Glossikos.
Noah looked at this being with a calm gaze.
She seed to be trying to utilize her imnsity to see if he would crack. To see if he would show weakness. To see if the weight of an Absolute pressing against his existence would make him flinch or bow or reveal so vulnerability she could exploit.
But Noah had stood before THE Creature.
He had faced THE Primordial Chaos in the Infinite Unfurling.
He had been pursued by THE Weavers across the Wastes of THE Fallout.
One more Absolute, even one bathing in the sa pool as him, was not enough to make him falter.
Monts later, Glossikos spoke.
"How did you do it?"
Her voice ca grand and oppressive, carrying power that made the waters around them ripple in response.
"How did you take your position among THE Four?"
Her obsidian-blue eyes bore into him with intensity that would have crushed lesser beings into submission.
"I learned everything about The First Tongue. I spent eons perfecting my understanding of every Phone, every Logos, every Philology that could be constructed from its foundations. I pushed further than any other scholar in the history of the Glossarians."
Her voice grew heavier.
"And I could still never lay a claim on it. Not completely."
Sothing flickered in those ancient eyes.
"Every ti that I tried, I felt like I had to take a step. And the mont that I did, the imnsity of The First Tongue itself would co crashing down on completely. As if the language knew I was reaching for sothing I wasn’t ant to grasp."
Her smile beca dangerous.
"So how did soone so much weaker than manage to do what I could not do?"
She tilted her head, studying him like a predator considering prey.
"And... if I were to take a gulp and eat you up right now... would I have whatever you had that allowed you to lay this claim?"
BOOM!
She smiled dangerously as she finished saying these words!
The threat hung in the air between them, heavy with the promise of violence that an Absolute could deliver without effort.
Noah looked at her for a few seconds.
Then he stretched his arms out behind him even more, getting even more comfortable in the pool. He actually looked up to the artificial sky where vibrant treasures had begun to form, golden light coalescing into shapes that promised power beyond asure.
"Now that I have integrated my own designed Phones across The First Tongue perating through Existence, the level of control that I have over it is rising."
His voice ca casual and glorious, as if discussing the weather rather than responding to a death threat from an Absolute.
"Not too long ago, I applied a Thesis that allowed to negate the usage of The First Tongue for a Fundantal Depth entity and a Half-Step Absolute entity. And then sowhat on an Absolute, but there wasn’t much ti there..."
He continued gazing at the sky.
"Right now, I feel like I can apply this Thesis, if I so wish, and deny the usage of The First Tongue absolutely to even an Absolute entity."
His eyes finally returned to et hers.
"Now, I am sure that you would have other ans to move against apart from The First Tongue. Your sheer Weight and Depth would allow you options that don’t rely on linguistic authority."
His smile matched hers in danger.
"But I don’t think you ever wish to experience the Rejection from the letters of Existence that you have been so closely studying and perfecting the usage of for eons now. Sothing that you have been trying to lay a claim on."
He let those words settle.
"If I tried to think of it myself, it would feel unbearable if a day ever ca when Mana itself rejected . Do you want that?"
...!
She had begun the conversation with a threat.
So he simply threw out a threat himself, even though he was facing an Absolute entity.
His words were heavy, carrying the weight of soone who could actually deliver on the promise they implied.
Glossikos regarded him for a long mont.
The dangerous smile on her face shifted. Changed. Beca sothing that looked almost like... acceptance.
"The one who took the position that I sought all my life..."
Her voice ca softer now, though no less weighted.
"I am glad to see that it is soone with a pair of balls."
She laughed, and the sound was surprisingly warm despite the tension that had filled the air monts before.
"It would have been even more unbearable for to say The First Tongue was claid by soone feeble of mind and stature."
Her obsidian-blue eyes sparkled with sothing that might have been approval.
"You seem big. You feel big."
At these words, Noah looked back at the Dryad with eyes that held no false modesty.
"I am big. Bigger than many across Observable Existence dismiss to be. I won’t posture and brag at this mont as the best ti to do so will be when I stand atop the cliff that shows all others below . Until then..."
BOOM!
A heavy silence settled between them.
