Chapter 4241: End! II

The main body of Noah remained on the Shore, watching as his people, groggy and disoriented, began to wake.

The main body of Khor, her task here not yet finished, floated towards the now-conscious form of Bob and the still-writhing Mutated Inevitability, her expression a mixture of clinical curiosity and ancient sorrow.

Outside, in the region of Collapse, the three Dukes of Law who had remained awake were reeling.

The avalanche of darkness that had washed over them from the Aegis had been a force beyond their comprehension. It had not been an attack, but a simple, absolute statement of power!

"What... was that?" Duke Themis whispered, her voice, usually so steady, trembling with a profound, existential dread.

The Early Tools they wore, artifacts of immense power, still glowed with a protective, legalistic light, the only reason their consciousnesses hadn’t been snuffed out like all the others.

As they were finishing their panicked discussion, a new wave of arrivals began.

Portals of every color and authority ripped open across the void.

Living Origins, Living Elementals, Living Quantums... even more Living Paradoxes, their Marks of Unity shining like defiant stars, poured into the region, their numbers in the hundreds.

A certain butler had been busy!

A contingent of Origin Dukes, led by a clone of Origin Ama Gias herself, appeared near the Laws.

"What happened here? We heard of The Sanctuary of THE Creature?" Gias demanded, her gaze sweeping over the hundreds of unconscious Living Laws that were only now beginning to stir.

Duke Justinius, his symmetrical form radiating a tense, controlled fury, simply replied, "Not everything here is as it appears."

Of those who heard this cryptic exchange, one did not have the patience for subtlety.

A fiery Living Elemental Duke, his body a raging inferno of molten rock and solar flares, shot towards the blue-gold Aegis.

"Enough of this waiting! If it truly has any connections with THE Creature or THE Living Existences...hmph!" he roared.

With a bellow that could have shattered Wheels, he breathed out a terrifying pillar of pure, conceptual flame that smashed onto the barrier.

The Aegis hummed, absorbing the attack. And then, at the point of impact, it leaked. A few radiant Sacred Herbs and a shower of shimmering, Early Sacred Water droplets erupted from the barrier, a reward for the Duke’s fiery impatience!

He caught them, his eyes widening in shock and then blazing with a raw, covetous light. He turned to the Living Laws. "Is this what you have been hiding?!"

Before they could explain, it was too late. The scent of the treasure, the very idea of it, had spread.

The phase of greed had arrived.

Dukes, Honored Existences, and Royals from every faction arrived in a slow yet quick pace, their caution consumed by the promise of impossible loot, began to surround the Aegis as first, they sought to understand.

Then, they attacked after they heard the reports from what was currently known!

And with every strike, more herbs, more sacred water, more priceless treasures rained down.

It was a glorious, chaotic honey pot!

The Living Laws, seeing the other factions reaping a bounty from a fortress they had discovered, gritted their teeth.

Their pride and their greed warred, and greed won. They too joined the assault, their own authorities of law now used to batter the very thing they had been trying to analyze.

Justinius, remembering the terrifying burst of power he had barely survived, simply advised his forces to keep their distance as they attacked!

He shook his head as he watched the fervany scene.

Back inside the Radiant Shore, Noah stood on the golden sands near the gray portal, a devilish smile on his face as he watched the frenzy unfold.

|[Architect’s Rebuke] is in continuous activation.|

|The Honey Pot Protocol is a resounding success. Multiple high-level entities are now willingly feeding your fortress. It’s like they’re paying you to rob them.|

|Siphoning Hostile Authority: [Living Law], [Living Origin], [Living Elemental], [Living Quantum]...|

|A diverse portfolio of existential energies is being collected.|

|Defensive Engrams are being created at an unprecedented rate.|

|Incoming Complexity and Purity being siphoned into the Engram: +17 Trillion...+30 Trillion...+40 Trillion...|

|Current Status: You are now actively profiting from a multi-faction siege on your own home. This is a new benchmark in tyrannical efficiency.|

...!

Noah watched these flashing prompts as his other body and the clones of Khor and Malphas passed through the veil, and the existence dissolved.

They appeared in a realm of gray, muted brilliance. All around them, massive, craggy rocks that looked like shattered meteors floated in a silent, empty void, each one connected to its neighbors by thick, archaic gray chains. It was a graveyard of existence, a prison of forgotten matter.

|Due to the presence of Khor, The First Hunger, the passage through Doorway #9384 of THE Loom has bypassed all intermediary zones.|

|You have arrived at the endpoint. This is the closest any being can potentially come to the periphery of THE Loom.|

HUUM!

Due to Khor... they had cheated the journey itself, arriving directly at the end!

And it was an end. The moment they fully materialized, they saw it.

Far ahead, and all around, stretching into the infinite gray distance, were thousands upon thousands of Mutated Inevitabilities.

They were arranged like a great, silent swarm, their writhing, tentacled forms a sea of ceaseless, hungry motion.

And from each of them, a single, shimmering tendril of pure, siphoned essence floated out, all of them leading to... a single, stellar gray object.

It was a receiver, a nexus. It looked like a colossal, multifaceted crystal, its surface constantly shifting, its form both geometric and organic.

It radiated a terrifying light of pure, unadulterated complexity, and it was attached to a massive, endlessly expanding gray well, a vortex of pure energy surrounded by pulsing, circular gray rings.

