Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4992: Finite II

The armored titan gestured broadly at the region surrounding them, at the corrupted Wastes that had become a prison the moment Noah entered it.

"It is like you had little Alexander there in one area of a burning fire, and you simply moved him to another area where you are standing."

A pause.

"You are now standing together, but so what?"

The visor oriented toward Noah with weight that pressed against his consciousness from across the distance between them.

"Infinity-bearer, you are still burning inside this endless ring of fire."

HUUM!

The sound resonated through existence itself as THE Primordial Armor raised both massive gauntlets toward the sky.

And then, for surrounding light years in every direction, a crimson fiery ring of undifferentiation rose from the corrupted Wastes and encircled absolutely everything.

The ring blazed with authority that made the corruption saturating this region seem mild by comparison. It stretched upward and outward until it formed a dome, a barrier, a prison of undifferentiation that enclosed Noah and his forces and Alexander and Skoll and everything else within its burning circumference. The crimson light cast shadows across the corrupted ground that seemed to writhe with hunger for anything that tried to pass through.

Nothing would leave this place without Beowulf’s permission.

Nothing would escape this ring of fire that had no gaps, no weaknesses, no angles that Infinite perception could find.

It was a devastating scene.

And yet amidst it all, Noah turned his attention back to Alexander.

He made sure Skoll was okay first, running his perception across the loyal companion’s reforming body until he confirmed that the deterioration had fully reversed and the very good boy was healing properly.

Then Noah looked at the Peacemaker.

His hands waved again, infusing multiple Absolute Everythings into Alexander’s shattered existence while the healing of the Vital Chorus Absolutes focused their green-gold-blue light upon the cellular fragments that still twitched with the aftermath of torture.

But even then, Alexander’s existence was barely being stitched together.

The damage Beowulf had inflicted was too intricate.

Absolute Primus Inevitabilities surrounded them like impenetrable shields.

But before the grand Primordial Architect who had torn through one hundred eighty-nine of them with a casual gesture, would they truly be of any use?

"..."

Noah looked at Alexander as the Peacemaker slowly healed beneath the combined authority being poured into his shattered form.

The man who had endured millions of years of torture rather than give Noah up was trembling. His segmented body shook with echoes of pain that even Infinite healing could not immediately erase, and his eyes, though still holding that defiance that had survived everything Beowulf inflicted, now also held something that looked like grief.

Noah held that gaze for a moment, something unspoken passing between them that words could not have carried.

Then he looked away from Alexander and toward Beowulf.

THE Primordial Armor waited at the center of its domain with patience that spoke of absolute confidence. The crimson ring of fire blazed around them. The corrupted Wastes pressed against their existence. The gap between THE First Scale and THE Second Scale stretched impossibly vast between the army of Absolutes and the single armored titan that had demonstrated their helplessness with casual efficiency.

In Noah’s mind, countless threads of Infinite Undifferentiated Fate swirled with possibilities that his perception was desperately trying to find.

How would he get out of this?

The options were few.

Infinite Undifferentiated Fate churned and churned within Noah’s awareness, golden threads extending through connections and possibilities and pathways that should have led toward escape. He pushed his perception further, reaching across the Countable progressions of his authority, searching for angles that his conscious mind had not yet identified.

But the threads held no weavings.

Every path led back to the crimson ring of fire. Every possibility terminated against the qualitative gap between THE First Scale and THE Second Scale. Every angle his Infinity could find was an angle that Beowulf’s authority had already closed.

He had made it his goal not to reverse time, not to use an Anchor Point. But he also inherently knew right now that against THE Second Scale, even THE Existential Paradox Loop would not work. The gap was too vast!

The answer was as he always knew.

With Infinity.

But he could not find it. He could not perceive the angle that would make his endless authority meaningful against something that simply chose not to interact with THE First Scale. He could not...

HUUM!

In the next moment, Noah’s expression became one of anger as he bellowed a single word toward something only he could perceive.

"No!"

The word pressed against the corrupted Wastes with weight that made the proto-matter tremble, and in its wake, an illusory manifestation began forming beside him. RUINATION emerged from the connection they shared, her avatar taking shape with elegance that characterized her existence.

She gazed toward the enemy ahead with immensity that spoke of what she truly was, the weaponized aspect of Noah’s Infinite authority given form and consciousness. Her attention fixed upon Beowulf with calculation running beneath her gold-blue depths.

But Noah’s denial had not been directed at RUINATION.

It had been directed at another.

At the sister of RUINATION who had just sent him a message across their connection, a message that spoke of arrival, of embodiment, of combining her immensity with his foundations to face what he could not face alone. THE Infiniverse had communicated that if she fully embodied herself into him, if they put together the weight of everything she contained, this situation may be salvageable.

But bringing her here would jeopardize everything else.

It would jeopardize her. It would jeopardize the entire Infiniverse. It would jeopardize every being within her vast interior, every developing force that Noah had built across his journey.

So he said no. That he would find another way.

But on this day, for the first time in existence since her conception, THE Infiniverse did not listen.

"I am sorry, Master."

The words emerged with weight that made Noah’s anger pulse as it was now moreso directed to himself, and then she was there. THE Infiniverse appeared beside her sister’s illusory form, her avatar manifesting with presence that carried the accumulated immensity of everything she contained.

For the first time in her existence, she did not follow the commands of her master.

She had come anyway.

Noah looked at THE Infiniverse with a complex expression burning in his blue-gold eyes.

She did not look back at him.

Her gaze remained fixed upon Beowulf, upon the armored titan that waited at the center of this prison of crimson fire, upon the threat that had drawn her here despite her master’s explicit command to stay away. She stared ahead with composure that seemed unshakeable, with presence that seemed unaffected by Noah’s obvious anger!

But one could barely perceive her hand trembling.

The tremor was subtle, almost invisible against the backdrop of power and authority that surrounded her avatar. And it was not from fear of THE Primordial Armor. It was not from recognition of the impossible odds they faced or the danger that coming here represented.

It was from the fact that she could see her master was angry at her and at himself for the first time.

This was why she could not look back!