2nd Apostle

* Closeup
* Portrait

> "I lift my arms and the world trembles and cracks."
> "My energy eclipses the stars."
> "With might I bring perfect order."
> "I am God's strength. The mightiest of all. The pinnacle of Power."
> "I am the almighty."
>
> - The Power

The 2nd Apostle, the Power, is one of the 12 Apostles and ancestor to all of monster kind. His twin is the 1st Apostle, the Authority. They both came into existence together and are some of the most powerful beings in existence. It is the monster parent of Michael Carlowe

## Background

The 2nd Apostle is one of the 12 original progenitors of all monster species. Like all Apostles, it represents some of the fundamental components of reality and is worshiped as a god by most monster kind. The 2nd seems to represent all the "Energy" and conservation of energy in the universe.

The 2nd was born alongside it's twin the 1st Apostle and works separately towards its own unfathomable goals.

It currently exists only in the "Higher Plane" and to manifest into the player's dimension it needs an avatar body. These avatars display the full strength of the apostle but are burned out in short order due to the sheer power coursing through them. The apostle then returns to the "Higher Plane", discarding the avatar corpse.

According to Valravn, the 2nd very rarely manifests and based on Ella Vulpe's specific instructions about summoning it, the 2nd has very specific requirements for appearing onto the material plane.

### H.E.R.O Arc

Using a special pill lure from Ella, Michael Carlowe was able to summon the 2nd and present it with the corpse of a M59: Leigong that he had personally slain. The 2nd manifested with a surge of monstrous power that shakes the entire city; its arrival turning night to day. It descends to Michael and the corpse before almost lazily devouring the corpse, converting it to pure energy before absorbing it. It then points at Michael and emits a beam of ionizing thermal radiation so powerful that it burns deep into the earth. The potency of the beam kills Michael through radiation poisoning. The 2nd then retreats back to the higher plane, having sired a new spawn.

### Twins Arc

The 2nd is tangibly present during Michael Carlowe's evolution. It takes an active hand in his evolution, using the connection to force huge amounts of power into Michael's body. The connection is strong enough that the 2nd's presence is felt and detected by both Nyx Elis and Bramon Xanthe respectively. When the MC restrains Tiffany Miliken and Michael Carlowe as they fight, he is able to feel the 2nd through his memory powers. The 2nd however, detects him and speaks some incomprehensible word that instantly collapses the connection.

## Powers and Abilities

### The 6 Arbiters

According to Aglaecwif, there existed 6 arbiters who represented the 6 original powers. She also believes that of these arbiters, the greatest was "Order". Order was the power to command all things. To structure all things. To write the laws that govern the universe and to have both the **Power** and the Authority to enforce them. The Power trait is one part of this original power and is represented by the 2nd Apostle. The totality of energy in the universal system is governed by the 2nd Apostle.

Therefore, the 2nd Apostle is one of the most powerful beings in existence. Being called "The Power", the 2nd displays perfect and absolute energy manipulation. Most of its powers are speculation since the only instances of the 2nd's powers seen so far are: its interaction with Michael during his ascension and the powers displayed by Level 2 direct spawn of the 2nd Michael Carlowe and the other monsters related to the 2nd like the M59: Leigong or M37: Luz Mala. Like the other apostles the 2nd is practically invincible. Its avatar is likely incredibly fast and strong and it can presumably manipulate energy at massive scale.

### Other Information

Spawns and Monsters derived from the 2nd naturally work with energy, either as attacks or movement or both. They tend to be highly efficient and devastating at combat. They also seem to naturally trump other superhumans or monsters with energy based attacks, being able to absorb or deflect those attacks with ease. However they all seem to share a fundamental weakness to abilities from the 6th Apostle lineage. The 6th's lineage's manipulation of natural forces and space tends to neuter the high offensive capabilities of the 2nd's line while also ripping through their defenses that are tuned against physical and energy attacks.

Monsters spawned from the 2nd's line are relatively common due to the broad and versatile nature of it's trait and shown to be all over the power spectrum. These monsters can be extremely physically dangerous and can be quite difficult to bring down. However their huge power, aggression, and relatively one-dimensional style of operations means that they are unsubtle and easy to track and engage. Also unless they have some way to replenish their internal energy they tend to run out of steam relatively quickly and don't seem built for attrition.