Chapter 3784: The Tug of the Fold Dwellers I
Chapter 3784: The Tug of the Fold Dwellers I
I launched forward, blue-gold flames spiraling behind me like dying stars.
My weavings pulsed. My mind sharpened.
Every lattice, every flicker of paradox roared as I prepared to strike.
And then, in the middle of such grandeur and glory…
| Absolute Fictional Transcendence senses a coming change that vastly changes the current narrative. |
What?
| The True Source of Destiny warns you of an extremely powerful coming change. |
|The Living True Source of the Protagonist curses!|
…!
The weavings of my Existence buzzed.
I slowed.
Not because of fear. But because the air itself…shifted.
Reality paused.
Across the shattered Null Cradle of Fold-Breaking Ascension, a voice rippled through the broken Fold like a lazy afterthought carried on the wind.
“Bah… if things were unfolding like this, then I didn’t even need to come. Why did those old hags force me to make my way here?”
…!
A voice.
Dripping with annoyance, laced with drunken grandeur- yet behind it, a pressure that folded time itself backward for half a heartbeat.
Thauron, who had been a blade of Finality moments ago, instantly stopped mid-strike.
His expression darkened and became somber. He pulled waves of Finality around himself like a shield as he retreated towards the distant mountain where Bob stood.
Those of the Mannafolds and Chronosect of Threadbound Folds became stern.
The Fold Dwellers from the Veiled Sunfolds…their reactions were stranger.
Althera inhaled softly. Caedryn froze mid-weave. The Solstice Veils all turned- some with relief, some with unmistakable dread.
As if they knew that voice.
And wished they didn’t.
Kalysta whispered it under her breath like the name of a forgotten wonder.
“…Master Shen…”
The name trembled with reverence and resignation.
Then he appeared after his voice had spread out.
An old man. Well, not truly as his dark hair was lustrous and vibrant, his beard majestic.
White-gold robes swaying, sleeves loose and flowing like faded glory.
He stepped out from behind a crack in the Folds above, a single gourd dangling from his hand, sloshing rhythmically as he took a lazy gulp.
His steps wobbled slightly… yet the ground beneath him repaired itself with every movement.
Like existence realigned for his balance.
He raised a hand and waved cheerfully toward the stunned Fold Dwellers.
“Haha! Why do you all look like you’ve seen a ghost? Hmph. Should I really not have come?”
His face twitched- dramatically, exaggeratedly- as if wounded.
One of the Solstice Veils quickly coughed into his fist.
“Of course we’re happy to see you, Master Shen,” he said, voice tight. “If you could… please lend us your aid-”
“Haaaah, finally!” The old man took another swig and grinned like the sun. “That’s more like it. A little respect goes a long way, kid.”
He turned slightly, nodding at Kalysta.
“Little Sun Star. You’ve grown prettier. Still weak, though.”
Kalysta bowed low, trembling, her crown of starlight dimming in the presence of the one who even the Primarchs deferred to.
“Thank you for the compliment, Sifu!”
…!
A Primarch…was replying like this towards the newly arriving being.
And then…
Existence hushed.
Even the Living Collapse paused, its obsidian-gold form shifting ever so slightly.
For the first time… it seemed to hesitate.
I narrowed my eyes.
This new arrival… was different.
He wasn’t just a Primarch.
He wasn’t just powerful.
He was something else entirely.
Unlike all of those here, he had exceeded Primarchy.
An entity beyond Primarchy!
I tried to observe him…
And failed.
Every field, every value on his status panel was replaced with:
[???]
Except for very, very few.
NAME: Master Shen (Sifu, the Drunken Master)
TITLE: ?????
TRUE SOURCE: Gongfu
CQ: ????? SU | PQ: ???? SU
RESISTANCE: Law ???, Paradoxical???, Origin ???, Emotive ???, Spiritual ???, ???, ????
I blinked.
Incredulity nearly pulled me from my Ember Eternum state.
“…You’re kidding,” I muttered aloud.
A True Source of Gongfu?
What kind of narrative was this?
But before I could laugh, his gaze shifted.
To me.
And everything stopped.
A hundred layers of existence pressed into mine like a blade to the throat.
Temporarily, I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t breathe.
