Chapter 4882: All In II Noah felt the swirling Absolute Seals of Quintessence and Infinity and Fire and Darkness and Unity and many more all infinitely manifesting over his skin alongside his Immensity, creating a barrier of authority that reinforced his natural resistance. Even though it was heavy, even though it was unfathomably heavy, even though lesser beings would have been erased from existence by such weight... he actually stood against an Embodiment! And the action brought this battle to an extremely serious precipice. THE Hollow Echo looked at him with colorless flames that burned brighter than before, recognition in its fragmented awareness. It nodded once more as it raised its hands, the nine hollow mountains spinning faster around its form in preparation for what came next. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 "Existence. Is. Everything." Its voice was stronger now, more cohesive, as if Noah’s defiance had reminded it of what it meant to truly fight. "And...My Everything Is Existence." HUUM! Another Embodiment bloomed outward from THE Hollow Echo, but this time it didn’t simply crash against Noah’s position. This time the Embodiment covered the Echo’s hands in crystalline colorless light, transforming its limbs into weapons of pure existential authority that shot out across the Capillary Thread! The hands were declaring that everything they touched existed only at the Echo’s sufferance! And Noah... "Actually." WAP! He disappeared from the position where THE Hollow Echo’s crystalline hands were converging, his existence flickering out of that space and materializing above the Echo in a movement so fast that even the spinning mountains couldn’t track it immediately. He had been going to block. He had been going to test his defenses against this second Embodiment. But somewhere between deciding to stand firm and the hands reaching him, he had changed his mind. His face showed determination and seriousness as Immensity radiated from every aspect of his being, blue-gold flames painting the Capillary Thread in colors that challenged the Echo’s colorless authority. He looked down at THE Hollow Echo from above with eyes that saw its Manifestation clearly, that perceived the crevice on the seventh mountain where two types of authority had been fused imperfectly. He punched out! The motion seemed to occur in slow motion, each fraction of movement stretching across heartbeats as the significance of what was happening demanded attention. His fist descended toward THE Hollow Echo, and as it moved, it became covered with tantalizing blue-gold light of Infinities that burned so brightly that even the colorless flames of the Echo seemed to dim by comparison. But the fist wasn’t the attack. The fist was the delivery mechanism. While he punched out, an endless sea of Absolute Seals of his First Tongue rushed forward from his existence like an ocean given purpose and direction. They didn’t spread randomly across THE Hollow Echo’s defenses. They didn’t waste themselves against the strongest sections of the hollow mountains. They bombarded the crevice on the seventh mountain with precision that only THE Civilizational Instinctus could provide! Seals of Absolute Tongue crashed against the horizontal weakness where two authorities had been imperfectly fused, their Infinite Hunger quality devouring the structural integrity that held the seam together. The Authority of Undifferentiated Fate followed immediately after, their quality of inducing undifferentiation causing the fused authorities to begin forgetting that they had ever been connected! It was an attack that carried the seriousness of THE First Tongue behind it, 27 base configurations each multiplying infinitely into floods of linguistic authority that poured into a single structural weakness with concentrated devastation. It was blinding. It was glorious! And the seventh hollow mountain, which had stood as part of THE Hollow Echo’s Manifestation since its creation, began to crack. The seventh mountain cracked! The sound that emerged from that structural failure was a terrifying onw. The crevice where two imperfectly fused authorities had been joined now gaped open like a wound that refused to close, the edges of the breach blurring as his Authority of Undifferentiated Fate continued their work of making the mountain forget what it had been. THE Hollow Echo’s colorless flames flickered. Well, not much, but enough! Noah saw the connection immediately through THE Civilizational Instinctus. The nine hollow mountains weren’t just defenses surrounding the Echo, they were akin to load-bearing structures that supported its very existence and Civilization. Damage to the Manifestation was damage to the being. Weakness in the architecture was weakness in the foundation of the Civilization! Good to know! The Echo’s crystalline hands that had been reaching toward where Noah had been standing moments before now swung upward toward his current position, their Embodiment-covered surfaces burning with authority that declared everything they touched would exist only at the Echo’s sufferance. But Noah was already moving. His existence flickered across the