Brutality.
There were different forms of it across Civilizations.
So said it was not necessary. That violence begat violence. That cruelty only bred more cruelty in an endless cycle that consud all who participated in it.
But truly, sotis, brutality was warranted.
And sotis, it was a must.
When an enemy sought to destroy everything you built, was gentleness the answer? When a predator ca for your people, was kindness the response? When soone sent an attack of curiosity across ti that nearly collapsed your existence and everyone you cared about...
Was restraint truly the moral high ground?
Noah had long since made peace with this truth. Observable Existence was cruel.
Those who held back when brutality was required found themselves and everyone they loved ground to dust in the endless Weavings of ti.
He would not be ground to dust.
And so, he would not hold back.
---
With every bite of The Heart of Unity he took, his gaze never left Gilgash.
The crimson-gold blood ran down his chin. The taste of accumulated authority and ancient glory filled his mouth. The Depth of a Civilization built across eons dissolved into his existence with each swallow.
And through it all, those golden eyes of The First Leader remained defiant.
Even broken. Even bound. Even watching his very heart being consud.
Defiant.
Noah respected that, barely.
After the final bite, he spoke.
"After a certain point, the necessary brutality has to be brought to an end."
His voice ca asured and calm, as if discussing philosophy rather than the destruction he had just wrought.
"I won’t be so cruel as to torture you."
He wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand.
"I have collapsed your Way of Unity. I am eating the very Heart of your Civilization. Your Depth and Imnsity continues to reduce as you will very soon fall to the level of Pre-THE."
His eyes studied the kneeling figure before him.
"I was planning to devour you completely. But out of curiosity, I will give you a choice."
He leaned forward on his throne of Tyranny.
"You see, THE Four, especially THE Primordial Chaos, like to act all mysteriously and play around with choices. I’ve experienced a few aspects of who they are."
His smile held no warmth.
"Right now, I’ll give you a choice."
He paused.
"I’ve collapsed many beings across my life. Every life I take, however rapid or futile it may seem, I know that it is complete cessation and darkness for the other side. The end of everything they were, everything they could have been, everything they hoped to beco."
His voice grew heavier.
"Do you want complete darkness? Or will you submit?"
The words hung in the air.
"If you do, I will send you to an inescapable prison where even THE Living Paradox would never be able to take you away from."
...!
Noah said this calmly as he looked at Gilgash!
He was a glorious and distinguished being. After having collapsed the entirety of his Civilization, Noah had already gained imnsely from the vibrant Depth of a Fundantal Depth entity like Gilgash.
But if he could continue to gain and use such a being...
If he could have them reforge their Way in THE Infinite Desmoterion...
That was an even grander punishnt.
He held the prompts at bay as he waited.
And on the face of The First Leader, there was still defiance.
But sothing else flickered in those golden eyes now.
Sothing that looked almost like... clarity.
As if the consumption of his Heart had stripped away illusions he had been carrying for eons.
Gilgash was silent for a long mont.
Then he laughed.
It was not the laugh of madness or desperation. It was the laugh of soone who had finally understood a joke that had been played on them across the entirety of their existence.
"I seem...to have been under the banner of others for too long."
His voice ca heavy with the weight of accumulated regret.
"I thought Existence was mine. I thought I was Gilgash, The First Leader, commander of armies, conqueror of civilizations, the one whose na would echo across Existence."
His golden eyes t Noah’s directly.
"But I was never truly leading, was I? I was being led. Guided by threads I couldn’t see. Moved by hands I refused to acknowledge."
He shook his head slowly.
"It seems I failed the mont I agreed to go under the banner of Paradox."
The words landed with weight.
"The mont that choice was made, my fate was sealed. Every battle I fought afterward, every victory I claid, every civilization I conquered... all of it was in service to another’s design. All of it was building toward this mont."
His laugh ca again, bitter and clear.
"What a waste."
...!
BOOM!
The words were heavy!
Noah looked at this being who had just rejected survival in favor of ending. Who had chosen complete darkness over servitude! Who had, in his final monts, found the clarity to see what he had truly been all along.
Not a leader, but as a follower who had convinced himself he was leading.
"So you choose collapse."
Noah’s voice ca without judgnt.
"I choose to finally make a decision that is truly mine. Not Paradox’s. Not THE Living Paradox’s. Not THE Weavers’. Mine."
His golden eyes blazed with sothing that transcended defiance.
"If I cannot live as Gilgash, I will die as Gilgash. The First Leader. The one who knelt to no one at the end."
He straightened his spine despite the Seals binding him. Well, he said all that, but he was technically being forced to kneel right now!
Noah looked at this being for a long mont.
He had expected the practical choice. He had expected Gilgash to choose survival, to choose the possibility of future escape, to choose anything over the absolute finality of complete collapse.
But The First Leader had surprised him.
In the end, he had chosen to be what he always tried to be.
A Leader.
Soone who made their own choices, even if that choice was death.
Noah rose from his throne of Tyranny.
"In the end, you made a choice that was yours. And for that, I will grant you a clean collapse. No torture. No drawn-out suffering. Just... ending."
Gilgash closed his eyes.
Noah’s hand blazed with the combined authority of his 27 Seals.
Gilgash said no more as even at this mont, he looked ridiculously grand.
...!
BOOM!
Noah’s hand descended!
Brilliant blue-gold flas erupted from his palm with force that transcended normal violence! They consud the bound form of Gilgash completely! Not slowly, not painfully, but instantly and absolutely!
The First Leader did not scream as he simply... ended.
His existence, accumulated across eons of conquest and command, collapsed into nothingness in the span of a heartbeat. His Depth, already diminished by the consumption of his Heart, dissolved into Noah’s flas. His Way of Unity, already shattered and devoured, ceased to be entirely.
Gilgash, The First Leader, was no more.
The Stoa of Dogmata fell silent.
Where he had knelt, only scorched stone remained.
Not even ash.
Just... absence.
Oh!
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