It was here. This was where all the devoured Everythings of the Inevitabilities here were flowing into!

Khor’s form trembled, a low, guttural growl of pure, bubbling rage and pain escaping her.

Malphas became stern, stepping forward to stand protectively in front of Noah. In the next moment, the thousands of Mutated Inevitabilities turned their countless, vacant eyes towards them.

A collective, soul-shattering screech echoed through the void, and they charged.

The weakest among them held 100 Trillion in Complexity. The strongest, great, leviathan-like beings at the heart of the swarm, exceeded 100 Quadrillion. They were a tide of absolute, unmakeable power.

Khor looked at them, and her rage was tempered by a profound, heartbreaking sorrow.

They were her children, her kin, and they did not even recognize their Mother.

"See if you can learn anything from that object, maybe the idea of your weavings to follow where the Everythings flow to may have a chance if we understand that," she said to Noah, her voice a tight, strained whisper.

"I will hold them back. I will give you enough time."

Noah nodded, his eyes shining. He and Malphas shot forward, not away from the onslaught, but towards it, towards the nexus.

With a single thought, Noah wove the Artifice of Quantum, and with a single step, he was no longer there, but here, directly before the stellar gray object.

The thousands of Inevitabilities instantly shifted their trajectory, their eyes blazing with a furious red light as they turned their full, annihilating attention on him!

But at that moment, Khor’s voice, now filled with a deep, melancholic power, echoed out.

"You poor things," she said. "Existence has been so cruel to you. Listen to Mother... and hold still."

Listen to Mother!

Hold still!

BOOM!

A unique, invisible authority of hunger erupted from her.

In an instant, the thousands of charging Inevitabilities, their tentacles just inches from Noah, froze.

They were held in perfect, absolute stasis, their own natures forcing them to obey the will of The First Hunger, even as their mutilated forms compelled them to protect the object they served.

Noah’s eyes were luminous.

Behind him, Malphas appeared, a silent, crimson-eyed guardian.

Noah was on the cusp of answers. Was this object truly the nexus for this Doorway? The collection point for all stolen Everythings? Did all the Doorways to THE Loom that Living Existences had been traversing over the eons...all hold an end like this that they could not reach because Inevitabilities with Complexities even exceeding Early Creatures appeared towards the end?

He had to know!

His figure became wrapped in brilliant, bloody purple flames, his Heart of an Early Creature pulsing with a furious, tyrannical rhythm.

He reached out, his hand about to touch the stellar gray object, and he bellowed, his voice a command to Existence itself!

"Give the Everythings you have swallowed... TO ME!"

...!

A terrifying, gray light erupted from the object, a defensive pulse that washed over him.

But he pushed through, his hand making contact. He felt it...an immense, infinite well of weavings of complexity and purity.

|You have come into contact with a Primordial Lodestone of THE Loom.|

|This object serves as a collection and transference node for siphoned Everythings of a small section of Existence passed through a single Doorway.|

|It currently contains countless Everythings that have not yet been harvested and absorbed.|

Noah’s eyes blazed with a fervent light.

"Give them all to me" he bellowed with a profound sense of Tyranny!

|Attempting to extract the Everythings from the Lodestone...|

|Attempting to extract...|

...!

HUUM!

But then, it happened.

A blinding, gray light, heavier and more absolute than the one before, erupted.

The Lodestone flashed with a deep, crimson light. As if something had gone wrong, and a failsafe had been triggered!

His entire existence buzzed, and a terrifying, unknown force erupted from the Lodestone, clamping onto his hands, holding them in place.

A torrent of alien, corrupting authority began to gush from the Lodestone and into his body right after as he felt like snakes were penetrating into his skin!

|ERROR. ERROR. UNKNOWN FAILSAFE TRIGGERED.|

|THE AUTHORITY OF THE LODESTONE HAS BEEN ALTERED.|

|YOUR EXISTENCE IS BEING CORRUPTED!|

Noah’s eyes flashed with a mixture of Tyranny and rage as he tried to pull back, but he was held fast.

"My Lord!" Malphas cried, turning in shock and surging forward to pull his master away.

"Outsider!" Khor’s expression changed to one of pure alarm. She took a step, appearing right beside Noah, her hand reaching for him!

But it was too late.

|An undeniable weaving of Existence, far exceeding anything currently experienced, is attacking and corrupting the very makeup of your being. All of your being across all possible bodies, weavings, and timelines.|

|The entirety of your existence rises up in defense. Your Heart, your Atlas, your Principles, your very Will, your Everythings... they are fighting back.|

|Your Systems of Existence are attempting to counteract the rewriting of your fundamental Code of Existence by the Corruption of the Lodestone.|

|Counter-measures failing...|

|Existential Integrity dropping...|

|Error. Error. Error!|

THUMP!

Noah’s eyes pulsed.

He stopped feeling all sensation.

He only felt the beat of his heart.

His glorious Heart.

THUMP!

|Error.|

Thump!

|Error.|

The beat was getting fainter.

And fainter.

Thump.

|Erro-|

|...|

In Noah’s eyes, across all his bodies, in the Radiant Shore, in the Wandering Territories, in the deepest corridors of his own Existence...

Everything went dark.

Everything.

Everything... but a faint blue light of the most recently crafted Seed Glyph.

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