The connection to the circular formation severed completely, and the fifth mountain began to drift away from its assigned position, no longer contributing to the defensive formation, no longer spinning with its brethren in protection of THE Hollow Echo.
Two mountains compromised!
And THE Hollow Echo’s colorless flames had dimmed noticeably, its existence weakening in direct proportion to the damage inflicted on its Manifestation.
"Enough."
The Echo’s voice was fully coherent now, unified by fury that transcended its hollow nature. Its hands and feet, all covered in Embodiment authority, launched toward Noah’s position with speed that exceeded anything it had displayed before.
But Noah was already flickering away.
The weight of the two Embodiments he’d been bearing was still pressing against his existence, but the Echo’s weakened state meant that pressure was no longer insurmountable!
He materialized at the third mountain, the one with apertures clustered too densely on one face. His Seals were already flooding out before his feet touched position, infinite authority crashing against the section that was more hole than substance.
THE Hollow Echo’s hands passed through where he’d been.
He flickered to the ninth mountain, the one with stress fractures radiating from its tip. His Seals bombarded the microscopic damage with concentrated force, turning hairline cracks into structural failures.
THE Hollow Echo’s feet swept through empty space.
He appeared at the first mountain again, targeting the now-gaping fissure with Seals filled with Undifferentiated Fate that made the crystallized colorless flame forget it had ever been solid.
The Echo’s limbs, massive and covered in Embodiment authority, crashed against positions he’d already vacated.
Again.
And again.
And again!
Noah became a blur of blue-gold light that flickered across the battlefield, never staying in one position long enough for THE Hollow Echo’s attacks to connect, always appearing at the next weakness in the Manifestation’s architecture. His speed was truly, undoubtedly that of an Absolute! His precision exceeded them!
From THE Hollow Echo’s perspective, this probably looked like masterful combat. A perfect display of superior tactics overwhelming raw power.
From Noah’s perspective, it was a lot of flickering and smashing into structures of a Civilization that even his enemy did not know existed for him to see and exploit!
Same result, very different internal experiences.
CRACK!
The third mountain’s aperture-dense face collapsed inward, the section that had been more hole than substance finally giving way entirely.
CRACK!
The ninth mountain’s tip shattered, the stress fractures that had been accumulating reaching critical failure under the assault of infinite Seals.
CRACK!
The first mountain split in half, the fissure running from tip to base finally completing its work of total structural compromise.
THE Hollow Echo’s movements were slowing.
Its colorless flames were guttering.
Its Embodiments, when it managed to launch them, had weight that Noah’s foundations could bear without strain.
And still he didn’t stop.
He appeared at mountains that hadn’t shown obvious weaknesses, and THE Civilizational Instinctus revealed them anyway. Stress points that had been too subtle to perceive initially now blazed with clarity as the overall structure weakened. Secondary vulnerabilities that had been supported by primary integrity now became primary vulnerabilities of their own.
CRACK!
The fourth mountain’s internal support structure collapsed.
CRACK!
The sixth mountain’s rotation failed entirely, the hollow peak drifting away from the formation.
CRACK!
The eighth mountain’s surface shattered like glass, revealing emptiness within emptiness.
Noah floated in the center of what had once been a domain of nine grand hollow mountains, surrounded now by the fragments and debris of structural annihilation. Broken peaks drifted through the Capillary Thread. Shattered bases tumbled end over end in slow motion. Crystallized colorless flame dissolved into proto-matter that the space between spaces eagerly absorbed.
And THE Hollow Echo stood before him, its body no longer surrounded by its Manifestation’s protection.
Because its Manifestation was ruined.
Noah looked at THE Hollow Echo with eyes that saw everything clearly, and what he saw made him understand the true nature of what he’d accomplished.
THE Hollow Echo’s body was filled with cracks.
"You...were not like this."
"No," Noah agreed, his voice calm in a way that transcended the violence that had just occurred. "I was not."
"Your Everything is hollow," Noah said, and the words held no cruelty, only observation. "It will never match up to THE Creature himself. You are an echo, and echoes fade."
"But...you were grand. You were grand."
...!

A blade.

Preparation.
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