Chapter 4993: Finite III
Chapter 4993: Finite III
THE Primordial Armor observed this scene with visor that communicated interest.
Massive gauntlets came together in what could only be described as applause, the sound booming across the corrupted Wastes with weight that made the crimson ring of fire flicker.
"How quaint."
The words emerged with amusement.
"Are these supposed to be reinforcements? More things for me to experiment with?"
Beowulf’s visor oriented toward THE Infiniverse with attention that made Noah’s anger transform into something colder.
"In that one..."
The armored titan pointed toward THE Infiniverse with shining interest.
"On that one, I also sense Infinity and a bit more. What a work of wonder."
The helm tilted.
"This will certainly work even better."
HUUM!
THE Primordial Armor moved.
The massive form that had been content to demonstrate and mock and establish the gap between Scales now surged into motion with speed that should have been impossible for something so vast. Its massive hand reached toward Noah and everyone around him, toward RUINATION and THE Infiniverse and Alexander and Skoll and the army of Absolutes that surrounded them all.
Noah looked at the hand of this massive entity at THE Second Scale of Existence.
His eyes burned with defiance that had not dimmed despite everything he had witnessed. His foundations blazed with Countable Infinity that meant nothing against something operating on fundamentally different levels of reality. His army stood ready to defend him against an assault they could not defend against.
And yet what could he do?
At such a time, a voice reached his awareness.
It was deep and heavy and filled with frustration that bordered on disgust!
"This is...maddening to watch."
The voice did not seem to come from any direction. It simply existed within his perception, present without source, heard without origin.
"You hold Infinity in our Observable Existence. You hold an endless sea."
A pause that communicated exasperation beyond what words could express.
"Why do you keep channeling it through a straw? Why?"
The frustration intensified.
"Bah. I am leaving. I cannot watch this anymore."
...!
The voice faded as quickly as it had appeared.
Noah heard it as the presence departed, and something about its cadence, something about it reminded him immensely of THE Mnemonic Leviathan.
But the content of those complaints resonated within him!
He looked at the incoming hand of THE Primordial Armor.
Channeling an endless sea through a straw.
The words pulled forth something he knew but did not know. Something he understood but did not understand. Something that had lingered in the back of his mind since the moment he first touched Infinity, a truth he had never allowed himself to fully face.
HUUM!
His existence began to buzz with recognition that trembled through his foundations.
At this time, he was forced to face it.
In this moment of unprecedented danger where many things were at stake, in the face of an impossible enemy, in the presence of those who had come to stand beside him despite his commands otherwise, he had to face it.
The answer was Infinity.
He had thought this when he came here. He had believed it with everything he was. His authority was endless. His potential was unlimited. His power extended in sequences that would never terminate.
But there was something he feared.
He always knew it, lurking beneath the surface of his consciousness like something he could not bear to examine directly. But he could never bring himself to think of it, much less say it. He entirely blocked it within his mind and psyche, walling it away behind certainties and achievements and the accumulated weight of everything he had accomplished.
He was without Fear or Doubt.
And yet on this one thing, he was fearful to even admit it. It was paradoxical.
It felt like a violation of who he was to think it. It felt like it would break his very Civilization if he thought it, much less say it. The words seemed dangerous in ways that THE Second Scale did not, threatening in ways that Primordial Architects could never match.
But at this moment, he knew he had to.
He was afraid of the outcome as it was the one unknown of his existence, but that outcome might be exactly what he needed right now. Maybe. Maybe!
So before things became catastrophic, before the massive hand reached him and everyone he cared about, he opened his mouth to say what he thought he would never say.
"I have Infinite Mana."
The words emerged with weight that pressed against reality.
"I have laid the Claim to THE First Tongue."
His voice trembled with something that he did not allow himself to feel.
"And yet I... I..."
HUUM!
Existence began to buzz and tremble around him.
His own body began to buzz and tremble with warnings that seemed to emerge from his very foundations. His Civilization itself seemed to scream at him through sensations that had no name, through pressure that had no source, through urgency that communicated a single desperate message.
Do not say what you were about to say!
But...
DUM!
Noah felt the beat of his heart.
He closed his eyes and placed his hand on his chest, feeling the rhythm that had carried him through everything since his existence began. The beat was there beneath his palm, steady and present.
DUM!
The beat was melodious.
The beat was heavy.
It reminded him of his mother. Of his son. Of his women. He thought of himself, of everything he had been and everything he had become and everything he still wanted to be. As much as he wanted to say he had to do this for them, he actually had to do it for himself.
So he forced himself to finish the words.
"I... Am Not Infinite."
...!
BOOM!
"I...Am Finite."
...!
The beat of his heart could no longer be heard.
His body became unfathomably still in ways that transcended mere physical cessation. The flickering blue-gold flames of Infinity that had surrounded him, the aura that had defined his existence across his entire journey, simply disappeared.
The immensity around him vanished.
At this moment, he seemed no more than just a man. As if all authority had left him due to the words he said!
His robes dimmed from blazing blue-gold to simple fabric. His Depth no longer gave off any heaviness, no longer pressed against reality with the weight of what he carried. Everything about him seemed mundane, seemed ordinary, seemed like nothing more than a mortal standing in the midst of powers that should have crushed him without effort.
THE Infiniverse turned toward him with shock and incredulity.
RUINATION’s cold composure cracked.
And yet after saying something he had been terrified of saying, Noah felt...an unfathomable sense of freedom.
DUM!
He began to feel the beat of his heart again.
It was not grand or heavy. It was normal. It was mundane. It was the simple rhythm of a finite existence that had somehow come to wield something endless.
And yet when he looked at the massive incoming hand of THE Primordial Architect at an entirely different Scale of Existence, he had a thought that surprised him more than anything else that had occurred in this confrontation.
This hand did not seem so insurmountable.
Because for all of his existence, he was a Finite Being using Infinity who had been scared to even admit it.
At this moment in the history of Observable Existence, THE Genesis Monarch was finally truthful with himself.
He was not Infinite. He was finite. And in that simple, paradoxical, seemingly mundane statement that should have diminished him but somehow did not, everything would change.
Noah raised his right hand that still trembled as he...flung it forth simply.
HUUUM!
At this time, the color blue unlike any other, at any point in time...flourished.
And that massive unreachable hand of THE Primordial Armor that he could not even touch before...
BOOM!
Was smacked away.