Capillary Thread with speed of a weaker Absolutes, his blue-gold form leaving afterimages that the Echo’s hands passed through without contact. He materialized beside the first mountain, the one with the crack running from tip to base, and his Seals were already flooding outward before his conscious mind had finished processing his new position. Autonomous Existential Response! His body knew what to do before his thoughts caught up. It was a strange sensation, watching himself act with precision he hadn’t consciously chosen. Like being a passenger in his own existence. He’d have to get used to that. Infinite Seals of Darkness crashed against the crack in the first mountain, their authority heavy with the quality of endings and conclusions that pressed against the structural weakness with concentrated precision. The mountain’s surface, already compromised by the fissure that had never properly healed, began to splinter outward from the point of impact. "Existence Demands Tribute." BOOM! An Embodiment erupted from THE Hollow Echo with force that made the entire Capillary Thread tremble, the declaration pressing against reality itself with weight that demanded acknowledgment. The authority of "Existence Demands Tribute" crashed against Noah’s existence with crushing pressure that sought to extract payment for his defiance. He stood firm. The pressure was immense. His robes rippled. His flames dimmed momentarily. His existence actually compressed slightly under the weight of authority that would’ve scattered lesser beings across The Interstices. But he didn’t fall! And while he bore the Embodiment’s weight, his Seals continued their assault on the first mountain. CRACK! The fissure split open completely, running from the hollow tip all the way down to the base in a single devastating line. The first mountain didn’t crumble immediately, but its authority wavered, its rotation around THE Hollow Echo becoming unsteady as structural integrity failed across half its surface. Noah flickered again. He appeared at the fifth mountain, the one whose base showed signs of erosion where it connected to the circular formation. His existence was still bearing the weight of the Embodiment, still being pressed upon by authority that demanded tribute, but his attacks didn’t pause. Couldn’t pause! THE Hollow Echo was recovering from the shock and confusion of its power...failing and falling. Its colorless flames surged brighter as rage or determination or something that existed in the hollow space between emotions drove it toward retaliation. Noah had a window of opportunity, and that window was closing with every heartbeat. Seals of Chaos flooded against the eroded base of the fifth mountain, their authority heavy with the quality of unpredictability that destabilized the already-weakened connection. The erosion that had accumulated across eons of existence became active decay in moments, the crystallized colorless flame beginning to dissolve where it met the circular formation. "You Will Pay For This." HUUM! THE Hollow Echo’s voice was more coherent now, fury binding its fragments together into something approaching unified speech. Its massive form turned toward Noah with attention that had physical weight, and its hands rose once more as crystalline authority gathered around them. But this time, it wasn’t just the hands. THE Hollow Echo’s feet also began to glow with Embodiment-covered surfaces, the same crystalline colorless light wrapping around its lower limbs as it prepared an assault from multiple vectors simultaneously. Noah saw the attack coming through THE Civilizational Instinctus, his enhanced perception tracking the trajectories of limbs that would converge on his position from four different angles. He was going to evade, but... "No." He stayed. His existence burned brighter as another Embodiment crashed against him, "You Will Pay For This" declaring that his actions had consequences that must be extracted. The weight was even greater than before, the Echo’s fury adding force to authority that pressed against his foundations with crushing intensity. His flames dimmed further. His Seals worked overtime to redistribute the pressure. His Apophasis strained against conceptual attack that sought to make him collapsible. But his hands didn’t stop moving. While bearing the weight of two Embodiments simultaneously, Noah continued flooding Seals against the eroded base of the fifth mountain. His existence trembled. His foundations groaned. His infinite aspects stretched to accommodate pressure that should’ve been impossible to bear! If anyone were watching this, they’d probably think he looked incredibly heroic. Standing firm against impossible odds. Defying authority that would crush lesser beings! In reality, he was mostly trying to make sure he lived up to the distinction of Absolute Immovable Object. The pressure was genuinely awful. Like being squeezed through a hole that was too small for his existence. But showing weakness now would be worse than the discomfort, so he kept his expression steady and his Seals flowing. And the fifth mountain’s base gave way. CRACK! Before him, every fucking thing had to give way!