novelraw Chapter 682: Mansa! I
Chapter 682: Mansa! I
The blinding white-gold light of THE Primordial Severance cut across reality in a ridiculous manner!
It did not attack Lamashtu in the conventional sense as it did not strike his body or clash against his authority. Instead, it severed something far more fundamental. The connection between Lamashtu and the very concept of differentiation that allowed his complexity to persist.
For one terrible instant, THE Prisoner forgot how to be complex.
His obsidian form shuddered as existence itself stopped recognizing him as a coherent entity. His Civilization flickered and guttered as the foundations supporting it lost their ability to maintain distinction between what was Lamashtu and what was everything else. His Second Scale authority unraveled at the seams, coming apart because the fabric holding it together no longer remembered how to hold!
Oh!
Lamashtu screamed!
"YOU! YOU ARE...NOTHING! YO-...!"
The sound was the death cry of a being who had survived imprisonment across ages, who had clawed his way back to heights that made Absolutes seem insignificant, who had been moments away from achieving connection with forces that would have elevated him beyond anything he had previously imagined.
His body began dissolving at the edges.
Hus flesh lost its coherence, breaking down into particles that scattered into the surrounding space like ash blown by wind that did not exist. His burning eyes dimmed as the fire within them forgot how to burn. His chained hands reached toward something, perhaps trying to grasp his own existence as it slipped away from him.
What remained of his Civilization was cut in half.
The variant of Existence that had defined his authority split down the center, how he was Unbound...split with one portion collapsing into decay while the other struggled to maintain cohesion against forces it was never designed to resist. His foundations crumbled. His achievements dissolved. Everything he had built since escaping his imprisonment came apart with finality that left no room for recovery.
Lamashtu...fell.
His massive form crashed against the ground of his ritual space with impact that shook the surrounding Existential Lattice. He lay there, a husk of what he had been moments before, existence barely clinging to a body that no longer remembered how to live.
Achilles watched such a scene with incredulity.
Did it work?
He felt weakened beyond anything he had experienced in his entire existence. His body was decrepit and ancient, skin pulled tight against bones that protruded grotesquely. His purple-gold hair hung limp and gray around a face that had aged millennia in moments. His existence had been squeezed dry of all power, foundations drained to fuel a Pulse he had no right to channel.
He looked up and tried to Assimilate what remained of Lamashtu.
His existence felt a strain that made him gasp. He could not even do that. The capability that defined him, the power that had carried him through every challenge refused to respond to his will. That was how weakened he was!
But he was not finished.
He waved his trembling hands to bring the corpse of Lamashtu over with faint rivers of differentiation that flickered and guttered like candles in a storm. His arms shook with effort that should have been trivial. His fingers barely responded to his commands as they reached toward the broken form of THE Prisoner.
When they were close enough to touch, only then could he whisper the word.
"Assimilate."
The process began slowly, far slower than it should have been. Lamashtu’s remains started integrating into his existence with reluctance that suggested even his wounded foundations struggled to contain Second Scale authority.
As he did this, Achilles looked around with expression that seemed surreal even to himself.
Did it really work?
He truly took down a Second Scale being?
The corpses of Absolutes still surrounded the ritual space. The obsidian flames still burned in their circle. The Existential Lattice still pulsed with corruption in every direction.
And his ritual...
...!
The Ritual!
Achilles looked up as realization crashed through him.
The Hearts of Civilization that had been spinning around Lamashtu had gone still. They floated in place without orbit, without purpose, their burning light dimming as the will driving them ceased to exist.
The taboo waves of energy permeating all around had gone still as well. The obsidian flames that had been climbing toward dimensional heights froze in place. The Corrupted Growths that had been converging upon the ritual stopped their approach.
Everything was still.
But it was not finished, right?!
’No...’
He screamed the word inside himself as understanding dawned with horror that made his weakened existence want to collapse entirely.
The ritual had been completed before his Pulse landed. Lamashtu’s final "please" had been answered before THE Primordial Severance cut him down. The offerings had been accepted before the one making them ceased to exist!
Oh!
In the next moment.
OOOOONG!
From above where Lamashtu had stood, the ceiling of The Existential Lattice began to crack upward. The crystalline biological structure that had seemed so vast and terrible split apart like eggshell before something hatching from within. Purple obsidian matter fell away to reveal what lay beyond.
Endless obsidian brilliance.
Infinite obsidian brilliance.
Achilles looked upon it and felt his existence shudder with recognition of something that should not be perceived by beings of his Scale. This was not Observable. This was not anything that belonged within the reality he had known since his birth. This was the answer to Lamashtu’s ritual!
The Unobservable had responded!
And out of this infinite obsidian brilliance, Achilles saw the emergence of something that caused every aspect of his weakened existence to recoil.
Something grander than Lamashtu could ever be.
By factors of hundreds or thousands of times!
’No.’
He whispered to himself as defiance burned in his chest despite everything. He was so close. So close to ending the invasion. So close to protecting everything he loved. So close to returning to Rose and telling her it was over.
But now.
He looked ahead as an utterly apocalyptic and undeniable aura bloomed from the crack in reality.
A humanoid entity descended from the infinite obsidian brilliance with movement that seemed almost leisurely. Their body was entirely obsidian, smooth and perfect and radiating authority that made Lamashtu’s reclaimed Second Scale seem like a candle compared to a sun. Nine obsidian-white crowns spun above their head in slow orbit, each one emanating power that exceeded anything Achilles had ever perceived.
Their eyes were pure obsidian with no pupils.
They gazed down at Achilles with coldness that held no malice because malice required caring enough to feel negative emotion. This being looked upon him the way one might look upon an insect that had wandered into their path.
Simply with acknowledgment of something too insignificant to warrant emotional response.
Royalty dripped from every aspect of their existence.
Power that could not be denied emanated from their obsidian form with pressure that made the surrounding Existential Lattice shudder. The Corrupted Growths that had seemed so terrible now cowered away from this entity’s presence. The Hearts of Civilization that had been offered in tribute disintegrated simply from proximity to their aura.
The entity spoke.
"The Great Mansa Zulu stands before you."
Their voice pressed against reality with weight that made Lamashtu’s authority seem like whispers.
"Why...did you reach out to THE Gilded, O Bounded Child?"
...!
BOOM!