Vualla looked around with interest. In the darkness, her azure eyes seemed to glow. “I mean I’d heard about how insane the construction was, but they took me right to the Xyrt Brigade training ground when I arrived in the Nexus; I haven’t had much time to explore. Is the Nexus really squatting on top of a giant skeleton…? And damn, You really can feel the dead emotions wafting upward, huh?”

Randidly folded his arms across his chest and looked downward. They were floating in the Web while the Stillborn Phoenix released its latest batch of emotions into the surrounding space. Thick tentacles of emotions lashed outward. Most spiraled upward, but a few put tentative feelers toward Vualla. She swung her fist with a playful smile and annihilated the offending emotions.

As the Stillborn Phoenix continued its emotional purification, the finished product became more stable and its hunger for more emotions grew. At some point, Randidly would be worried about where he could freely devour emotions like this. But for now…

“You are sorta a monster, you know that?” Vualla smiled cheekily over at Randidly as she flicked a finger and destroyed another clump of his released emotions.

Randidly could only chuckle and shrug. “I’ve had no choice but to become one. That’s the Nexus, right?”

“And that’s why we will end it,” Vualla said as her expression becoming solemn. She had left her gauntlets back in Randidly’s apartment, but when she brought her right fist sharply against her left palm, Randidly felt enough force in the impact to shatter a continent like a china plate. “One fucked up piece at a time, we will tear it all down. So we no longer need to become monsters just to survive.”

“So we have the freedom to choose our own lives,” Randidly replied quietly. He reached across and squeezed Vualla’s hand for a few seconds, before clearing his throat. The Stillborn Phoenix rumbled in dissatisfaction at this delay. “How are you feeling? We might need to go… quite a bit deeper into the Web to satisfy my image. It’s a glutton.”

“Bah, is your superpower breathing Nether…?” Vualla wrinkled her nose and looked down into the swirling gloom below them with obvious distaste. They weren’t quite as deep as Randidly normally went, but they were definitely past the point where the structure of the area had renovated for living habitation; they were clearly hovering in a hollow spine. This was the point where the air began to turn strange.

The corner of Randidly’s mouth twitched. “If you need assistance, just stay near me-”

“Nah, there really isn’t that much Nether here. Just enough to be uncomfortable. Plus it’s good enough practice, to resist the growing influence of Nether and also these wild emotions.” She looked at Randidly and flapped her hand. “Lead on.”

With a nod, Randidly allowed himself to drop down through the Web. The Stillborn Phoenix released a strange crooning noise as it sucked at the surrounding space, showing how excited it was to devour more emotions. Although the noise was somewhat off-putting, Randidly was just glad that he had built a working relationship with the spiteful image. A split second later, Vualla followed him down.

There wasn’t any real, useful method of telling how deeply Randidly descended, aside from the presence of Nether, so he used that as a gauge. He pushed past his former deepest location, curious how Vualla would handle the chaotic rush of emotions while he did so. Seeing that she seemed to be managing fine, he stopped holding back. Heh, honestly sorta dumb of me to worry about her. When it comes to power and image purity… she’s got me beat.

At the point where they finally slowed, the Nether was about four times as prevalent as was generally allowed underneath the control of the System. It was still only about 5% of the ambient energy, but its presence in the air could no longer be denied. The walls around them were warped in bulging in some places, likely due to prolonged exposure to Nether. The yellowed bone darkened to a rotten brown in some places.

Randidly’s gaze lingered on the continued drop below them for several seconds.

The Nether in his body whirred. With his newfound insight into layered alternate Nether flows, the stability of his Nether Nebula had largely increased. Therefore, remaining at this depth presented no problems. He also had some spare effort to blunt the gravity of significance that reached for Vualla. And based on the fact that she wasn’t yelling at him… she likely didn’t notice, which was a blessing.

The Stillborn Phoenix began to inhale.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 335!

Congratulations! Your Skill Tide of the Void (L) has grown to Level 289!

As Randidly looked down in the impenetrable darkness below him, he gradually understood that the presence of Nether was unavoidable around the Aether Refinery below; it was only due to the Nether that the escaping emotions were as blunted as they were. And as the two people floated there, allowing the Egg of Darkness to absorb more and more emotions, there were intermittent blasts of truly violent outbursts. Against all odds, a few waves of obsessive desire had survived the grinding below.

...even beyond that mass of significance I can feel tugging at me from below, the churning Aether Refinery might be enough to destroy me. Randidly reflected. If some of the escaped emotions can be this powerful, at this distance, how powerful are the ones that are too large not to be annihilated…?

Of course, there were a few unsubstantiated assumptions about how the Aether generator worked in Randidly’s train of thought. He couldn’t be sure how accurate his conclusions were. So he set that to the side and concentrated on another issue: how he could adjust his images to fool the world.

Specifically, in this case, how the image of the Grim Chimera could transform into something even more overwhelming.

While the Stillborn Phoenix continued to guzzle down emotions, Randidly looked down at his hand. He idly traced the creases across his right palm with his eyes. All Else Succumbs, Yet Time Whirls the Earth creates a connection across parallel universes to find the answer to whatever problem I’m currently facing. Paradoxically, the Skill is already designed to fool the universe, which is why it’s so difficult for me to find an effective strategy to expand my Grim Chimera image. I’m looking for something grand and in this case, but the mundane function already accomplishes what I want…

So how do I strengthen that ability to fool the universe?

The lids of Randidly’s eyes slowly slid down to shutter his gaze. His senses expanded to capture the surrounding flows of emotion. The undercurrent of natural Nether hissed and spat as it continued to suffocate the life out of the escaping energies and dulled their edges. Randidly’s Willpower began to resonate with All Else Succumbs, Yet Time Whirls the Earth. He activated the image without activating the Skill, just brushing lightly across the surface.

