Chapter 4326: A Glorious Protocol! I A terrifying progression. In existence, there are good enemies, and there are horrid enemies. A good enemy is a straightforward thing. They want your land, your resources, your head on a spike. They make their intentions clear, and they attack you. You fight, you win or you lose. It is a clean, honest, and brutal transaction. But a horrid enemy... a horrid enemy is a different beast entirely. They are the ones who attack you while telling you they are doing it for your own good. To save you. To make sure you do not harm yourself. They are the ones who will burn your house to the ground and then explain, with a sad, paternalistic smile, that they were simply trying to keep you warm. These types of enemies... they are absolutely the worst. In the Early Veiled Shore. A profound stillness had settled over the Radiant Shore. The joyous, chaotic energy of progression had given way to a quiet, focused solemnity. Across the golden sands, Noah’s people had emerged from their states of rapid, endowment-fueled cultivation. Sigrid rose, her form a beacon of pure white Order against the azure backdrop of the Shore. Noah turned to her, a faint, almost teasing smile on his lips. "Are you my captive?" She looked at him, and her eyes, which held the serene, unyielding light of a fundamental law, flashed with a flicker of something almost like... annoyance. "It doesn’t seem like I am," she said, her voice a calm, even current. "But these existences..." Her gaze drifted to the screens, to the silent, orderly legions of The Prime Dead, and a shadow of concern crossed her perfect features. Noah saw it, that flicker of worry, and his smile softened. "They are merely Prime Dead," he said, his voice a quiet, reassuring anchor in the sea of her unspoken fears. "Nothing too crazy." In the next moment, a new presence made itself known. Khor floated towards him, her diminutive form a stark, beautiful contrast to the vast, open expanse of the Shore, her abyssal eyes pulsing with a contained, ancient power. She turned and looked across the Shore, her gaze settling on the far corner where a second, identical body of herself was calmly overseeing the separation of Bob from the Mutated In Abitability, with Liora standing nearby, her face a mask of anxious, hopeful anticipation. Khor looked at all of this, then turned back to Noah. "I need to let loose, Outsider," she said, her voice a low, dangerous purr. "I am holding a little anger inside of me, and it would be good to express it. With how much I have been eating... I could likely keep that Tatiana busy. Though she is not a simple one, as she appears. You would have to find a way to deal with the other ones." ...! Noah smiled at her words. Yes, out of all the impossible, terrible weapons in his arsenal, Khor was undoubtedly one of the strongest. With his power, her power, and the overwhelming might of the Resplendent Citadels, they might just be able to hold back this terrifying new force. But... Noah shook his head. He stared at Khor, at his people, at the magnificent, terrible army he had built, and his smile widened into a grand, tyrannical expression. "You all have gotten a glimpse of My Way. My Civilization. I now wish to give you... a full look at it." BOOM! A full look! Khor was astonished. She looked at him, at the quiet, unshakeable confidence in his eyes, and she realized, with a shock that was a profound, almost delightful thing, that against an enemy that was three, perhaps four times more powerful than him, he was denying her help. Why? Could his Way of Existence be that terrifying? His Complexity and Purity was only at approximately one Quintillion, while Tatiana alone exceeded four Quintillion, and there were others behind her at three Quintillion and two Quintillion. Nearly all those he stood against were more powerful than him. "Are you sure, Outsider?" she asked, her voice a mixture of genuine concern and a deep, ancient curiosity. Noah smiled and nodded. "Yes. Watch My Way of Existence. Watch My Way of the Mana Architect. Watch My Civilization... and try to hold on strong to your Hunger." ...! He spoke the words with a grand, almost playful, authority. Khor shook her head with a look of pure, unadulterated incredulity. "You are insane, Outsider." At that moment, Noah smiled. He closed his eyes and sent his will to RUIN/EDEN. ’Are the Mana Arcana Glyphs I told you to design ready?’ ...! Yes. Mana Arcana Glyphs! In the Earliest Folds, he had only forged the Mana Glyph of the Primordial Fireball that dealt half a Quintillion in damage and the Mana Arcana Glyph: Annihilation’s First Spark that dealt 1.5 Quintillion damage. But his body had still remained in the Earliest Folds this whole time, and in the hours that had passed there, it had been very, very productive. Endless Mana had been used to forge an arsenal of the most powerful Mana Arcana Glyphs he could imagine, Glyphs that would allow him to truly express just how terrifying his Way of Existence was! Because his strength and the strength of his System, at the end of the day, lay in Mana. Infinite Mana. And for something others did not have, how could he use it best? The answer was terrifyingly clear! Otherd had limitations of Everythings and much more, but he...did not! "Show me." His existence buzzed as he gave the command to RUIN/EDEN, and in the quiet, internal sanctum of his mind, a glorious, terrible presentation began. |Project: [One Man Army] is complete, Master. Multiple new Mana Arcana Glyphs have been added to your Codex. Allow me to begin the demonstration.| In his mind’s eye, the radiant, card-like structure of the Annihilation’s First Spark bloomed into existence. On its surface, a magnificent, nine-headed Primordial Mana-Flame Wyrm slept, its azure scales shimmering with a contained, apocalyptic power!