Chapter 2000: The Hidden Weakness "ARRGHHH!!!" The screams from Noctis were spine-chilling as Eos broke the barriers in his mind and shattered all the defenses he had set in place. The dimension of Memory for every Primordial was tied to their Origin Essence, and therefore it was impregnable unless a power greater than the Primordial’s control over Origin was used, and even then it was a difficult process. All Origin Essences were unique and hence had various strengths and weaknesses, and it was impossible for another Primordial to mentally dominate another Primordial because their Origin Essence could completely accommodate all the variations in the essence of the other Primordial, even if they were weaker. Eos did not have that problem; he had multiple Origin Forces that he had already mastered to the fourth level, and he also had access to the Origin of Screaming Void, and so he was aware of every strength and weakness of the Primordial. Noctis’s defenses were valiant, and he had placed several unique structures in his memories that Eos had never seen before. If he ever doubted the status of Noctis as a member of the Architects, then those doubts had been thrown aside. The structures he saw in his memories were so alien that they could not have possibly emerged from any Reality in this Existence. The defenses broke before his Wills in a fraction of a nanosecond. Trillions of battles were fought in this moment, and Eos won them all until he reached the core of Noctis. The Primordial of Screaming Void had been screaming all this time, and his cries of plea had long transformed into ones of anger and disdain. Eos reached the last barrier in his mind, and suddenly, Noctis’ tone changed. No longer screaming or cursing, he became calm. It was as if the Noctis they had been presented with all this time was a facade, and now they were seeing the real person. "You are killing me, Eos," he calmly said, "Tell me, have any single actions I made gone against the code that you uphold? The things I have not mentioned to you were knowledge that was denied to this body, and now you are killing me for something that was never my fault." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺 Eos blinked, "Stop resisting my action, and your essence loss would end. I only come for your memories, and you would be foolish to think this is not the path I would always take, knowing your history." Noctis sighed, "You would never get what you want. The plans in my head are important, and you are too close to this matter to judge it dispassionately. You are many things, Eos, but your single greatest weakness is clear:" Noctis eyes glanced towards the Primordials behind him. "When the time comes to make the right choice, you shall stumble, and the enemy will take advantage." Eos did not reply to him; instead, he increased the power of his consciousness, and Noctis gasped in shock as Rowan’s mind, in the shape of a spear, pierced into his consciousness and began drinking up all the information. "Damn you," Noctis growled and detonated what was left of his Origin, and he crumbled to dust in Eos’s hand. Eos turned to the Primordials behind him, and his gaze settled on Sheba, who had tears falling down her face, "I had no choice, he was going to be..." he paused and opened his eyes in surprise, and he clutched his stomach in anger and astonishment as he felt power leaving him. "Hahahaha.... Do you think you could get rid of me so easily, Eos?" the voice of Noctis sounded behind him, and Eos paused, a million thoughts going through his head in a moment until he got his answer. Ⓡ Noctis had ascended to the level of Primordial while seeding his core in Eos’s Origin Land. This meant that unless Eos was killed and his Origin Land destroyed, Noctis could not be killed, not even if his entire Origin Essence were destroyed. This also had another significance. Primordials were immortal as long as Existence remained. They were a part of it, and Existence should be unending without the presence of the forces of End. Eos once thought Primordials were truly immortal, their immortality extending beyond every lesser immortal, including Old Ones, since they no longer had any lifespan. However, at his present height, he knew that their lives were tied to Existence itself. For so long, the main reason Eos could not reach the Primordial level was that he knew he could not root himself in Existence. At first, he did not do this because Existence was now Limbo, a place that he once thought was filled with the corruption created by the mountain of deaths created by the Primordials. Now he had a name for that corruption, and its name was End, and he had made the right choice of not becoming a Primordial and rooting himself inside of Limbo. The New Primordials he created did not suffer the poison of End since they were rooted inside his Realm. Eos’s lifespan was so incredibly long that it almost defied meaning, and he knew that if he reached the Primordial level, then his lifespan would become what even Primordials would regard as infinite. Even if he did not reach the Primordial level, he had certain traits inside of him that ensured that his lifespan would be limitless. Not counting that Eos now had Origin Essence inside him that could fuel his body for eternity, his Realm was continually expanding, and this expansion meant more strength and lifespan for him. Even though for his present body, he did not technically have a lifespan anymore. Eos’s body was not flesh and blood, but the raw essence of creation itself, and he was essentially perfect. He would live as long as he had something to fuel his body. Even if he were to lose all of his essence and energy, he would only go to sleep until there was sufficient energy again to activate his body. Why was this detail important? Well, it was all related to the Primordial of the Primordial of Screaming Void he was holding up in his hand. Noctis could be killed, but because his roots were in Eos’s realm, he could be resurrected by drawing upon the Essence Screaming Void that was now a part of the Origin Land. It did not matter if Noctis had a single Origin Essence inside of Eos’s dimension. This Essence could perpetually renew itself by drawing upon Eos’s energy stores. Now Eos was discovering that this process was automatic, and he could not stop it if he wanted. "Do you know that the higher-dimensional realms were a power made possible by the intervention of End?" Noctis smiled, "Now you know."