyes sparkled with manic interest that bordered on obsession. Her lips curved into a smile that seemed designed to disarm, to charm, to manipulate.

She even waved toward him innocently.

As if she wasn’t already enacting a ridiculous and horrendous process right now.

She was a unique existence. She had bonded with three of THE Five and survived to tell the tale. She was successful enough to have THE Creature tell Noah to go easy on her. And she now tried to make Noah the fourth one she was bonded to, her invisible emotional weavings reaching toward him with persistence that exceeded shame.

Against such a being...

Noah’s massive Absolute Effigy raised its hand.

The motion was slow and deliberate, his golden manifestation shimmering in the skies of Alfheimr with light that painted the twilight in shades of blue and gold. His fingers spread wide, his palm turning to face the mountain below where THE Living Emotive stood with her innocent smile and her waving hand.

"Begone."

The word emerged with weight that exceeded mere sound.

And then his hand moved forward.

The golden manifestation of his palm swept through the air of Alfheimr with speed that exceeded what its slow beginning had suggested. It wasn’t a punch. It wasn’t a strike meant to obliterate. It was a backhand slap, the kind of casual dismissal that one might give to an annoying insect, the kind of contemptuous gesture that spoke of disdain exceeding anger!

His hand arrived before THE Living Emotive.

Her eyes widened with shock that exceeded anything her previous expression had contained. Her smile froze on her face as she realized what was happening, as she understood that her manipulations had been perceived, as she comprehended that her innocent act had fooled no one!

She hadn’t expected this at all.

The impact...was devastating!