Infinite Mana in the Apocalypse - Chapter 3766

Chapter 3766: Differential Fabled Viewpoint II
Bob stood there, silent, massive, and absolutely shaken.

How?

How could he be here?

Noah Osmont, someone who, just days ago, hadn’t even stepped into the arena of True Sources, now sat calmly at the entrance of the Middle Wheel Platform of a place that could not be sought.

As if he had been waiting.

As if he had known.

Bob’s mind buzzed, his massive form twitching almost imperceptibly as thoughts collided, unraveled, and stitched themselves back together as he tried to make sense of it all.

Why was Noah here?

Why now?

And why was he sitting exactly where he needed to be, where they would land, as if he had anticipated it all?

As Bob struggled for coherence, the titan of a being beside him moved.

Thauron.

The Null Monarch.

The being who had guided Bob’s ascent with a patience and mystery that even now felt unfathomable.

Thauron stepped forward.

Each step echoed, not just on the ground, but through the folds themselves.

His vast Null Form, a crown and throne of obliterated paradoxes, moved with him like a throne carried by the weight of endless collapse.

And then…

He spoke.

Calm. Patient. Amused.

“You must be the Stranger those below spoke of.”

Thauron’s voice rumbled, low and rich, as he tilted his head ever so slightly.

“The one with the small Null Form.”

Opposite him, Noah smiled.

A calm, tyrannical smile.

How he wore it, like an emperor humoring a stranger, sent faint vibrations through the Middle Wheel Platform.

His words followed.

Measured and heavy.

“How can I be a stranger,” Noah said, “when I already know a bit about you, Thauron?”

WAA!

Bob’s existence twitched again.

His tentacles curled tighter.

Noah knew The Null Monarch?

How?

The massive Null Monarch chuckled.

A deep, cavernous sound.

“Do you now?”

Thauron moved closer.

And so did the tension.

Like two titanic storms slowly circling.

Drawing closer.

Their Null Forms flared faintly, the contrast being utterly glorious as one was three inches while the other was 1,000 inches.

“Paradoxically,” Thauron said, voice still a rumbling tide, “you both have and do not have something that I may be interested in, Stranger.”

He glanced back at Bob, who was still frozen, his mind racing.

“Based on Little Bobby’s reaction, you are…”

He paused.

Amused.

“…and you are not what we have been moving toward.”

…!

You are, and you are not.

He lifted a hand, a massive appendage that seemed to brush the very seams of reality.

“It is Paradoxical,” Thauron finished.

And then, he asked a question.

“But…what do you know about Paradox?”

WAA!

The air stilled.

The gathered Resplendent Monads, the Primarchs nearby, even the collapsed folds nearby themselves, seemed to pause, holding their breath and watching expectantly.

The question wasn’t just a question.

It seemed like a challenge of one’s very being, as if it couldn’t be answered, one’s True Source might be affected and eventually collapse.

If their conviction was little. If they could not even explain what they stood for.

It was shockingly one of the only hidden methods to attack in the Null Cradle of Fold-Breaking Ascension, and the Null Monarch used it right away.

Noah’s smile deepened.

Not wide, no, he didn’t need to grin like a fool.

Just enough.

Enough to command the silence all around.

Enough to assert dominance without theatrics.

“I know,” Noah said, voice low, “that Paradox is the breath of impossibility given structure.”

The breath of impossibility given structure.

Thauron’s eyes, hidden though they were, gleamed.

“I know,” Noah continued, “that it is the line where existence dares not cross, and yet must.”

He rose then from his seated position.

Slowly.

Gracefully.

A man with a three-inch Null Form, so small, so infinitesimal, and yet he carried himself with the weight of a collapsing quintessence.

“I know that Paradox,” Noah said, stepping forward, “is the edge where certainty collapses. Where reality folds because it refuses to bend.”

He stopped.

Facing Thauron now, the difference in their size laughable.

But no one laughed.

The platform was silent, utterly, reverently silent.

Thauron chuckled.