And then, with a wink, he smiled and the pressure vanished like vapor, his gaze turning to the Living Collapse who had not moved, still frozen as if weighing a grim truth.
“I haven’t seen one of you in a while,” Master Shen mused, adjusting his robes and shaking the more drops from his gourd that seemed endless. “You’re here for…”
He paused.
The Living Collapse said nothing.
Then its void-filled eyes turned slowly toward me once more.
“I am here for the Sin.”
Its voice was cold again.
Absolute.
“The Sin of Refusal. The Heresy of Continuance. The Disgrace of Survival.”
It lifted its arms, its ruined health crackling in silent protest.
And I knew it was preparing its final monologue. The last blow of a fading monster.
But the Drunken Master… had heard enough.
He sighed loudly.
“Boring.”
And then…
He threw a punch.
A single lazy fist.
No flourish.
No battle cry.
Just a slow movement…
And Existence snapped.
BOOOOM!!!
One million Existential Dimensional Lattices flashed in a microsecond.
Not layered.
Not stacked.
One million Lattices at once.
They burst forward like a tsunami of glowing force.
I saw them.
My senses strained to keep up.
A cascading matrix of golden martial truth.
The fist collided with the Living Collapse, and the impossible happened.
The towering monster didn’t explode.
It didn’t scream.
It was…flattened.
Folded into a shimmering sheet of black and gold like crumpled paper, crushed between causalities and truths too strong to comprehend.
| Living Collapse — 0 / 999,999 |
…!
The silence was total.
Every Fold Dweller froze.
Even Thauron.
Even Kalysta.
The Drunken Master casually walked forward, picked up the collapsed sheet of Existence, and with two fingers, folded it like origami before slipping it into a satchel that had no right to exist.
Then he took another swig from his gourd and exhaled.
“Whew. That hit the spot.”
No one spoke.
Not a soul.
Except me.
I blinked slowly, eyes narrowing.
I didn’t move.
Didn’t bow.
Didn’t thank him.
Because…
That kill…
Should have been mine.
I felt a silent loss, one I couldn’t calculate.
Loot.
Data.
A legendary event trigger for the True Source of the Protagonist, perhaps.
I would never know.
I stared at him, deadpan, wondering if I should start scheming on how to kill him to regain the possible loot.
The Drunken Master, as if hearing my thoughts, glanced at me and chuckled.
“What? You were gonna take him down yourself?” He smiled, then winked. “You’re still cooking, big guy. Your Resistances are still tiny. Be patient and you’ll get there.”
I said nothing.
The blue-gold flames around me dimmed slightly.
But I didn’t look away.
Because for all his carefree demeanor, his slouch, his drunken smile…
I saw it.
This man was the most dangerous thing in this entire area.
And for now… he was smiling.
It was a wonder what would happen when he wasn’t as just with his arrival alone, the visage of Thauron…could be seen moving with Finality in the distance as he was seemingly trying to avoid this being as much as possible!
The battle had ended, but the echoes had not.
The Null Cradle of Fold-Breaking Ascension lay in ruin, fractured layers of time curling in on themselves, pillars of the Middle Wheel Platform turned to dust, and residual collapse still hissing in the air like a fading scream.
Silence, deep and profound, gripped the battlefield.
Then…
A single figure stepped forward from among the stunned Fold Dwellers.
The lead Solstice Veil.
His golden robes were frayed but orderly, his bearing resolute. His gaze swept briefly toward the still-flaming form of Ember Eternum, and then turned respectfully toward Master Shen.
He bowed.
“Master Shen,” he said solemnly, his voice layered in time-stitched harmonics. “The so called Sin that the Oddity spoke of… stands there.”
He nodded toward me.
My flames dimmed fractionally.
Not out of humility. But for precision.
That name again.
Sin.
As if I were an event, not a person.
The lead Solstice Veil went even further to send a private message that I captured.
‘He has collapsed and reformed his weavings twice. In front of all of us. Could he be one of the anomalies mentioned in the Existential Destiny?’
…!
He sought to speak in secret, but I caught it.
Master Shen took another long pull from his gourd. The bottom never showed. The sloshing never ceased.
He exhaled noisily, then turned toward me with a crooked smile.
“Young Paradox,” he said, his voice half-slurred but unnervingly clear, “seems you’re tangled in quite the mess. The kids from the Mannafolds, Chronosect, and others… they’ve been eyeing you like you’re dinner wrapped in riddle paper.”
