Chapter 4349: ERROR I
Chapter 4349: ERROR I
Noah’s expression had grown heavy, his eyes carrying darkness that suggested he was imagining exactly what that existence would feel like.
Conscious. Aware. Powerful. And completely, utterly helpless as his own strength was used to fuel purposes he didn’t choose.
It was a fate worse than death because death would at least be final.
His internal weavings ran in circles of calculation and fury.
So that’s what happens if he crossed The Veil prematurely!
THE Dead Order just... wins. Immediately and completely.
No fight or negotiation.
The thought was sobering.
He’d faced dangers before. He’d battled beings whose power exceeded his. He’d survived situations that should have been fatal through combination of luck, skill, and absurd cheating.
But this?
"..."
This was encountering a being who operated on a Scale of Existence where his tricks didn’t matter, where his power was irrelevant, where resistance itself was a concept that didn’t apply.
Noah took a breath, then spoke with calm.
"Show me the other scenarios."
RUINEDEN nodded, and the second diagram pulsed with different energy...less immediately catastrophic but carrying its own breed of horror.
"Scenario Two: Pursuing other Doorways to THE Loom."
The diagram showed Noah moving through the Transcendent Folds, seeking those mysterious passages that supposedly led to THE Loom where answers and power awaited.
"Result: Nearly all Doorways you encounter are collapsed," RUINEDEN reported, her tone carrying clinical assessment. "The collapse isn’t natural...they’ve been deliberately sealed. And attached to the walls near each collapsed Doorway, you find Inevitabilities fused to the structure like living locks."
The diagram showed grotesque images of Inevitabilities merged with reality itself, their forms twisted and repurposed into security systems.
"Similar to the exterior wall where you encountered the Lodestone attached," RUINEDEN continued. "These Inevitabilities have been sucked in entirely."
The diagram shifted, showing Noah moving from one collapsed Doorway to another, finding the same result repeatedly.
"However," RUINEDEN added, and the diagram brightened slightly, "probability calculations suggest that some Doorways may still exist in uncollapsed states. The locations are unknown. The number is uncertain. But statistical analysis indicates they haven’t all been sealed."
She paused.
"Finding them would require extensive searching across multiple Folds. This path is possible but inefficient path."
Noah nodded slowly, processing that information. So THE Loom was being actively defended, sealed off, made inaccessible after his actions woth the Lodestone.
Which meant it was probably worth reaching.
"And the third scenario?"
The final diagram pulsed with colors that suggested imminent violence and complicated planning.
"Scenario Three: Waiting for another Justiciar and following Schrodinger’s plan."
The diagram showed the Transcendent Quantum Folds, and within them, the emergence of another of those terrifying Living Existential Armors....a Justiciar performing its ritual of collapse.
"Probability calculations indicate high likelihood of Justiciar manifestation in the Transcendent Quantum Folds within the next few hours," RUINEDEN reported. "If you, Schrodinger, and Leonore Rureaux interrupt its ritual, attempting to capture or interrogate it..."
The diagram showed Leonore Rureaux engaging the Justiciar, her power overwhelming it.
"...A dozen more Justiciars manifest immediately," RUINEDEN continued, her tone darkening. "They arrive in response to the first one’s distress signal. When they assess the situation and determine they cannot win against your combined forces..."
The diagram showed all thirteen Justiciars simultaneously detonating, their forms erupting in explosions of anti-existence that would collapse the entire region.
"...They self-destruct," RUINEDEN finished. "Complete existential annihilation. No bodies to examine. No trail to follow. Just devastation and lost opportunity."
Noah’s eyes narrowed. "And if we don’t interrupt?"
"If you allow the Justiciar to complete its ritual," RUINEDEN said, and the diagram shifted to show a different outcome, "it collapses the entire region of Transcendent Quantum Folds as intended. Countless Sextillions of Fold Dwellers and Living Existences perish. An entire section of existence becomes carved in white fires of purity. More fear spreads."
The diagram showed the Justiciar completing its work, then departing.
"After completing the collapse, the Justiciar returns to wherever it came from," RUINEDEN continued. "If you follow it without engaging, maintaining concealment and distance, probability suggests you could track it back to its source."
She paused, her expression growing grave.
"However, this path requires allowing massive casualties to occur. An entire portion of the Fold will fall. The price of information is genocide."
...!
Noah stood in silence, processing all three scenarios.
Each one carried its own brand of horror.