“And yet,” he said, “Paradox is also that which makes all things humble.”

He stepped closer.

Their proximity should have been absurd, a titan beside an insect.

It was not.

“You speak of collapse,” Thauron rumbled, “but collapse is the after-effect.”

“Paradox is the invitation.”

He gestured.

Slowly.

“To be and not to be. To hold and not to hold. To know and not to know. Paradox is not merely structure, Stranger.”

“It is the act of unmaking structure.”

…!

He paused.

A heavy pause.

And then added, “It is the breath of surrender before the blade falls.”

Noah tilted his head.

Unfazed.

“I disagree.”

HUUUM!

Simple.

Sharp.

Thauron’s unseen eyes narrowed, Bob could feel it.

And yet Noah pressed on as he raised his hand, and there, below his Null Form, a dazzling obsidian Lattice of Paradox bloomed.

One. Two. Three.

“Paradox is not surrender.”

DUM!

His voice rang louder now, not in volume, but in authority.

“It is defiance.”

DUM!

“Paradox is not the breath before collapse.”

“It is the blade itself.”

DUM!

“It is the smile worn by kings walking into battle knowing they have already lost, and yet they fight.”

Noah’s Null Form pulsed. Nine dazzling Existential Dimensional Lattices of Paradox flashed over his Null Form before they began to fade.

Not with size.

With certainty.

He stepped closer still, until he looked up at Thauron like one might look at a mountain they intended to climb.

“Paradox is the scar on the face of inevitability,” Noah said, “the refusal to let Reality write the final chapter. The final Fable.”

DUM!

Thauron’s clawed hand flexed.

His Null Form rippled, a soft quake of terrifying power.

He leaned down slightly and laughed.

“Final? Haha, I command Finality. Paradox is what my Finality deems it to be. Paradox is Finality. Acceptance,” Thauron said, voice almost a whisper now.

Noah’s smile faded.

“And I say,” he replied, “it is the rejection of inevitability. It is quintessence given form.”

The words hung between them.

Sharp.

Cutting.

The very Folds seemed to quietly listen and judge.

All around, other entities shifted uncomfortably.

Some held their breath.

Others didn’t dare. Some Primarchs in the far distance filled with terrifying power became cold and somber.

Kalysta stood frozen, her Null Form shimmering faintly from the unseen pressure.

Bob?

Bob couldn’t move.

Couldn’t speak.

He could only watch.

Could only listen.

Could only wonder.

Was this really the same Noah Osmont he knew?

The man who, just days ago, had no True Source?

The man who now spoke of Paradox with a weight that seemed to make even the Null Monarch think?

Noah and Thauron remained still for a moment longer.

And then…

Thauron straightened.

Pulled back.

A slow, cold smile spread across the unseen depths of his form.

Noah, calm as ever, folded his arms behind his back and stood unmoving.

There was no clear victor.

No collapse of will.

No submission.

Only…

Respect and challenge.

Thauron chuckled lowly.

Noah remained still.

Bob?

Bob could only watch.

Heart thundering.

Mind racing.

Because the man before him was not the Noah Osmont he once knew.

No.

This was something else entirely.

This was…

Something terrifying. Something magnificent. Something inevitable.

And Bob wasn’t sure whether to feel a sense of despondency or awe.

—

BZZT!

Existence cracked and fissured.

Reality distorted as moments later, a vision fully returned.

| Differential Fabled Viewpoint has come to an end. |

|Due to the low number of available authority from Existential Dimensional Lattices and limited percentage of True Absolute Existential Resistances, you were only able to observe from a different Viewpoint. If a large number of Existential Dimensional Lattices are available, it may be possible not to just view a Fable actively entangling with yours, but also gain the capability to control and take over the Weavings of Existence of the target as if they are your own.|

| You have gained 25% Understanding of the Weavings of Bob and have successfully passed a threshold to establish a Fabled Bookmark. You are able to either obtain his True Source of Khaos, or his memories since he attained his True Source. |

…!