As the desperate figures of Raymund and DiOrtho hurried from the valley, Vualla crouched on one of the overhanging peaks and watched their rapid departure. A smile danced across her lips as she checked the time; they had managed to convince the princess and depart in only nineteen minutes. They still had plenty of time to open up some distance between them.

Vualla flicked a pebble off the cliff and watched it bound down the rock face to the ground below. Seemed like it truly was a matter of motivation, after all.

The sound of skin against rock drew Vualla’s gaze to the left, but quickly she allowed herself to relax; honestly, there were no opponents in this world that truly threatened her. It was just instinct from the Xyrt Brigade training that kept her suspicious. That and her constant knowledge that Randidly was out there in the Nexus, fighting for his life...

A sudden movement sent a few more bits of stone tumbling down into the valley below. Helen scampered herself up around the rock face with the ease of a mountain goat and settled next to Vualla. “You seem to enjoy babysitting. I’m surprised.”

“You know? It’s honestly… not as bad as I thought,” Vualla readily admitted to the other woman. “I can see why Randidly always spends so much time trying with his subordinates. I can definitely feel how… fulfilling this is. And watching them… it’s somewhat inspiring, you know? As though individual differences each generates its own advantages. It encourages a different sort of strength in me. It’s… fascinating.”

“Enjoy it, please.” Helen nodded. Then her expression twisted toward an uneasy look at the sky. “Because based on Randidly’s last message…”

Vualla gritted her teeth with such force that his jaw began to tremble. Randidly had said that he had decided to train in the deepest portion of the Web as he prepared for their escape, but how could she not sense that the process was much more difficult than she let on? He was stuck after he had brought her here to relative safety.

Still, her own memories of that dense Nether and horrifying natural phenomenon pulling from below told her in no uncertain terms that she would be of no use to him. Despite how much it pained her, she could only remain in his Alpha Cosmos for the moment. Her immensely powerful image was completely useless against this type of foe.

Every individual had their own advantages.

Perhaps sensing her mood, Helen clapped Vualla on the shoulder. “Don’t let it bother you that much. He has things only he can do… and we have things that we can do as well. Come on; I want to introduce you to a few very emotional individuals.”

Vualla raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“The King and Queen of the Shelley Kingdom,” Helen replied with a sly smile. “Did you think that you were just going to be working as a vigilante? You are going to be hired as a tracking and pursuit expert. In order to make those two absolutely miserable… you’ll have the entire force of a kingdom behind you.”

Vualla grinned.

*****

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

Randidly floated on his back, staring upward and watching with no little envy as the vibrant emotions the Stillborn Phoenix released could swim upward and escape these depths. The vivid pink strands flew upward in spirals, savoring their relative positioning. As a weight counterpoint, Randidly and his sour mood were stuck down here.

Plus, he enjoyed looking upward because he had sunk so deeply in the shaft that the darkness above matched the darkness below. There was a curious duality to the experience, like laying upon a mirror. It was entirely impossible, without the steady movement of emotions, to know from which direction he had come.

He paused now because he needed a slight break; the passage of days had been… unusually difficult, for a Randidly who had been training for long, lonely stretches since the beginning of his System tenure.

Not that he didn’t benefit greatly from his training down here; Randidly enjoyed the restrictions placed upon him here, too. It was quite simple to release a pulse of an image and draw one or two Nether Beasts to investigate, which usually resulted in powerful enough impacts that more Nether Beasts were drawn upward. In between attempts at discovering how to Engrave for his own Nether Cores, Randidly cleared his mind with manic melees that set his heart pounding.

The Nether Beasts still weren’t truly a threat to him, but they were stronger than the small-fries he had lured upward previously. In addition, more and more drifted upward as he slaughtered them, meaning he didn’t worry about depleting their population. And although Randidly suspected there was no meaning to what he was doing, after he finished studying the fading cores of the slaughtered Nether Beasts, he dropped those cores and allowed them to return to the significance below.

Yet he continued to be perturbed. Randidly had to admit to himself that this wasn’t a matter of boredom; there was plenty to do here, with threats of multiple varieties surrounding him. But the act of constantly shaping and reforging the emotions present in his images, straining against the draw of the significance below, and the withdrawal from the Soulbond connection added up. More than had ever been true in the past, ominous black clouds hovered at the edges of Randidly Ghosthound’s psyche.

So Randidly took long breaks from his normal training routine to steady himself by studying the surroundings. Sometimes, he wondered if the Nether Beasts were a side effect of the power plant working below.

