Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

When one imagined a Cosmic Battlefield, what exactly came to mind?

Such a question was answered in a single glance before Noah's eyes as after the spatial storm from the Writ of Challenge wrapped around him, he found himself shuttled across multiple boundaries of Cosmos, crossing through the folds of space and being placed at the very center of a unique one.

When his awareness spread around to observe this new location, he saw that he and his subordinates were floating in a glimmering void of space as all around them and stretching out for millions of light years were...shattered Galaxies and planetary bodies!

One could see the shattered boundaries of a dozen Universes that pulsed with light, the remnants of destroyed stellar bodies and Galaxies stretched out as far as the eyes could see, giving a unique aesthetic of destruction and beauty as some glimmering stellar bodies caused the apocalyptic scene to be filled with cascading glimmering glory.

Such a scene occupied nearly 80% of the Cosmic Battlefield as the other 20%...was a vast and exquisite circle of magisterial floating seats that spread all over the region near the Cosmic Boundary!

Seats adorned gold and white, all of them facing the destroyed universal barriers and countless Galaxies that filled up the region of over 1000 Gigaparsecs.

Although they were displayed along the boundary of the Cosmos, these coliseum like seats had unique colors on their bases as they identified the specific houses.

One third of all seats held a blooming green flower, another third held a crimson fist that seemed to be dripping with blood, and the remaining third held a golden tree that seemed to be sprouting from a galaxy!

They represented the areas where the existences from the Houses of Springforge, Stormdust, and Havenbreaker would be situated, and there was a particular area that held a singular golden seat that was the size of a Galaxy- this death looking like a grandiose throne that only the Great Conqueror could sit on.

At this moment, this enormous seat was empty as among the areas that could seat quintillions of beings from the different houses, only a few million of them were filled as they looked towards the figures of existences who would be battling in today's Writ of Challenge.

Daolord Azazel along with a few other Daolords and Antiquities from the House of Springforge could be seen situated lavishly in their spots, existences from other houses doing something similar as there was a bustle of discussions while they all gazed below.

Only a few million beings from the faction of all three Houses were gathered as it was an abysmal number, but this showed the deep history and complex structure that had yet to be explored of the Primordial Empire, and how even a Writ of Challenge like this was considered a mere nonconsequential blip in a vast history!

The gazes of these beings that knew themselves as the Protectors of the Bastion of Reality were locked onto the center of the Universal and galactic devastation of this Cosmic Battlefield where a crimson barrier that differentiated two sides could be seen.

This barrier was something that could not be destroyed even by the most powerful Daolords, and it was one that always divided the forces before a Writ of Challenge.

One side held the domineering and crimson colored Daolords and Antiquities overseeing the Anthracite Cosmos- it was Daolord Ilyad and Daolord Ray that appeared with over 300 Antiquities, this being a norm of power for a Cosmos within the Primordial Empire to have!

But what was interesting was that when it came to the number of Antiquities, the newly joining forces of the Indigo Cosmos actually had over 500 Antiquities behind a single Daolord!

This raised some eyes as from the magisterially floating golden green seats of the House of Springforge, Azazel had a disappointed expression as he spoke out.

"For him to produce 500 Antiquities that quickly...he must have already consumed a significant portion of the Primordial Heart. I never thought he would be a wasteful existence...nor make a choice to not even strengthen himself, but produce Antiquities that are not the decisive force against important battles!"

Azazel's voice was filled with disappointment and displeasure, not expecting the being he thought highly and was cautious of to actually do such a thing.

So what if he produced 500 Antiquities? 

At the end of the day, it was Daolords that decided who won and who lost!

But what Azazel and many others were wrong about was that the 500 beings they saw as Antiquities...were not even Antiquities to begin with as the vast majority of them were still merely in the Universal Realm in power.

This was because it was the 500 chosen to be capable of selecting Archetypes, the power they could display being that of Hegemonies as on top of the 5% of Noah's power that they could borrow...it was actually enough to allow them to give off the shocking aura of an Antiquity!

Among the 500, only a few like Barbatos, the Oathkeeper, the Goliath, Elena, the Emperor Penguin, Valentina, Kazuhiko, and a few others that Noah granted the Primordial Hearts to...only they were true Antiquities.

But the myriad of powerful experts saw this scene and gained hints of displeasure at what they considered to be a pure waste of a Primordial Heart, the ones that had been keen to obtain it being the first ones to move as Daolord Ilyad's crimson hair nearly burst into flames as she spoke coldly towards Noah behind the erected veil.

"You wasteful little bumpkin...you really used the Primordial Heart to mass produce Antiquities? What's the logic behind that?"

Her words we filled with ridicule as Noah stopped gazing at the fantastical landscape of shattered Universes and Galaxies around them, his shining eyes glancing towards this being as he paid her no heed, but instead focused on the few billions of beings situated at the edges of the Cosmos that were watching everything playing out.

Her words didn't bother him as he didn't do what she misunderstood him to have done, where he still had a full Primordial Heart and 25% of a second one after he absorbed a vast majority of it and given an insignificant portion to a few of his most powerful subordinates to make them Antiquities!

So he didn't even bother to reply to this Daolord as he gazed upon the quintillions of seats floating at the edges of this Cosmic Battlefield, as well as the central one that was the size of a Galaxy that was currently empty.

This seat…

THUMP!

Noah could feel his heart beat faster as his vast seas of Destiny churned, feeling as if this enormous golden throne was calling out to him...as if he had to get his hands on this seat and occupy it himself!

It was the first rebellious thought against the Great Conqueror that no beings even dared to think!