Achilles looked at the figure of The Groundskeeper calmly after this entity challenged him. His gaze also went to the calm Resplendent Paradox who did nothing and simply looked on with expression that held curiosity rather than hostility.
"I did not know you were claiming Chaos, nor did I plan to claim Chaos."
His voice carried weight that pressed against the raging aura surrounding him without flinching.
"I was going for Existence. But since Chaos presented itself before , I took it. It is not sothing one can say no to."
...!
He was explaining his side casually, but for others this was maddening. Especially for The Groundskeeper to hear.
Chaos just presented itself to him?
It was like hearing that the woman you had been chasing for years, doing everything you possibly could for as she didn’t even look your way, had simply invited another man over to her place after eting him once. And that man had the audacity to say he didn’t even do much.
Like what?
Before The Groundskeeper could process the sheer absurdity of what he had just heard, before he could articulate the rage building within his obsidian form, sothing within him snapped.
"ENOUGH!"
The word erupted from the serpent eating its own tail with force that made the surrounding Seas of Tian recoil entirely. The golden waters fled from the epicenter of his fury as if they understood that remaining near would an annihilation.
The skies turned a shade of obsidian that matched his form. The Chaos that had been spreading through Tian since Apatheia was opened now answered to its original claimant with calmness as if it didn’t care who used it.
A terrifying Depth pressed down on Achilles with weight that exceeded anything he had experienced since his transformation began. This was Fundantal Depth authority, the stage above Interdiate, the realm where Declarations reshaped reality rather than rely requesting or imposing.
In the far distance, THE Corpse Hierophant and THE Slumbering Genesis and the other THE entities that Achilles and Rose had threatened looked at this scene with glee that they couldn’t suppress. Their expressions held satisfaction that bordered on vindication!
Achilles would finally get what was coming to him! The anomaly who had consud their manifestations and stolen their Civilizations would be crushed by soone who actually possessed the authority to do so!
Haha!
THE Groundskeeper, with his glorious form of the serpent eating its own tail, pressed down with terrifying imnsity as words ford in the fabric of reality itself.
|The Weight of My Chaos cannot be withstood.|
...!
A Declaration.
Sothing that only a Fundantal Depth entity could do. Surface Depth entities could make Assertions, requests that reality considered. Interdiate Depth entities could make Impositions, statents that reality accepted. But Fundantal Depth entities could make Declarations, truths that reality acknowledged as absolute law within their domain of authority.
Assertion. Imposition. Declaration.
Sothing Achilles had not even grasped yet as at this mont the massive body of The Groundskeeper ca down to collapse him entirely. The serpent’s form stretched for miles, obsidian scales reflecting the darkened sky as its weight descended with finality that spoke of ending rather than conflict.
The weight of a unique Chaos pressed all around Achilles. It sought to unmake his existence through sheer imnsity, to prove that his partial Claim ant nothing against the eons of cultivation that The Groundskeeper had invested into this aspect of the Oldest Paradox.
And yet while looking up at this, Achilles remained calm.
He breathed out slowly.
He actually closed his eyes.
And he felt his Inner Dominion.
He felt the heaviness of The Blind Depths sitting within him. He felt the Realm of Assimilation spreading across the white expanse with its multicolored radiance. He felt the Realm of Chaos growing in the north with its obsidian potential. He felt them all budding and expanding as he rembered the capability of the Adrastia Emperor Kings that had made all of this possible.
He thought of Assimilation.
Of everything it ant. Of everything it had given him. Of everything it could still beco.
And he raised his hands.
His arms extended upward as his knees bent slightly, his spine curving under weight that should have obliterated him instantly. His posture shifted into sothing ancient, sothing that spoke of bearing burdens that no single being should carry alone.
Like one who had been condemned to hold the heavens upon his shoulders for eternity.
The massive serpent descended upon him with weight asured in concepts rather than mass. Miles of obsidian coils pressed down upon his raised palms with authority that had been Declaration, that had been absolute truth within The Groundskeeper’s domain.
And Achilles’s floating figure did not move even a single inch.
His shoulders bore the imnsity.
His bent knees held the weight.
His raised hands pressed against obsidian scales that should have crushed everything beneath them!
And he...did not fall.
...!
Silence reigned all around.
Absolute silence.
In the far distance, THE Corpse Hierophant’s expression shifted from glee to astonishnt to horror in rapid succession. His empty eye sockets blazed with disbelief that he couldn’t suppress. THE Slumbering Genesis’s massive form trembled with shock that made his verdant scales ripple uncontrollably. The other THE entities who had been watching with satisfaction now stared with expressions that held genuine fear.
THE Resplendent Paradox watched on with shining eyes that held appreciation for what she was witnessing. Her contradictory features settled into sothing approaching admiration as she observed an Interdiate Depth entity bearing the Declaration of a Fundantal Depth being through sheer foundation rather than conventional counter.
And Achilles opened his eyes.
He looked up to see the shocked face of The Groundskeeper, the serpent’s obsidian features frozen in disbelief that matched what every observer was feeling at this mont.
"I...can bear your weight."
His voice erged steady despite the imnse pressure pressing down upon him.
"I can bear...your imnsity."
...!
BOOM!
The Declaration that should have been absolute truth shattered against the reality of what Achilles had beco. The Weight of Chaos could not be withstood by conventional ans, but his Inner Dominion was not conventional. His foundation was not conventional. His existence itself had beco sothing that the categories of Depth struggled to contain!
Oh!
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