Chapter 3658 A Flame That Purifies!
Chapter 3658 A Flame That Purifies!
The Great Beyonder cursed under her breath at the Wheel's calculations.
How were the three of them supposed to withstand the assault of twelve Dead True Sources of Existence?
Each one held its own complex weavings- and in that moment, Veyl'Aethra sighed, his eyes brimming with emotions far too tangled to describe.
He lifted his left hand, subtle and hidden from the sight of the Great Beyonder and Noah, who remained focused on the waves of Dead Things approaching.
His gaze fell upon his pale hand, where a swirling obsidian singularity bloomed in and out of existence. It made his entire limb spasm, flickering in and out of reality like a being that couldn't quite hold its place.
But his True Source pulsed silently.
He clenched his hand, stabilizing it. The Echo Distortion of Existence faded before it could be observed by the others.
He understood, at least in part, why the Wheel had merged the Gateway Domus together.
But he… couldn't bring himself to speak of it. Not yet.
Instead, he focused forward—preparing to unleash even more Pillars of Concordance, his True Source ready to burn at its limits.
Meanwhile, the Great Beyonder's expression darkened.
She took in the chaos around her and spoke, more to herself than to anyone else, her voice wrapped in solemn power.
"I've done this for so long. I've defended for millions of years. I thought of leaving a total of three times. But I stayed. I remained strong. Surely…this can't be how it all ends?"
Half of her attention drifted toward Noah.
As if she were still… expectantly waiting.
Noah met her gaze with a quiet smile, a flicker of calm in the storm of despair and uncertainty.
"You'll likely be put to work a little while longer," he said softly. "So hang in there."
…!
His words carried no grandeur- just truth.
There was no need for despair.
The Wheel of Existence wasn't finished with her yet.
Then, he closed his eyes.
Even as the Dead Things closed in from every direction, he stilled his breath and listened.
To the True Source of the Singed.
Its brightness. Its brilliance.
Its Complexity.
Its Purity.
It had been the first Source to speak to him.
Why had the Wheel done what it did?
The answer was always the same.
The Variable.
He was the variable.
And so, with his heart aligned to that truth, his flames began to hum—vibrating with sacred resonance as his voice echoed out to all present beings, living and dead.
"My flames are pure."
…!
"My flames are scorching."
…!
"My flames are glorious."
HUUUM!
"And my flames…are empowering."
The instant his final word rang out…
He unleashed the True Flames of the Singed.
The Pillar of Concordance of the Singed erupted in brilliance, releasing ringing waves of white-gold fire that surged outward, spiraling toward the Pillar of the Great Beyonder—inscribed with trillions of runes—and the Pillar of Veyl'Aethra, etched with the unraveling strands of time itself.
The flames touched the other Pillars…
BZZT!
…and ignited them.
The unfathomably pure white-gold fire acted as a catalyst, bonding with their constructs and causing their Pillars to blaze brighter, expand, and intensify.
The Great Beyonder and Veyl'Aethra could only look on, astonished.
A True Source…was empowering the True Sources of others?
"Is this… what the Wheel saw?"
The Great Beyonder's eyes gleamed as her own True Source of Runes surged in Complexity and Purity, even if just for a moment.
And Noah?
He stood silent, listening.
The True Source of the Singed communicated with him again, just like before, speaking of its limitless possibilities, its unseen design. Not only did it sever concepts to become a Pathway…
…it could also empower True Sources.
His flames stretched far toward the regions of the Gateway Domus, toward Yrrmoth, Nyxal, and Grys, and every other incoming Dead Source.
They came into contact with them. They touched their essence.
And in doing so.
They made a distinction.
They declared those beings as enemies.
HUUM!
Noah's weavings pulsed.
The True Severed Adaptive Power of Existence activated, marking each hostile entity as an enemy whose Complexity he now needed to match—to overcome—in the battles to come.
This was his starting point.
And his flames—those wondrous flames of the Singed—continued to break down the corrupted weavings of the Dead True Sources they touched.
They were unfathomably pure.
Now, all they needed was…
Complexity!
As Noah's flames empowered the Great Beyonder and Veyl'Aethra, as he prepared to face even more Dead Things…
One more thing demanded his focus.
There were two Mechanics of Ascension among True Sources.
The first- to clash with other Sources, growing stronger through the impact and surviving collapse.
The second- Source Devouring Evolution—the path others feared.
But it was the path he wished to walk most.
One path involved attaining a Source similar to the Wild True Source in the current Domus.
The other…was to devour the Complexity and Purity of other True Sources without undergoing Fractal Collapse.
And so, he called out in thought.
"My dear Ruination, you have given me the Affix of the Severed Extractor to understand even incompatible Sources. Now, can you give me an Affix to break down and purify understood True Sources of others—so I may devour them entirely…without fracturing my existence?"
…!
This body- his form bound to the True Source of the Singed, had arrived in the Infinite Ravines, where he had met the Great Beyonder and encountered beings with other True Sources of Existence.
He directed his message to none other than Ruination- the Ruined Miniature Wheel of Existence within the grand Wheel itself.
One of his bodies was currently traversing Frequency to Frequency with her, gathering the final Traces of the Wheel.
This body- his form bound to the True Source of the Singed, had arrived in the Infinite Ravines, where he had met the Great Beyonder and encountered beings with other True Sources of Existence.
Another body bound to the True Source of Existence itself was now engaged in the most difficult battle of his life, stretching across frequencies of reality.
He was battling the Dead Thing known as Bob- a being so unfathomably complex, even Noah could not measure the full scope of his power.
Bob's weavings had been fractured long ago—broken while being chased by the Omnifather, after he invaded the Weavings of the Wheel.
Bob had sealed his own memories, twisted time, distorted frequency all for the reason of going with the flow of the Wheel to not be found out and treated as an enemy.
He even became a disciple of the First Watcher of the Wheelomachy in this distortion of time and reality!
He had sought out entanglements like Noah, the Great Usurper, and the Peacemaker for a purposes of obtaining what he wished, and he eventually did.
Even the Omnifather, who had been chasing him across infinite echoes, had never truly discovered Bob's identity.
He was a mess of paradox, uncertainty, and time.
And Noah could not help but look forward—to the day he would forge the True Sources of Paradox, Uncertainty, Relativity, and Chronos.
But for now…
There was Bob.
There were the Infinite Ravines.
There were the True Frequencies of the Wheel.
There was the mission to fill his last Mundi of Power with a System forged of all Three States of Existence and to finally complete the Atlas of Existence- to break free of the title of Administrator.
There was the Infiniverse Megalos.
There were his True Sources.
And there was…Ruination.