Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3916: Battlefronts! II

In the channel leading to the Transcendent Origin Battlefront Folds.

Altheon’s awareness pressed against the barrier like fingers testing the surface of still water, his ancient mind cataloguing every ripple of power that emanated from within as he did not dare to observe anything, but could somewhat gues what was happening within.

He sighed- for any displays of emotion were beneath a being of his stature, but somewhere in the depths of his existence, duty and desire waged their war.

The Young Miss. Even now, the title carried reverence that made his very essence tremble.

She was not merely a unique Living Origin, though that alone would have commanded the devotion of many. No, she was something far more precious, far more dangerous.

The Living Order.

Not just any Living Order, but THE Living Order- the singular axis upon which the balance of all Living Existences that was broken long ago...would one day turn!

Her potential was whispered among the highest echelons of Living Origins, a promise of restoration that entire Folds had died hoping to witness. And now, in this critical moment of her emergence, she chose to enclose herself with... him.

Altheon’s luminous gaze traced the smooth curve of the barrier, behind which the Young Miss conversed with the Fold Dweller he had protected from Royal Origin Calypso’s scrutiny.

Noah Osmont. The name tasted strange in his thoughts, carrying with it an inexplicable weight that made his ancient intuition prickle with unease. There was something about that being that simply felt off!

The way he carried himself. His attitude. As if even a Living Origin like him was nothing.

The Young Miss was no child. Her mind was sharp as the edge of existence, her will forged in the crucible of unimaginable loss. She knew precisely what she was doing, had calculated every angle, every consequence. But that knowledge did nothing to ease the knot of frustration that coiled in Altheon’s core!

At this moment, when her emergence into the greater weavings of existence required the utmost care, she chose intimacy over glory. Privacy over prudence.

It maddened him.

But he...had already made his choice. And now, he could only continue!

"Young Miss," he called out, his voice carrying across the flowing channels of white-gold current with the authority of eons. The words rippled through the barrier like stones cast into a mirror-still pond, yet returned to him unchanged, unanswered.

Silence!

The channel around them pulsed with its own rhythm, each fold of current breathing in and out like the chest of some slumbering titan.

Rivers of light twisted through the medium, yet within that barrier, all was still!

"Young Miss," Altheon tried again, his tone carrying the weight of urgency now. "We are arriving in the Transcendent Origin Battlefront Folds."

A heartbeat passed. Then another. Existence held its breath.

Only then did the white-gold barrier begin to fade. The light peeled away in layers, each one revealing more of the figures within until finally, Noah and Sigrid stood before him in perfect clarity.

Noah’s eyes met his with that same infuriating calm that had marked their every interaction, a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth as if he found some private amusement in Altheon’s obvious displeasure.

His hand, and here Altheon’s luminous gaze sharpened to a razor’s edge, still held hers, their fingers intertwined with an intimacy that spoke of far more than casual conversation.

The taste and smell of her still lingered on Noah’s lips, Altheon realized with a surge of something dangerously close to protective fury.

HUUM!

The Young Miss of the Living Origins- his Young Miss, the treasure of all Living Origins, had been touched by this Fold Dweller!

When Altheon’s gaze shifted to Sigrid, however, his anger cooled into something far more measured. Her eyes held that familiar sharpness, that calculating intelligence that had marked her since the moment she awakened in the Living Origin Labyrinth.

She was not some lovesick child overcome by passion. Whatever had transpired within that barrier had been her choice, made with full knowledge of its implications.

"Young Miss," Altheon said, his voice carefully neutral as his gaze pointedly fixed on their joined hands. "Many will be observing you, even though I have informed only Royal Origin Calypso and Duke Gwendolyn of your survival. I will keep my promise and say nothing regarding your... relationship. But if you express it so openly, you will invite tremendous difficulty for yourselves."

The words fell between them like executioner’s blades. Sigrid’s eyes sharpened, her grip on Noah’s hand tightening as if he had just spoken of stripping away some precious privilege.

He did not know how enticing thr Aura of an Early Creature was!

Yet Noah, with that maddening serenity that seemed to be his trademark, simply released her hand.

The gesture was smooth, unhurried, as if the separation meant nothing to him. As if he understood the game they were all playing and found it amusing rather than threatening.

Altheon nodded curtly, then allowed his Living Origin Authority to burst around them in a cocoon of brilliant radiance.

The final transition was always the most jarring- the moment when one stepped from the relative safety of the channels into the true weavings of war.

"Brace yourselves," he murmured, though his words were lost in the building crescendo of power.

BOOM!

Complex weavings of existence erupted around them like fireworks of pure existence, reality bending and folding as they were hurled across Existence.

The sensation was that of being turned inside out and reassembled in the space between heartbeats, every atom of their beings scattered and reformed according to the will of forces beyond comprehension.

And then, stillness!

They materialized atop a massive white triangular rune, its surface carved with intricate patterns that pulsed with the rhythm of some Existential heartbeat.

Smoke and mist swirled around their bodies, carrying with it the scent of glory and possibility.

Around them, other figures were taking shape- Master Neinoro with his pristine white robes and calculating smile, dozens of other Originus Venerant entities from Folds scattered across the breadth of existence!

But Noah’s attention was already elsewhere, his gaze lifting to take in the wonder that stretched before them with the slow glory of one witnessing new weavings of existence.

Something...gloriously new.

This...he loved!