The Great Core's Paradox

“She made it inside,” Needle announced to the other Coreless. There were a few whoops, intermingled with bursts of [excitement] and [satisfaction]. “There’s two guards still at the gate. No visible change in wariness.”

Ignoring the interplay between the faithful and disciples, I focused on my task. It had been difficult for the Coreless to demonstrate to me what they wanted to do, but I eventually understood. More than that, I approved. Because, defying my previous punishment for the very same act, the blasphemers had continued to do what they so loved to do.

They had attempted to defy the Great Core. Even worse, they did so by capturing some of the weakest of its followers and using them against the faithful. The tiny Coreless, as powerful in faith as they tended to be, were all but useless in a fight. Even I might be able to overpower one in pure physical strength, and I wasn’t afraid to admit that I was particularly weak in that respect.

All in all, I was furious.

Only the knowledge that I could only bring those I personally killed back from the dead kept me from simply slithering towards the blasphemers. If I did that, the tiny Coreless would almost surely die. And every lost member of the Great Core’s faith was an unimaginable tragedy. Especially when they still had room to grow into so much more. I had already noticed that the tiny Coreless who bore my [Little Guardian’s Totem]s were slowly becoming infused with mana in the strange way that the Coreless all seemed to - and they did so more noticeably than the other faithful, probably due to their smaller size. Or maybe it was just a result of still physically growing while connected to the Great Core’s power.

Either way, I refused to lose them to the blasphemers. They would survive. They would thrive. And they would bring glory to the Greatest of Cores in doing so.

I pulled at the threads of time around me, gathering them up in preparation. Before, the faithful had avoided planting seeds too close to the place that the blasphemers defended. Now, however, we were doing the opposite. I just had to wait for the right time.

…it hadn’t come yet.

I hissed impatiently, taking a break to look towards the nearest Coreless. They were making noises among themselves, but I struggled to follow even more than I normally did. Not all of them were of the Great Core. It would have bothered me, normally, but I recognized a few of the faithful at their head.