Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse-Chapter 5075: Storm II
The scene before him declared the scale of what he faced with brutal clarity.
His humanoid form seemed tiny and small in comparison to the three monsters arrayed against him. Grimvault towered with that wolf skull helm blazing pale fire, his blackened silver armor fused with flesh.
Vahrkosis undulated through the air with forty-seven arms grasping Axioms.
Sammarthiel spread those six wings of swords wider, thousands of blades catching light that should not have existed in this destroyed region of THE Wastes.
Behind Noah, the screams of Beowulf continued their symphony of suffering.
Alexander’s work had evolved beyond simple torture. The crimson gold blood that had been flying with each manipulation now flowed with purpose rather than violence. The networks of Existential Nociceptors that Alexander had made visible, those vibrant crimson vessels spreading across Beowulf’s opened chest, were being extracted with precision.
|Activity Detected: Alexander is extracting Existential Nociceptor networks from Beowulf.|
|Purpose: Transplantation into own existence.|
|Alexander is incorporating the very Second Scale systems that were used to torture him into his own foundations.|
Alexander was transplanting those receptors of suffering into his own body!
But as this occurred, space flickered.
SAA!
From one of the many droplets of multicolored rain still falling across this destroyed battlefield, space paradoxically shifted. The droplet expanded and contracted simultaneously, containing more volume than its size should have permitted while remaining exactly as small as it appeared. Reality bent around that impossibility as something emerged.
THE Primordial Paradox stepped through that paradoxical distortion with presence that pressed against everything within range.
His obsidian titanic form looked majestic despite the impossibilities that composed his existence. Blue Infinity dotted that dark surface. A black crown hung loosely above his massive head.
He appeared beside Noah, looking at the enemies ahead fearlessly.
His expression shifted into a frown as he assessed what they faced. He came to float beside Noah with a posture that suggested readiness rather than hesitation, his massive form dwarfing Noah’s humanoid body.
"You really know how to pick them."
His voice emerged with the rumbling depth that obsidian given consciousness might produce.
"But this is good. After being ganged up on against my disciple, I wondered how it would feel fighting in a group."
...!
His entrance was grand, a Proterozoic Scale entity arriving to stand beside Noah against three of his peers.
Right after, space twisted and distorted again.
The fabric of reality bent in directions that had nothing to do with paradox. Light gathered and dispersed simultaneously as another figure emerged.
WAA!
Naldine Manthon stepped through that distortion with a presence that...somewhat exceeded what Noah had felt from her before. It exceeded what he felt from her in Nakatsukuni.
What was this now?
Her blue robe billowed around her form as she arrived, that garment shifting with movement that seemed almost aggressive in its precision. Her cold gaze fixed upon the three Primordial Architects ahead with an assessment that held no warmth, no negotiation, no indication that she considered this confrontation to be anything other than what it was!
Her figure stood imperious beside Noah and THE Primordial Paradox, her singularity-dotted eyes blazing with light!
She looked ahead at Grimvault and the others as she nodded.
"Grimvault. Sammarthiel. Vahrkosis."
She spoke their names as one might speak the names of diseases that had once been survived.
WAA!
Noah’s eyes opened wide as he turned to look at her.
She knew them?
Ahead, Grimvault smiled brutally beneath that wolf skull helm.
Laughter emerged from that armored form, the sound booming across the destroyed battlefield with amusement that seemed genuine rather than performed. Those pale fires burning in empty eye sockets flickered with recognition that matched what Naldine had displayed.
"Little Naldine? Naldine THE Visionary?"
The deep voice pressed against everything within range with mocking warmth.
"Haha! I thought an idealist like you to be dead! I did not know you had already made contact with the Infinity-bearer."
Naldine looked ahead as her body began to shine with brilliance that exceeded what Noah had observed from her before.
Her blue robes shifted and transformed, fabric restructuring itself into battle garments that wrapped tightly around her form. The loose elegance that had defined her appearance since he first met her gave way to configurations designed for violence. Her radiant white hair gained a lustrous blue gold shine that painted nearby space in hues of authority preparing to be expressed.
