Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 5041: Nakatsukuni! I

Anaximander settled more comfortably near Tairiyya, his scholarly demeanor relaxing in the presence of someone he clearly considered an equal.

"One after another, things are becoming more and more chaotic out there."

His voice carried observation rather than complaint.

Tairiyya sipped her tea and sighed, her ancient eyes turning toward the vibrant multicolored rain cascading past the temple’s boundaries. The Pluvial Epoch painted everything with borrowed brilliance, authority from sources she understood all too well saturating even this realm of death.

"For eons, it was quiet. For eons, the stillness was absolute. Everybody just worked hard for their weavings."

She set her cup down with deliberate care.

"But now, the first dominoes have been tipped by hands that should not have the reach to touch them. The Peasant, THE Creature, and even the Infinity-bearer have begun to move, their frantic shuffles triggering a cascade that cannot be halted."

Her expression grew more contemplative as she continued.

"Because of them, the Primordial Architects have stirred with activity. Even the Singular Cognizances, those who have spent an eternity as mere Observers, are beginning to step from the shadows of the void."

A sound escaped her that might have been a laugh in someone less ancient.

"Ah. In the end, this will lead to a ruin more absolute than the dark. In all of existence, there are few who truly know what they are doing. The rest are simply shouting into the abyss, unaware that the abyss is finally preparing to answer."

She glanced at Anaximander with something approaching fondness.

"Things are about to get really wild, Jokul. I am not sure if even THE Creature understands."

...!

At such words, Anaximander smiled with an expression suggesting he knew things that even this Primordial Architect might not have considered.

"I think out of many existences in, well, Existence, THE Creature is one of the rare few that do understand. But yes, it will be unpredictable."

He paused before asking his next question with careful precision.

"Can you give me a gauge of just how much of a pull you and other Primordial Architects feel toward the one who bears and utilizes Infinity more freely than all of you at THE Proterozoic Scale?"

Tairiyya’s ancient eyes sharpened at the question, her cup freezing halfway to her lips before she set it down entirely.

"How much of a pull we have?"

A laugh escaped her.

"Hah, Jokul, you have been gone for too long. Infinity is everything and nothing. It is the only thing we have, as THE Primordial Source is too far, too unknown. We cannot even begin to approach it while Infinity flows throughout Observable Existence, tantalizingly close yet requiring transformations most cannot survive."

She stared directly at him now.

"The others will come at him relentlessly. Not out of malice, though some will cloak their hunger in righteous purpose. They will come because they must. Because Infinity calls to those of us who have spent eons preparing to receive it, and he walks around conducting it as if breathing air. Do you understand what that means to beings who have sacrificed everything for even a fraction of what he wields carelessly?"

...!

Jokul was silent at this, his scholarly demeanor fading into something more somber. He looked out into the rain, that endless multicolored cascade reshaping Observable Existence through authority his friend had triggered alongside THE Creature.

He raised his hand to feel THE Pluvial Epoch of Existential Infinity, letting droplets land upon his palm. The sensation was unlike anything else in existence, power that declared endless potential ready for those capable of receiving it.

He sighed with sound carrying understanding that words could not express.

And this whole time, nobody said a word to THE Dead Order standing behind them.

She remained there, forgotten entirely, her existence rendered irrelevant by a conversation about matters so far beyond her that she could barely comprehend what was being discussed.

Her domain. Her temple. Her supposed moment of restored glory.

And she was fucking furniture.

---

Naldine Manthon continued to move across the Interstices because her destination was truly far.

The gray expanse stretched endlessly around them, multicolored rain from the Pluvial Epoch painting borrowed brilliance across spaces that normally held none. She had traveled these paths many times across her existence, but never with someone quite like the entity floating beside her. Young. Impossibly young by any standard that mattered. Yet somehow wielding authority that beings at her Scale spent eons trying to obtain!

She turned to Osmont as she continued speaking.

"When I ask myself how I can best prepare you, knowledge is the best thing for someone as young as you. I will share this freely."

Her singularity-dotted eyes fixed on him with intensity that most would have found uncomfortable.

"The enemies you face at THE Proterozoic Scale will be extremely powerful. You should understand their power somewhat. So I will tell you about THE Proterozoic Scale itself."

...!

Osmont looked at her and gave a nod of expectation, his expression carrying that same unshakeable conviction she had observed again and again. He listened like someone who expected to eventually surpass whatever she described rather than someone preparing to face impossible odds.

Naldine continued without waiting for verbal acknowledgment.

"Infinity is something those at THE Second Scale chase, but it is not always their foremost power. It is an unfathomable force, but just like THE Primordial Source, if you do not have access to it, then you do not."

She let that settle before proceeding.

"THE Proterozoic Scale stands by itself even without Infinity. After you have set your Civilizational Anchor, many things become possible. Those who have done so are considered Rhyacian Proterozoic Lifeforms."

Her voice took on the cadence of utter glory and wonder as they continued ahead!

"Above them are THE Calymmian Proterozoic Lifeforms. And the distant, out of reach level for many at THE Second Scale is THE Ediacaran Proterozoic Lifeform. Rhyacian, Calymmian, and Ediacaran. That is the known scope of THE Second Scale."

...!