Noah thought about it for a while.
A new system had been laid over all of existence, and existence itself deferred to it.
He wanted to see...how far he could push it.
"Mahishasura." He turned to the Shield. "We...are going to visit another mountain. And when we arrive, you are going to make a proclamation of your own."
The amber eyes watched him with attentiveness at this time!
"You will tell the Enforcer of that mountain this. That for the stability of existence, your role as THE SHIELD requires more Enforcers and more Wardens acting directly beneath you, so that you may gather the Moirai to stabilize existence further as you see fit."
"Which means that Enforcer must bend the knee to you. And should they refuse..." He let it settle. "...then they stand against the stability of existence itself. And a Shield, in accordance with its role, is permitted to correct that."
Mahishasura understood as he shook his head with incredulity, because the plan was monstrous and elegant and used his own new Mantle as the knife!
—
They set off across THE Serenaros.
The Weft carried them, unseen, crimson threads bearing an emperor and his Shield out over the purple gold mountains and the cloud-seas and the gigaparsec cages stacked on each other, and Noah watched the Dimension move beneath them as they went.
It was in chaos, quietly.
The Ruling had settled over THE Serenaros the same hour it settled over everything, and even here, in the seat of the ones who served THE Immense Ones, no one had been told more than the Descendants had.
Many were trying to grasp this new system!
The masters of order, Noah observed, were as disordered as anyone tonight.
A little while later.
A mountain rose ahead of them, ringed in its own cages, and Mahishasura brought them down before its gates and called out.
"Enforcer Vorlag."
His soft voice carried across the terraces, and after a moment, powerhouses came out!
An Enforcer first, a broad Descendant with stone-gray skin and a brow-mark split like cracked stone, flanked by his Wardens. Noah’s eyes flashed across them as they emerged, cataloguing without a word.
One of the Wardens was a Descendant like her master. The rest were progeny, the mingled blood of Descendants and Primeval Ones, of Descendants and Infinite Lifeforms drawn in deep blue, of Descendants and old Source things, the mixed and mighty middle ranks that ran the machinery of THE PAX.
"Mahishasura!" Vorlag’s gray face was bright!
"You felt and heard the glorious change our Fathers have laid down?! Haha, even we are trying to figure it out right now!"
Mahishasura spread his hands, and the golden shield-crest turned faintly above his shoulders, and he made his proclamation.
"Yes, Existence has a new Ruling, Vorlag. You have felt it. I have grasped it." The crest brightened as he spoke in accordance with his role!
"I wear the Mantle of THE SHIELD, and my role is the protection of the ordained order, and the Ruling has shown me that to stabilize existence further, I require more hands acting beneath mine. More Enforcers. More Wardens. Yours among them."
His voice stayed courteous and warm.
"So bend the knee, and act beneath me for the stability of existence. Or refuse, and stand revealed as a thing that opposes stability itself."
BOOM!
Vorlag’s bright face began to darken toward anger.
"You have lost your damn mind! The fuck are you talking abou-...!"
|A wearer of THE SHIELD is acting in full accordance with his role.|
|Descendant Mahishasura has framed this contest as the set order against a thing that opposes it. The Ruling has accepted the framing. Existence has begun writing a narrative around his existence and his role.|
|Probability has bent to favor THE ORDERED. Result achieved: an opposing role staggered.|
It was not a fight. It was a demonstration of what THE ORDERED were built to be.
Mahishasura floated there, gazing at his own hands as if he couldnt believe what he had done!
|Result achieved: an opposing cohort broken. Harm turned aside from the ordained order.|
|Existence continues to favor the accordant. EXISTENTIAL MOIRAI of Descendant Mahishasura: 33 to 37.|
|He is playing out his role to perfection.|
...!
Oh!
In under a minute, Enforcer Vorlag and every Warden of his mountain lay broken across their own terraces, alive, ruined, uncomprehending.
Mahishasura turned toward Noah, breathing hard, and on his face as right now he showed...euphoria!
"Lock this place down." Noah’s voice went sharp and quick as he began to move towards the defeated!
The Veiled moved as darkness flowed all around.
And Noah descended toward the broken Enforcer and his broken Wardens, and his sanguine blades were already blooming along his hands, crimson gold and humming.
He crouched over the ruined Enforcer, blades bright, and got to the work of taking him.
It seemed that new possibilities were rising!
He could attain his goals much faster amidst the chaos of this new system...while also utilizing it and the terrifying power behind it to achieve his aims!
He would use this new Ruling of existence they had imposed to fuck them over tremendously, if he could!

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