Chapter 4451: Duty IV
There was strength in numbers.
This truth had been acknowledged across existence since the earliest days when the first beings clustered together for protection against threats they could not face alone.
Many had proclaimed that if one simply possessed sufficient quantity, quality became secondary concern.
Accumulate enough. Gather enough. Amass enough.
This was true, but only to an extent.
If there existed a terrifying army of knights numbering 100, each capable of massacring a peasant with single swing of their blade...trained warriors encased in armor that deflected weak strikes, wielding weapons that cleaved through unprotected flesh like scythes through wheat...
Then even 1,000 peasants might not accomplish much against them.
The peasants would charge. The knights would cut them down in swathes. Bodies would pile. Blood would flow. And the knights would stand victorious over mountain of corpses.
But if 1 million peasants with no individual power swarmed these same 100 knights?
The calculus shifted dramatically.
The sheer exhaustion after cutting down thousands would accumulate. Arms would tire from endless swinging.
Armor would dent under cumulative impacts of countless weak strikes.
Eventually, dozens of these invincible knights would fall...not from single devastating blow, but from being gradually ripped apart by weak peasants who simply refused to stop coming.
There was strength in numbers, yes.
But one had to understand how to use these numbers. Where the true strength resided.
How to ensure that tens of thousands of peasants did not have to die before achieving results they wanted.
The difference between victory and pyrrhic slaughter lay not in accumulation of bodies, but in tactical application of accumulated force.
Wisdom transformed numbers from blunt instrument into a magisterial, tyrannical, surgical weapon.
---
In the Dessicated Sleeping Shore.
Protos gazed at the erupting might of the Illusory Reality Avatar of Existence with coldness and immensity that exceeded his newly born consciousness.
He currently stood in front of Noah, feeling the interminable gaze of The Master behind him.
The analytical eyes that observed and wanted to see the results of them facing their first genuine enemy.
And the first enemy they faced was 15 times stronger individually than each of them.
But so what?
The Master wanted results, and The Master would have results.
It was the least that Protos could do to deliver results when the Master had done so much for their emergence. When the Master had infused them with Infinite Hunger and purpose!
So Protos watched as the Avatar of an Early Creature below made his move.
Since he had the honor of being fused into Master’s glorious glow, his capabilities had grown far beyond his Brothers and Sisters.
His gaze could perceive details that others could not access.
This was why his Master allowed him to come out and lead.
When he looked at the Avatar, he looked at it through the Master’s brilliant analytical gaze as details freely displayed themselves.
|Illusory Reality Avatar of Existence|
|Designation: Aurelius Paradoxus - Early Creature of THE Loom|
|Current State: Avatar displaying 25% of Main Body’s capability|
|Main Body Complexity and Purity: 6 Sextillion|
|Avatar Complexity and Purity: 1.5 Sextillion|
|Primary Authority: Civilizational Authority of Paradox|
|Active Principles: 3 Grand Principles detected - Paradoxical Manifestation, Reality Inversion, Quantum Superposition|
|Thr Avatar possesses limited duration outside THE Loom. Estimated operational time remaining: Unknown.|
Protos processed this information calmly.
His words emerged through the communication channel shared exclusively among Primus Inevitabilities- glorious, disciplined, and unwavering.
"Brothers and Sisters, heed my words. The enemy designated Aurelius Paradoxus possesses power exceeding ours individually by a factor of fifteen. His Civilizational Authority of Paradox is substantial, and three Grand Principles amplify his capabilities significantly."
His voice carried weight of a commander addressing his troops!
"However, this Avatar represents merely 25% of his main body’s power. Our duty is clear- we must pressure him relentlessly until all of his existence burns under our Infinite Hunger!"
HUUUM!
His crimson eyes blazed.
"After the initial impact of this first wave between us, the pivotal moment for us to oppress this much more powerful enemy will appear. Our numbers are our strength. Our coordination is our weapon. Our Infinite Hunger is our victory."
After delivering this assessment, his body began to pulse as he and all his Brothers and Sisters activated their Civilizational Resonance.
Their combined power had already covered everything in the grandeur of Mana and Hunger...painting over the paradoxical authority with obsidian-blue-and-gold radiance.
At this moment, while over 100 Billion Primordial Fireballs carrying the decimation of 100+ Quintillion complexity each smashed onto their enemy, Protos gave another order without pause.
They had to be relentless against their enemy.
Their enemy could not be allowed to breathe. Could not be allowed a single moment to recover or counter-strategize.
"Impose your Hunger onto this enemy. Let them experience glimpse of what Infinite Hunger truly feels. Everyone...activate Hunger Propagation immediately!"
...!
The effects of Hunger Propagation were devastating in their application.
To feel the hunger of 100,000 Primus Inevitabilities simultaneously...to experience that uncontrollable appetite that begins devouring one’s own power reserves from within...was to understand why this capability was going to be feared in the not so distant future.
It was not external assault.
It was internal sabotage.
The target’s own existence would turn against itself, hunger consuming power like fire consuming fuel.
Resources carefully accumulated would be devoured by appetite that had no satiation point.
The stronger the target’s reserves, the more aggressively the imposed hunger would attempt to consume them!
Below their encirclement, Aurelius Paradoxus, the Avatar of an Early Creature, had erupted with terrific power befitting an entity with 1.5 Sextillion Complexity and Purity.
Gloriously, his body shone with scintillating golden box of Paradox that pulsed with concentrated Civilizational Authority.
The paradoxical construct absorbed all incoming attacks...100 Billion Primordial Fireballs smashing against its surface and being negated through reality-defying mechanisms.
A paradoxical box that simultaneously existed and didn’t exist, that absorbed damage by making the damage paradoxically to "never have occurred."
This being was so powerful that he withstood the combined attack of 100,000 Primus Inevitabilities alone and appeared completely unscathed!
Within that golden box, he looked up at all of them with hardened gaze that carried recognition of threat but no fear.
It was the arrogance of someone who had faced countless lesser beings and emerged victorious.
At that precise moment, he felt their imposed hunger.
And...
HUUM!
The radiant and infallible box of Paradox rapidly began to deteriorate as if being consumed by his own internal hunger.
Golden light that had been solid and impenetrable started flickering, sections dissolving as the Avatar’s power reserves were being devoured from within by appetite that had no end.
His eyes pulsed with lividity as he recognized what was occurring.
His own defenses were eating themselves, his Civilizational Authority being consumed by a hunger he could not control or dismiss!
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