Prima Indifferentia.
Grimvault tore through the boundaries between spaces with desperation he hadn’t felt in eons, his massive armored form trailing destruction through layers of existence that parted before his authority!
He had run far, farther than a Calymmian Tier Primordial Architect should ever need to run!
But THE fucking Infinite Light still burned around him.
He ran towards...home.
After an unknown period of time and a shift between spaces and a unique methodology...
WAP!
He appeared above an endlessly stretching white gold sea, the surface reflecting illumination that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.
SPLASH!
His massive figure crashed into the white gold waters, that blackened silver armor that had fused with his flesh now wreathed in blue gold flames that refused to extinguish regardless of what he submerged them in.
The sea parted around him, waves spreading outward from his impact.
THE Infinite Light sought to unwind him.
He could feel it working against his existence even now! His form had stopped fluctuating only because he’d anchored himself again and again with his own Axiom, but the flames continued burning, continued trying to drag him backward through stages of development he had surpassed eons ago.
He had constantly enacted THE Silurian Light to counter it.
Pulse against Pulse. Fire against fire. But such deployment drained resources that even his ninety-four percent Proterozoic Bone saturation couldn’t replenish indefinitely. He could still cast it a few more times, could continue the struggle between his Pulse and Osmont’s...
But he didn’t want to continue risking it.
He had many different points of strength, and raw power was only one of them. Intelligence was another. Experience was another. And connection, alliance, the bonds forged across eons of service to something greater than himself, these too were strength that could be leveraged when individual capability proved insufficient!
He was connected to THE Deliverance.
A Civilization thrived from alliances and communication. No being, regardless of how powerful they became, could stand entirely alone against the vastness of existence.
He had served THE Deliverance faithfully. He had executed their directives. He had enforced their will. He had been their instrument when instruments were required!
Now he would call upon that service.
Grimvault rose from the white gold waters, his massive form dripping with liquid. The blue gold flames still wreathed his existence, still pressed against his anchored state with hunger that wouldn’t relent. He raised his arms toward the skies.
His voice emerged!
"I call upon bonds. I have never called for aid in all my spans of service..."
His pale fires blazed brighter beneath that wolf skull helm.
"I call now. Let THE Deliverance hear. Let THE Deliverance answer. Let THE Deliverance come forth and witness what has been wrought upon one who serves without question."
HUUM!
The seas churned quietly.
The white gold waters that had been merely trembling now began to rotate, currents forming that had nothing to do with natural flow and everything to do with power gathering in response to his invocation.
And it was unfathomably fast!
BOOM!
A dozen figures appeared before Grimvault.
Every single one radiated the terrifying aura of Primordial Architects at classifications that made his own Calymmian status seem modest. They floated above the churning waters in formations that suggested hierarchy. Some burned with fires of various colors. Others pulsed with authority that pressed against reality itself. All of them observed Grimvault with different gazes!
But the foremost figure drew his gaze entirely.
Platinum flames surrounded a humanoid titan whose form couldn’t be fully observed through the brilliance that shrouded him!
The fire didn’t merely burn around this entity. It seemed to emerge from him, to be part of what he was rather than something he wielded.
This was THE Deliverance.
Grimvault trembled before that presence.
His massive armored form, which had seemed so imposing when he confronted Osmont, now felt small and insignificant before the entity he had served across eons. He looked down with shame that pressed against his ancient existence, unable to meet the gaze of THE Deliverance or the gazes of others assembled here.
"No need to feel shame for what happened, Grimvault."
"Existence is filled with anomalies that even we cannot account for. The Infinity-bearer has proven himself to be precisely such an anomaly, and there is no disgrace in doing what you did."
"Now, this is the Pulse you cannot erase? How does it feel?"
...!
"It feels like...regression, Sir. Like being pulled backward through every stage of development I have achieved across eons. The flames demand that I return to states I surpassed before most current powers existed. They seek to unwind my causality until I am reduced to something that precedes what I currently am."
"I have countered with THE Silurian Light repeatedly, but the Pulses seem evenly matched. Neither can overcome the other through direct confrontation. And I found myself unwilling to continue the expenditure when the outcome remained uncertain."
"THE Infinite Light, so he called it? A new Pulse never before seen...."
"I understand. And I shall demonstrate how such a Pulse can be countered for future reference."
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