Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4004: The 10 Living Existences! IV

Where would he stand when the time came?

The question hung in the garden’s impossible air, weighted with implications that stretched across existence itself.

Noah let the tension flow through the space, feeling how each Duke leaned into his eventual answer, when Duke Gwendolyn’s voice cut through the moment with surgical precision.

"When it comes to this, I have to mention something else." She turned to face the other Dukes, her stellar dark hair catching light.

"Something that makes his alignment with us..." she pointed directly at Noah, "clear."

The words fell into the garden like stones into still water, creating ripples of anticipation that made even the Wheels of Existence hanging from their branches slow their eternal rotations.

Something that made his alignment with them clear? Noah’s mind raced through possibilities, his enhanced perception catching the subtle shift in Gwendolyn’s posture that suggested she was about to cross a line they had agreed upon.

Duke Whisker’s stellar eyes flashed with sharp intensity, his tiny form radiating sudden wariness. "You seemed hesitant before, Gwendolyn. Why say it now?"

Noah’s expression hardened as understanding crystallized with cold certainty. He knew exactly what she planned to reveal, and his voice emerged with an almost rebuking edge that made the temperature in the garden drop perceptibly.

"You agreed not to share anything regarding that."

The words were delivered with the kind of controlled coldness that was more dangerous than any explosion!

Duke Gwendolyn met his gaze steadily, though something in her expression suggested she recognized the magnitude of what she was about to do.

"I did," she acknowledged with a slow nod. "But too much is now at stake. The balance of existence itself teeters on the edge of fundamental change." She paused, seeming to gather her resolve. "I have a body of mine actively protecting her, and you are beside her as well, so I have even less worry regarding her protection. All the Dukes here are those I would give my very existence to protect. I cannot be the only Duke who knows such critical information when the fate of all Living Origins might depend upon it."

...!

Noah’s eyes pulsed!

This fucker.

The blind Duke Valen straightened, his sightless eyes somehow managing to convey stern intensity despite their lack of function. His cane tapped once against the crystalline path, the sound reverberating through dimensions. "What do you mean, Gwendolyn? What information carries such weight that you would break a promise to reveal it?"

Duke Whisker, surprisingly, seemed to be lost in contemplation for a moment before his tiny features arranged themselves into an expression of concern.

When he spoke, his deep voice carried the weight of wisdom earned through witnessing the rise and fall of concepts themselves.

"Gwendolyn," he said, siding with Noah in a way that clearly surprised Duke Gwendolyn, "at times, some things are best left unsaid. The fewer who know certain truths, the safer those truths remain."

...!

Duke Gwendolyn looked at each of them in turn...Noah’s stern disapproval, Whisker’s unexpected caution, Valen’s demanding curiosity, and Pyralis’s burning intensity.

She saw the weight of their combined attention, felt the pressure of secrets that wanted to remain hidden, and shook her head with the resignation of someone who had already crossed the point of no return in their mind.

"No," she said firmly. "The stakes are far too high. She needs to be protected by more than just us. Given resources by more than just us." Her voice grew heavy with the magnitude of what she was about to reveal. "She was the hope of Living Origins. She is."

HUUM!

The moment those words left her lips, Duke Whisker’s eyes blazed with sudden understanding while the other two Dukes showed expressions of pure shock that they struggled to contain.

Duke Valen’s voice emerged as barely more than a whisper, though it carried through the garden with perfect clarity. "You don’t mean..."

Duke Gwendolyn nodded solemnly, sealing their fate with words that could never be taken back. "The Young Miss. THE Living Order has been found. Secured. Protected." Her gaze turned to Noah with something that might have been apology. "She is closely entangled with him, and he with her. That is why I have no doubt he sides with us."

...!

This fucker.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Noah’s expression, as he looked at Duke Gwendolyn, transformed into something that showed coldness. It was immense disappointment, the kind that came from watching someone you had begun to respect shatter that respect through a single action.

He had told her not to say it. She had been explicitly instructed not to share this information. And yet, at this crucial moment, she had freely revealed it because she trusted those present!

Trust. Such a fragile thing, so easily given and so catastrophically misplaced.

His eyes moved across the assembled Dukes, gauging their reactions with the careful precision of someone cataloging potential threats.

Duke Whisker looked down contemplatively, his tiny hands clasped behind his back as he processed implications that stretched across eons. The other two Dukes showed surprise they quickly tried to reign in, but their eyes had already sharpened with new interest, new calculation.

Duke Pyralis’s flames flared with sudden intensity, her voice cutting through the silence with demands that made Noah’s disappointment deepen. "THE Living Order was one of the biggest projects of the Living Origins. How is she entangled with him? Where is she right now? We need to..."

Noah shook his head sharply, cutting off her questions as his gaze returned to Duke Gwendolyn. The disappointment in his eyes was palpable, a weight that seemed to press against her consciousness with more force than any physical blow could have achieved.

Duke Gwendolyn sighed, recognizing his displeasure but pressing forward with the conviction of someone who believed they were right despite all evidence to the contrary. "All those here are to be trusted. We are the ones who analyze other Dukes of Origin to ensure we are all aligned...Duke Whisker sees to that personally. I understand the fear of betrayal, but you will not find it among us. If we have no trust, we have no strength."