As if they were staring each other down across the steaming waters of the Pool of Lethe. Two entities who had both dedicated their existences to The First Tongue, now asuring each other’s worth through gaze alone.
A mont later, Glossikos sighed.
The tension didn’t disappear, but it transford into sothing more bearable. More... productive.
"Your eyes are most similar to... THE Primordial Chaos."
Her words ca contemplative.
"Unpredictable. Grand."
...!
Noah’s eyes flashed.
This was the first ti that he had been compared to THE Primordial Chaos.
Most of the ti, others drew parallels between him and THE Creature.
But THE Primordial Chaos?
That was a different comparison entirely.
Glossikos continued, not waiting for him to respond.
"Go through the Cycles of Katharsis. We can talk anwhile."
She settled back against her wall of pure Mana, getting comfortable as if preparing for an extended conversation.
"Even though I lost, I still want to see if I am better than you in The First Tongue."
"Oh?"
Noah blinked toward this entity.
"Are you able to make new letters of The First Tongue?"
Glossikos blinked calmly and replied.
"No?"
And Noah replied once more.
"Then you are not better than in The First Tongue. You can’t make any new letters, while I already made 9."
He shrugged with casual dismissal.
"So let’s not waste ti there."
BOOM!
His words were calm and almost commanding!
Glossikos smiled dangerously in response!
"Ho? You seem to have gone from bold to commanding."
Her voice carried edges that promised consequences.
"Don’t forget where you are and where I am. Even if you represent what I want the most, I can still make life miserable for you."
Noah looked at her.
Then he shook his head with surety.
"But you won’t."
His voice ca absolute and unwavering.
"And I’m sure of that as I’m sure that the first treasure I will grasp will be... the highest tiered one."
His eyes t hers directly.
"I am sure of that because I am The First Tongue. And a follower of it, regardless of their power, must follow ."
...!
The words landed like declarations of absolute truth!
And then Noah raised his hand toward the artificial sky.
The golden light that had been coalescing above responded to his gesture!
From the shimring expanse where the 27 Phones rotated in eternal dance, the first treasure began to float down based on his contribution!
It descended with the inevitability of prophecy being fulfilled!
And it was...
Kronos’s Crystallized Mont!
A frozen instant of ti given physical form!
It appeared as a small sphere of impossible clarity, no larger than a fist, yet containing depths that seed to stretch into infinity. Within its crystalline structure, light moved in ways that defied normal observation...simultaneously frozen and flowing, static and dynamic, past and future occupying the sa space.
The sphere pulsed with temporal authority that made the Pool of Lethe’s waters still montarily around it.
This was a Mythical-tier treasure.
Only 3 had ever been found in the entire history of THE Villa Dei Boscoreale.
And now a fourth descended to Noah’s waiting hand.
He grasped it.
The mont his fingers closed around Kronos’s Crystallized Mont, he felt ti itself acknowledge his touch. Eons compressed into instants. Instants stretched into eternities. The boundaries between monts blurred and sharpened simultaneously.
Then he swallowed it.
Without hesitation. Without ceremony. Without the reverence that most beings would show to sothing so impossibly rare.
He simply put it in his mouth and let it slide down his throat.
HUUM!
The effect was imdiate and overwhelming!
His muscles undulated and vibrated with energy that transcended normal physical response! Every fiber of his being began to compress and refine! The Pool of Lethe churned around him, waters that had been calm now surging with the force of the transformation occurring within!
The inefficient patterns in his foundation were erased from the tiline of his existence entirely! As if they had never been there to begin with! As if his foundation had always been pristine!
His imnsity began to rise!
The Cycle of Katharsis that would have required 100% progress to complete?
Kronos’s Crystallized Mont completed it instantly!
And provided 50% progress toward the next!
Prima Katharsis would be achieved!
And Deutera Katharsis would be at 50% progress!
And he wasn’t even worried about utilizing it now or later. Because he was also sure that...more would co.
Opposite him, Glossikos was looking at him with very sharp eyes.
Those obsidian-blue orbs had widened slightly, the first genuine surprise she had shown since revealing herself here!
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