None of them were good.
None of them were safe.
None of them promised outcomes he could accept!
But as Noah stood there, his eyes shining with tyranny brewing behind calculation, a smile began forming on his features.
It wasn’t a pleasant smile. It wasn’t the kind of expression that suggested he’d found a solution everyone would be happy with.
It was the smile of someone who had just decided that none of the options presented were acceptable, so he would create his own option instead.
"Interesting scenarios. Very informative. But... I’m not going to do any of them. These scenarios assume I’m limited to the obvious choices."
His eyes blazed brighter.
"But I have the Cheating Architect. I have Perpetual Harvest. I have access to the Earliest Folds and knowledge of how existence was structured before it learned to defend itself."
He gestured broadly, encompassing all the possibilities that existed beyond the three scenarios.
"So instead of choosing between bad options, I’m going to create a fourth option."
HUUM!
He looked towards RUIN/EDEN.
"Let’s cheat properly, why dont we?"
RUINEDEN stared at him for a long moment.
Then, slowly, she smiled back...an expression that mirrored his own dangerous satisfaction!
He turned his attention back to the Early Veiled Shore, to his people who were still reveling in their newfound Mana abundance, to Sigrid who was consolidating her Quintillion-level power, to Khor who watched everything with knowing eyes.
The future was uncertain.
The dangers were real and immediate.
But he had never been particularly concerned with doing things the expected way.
Why start now?
A few possibilities bloomed in his mind as he moved on!
"Let me see the current Cheat Code Repository."
RUIN/EDEN’s holographic form brightened immediately.
"Yes, Master. The Repository has been working overtime since the Principle matured, automatically decompiling and cataloging every ability, technique, and Principle you’ve encountered."
She gestured, and a massive illusory interface materialized in the air before Noah...rows upon rows of entries, each one representing a different existential architecture that had been broken down into its component code.
"Let me walk you through what we’ve acquired," RUINEDEN continued, "Starting with the most recent additions from your encounter with the Prime Dead Early Creatures. For Tatiana, we already observed her usage of her Dream based Principle as I will jump onto a second one she didn’t truly get to utilize."
The interface shifted, highlighting specific entries that pulsed with dark radiance.
|CHEAT CODE REPOSITORY - CURRENT CATALOG|
|Entry #2: Principle of Absolute Consumption (Source: Commander Tatiana)|
|Classification: Harvesting/Predation Type|
|Core Function: Converts all defeated entities into pure fuel for exponential power growth|
|Decompilation Status: 73% Complete|
|Notes: Architecture is surprisingly elegant despite its brutality. The conversion efficiency scales based on the victim’s final emotional state- fear and despair provide higher yields. Fascinating and horrifying in equal measure.|
The interface shifted again, highlighting another entry.
|Entry #3: Principle of Endless Hunger (Source: Prime Dead Early Creature - Valerius the Insatiable)|
|Classification: Consumption/Amplification Type|
|Core Function: Transforms metabolic processes into existential expansion- literally grows stronger through eating|
|Decompilation Status: 81% Complete|
|Notes: Less sophisticated than Tatiana’s approach but more stable. This Principle doesn’t cannibalize the user’s sanity as payment for power. Trade-off is lower peak efficiency but sustainable operation. Practical. Trying to be an Inevitability?|
Another entry bloomed with crimson-gold light.
|Entry #4: Principle of Dominion Through Death (Source: Prime Dead Early Creature - Moros the Inevitable End)|
|Classification: Authority/Subjugation Type|
|Core Function: Establishes hierarchical control over anything that has experienced death or near-death|
|Decompilation Status: 67% Complete|
RUINEDEN’s expression grew more analytical.
The interface expanded further, revealing more entries.
|Entry #5: Principle of Exponential Decay (Source: Prime Dead Early Creature - Nyx the Withering)|
|Classification: Entropy/Time Manipulation Type|
|Core Function: Accelerates aging and degradation of targeted entities and concepts|
|Decompilation Status: 79% Complete|
|Entry #6: Principle of Parasitic Unity (Source: Prime Dead Early Creature - Typhon the Many-Formed)|
|Classification: Symbiosis/Absorption Type|
|Core Function: Creates false unity by forcibly merging separate existences into collective consciousness|
|Decompilation Status: 71% Complete|
Noah’s eyes tracked through the entries with interest. These were Principles that beings had spent eons developing, perfecting, building their entire existences around!