Releasing a breath, Randidly didn’t have anything he was seeking. There was no problem that became the base of the Skill. But floating in the hollow spine of the Nexus, he spread his awareness through to the parallel worlds closest to him. His senses could just barely capture these other Randidlys, who had utilized slightly different avenues to reach his same current position. Due to it only being a resonance, the others aligning with his position helped him bridge the gap. Without pulling any abilities from the disparate Randidlys to his present self, it was actually somewhat relaxing to spread himself out.

In the strangest way, it reminded Randidly of having two Nether flows happening at the same time. It required the same unfocused effort, the same mixture of concentration and relaxation, the same inner acceptance. If he gradually allowed the edges of himself to spread outward…

Congratulations! Your Skill All Else Succumbs, Yet Time Whirls the Earth (M) has grown to Level 235!

As he did his best to simply savor the sensation, Randidly could see a Path forward for his image. The Grim Chimera… was more than a single entity. It spread across all universes, seeking to help itself survive at all times. Or, to expand it even further… the Grim Chimera was all life, seeking in different scenarios to always surpass the danger of the environment.

A smile quirked across Randidly’s mouth, ruining his concentration. It might be a bit much to say that I’m all life… But to draw more of a connection between the various versions of myself...

Shaking his head, he once more released a breath and cleared his mind. The Stillborn Phoenix continued to slurp down emotions and Vualla appeared to be meditating in the air next to him. His skin tingled from the cool air flowing up through the spine of the Nexus, as though he was being brushed by the breath of a sleeping beast. The image of his ultimate Grim Chimera Skill began to shine as it resonated with his intentions. Across space and time, Randidly felt the other versions of himself, also floating in the Web.

That resonance acted as a beacon, drawing more and more significance in toward the center. Randidly’s Nether Nebula shuddered and began to accelerate. Distributed across all the versions of himself, the pressure of his significance eased.

As he stretched, he began to move beyond this place. His mind was practically buzzing from trying to contain all the possibilities available to him, but he pushed himself further and further. The very familiar feeling of a mental strain headache began to pound behind his closed eyes. He raised his hand and pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, but he didn’t break his concentration.

Randidly grasped at the divided versions of himself, seeing the limits of his reach. In the core of his Nether Nebula, an additional grey bubble began to form.

Very soon, his headache worsened. He achieved a precarious balance in his Soulspace, buoyed by thousands of phantom Randidly. The process was… fascinating. He could feel these different versions of himself and feel the slight ways they differed from him. And the longer he managed to balance himself here, in some massive communion with the various Grim Chimeras, more and more were drawn into arriving. Those Randidly’s that were further in likelihood from the main body could gather, adding their thoughts and feelings to the grand collective.

Congratulations! Your Skill All Else Succumbs, Yet Time Whirls the Earth (M) has grown to Level 236!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill All Else Succumbs, Yet Time Whirls the Earth (M) has grown to Level 243!

Suddenly, a ripple came through the Randidlys. One by one, they began to be ripped away from the collective. And the strangest wave of information came to Randidly. Although they vanished, he didn’t lose the details of those that had been so suddenly cut away. Those that hadn’t proceeded as deeply into the Web-

Congratulations! Your Skill All Else Succumbs, Yet Time Whirls the Earth (M) has grown to Level 244!

Randidly’s eyes shot open. The muscles along his jaw flexed. Despite the fact that the image was not yet sated, Randidly ruthlessly cut off the Stillborn Phoenix. Then he looked over at Vualla with what he hoped was a relaxed smile. “Hey, Vualla? Do you mind if I ask you for a favor?”

“What’s up?” Vualla opened her eyes and tilted her head to the side.

Randidly shrugged. The hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to stand on end. “Helen needs some help beating some sense into those two troublemaking recruits that I was telling you about. I hope you don’t mind… but when it comes to beatings, you are the best woman I know. Can you lend a hand?”

Vualla’s azure eyes regarded Randidly for a few seconds, as though she sensed something that he had tried to keep from his tone. Just as he was about to say something else, to try and force the issue, she nodded and smiled. With a sharp gesture, she sent herself drifting over toward Randidly. But as he put his hand on her arm, she reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

Her fingers felt as cold and dangerous as daggers pressed against him. Her smile sharpened. “You are a bad liar, Randidly Ghosthound. But I trust you. Whatever’s going on… don’t die.”

Then Vualla allowed herself to be teleported to within the Alpha Cosmos. After she disappeared, a voice drifted down to Randidly from above. “Heh. An audience is the best companion for a duel… but I suppose I admire your bravery in facing me alone. Who was that, anyway? She smelled strong. I guess I’ve had good luck since running into that Lamel. I keep finding people I want to meet.”

Randidly released a breath and faced upward. The reason that the alternate Randidly’s had been ripped away was now grinning down at him, with his tattooed arms folded across his chest. It was certainly a strange application, and one that would be almost impossible to maintain constantly, but All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth had given him just enough of a warning.

Not enough to escape, of course, but enough that the combative voice didn’t cause Randidly to flinch. Somehow, Velio Dunn had tracked him down.

His Philosopher's Key was steadily recovering, but it still took between thirty seconds and a minute to build a bridge between two positions. Randidly brought up his messaging function and then clicked his tongue in annoyance; his ability to utilize the System was being suppressed.

They came prepared. Damnit. Who knows that I regularly come here…?

Randidly was alone with Velio Dunn. And the man’s smile was slowly widening.