Chapter 486 Answers are no benedictions
"A lotus and a child?" Noah tilted his head, his eyes inspecting Solstice writhing beneath him like a worm trying to slither in mud.
"And they are feeding off the Lake and billions of souls?" the Prince continued, finding the situation more and more strange.
"Yes, husband." Ester said, her body erupting from the pool of shadows like ink being grasped and then pulled skyward, standing behind Noah.
"I didn't manage to see much, for the realm closed itself instantly. But the power I managed to glimpse from the young girl..."
She paused, and Solstice managed a rasping, angry cry at Ester, glaring at her with vicious intent to kill.
Noah lifted his left foot and crashed it down on the Soul Ruler's head, causing a muffled sound followed by a cry of agony.
"You are being noisy, Solstice." Noah hissed, before turning toward Ester. "You were saying? About the power of the young girl?"
"Way stronger," Ester said. "And I believe even stronger than Solstice. Moreover, it was something different. I don't know how to explain it, husband, but I feel a sense of uniqueness inside her."
The more Noah heard, the more his face became creased with puzzlement.
He crouched down, grabbed the head of Solstice, and yanked it up. The Soul Ruler grunted at the snapping strength, his neck cracking.
The numerous eyes of the Soul Ruler rested upon Noah's mismatched ones, burning with spite.
"Will you tell me, or will you stay silent?" Noah asked, before adding
immediately, "And I must specify, I hate walking into something I have no idea about. So usually, I tend to..."
He smiled coldly.
"...simply destroy everything. I guess you would fancy to see that?"
Solstice's face lost all color. He shook his head vehemently, realizing that Noah was not joking; he was truly going to destroy everything and be done with it.
"Don't!" Solstice said, almost begging. "You are unaware of the importance of her!"
"That's why I am asking. But now it seems like you are purposely wasting time." Noah's eyes narrowed. "Meaningless. I can stop time inside this whole Dominion for as long as I like."
"Believe me," Solstice whispered, "you don't wish to know. I myself would have wished to not be part of this. Answers are no benedictions!"
"It's the last time I am asking. What is she?"
Solstice fell silent, staring at Noah with his numerous eyes, all trembling in fear. Not fear of Noah, Noah himself realized, but of
someone else. Or something else.
"J-Just... just don't touch Her. She can't be touched! She is Her Vessel."
"Vessel of who?"
Solstice gulped.
"Of one of Them."
Noah instinctively felt a deep sense of foreboding roll over him, glaring at him like an angry cloud. At that instant, the Prince knew that seeking more answers would doom him.
However, another part of Noah couldn't help but be curious and wish to know more, even with the scent of death as clear as daylight thickening around his nose.
"Ester," he whispered, his voice strangely strained. "I take back what I said. You will feel safer away from me. Tell that to your sisters. Be far away, at the edge of this Principality!"
Ester's heart throbbed, feeling a rising dread creep up her throat.
"Husb-!"
"Just do it." Noah interrupted her, feeling he had already gathered the attention of whoever was responsible for this situation.
Solstice beneath him was shaking.
"I told you!" he bellowed, his voice rotten with fear. "Answers are no benedictions! Arrogant! Arrogant! Now see! See what you summoned!" Ester's worry skyrocketed at those words and the feeling slowly creeping above her. It was like something was slithering above the heavens, trying slowly to come toward them.
She wished to say more, but the look in Noah's eyes at that instant made her close her mouth.
She ducked her head, then began to disappear within the shadows.
"I shall deliver your orders," she said, trying to stop her dissatisfaction and fear from poisoning her words.
Noah smiled wryly. "Ester," he called out to her when only her head
remained.
She paused and looked at him.
"You know nothing."
Noah used his Gift, Ignoramus, on his wife, denying the very
knowledge Ester had of the current matter.
From the lotus, to the young girl, to their words. By denying it, she forgot everything. Solstice was right on this one, Noah knew, answers
were not benedictions.
Especially for Ester or his other wives. Whatever was coming was
above their pay grade. Even above Noah.
The Paragon of Shadow's eyes glazed at her husband's words before returning to normal. Then she slowly disappeared.
Noah could have done the same for himself. But maybe Solstice was
once again right.
He lifted his head to the sky, asking the one last question that would
turn this situation into a point of no return.
"Last question," Noah said, eyes still on the sky.
Solstice shook his head. "No more questions! Any more, and we are
dead! Dead, I say!"
"Then dead we will be, Solstice, for I wish to know."
He paused, making the Soul Ruler sprawl on the ground listlessly,
seemingly accepting his fate.
"Who are Them? And who is the owner of the Vessel?"
"That's two questions."
"Don't test my patience."
Solstice scowled, then sighed. "I don't know Them. But I know - no,
She allowed me to know - her. Or rather, her title."
Solstice paused, gulping an audible mouthful of saliva before
continuing, his voice clipped.
"The Pale Lady, she is called."
The name felt like a sword thrust into Noah's mind. He immediately
gasped, feeling the edge of his consciousness about to be completely
corrupted.
Above, angry clouds swirled, twisted, and churned on themselves like
a wheel turning inward.
Solstice was already on the ground, his eyes lifeless, his identity completely collapsed.
With the edge of his consciousness barely holding, Noah's body
blurred into motion, appearing deep within Solstice's territory, above
the Lake.
With no time to admire the beauty and strange radiance of the Lake,
he dove deep inside, passing the stunning pale flower and reaching the door of the realm Ester had spoken about.
At that point, Noah felt his identity cracking, and he laughed out loud.
And he did.
Only hearing the name of that being was making him feel like he was
about to lose himself. But Noah was no pushover, he was the Son of
Reality.
The many blessings given to him at birth acted, protecting his mind
and self.
He destroyed the door of the realm with a flick of his finger and entered. His eyes instantly settled on the young girl about to open her eyes, her pale eyelids flickering constantly.
Above the Dominion, the face of a woman appeared. Yet no one could see her face, despite it being so obviously visible to all.
The paradox made Noah's wives, watching from afar, groan — their
selves protected only because they were witnessing something they did not know.
The lack of knowledge shielded them.
That was not the case for Noah.
The man himself was running toward the young girl, knowing that the
moment her eyes opened, he was fucked in the purest sense of the
term.
He tried to use time to accelerate himself, but even the blessing
lagged.
He cursed, then laughed like a lunatic.
He finally arrived in front of the girl sitting on the lotus. He stretched
his hand and grasped her just as her eyes snapped wide open. Noah's mind cracked, and he laughed even harder, blood flowing from
his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
His body slowly began to still like a goddamn statue. Soon enough, he
would no longer move.
Meanwhile, the moment the young girl opened her eyes, her body
matured instantly, becoming that of a woman at least thirty years old.
Her paleness was striking.
She opened her mouth, about to speak, and Noah used the only part
of his body that was still working at that moment.
His head.
He crashed his lips onto the pale woman's open mouth - her eyes
jerked wide and activated the last blessing of his birthright. "Right of Creation - Raj's Primeval Consciousness." -End of Chapter 486-