He pointed lazily in a half-circle to the gathered groups of Fold Dwellers. Their expressions… spoke volumes.
Even though they hadn’t uttered a word.
I could feel it.
Their internal channels were lighting up.
Messages.
Orders.
Demands.
Summoning their own… reinforcements.
Master Shen scratched his white-gold beard and continued, “How about taking a little stroll through the Folds with me, eh? Visit the Veiled Sunfolds? Safer place. Softer chairs. Good food. Good drinks! Less nosy ghosts whispering about you.”
He smiled.
“They just want to talk, that’s all.”
Behind the ease, I sensed it.
Maneuvering to obtain someone they deemed an anomaly.
I said nothing at first, my gaze drifting across the field.
Toward the Chronosect.
Their robes shimmered like spiraling weavings of unrecorded time. Faces tight. Hands hidden behind their backs.
Watching.
Waiting.
And the Mannafolds… they didn’t even mask their expressions.
Their anger was plain. Ugly. Controlled only by calculation.
Because I could see it.
They were already thinking of who to call, who to send, to match what had just unfolded here.
Someone of equal caliber.
Someone like Master Shen.
I tilted my head slightly. A game was forming. And I was the prize.
Then came the lightest steps across shattered stone.
Kalysta.
Her crown of starfire was flickering low, her voice almost casual.
“Stranger,” she said, “you’re a bigger target than you think. That thing chased you for a reason. And now that it’s gone, the rest want to know why.”
She stopped just beside me, starlight catching the edge of her smile.
“I’ve already invited you to the Sunfolds once. Come with us now. Avoid all these entanglements.”
Her voice was soft.
Enticing.
Fate itself seemed to nod along with her.
I turned to meet her eyes, lips curling in a faint smile of my own.
Of course.
Those who followed destiny… would be the easiest to work around.
To guide.
To bend.
I already knew and thought of this as since things had come to this…
I gave her a light nod.
A small gesture.
She smiled in response- perhaps thinking it was mutual trust.
It was not.
Ahead of us, Master Shen snorted.
“Bah! I ask the Stranger, and he says nothing. A little starlit vixen bats her lashes, and now he nods? Hey, are my lashes not pretty? Or is my beard?!”
…!
He took another drink.
Then straightened.
And just like that, the ease died.
His gaze turned. Sharpened.
Focused like a drawn blade.
Toward a distant mountain, cracked and dark, where two figures stood in layers of folded shadow.
Thauron.
And Bob.
They had not entirely fled.
Not yet.
But they paradoxically had…and had not.
Master Shen’s eyes narrowed.
“Ran fast, didn’t you?” he said, voice cold now. “Didn’t even wait to greet a Master of Existence? An old acquaintance?”
Even at this distance, I saw it.
Thauron stiffened.
His Finality Weavings flared like collapsing stars.
He did not answer.
Instead, he reached for Bob, and began subtly displacing the structure of their existence.
But I watched their weavings while also remembering something and looking around.
It took a few seconds.
And then I saw it.
Still embedded in the earth of the Middle Wheel Platform a distance away.
A black stone.
Ordinary to the untrained eye.
But I knew it.
The same Thauron had offered before.
The stone that would lead to the Prison- the terrifying place he was once caged in.
My eyes narrowed.
So that still remained. Meaning Thauron still laid out possibilities of his choices.
I waved my hands and silently brought the stone into my hands- my weavings buzzing around it as I sent it…towards my other half right away.
Towards the me who was Dead, Ozymandias!
Master Shen lost his seriousness and gave a low chuckle towards Thauron’s direction as he continued.
“Since you’ve already run, nothing more I can do about it. But don’t let me catch you snooping around. You…are not a Master as you used to be.”
…!
A terrifying piece of information was revealed!
The introduction to the Volume of Infinity is officially kicking off with a glimpse of Wonders, Concords, Fold Dwellers, Living Paradoxes, Living Collapses, and more!
If any readers want to test out their creativity, you can design a True Source of Existence, and if it is overpowered or unique enough- Noah or a major upcoming character will have it! You can comment here or on discord under the Privilege Spoiler channel
The First Person POV will shift to eventually settle back to Third Person POV!