Then she did something ridiculous.
She used her right hand... to grasp her left arm just below the shoulder.
She yanked.
Her left arm disconnected from her body with sound that should have been wet and horrible but instead rang with musical clarity that pressed against awareness like the first note of a symphony. The limb came free from her shoulder without blood, without trauma, without any indication that what she had just done should have been impossible.
The arm shone with multicolored light that exceeded what mere Proterozoic transformation should have permitted. It shifted and restructured in her grip, bone and flesh and authority all reorganizing into configurations that had nothing to do with humanoid anatomy.
It formed into a Vihuela.
The instrument resembled a guitar from traditions that predated most current civilizations, a stringed device designed to produce melody through careful manipulation.
But this Vihuela was composed of prismatic blue gold Proterozoic Bones arranged in configurations that declared it to be weapon as much as instrument. The body curved with elegance. The neck extended with precision that permitted no flaw. The strings stretched across that transformed material gloriously.
Where her left arm had been, an illusory hand formed from authority alone. The construct shimmered with the same blue gold brilliance that now defined her transformed limb, a replacement that functioned despite having no physical substance to support its existence.
Naldine held the Vihuela with the familiarity of someone who had wielded this instrument across eons of conflict.
Her right hand began to pluck the strings.
DING!
The first note rang out across the destroyed battlefield with clarity that pressed against everything within range. The oppression from the enemies ahead, that combined authority of three Proterozoic Scale entities that had been pressing against Noah’s foundations since their arrival, lessened slightly.
DING!
The second note followed immediately, and the oppression lessened further.
DING! DING! DING!
Multiple bones within Naldine’s body began to light up as she played. Her skeletal structure became visible through her flesh as Proterozoic transformation declared itself throughout her form!
Her body became surrounded by melody that seemed to exist as physical force rather than mere sound, waves of authority emanating from each note she produced.
She looked calm and immense as she continued playing, her expression holding none of the cold assessment she had displayed before. This was something else. This was Naldine Manthon expressing capabilities she had not revealed until this moment demanded them.
"It has been a while since I saw you all."
Her voice emerged steady despite her fingers continuing to dance across the strings.
"I knew we would be on opposite sides eventually, but I did not expect it so soon."
She paused her playing for a single beat.
"Are the others okay? Is Aryana doing good?"
...!
At such words, Grimvault shook his head.
Laughter emerged from that wolf skull helm again, but this laughter held nothing of the amusement that had colored his earlier recognition. This was cold and brutal.
"Oh, you fucking whore."
The words pressed against everything within range with venom.
"Aryana is dead. You leave people you have influenced behind and expect them to thrive? Your ideals killed her the day you left THE Wyld."
...!
Oh.
The tone of the strings Naldine pulled shifted into something that ached.
Sad notes emerged from the Vihuela, melody that communicated grief without requiring words to express it. Her fingers continued moving across those strings, but the music they produced now spoke of loss. She nodded calmly at the news, her expression holding acceptance.
The environment began to swirl around them.
The multicolored rain of the Pluvial Epoch of Existential Infinity fell heavier, droplets that carried Noah’s authority responding to the melody Naldine was producing. Rivers of multicolored seas that had been reforming in the regions not yet destroyed by combat began to vibrate to the tune she was enacting, vast bodies of transformed water resonating with notes that pressed against reality itself.
Meanwhile, Noah looked at this whole exchange with eyes that shone sharply.
He wanted to ask the question that had been building since Grimvault spoke that unfamiliar term. Where and what the hell was THE Wyld? Based on context, it should be where all these Primordial Architects were emerging from one after another. Some location or domain or faction that connected Naldine to Grimvault and Sammarthiel and Vahrkosis, some shared history that explained why they recognized each other with familiarity.
THE Wyld.
Another piece of Observable Existence he had not known about!
