Many eyes were still locked on the Gardens.
On what was left of three lives that had just blood and vanished in under a minute.
And then, Master Hannibal’s cold voice cut through the reverent silence like the final stroke of a guillotine.
"They have returned to the light of the sun."
He turned, his figure wreathed in a restrained halo of authority.
"Their sacrifices will not be in vain. Now we understand the level of threat before us. Choose your Archetypes."
Without waiting, his body pulsed- dense with power, his golden Lattices like living blades folded over him. His steps did not pause. He moved directly toward the Cubes.
And with that, the spell was broken.
The other Primarchs stirred, the dread in their hearts overtaken by urgency.
The faster they claid a Cube, the rarer the Archetype, the greater their chance of survival.
Feet began to move.
Rushing. Choosing.
But not Noah.
He walked forward slowly, calmly, his crimson-gold eyes flickering across the field of cubes. A thousand runes within each triangular marking danced before his gaze, ever-changing and difficult even for his mind to fully decipher.
His expression remained unreadable.
Beside him, Sigrid raised her hand to sign sothing- her face inquisitive.
But before she could begin, Noah glanced over and smiled.
"We’re in a new space now where you have even been able to walk by yourself," he said softly. "Why don’t you try speaking again?"
She blinked.
Then tilted her head.
"...What do you an...!"
A sound.
A glorious sound!
The sound that ca out was music.
Her voice- gentle, lodic, yet piercing with clarity- rippled across the Labyrinth. The very frequency of it tugged at the strings of reality.
Noah’s ears buzzed.
All around, Primarchs stopped mid-step. Heads turned. Eyes widened.
It was as though a celestial choir had spoken into the bones of existence.
Sigrid froze, hands covering her mouth as if she’d said sothing wrong, then suddenly smiled. Brightly. Radiantly.
"I can hear my voice..."
It was simple.
It was profound.
It was freedom.
"I! Can! Speak!"
Her voice exploded out again, echoing like a siren through the square space.
BZZZT!
The 50 Golems twitched.
They did not act, but many heads turned toward her, those white masks subtly tilting in response.
The room turned tense.
Sigrid shrank slightly as she let out a cough, moving behind Noah protectively.
She scooted closer to Noah again, whispering like soone hiding from trouble.
She whispered to herself to make sure that she really could hear her voice, even musing that this was her voice, even though she did not rember it.
After she confird this again and again, she proceeded to look at Noah and ask the question that she had wanted to sign.
"So, um... how many Archetype Points do you have? Mine seem...off."
Noah’s eyes narrowed, tone calm as he replied, "That’s not sothing we should share out loud."
He looked left and right- Master Shen too engrossed in evaluating Cubes, Master Hannibal radiating sharp intent in his own selection, and then leaned in towards Sigrid.
His hand gently pushed Sigrid’s dark hair back from her ear, his breath brushing lightly against her skin as he whispered.
"I have 200."
A pause.
Her skin felt a tingle as her eyes shone with light.
She then seemingly steeled herself before she looked around with clear eyes to make sure others weren’t listening, and then...
She rose onto her toes as her lips neared his ears, breath warm against his neck as she whispered back...
"If you have 200... then why the heck do I have 500?"
HUUM!
Noah stopped.
His smile didn’t fade.
But his mind sharpened like a tyrannical blade.
Five hundred?
He didn’t react outwardly. He simply walked forward again, steps easy, voice calm.
"...Did you see a ssage explaining why?"
Sigrid nodded, her brows scrunching in thought. "Yeah. Sothing like... ’Due to the nature of my Existence, that many Resistance Archetype Points had been obtained..."
She spoke towards him freely as if she fully trusted him.
He said nothing.
But inside?
He recalculated everything.
Her Existence continued to exceed any known norms!
It was unfathomable.
Originus Venerant-tier Points from soone who only recently discovered her own voice?
He whispered without looking at her, "Keep that between us."
"Okay," she whispered back, eyes bright with quiet fire.
Then...
DING!
A prompt surged in front of Noah’s eyes.
|The True Source of Runes, with the support of the True Sources of Origin, Quintessence, Infinity, Paradox, the Protagonist, and more...has analyzed the Living Origin Cubes before you and has identified a singular recomndation.|
...!
Noah’s gaze sharpened.
The True Source of Runes.
His mind sharpened further as he began theorizing about sothing else he had already began to analyze.
The True Source of Origin.
In this labyrinth, there was only Living Origin Authority that worked through the Living Origin Garden Archetypes.
So...what if his True Source of Origin was...a Living Source?
Would the Living True Source of Origin grant the sa power as the Living Origin Authority?
"..."
It was a thought.
A glorious thought and possibility as there was no harm putting it to the test!
His Lattices pulsed faintly as he focused across the field of Cubes, past dozens still shimring, being chosen or hovered over...until his vision locked onto one.
A distant crimson-gold cube.
Sitting quietly. Its triangular rune unmoving.
Unlike the others, which flickered and shifted endlessly, this one had settled.
The triangle at its core burned bright, its edges laced with seven core runes.
And deep within the triangle... a symbol he’d never seen before.
A mark that felt familiar, but defied naming.
As if it didn’t belong in any grandeur of existence.
Noah’s breath left him slowly.
He looked at Sigrid, who tilted her head with a smile as she looked where he was looking. "Are you gonna pick that one?"
Noah smiled back.
Then nodded.
And walked.
Towards the quiet choice.
Toward a Cube that pulsed not with Raw Power or flashy authority.
But with True Power, forged from sothing even he didn’t fully understand.
Not yet.
Tied to him, Sigrid also looked around as if her eyes told her exactly what cube to choose if Noah chose that other one!
In a short period of ti, Noah ca in front of a cube that he decisively reached out to, and at the sa ti...the figure of Sigrid has her eyes light up as she jumped up lightly to touch...another cube nearby as if it was exactly what she wanted!
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