Chapter 5226: Vile! I

THE Infinite Vector was the first thing he turned over properly.

The way it worked was not complicated once the Cognitio Cause’s comprehension had settled the understanding into his foundations rather than leaving it as cognitive information requiring active processing.

Infinity, in any form, carried three properties simultaneously: a direction it was moving in, a magnitude expressing how much of itself it was committing to that direction, and an intent describing what it was trying to accomplish by moving in that direction at that magnitude.

Every Pulse, every Civilization expression, every ambient current of Infinity flowing through the Wandering Territories or THE Braneworld or anywhere else these things occurred had all three. Always. Without exception!

Because Infinity without direction was not moving Infinity, and Infinity without magnitude was not expressing Infinity, and Infinity without intent was not doing anything at all.

THE Infinite Vector meant he could rewrite any of the three properties of any Infinity within his perceptual range. Including his own. Including the ambient substrate. Including whatever an enemy was currently deploying toward him or toward anyone else.

An incoming Pulse arrived with a direction pointed at him, a magnitude calibrated to damage him, and an intent to unravel something in his foundations. He did not need to block it. He did not need to absorb it through his Apeiron scales’ resistance. He could simply rewrite the direction so it was pointed away from him, rewrite the magnitude so it carried more force than when it departed, and rewrite the intent so it was now trying to accomplish whatever he wanted it to accomplish when it arrived at its new destination!

Which was the caster.

Passively, this operated automatically. His foundations now performed this rewriting as a background function, without requiring his conscious attention, similar to his Civilizational Instinct, the Tongue running continuously beneath every other cognitive process he was engaged in. Anything Infinity-based that moved toward him in the environment of his perceptual range would be quietly redirected before it arrived.

Actively, he could reach outward and rewrite Infinity that had nothing to do with him. The ambient currents flowing through a region, the Infinity reserves within an enemy’s foundations, the Infinity sustaining a Gilded One’s Pulse before it had even fully formed.

He could not wait to test it against Ragnar!

And as he was settling into the sensation of the Vector’s passive operation, feeling how it shifted the texture of his interaction with the surrounding existence, like learning to notice one’s own peripheral vision as a functional system rather than background noise...

HUUM!

Aboard the Ubergulden vessel, something lurched.

His other body and Ubergulden Adelheid were forcefully pulled apart, the separation abrupt and total, the golden bubble she had formed around them snapping with a sharp sound before it dissolved into ambient Observable Force that scattered in every direction through the vessel’s minimal interior.

He blinked.

The passive Infinite Vector had rewritten the direction of the Infinity flowing between their contact point and redirected it outward without his conscious instruction, his foundations having processed the intensity of what was occurring and determined, apparently without consulting him, that the configuration warranted adjustment. The subconscious rewriting had expressed itself as a physical separation!

He was still getting used to this.

Ubergulden Adelheid recovered herself across several seconds. She straightened. She smoothed the front of her robes with the brisk efficiency of someone converting the activity into a moment of transition.

She licked the last trace of Infinity from her lips with an expression that briefly indicated she was finding this entire development more complicated than she had anticipated, then composed herself with the finality of a door being closed.

She pointed a finger at him.

The gesture carried no power. Just the specific accusation of someone who had decided he was responsible for what had just happened here!

He shook his head.

"Don’t think about it too much. That was literally just a taste." He adjusted his features into an expression of complete calm. "We need to set aside time later for something a bit more."

...!

Her eyes shone briefly with something before the frown arrived and claimed her expression back from it. She looked at the space where the golden bubble had been, then looked at him with a gaze that carried difficulty in it, the specific difficulty of a being organizing something significant before delivering it.

"You... must understand that while this bond between us, and what we have, is understood between us, it must remain a secret to the eyes of THE Braneworld. You must never, in any moment or by any gesture, direct an ounce of affection toward me when others are watching. To do so would be to invite a storm."

She held herself with the posture of a Superbius Gilded One delivering a genuine truth rather than performing one.

"THE Superbius do not allow the world to see them as beings of need. In the eyes of our kin, to acknowledge a desire for comfort, or the soft touch of an equal, is to admit a failure in the absolute sovereignty of the Ego. We are built for dominion, and dominion admits no hunger that it cannot command."

She moved slowly through the minimal interior of the vessel as she spoke.

"When a member of the high houses feels the stirrings of pleasure or the necessity of Dual Cultivation, they do not look to their peers. They look to THE Luxuria. You must see the tragedy of it as I have seen it. Those of the Luxuria designation are not merely a caste. They are...an engineered outcome. They were fashioned with structural purpose to be the vessels for the desires we refuse to acknowledge in ourselves, their foundations meticulously woven to be the playthings of the Ira and the Superbius."

She did not look at him while she said this. She looked at the pale gold wall of the vessel.

"The warriors of the Ira release their unbridled rage upon them, and the lords of the Superbius spend their cold pride within them, using these engineered souls as mere lightning rods for the excesses of their Egos. It is a vile arrangement. A fundamental stain on our existence that I have come to detest."

...!

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