Chapter 4044: Force and Mercy! II

The weight of his words pressed against consciousness itself.

The assembled Living Origins stood frozen, most only able to meet his gaze!

The army of Paradoxes behind him remained perfectly still, awaiting a single gesture that would transform this confrontation into catastrophe.

Into the suffocating silence, a small figure stepped forward.

Duke Whisker emerged from among the Living Origins, his tiny mouse form radiating dignity that transcended size.

His stellar eyes met Schrodinger’s paradoxical gaze without flinching, and when he spoke, his voice carried the weight of eons of accumulated wisdom.

"It seems that we are at fault for intruding." The admission was delivered without shame or fear, simply acknowledging reality.

"We will simply take our people and leave."

Schrodinger’s smile bloomed with genuine pleasure at the response. "Your people?" He gestured toward the assembled Dukes. "I see you all here... but could you mean the ones inside this Doorway? The ones among whom is someone exuding all these rays of light that paint my Folds with...Order? Is it Order? It cannot possibly be Order, right?"

HUUM!

Immense silence settled over the gathering.

Schrodinger adopted an obviously contemplative expression, as if wrestling with a difficult decision.

Finally, he sighed with theatrical weariness.

"Hey, aren’t we all striving through existence together?" His tone shifted to something almost friendly. "How about this, we won’t make any... moves. Your people can come out and leave freely. For the sake of the coming Kleos Concordat, The Living Paradoxes will let this indiscretion slide."

...!

He spread his hands in a gesture of magnanimity.

"We are all on the same side after all, right?" His gaze shifted to fix directly on Duke Gwendolyn’s paradoxical body. "You all even have a Living Paradox on your side, which I haven’t even focused on at this time."

Duke Whisker’s expression remained neutral, but others among the Living Origins showed visible discomfort at this observation.

The implications were clear...Schrodinger could have made this about betrayal, about a Paradox siding with Origins. He was choosing not to.

In the heavy atmosphere that followed, in that prolonged silence where possibility and probability held their breath, the Living Origin body of Duke Gwendolyn stepped forward.

Her usually controlled features showed something that might have been somberness mixed with understanding as she looked toward Schrodinger.

"Thank you."

Two words.

Thank you!

Simple. Direct. Exactly what he had wanted.

He was given his thank you!

Schrodinger nodded lightly, the gesture containing satisfaction that transcended simple pleasure.

His attention turned toward the Doorway, and following his lead, every eye...stellar, paradoxical, conceptual...fixed on that entrance.

The white rays of Order still streamed forth, painting large swaths of the Transcendent Paradoxical Folds with light that made Paradox uncomfortable. Whatever was causing that phenomenon would have to emerge soon.

Ten seconds passed.

Twenty seconds passed in absolute silence! No one moved. No one spoke. The tension grew with each heartbeat that some of them still possessed.

Then...

WAP!

Figures emerged from the Doorway.

Two figures. Only two.

The fairy form of Thessaly came first, her wings trembling as she took in the scene before her. Behind her, Altheon emerged with the careful movements of someone expecting attack from any direction.

Both paled to shades that shouldn’t have been possible for their forms as they observed the encirclement of Paradoxes, the gathered Dukes of Origin, the weight of attention focused on them.

Duke Gwendolyn waited one second. Two. Her expression shifted through confusion to alarm as she fought to maintain her composure.

"Where is the Young Miss?!"

The question cracked through the silence like breaking crystal. Yes, where was she? Where was THE Living Order whose awakening had painted the Folds with white light? Where was the being they had all come to secure?

Altheon and Thessaly stood dazed, still processing the scene before them. It was Altheon who finally managed to speak, his words emerging hesitant and confused as he looked at the encirclement of Paradoxes.

"She... left with... him."

Him.

Him!

The single word landed among the gathering with the weight of impossibility. Every being present analyzed it and its sentance differently, parsed its implications through their own understanding.

Who was ’him’?

How had they left? What did leaving even mean in this context?

The implications were staggering. They had left...suggesting they hadn’t needed to exit the Doorway to traverse across existence.

But such a thing was impossible. It was well-known, established as fundamental law, that nothing could cross or teleport across existence while within Doorways to the Loom.

Thessaly’s mental message then echoed out and reached only the Dukes of Living Origins, her hesitation palpable even in thought: "The Young Miss disappeared with... him. As if they had teleported or traversed into different Folds entirely."

...!

The impossibility had supposedly occurred.

Into the shocked silence, Schrodinger’s voice rang out with amusement that contained layers of meaning.

"Haha, did you all lose someone important as we talked here? That must not feel so good." He drifted higher, looking down at them with sympathy. "Traversal while within a Doorway to the Loom? That should be an impossibility, and yet it has seemingly occurred..."

His expression grew helpful, concerned.

"Origin friends, do you need help looking through this Doorway to check where this... Young Miss you mention might be? Us Paradoxes should be of great help in such a search."

...!

Origin friends? Origin friends?! What the fuck was this beggar even saying now?!

Duke Gwendolyn and others turned ashen at the offer..help from Paradoxes in finding THE Living Order would come with prices they couldn’t afford to pay.

Duke Whisker’s response was immediate and commanding, his tiny paw waving to the other Dukes with authority that transcended his size.

"We will be okay without your help."

Even as he spoke, Duke Gwendolyn and several other Dukes moved toward Thessaly and Altheon, preparing to enter the Doorway themselves to ascertain what had actually occurred.

They grabbed the two witnesses with movements that suggested interrogation would begin the moment they were out of sight!

Schrodinger watched this scene with the satisfaction of someone whose plan had executed perfectly. His gaze lingered on Duke Whisker, who had stayed back with a few others to maintain the pretense of dignity in retreat.

The beggar-like Paradox waved his hands harmlessly, as if shooing away concerns, and floated backward toward the encirclement of Living Paradoxes.

He came to rest before all the Dukes of Paradox, their forms creating a wall of impossibility that would remain as long as necessary. They would simply observe the Living Origins with menacing patience, waiting to see what panic might drive them to do.

After all, Schrodinger had gotten his thank you.

The show of force had been displayed. The mercy had been granted.

And now THE Living Order was missing, vanished through impossible means, leaving only questions and the taste of failure in the mouths of those who had come to claim her!

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