Yet his emotional state wasn’t the only difficulty plaguing him. Despite the fact that Randidly was (probably) steadily earning Skill Levels with his fights against the Nether Beasts, he continued to struggle with the Engraving for a Nether Core. Architecture of the Primordial Ways was extremely sophisticated, but…

Randidly looked at the nearby bone wall. The air down here was especially thick and murky, which led to the illusion that the spine was widening the deeper he went. But either way, as he glanced around, he could see failed attempts at capturing the significance of Yggdrasil curling around into the darkness. His technique was getting more advanced with every stroke. He was trying complex, new patterns. Yet…

Pursing his lips, Randidly looked back upward. The midnight-blue darkness held no answers, although it continued to broadcast a variety of confusing information up from the depths. A tumbling claw from a slain Nether Beast drifted close enough to him that Randidly batted it away in annoyance. But as he did so, he paused.

Something had occurred to him, finally. If he could speak, he would have said aloud, “It doesn’t matter that Yggdrasil was my first image. What matters… is why I chose that shape as my first image.”

Of course, he couldn’t speak. So he only thought about that distinction and continued to frown.

There were obviously contextual reasons that he had chosen Yggdrasil. Randidly had learned the golden roots Skill from a turtle in Donnyton’s partner Village. Plus, his earliest Skill was Entangling Roots, which he had used to survive during his early System struggles. Plant-based Skills quickly became part of his core skill set, as he trained with Shal and then later returned to Expira.

But if there was a driving subconscious reason…

Dragging up such a motivation won’t be easy… the me of today… is very far from who I used to be.

Randidly twisted his mouth. Then he rolled his shoulder and procured the Visage of Obsession once more. The process of working toward making a Nether Core was new, and therefore boosted the speed of his Engraving growth quite a bit. Helen and Wendy had gathered him the materials he needed to begin forging, but he figured there was no harm in waiting a bit longer to work on his arm.

Besides, I’m a little worried about the effect the environment here will have on the limb… Randidly made a bitter expression. That anxiety delayed him somewhat, but it wasn’t like he would be able to wait forever. An escape from this place… still didn’t seem like it would happen anytime soon.

He would probably need to create a new arm here, as distasteful as that truth was.

Randidly finished unrolling the Visage of Obsession before him. His eyes sank once more into the colors. Randidly was rather shocked to discover that since he had last looked, the colors had reversed; suddenly the sky was flashing with warm oranges and bloody reds, while the ground was a dark blue.

In this strange point of view, Randidly glided forward.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 11!

Soon, the ground darkened to black. From a hump, the ground flattened. Randidly seemed to be moving across a plain of absolute darkness. The only observable sign that he was traveling at all was the continued wheel between red, orange, and yellow above him. The way the lights glimmered hinted that his destination was close.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 14!

Of course, Randidly was deeply suspicious of the Visage of Obsession when he pulled briefly back and sensed that almost two days had passed without him noticing. Inwardly, he was glad that he had proceeded more deeply into the depths of the Nexus. Hopefully, this would prevent any unexpected developments outside of this place why he continued to push himself.

This makes me wonder if using the Fatepiece is worth it… Randidly bit his lip. Also...

Unfortunately, Vualla, Helen, and the two recruits would need to keep themselves occupied for a time within his Alpha Cosmos… but as far as downsides went, this one wasn’t debilitating, just tiresome. And perhaps even giving Helen more time to solve their issues with images was probably for the better.

Then Randidly refocused his gaze on the Visage of Obsession. The colors seemed to seep forward out of the edges of the painting. He could feel himself being drawn inward into the painting, but Randidly didn't resist the sensation. His perception spun, like all that was ‘Randidly Ghosthound’ became a liquid that was swirling down a drain.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 15!

...and then he came out the other side, purified.

His mind… felt sharp and powerful. Like he could slice apart the shallow world of colors in front of him.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 17!

Creepy-ass painting. It’s like you heard me complaining about you… Even if the effect is just this mental cleansing, it’s very valuable. Randidly reflected. The acuity I’m feeling right now… is it an illusion? Or perhaps just an effect of steadily shedding away the redundant or distracting thoughts…

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 19!

There was no obvious arrival at the destination, as had happened the previous time. The darkness of the ground was absolute. Randidly almost didn’t think he existed on that plain; he was only a bump against the implacable darkness, a smudge below the brilliant, fiery sky. Yet at that place, the form of Yystrix formed once again in front of him.

She smiled slyly and tilted her head to the side, as though asking how he was managing with his current predicament. Despite the fact that this projection was grown out of his subconscious, Randidly smiled aggressively back at her. His expression was a challenge, asking this Fatepiece to do its worse.

Without any noise, standing on that pitch-black landscape, Yystrix laughed. Then she pointed upward at her own face. Her message was clear; this time, rip out my eyes. Randidly pressed his lips together, but this time he did not hesitate.

His only dissatisfaction was the fact he currently had a single arm. Which meant that he needed to do her eyes one at a time.