BOOOOOM!

BOOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOOOOOM!! BOOOOM! BOOM!

After Randidly dealt with the first few attacks, Shal’s spear once again split into a multi-headed hydra that had a particular craving for his blood. Again and again, those spectral heads struck with all the suddenness of a tweaking viper. Without the benefit of standing in absolute stillness for a half-second before each movement, Randidly’s basic physical abilities barely rivaled Shal’s abilities in the full throes of this concentrated image.

But barely was enough. Especially when every second, more and more natural energy flowed out of Randidly’s spear image and wreathed his body. Wind spiraled around him and decreased the friction of his movements. The ground beneath his feet subtly adjusted to assist his balance as Acri and the grey viperheads clashed again and again. And the energy continued to gather. Perhaps a normal individual wouldn’t be able to accumulate so much natural energy, but with the Nether flows and image physicalizations of his body, Randidly was a veritable empty reservoir; this was only the beginning of what he could handle.

Leafy spear met grey viper at such speeds that both spat sparks. Natural energy clashed against flaring images, gradually illuminating the flaws. Shal could demonstrate much more potency with this image because it was originally his, but he still incorporated some details that left it hollow. Randidly barred his teeth. This isn’t enough Shal.

Randidly adjusted his stance and steadily began to advance, cutting and thrusting mercilessly to exploit the rough edges of the image. In response, Shal continued to quicken his attacks, pushing even Randidly’s significant physical gifts to the limit. Yet at the same time as his hands were numbed from the impact of the two weapons slamming into each other, Randidly felt joy.

Because Shal shed all pretense and his image regained its purpose in those brief clashes. With a few more steps, Randidly could seize upon these hollow additions to Shal’s image and rip them away.

Shal’s eyes narrowed as he realized he wouldn’t stop his student at this rate. Randidly pressed his lips together to hide a smile. Yet perhaps due to that tight expression, more words were squeezed out of his mouth. “Didn’t you shape me? Do I look as broken as you seem to be right now!?!?”

Hydra heads surged forward with deadly intent. Acri, riding on a growing wave of natural energy, slid to meet them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

With the last strike, Randidly swung Acri and knocked away four of the grey viper-hydra’s strikes with the immensity of the natural energy he channeled. He landed lightly on the balls of his feet, perfectly poised, and raised the head of his spear. He saw the flawed additions to Shal’s image in front of him. In a smooth movement, Randidly stepped and thrust his spear forward.

The movement was one he must have practiced at least one million times. It was the first attack Shal had ever taught him.

Acri’s blade danced along a thick and potent ripple that actually seemed to adjust itself to him. The churning sea of natural energy within Randidly’s body was finally released. Without the benefit of an image, force was birthed and shook the surroundings. Ground and sky were sundered by the resulting attack. Shal marshaled his image, but by the time he reacted the projection of Aether had already been cut in half.

Blood spurted from Shal’s shoulder. The condensed elemental force rushed past Shal, smashing aside an unfortunate member of the Engraving Guild about thirty meters away, and then slammed into the spatial wall. The defensive array that the orthodox forces were creating broke before Randidly’s strike, warping the energy in a five-meter area from the impact point.

“Sometimes a spear is enough,” Randidly said softly, looking at Shal. He did not know what his master had gone through since they had seen each other last. But it was clear to Randidly that Shal held regrets that he refused to acknowledge. Because of that… his images were fractured and weak, blurred further by seizing upon the Nexus’s image combination methods.

If nothing else, Randidly hoped that his spear penetrating into Shal’s shoulder would force the man to acknowledge the hole that currently existed in his heart. That it would help him realize that since they had last met, the main reason Randidly won wasn’t how much stronger he had grown.

It was simply a result of how twisted Shal had become.

As the natural energy steadily drained away from the surroundings, Randidly tugged Acri out of its fleshy resting place and took a step back. His master sighed and lowered his spear. The extremely bloodthirsty hydra lost its aura of sharpness and sputtered twice before vanishing. With blood dripping down his chest, Shal’s expression collapsed into a grimace of immense pain.

For a long moment, the two just looked at each other. Randidly pressed his lips together, waiting to see if his intentions reached his master.

Finally, Shal sighed and broke the extended moment. “Heh. You remind me of how I felt when I was young. And it’s bittersweet, you know? Because… you might actually be able to accomplish your dreams, simply by relying on your own spear.”

Abruptly, something on the battlefield changed. Several of the images around them began to withdraw. The pause spread out from solely their flank to both the central region and the opposite flank. The combatants from the orthodox powers of the Nexus abruptly flared their images to create an opening, then began to retreat. The defensive formation that the Pinnacle Seekers had attacked for so long finally began to collapse.

Shal swayed slightly as his companions began to retreat around him. His fingers tightened on his spear. Then he shook his head with an expression of helplessness. “I wish we had more time. I wish I could explain… but please, Randidly. Leave this place. This is what you came for, yes? Take it and begone. Your bold spear will only be ruined by this place.”

Shal stored away his weapon and then held out both hands, palm-up, in front of him. There was a flicker of energy and an object appeared in each of his hands. In his left he held a pyramid with five distinct levels, each delicately wrought of a different material. In his right hand, he had a small black stylus.

Barely after Randidly had recognized the shape of the objects, Shal tossed them both toward him. Then his master turned and rushed after his fellow members of the Engraving Guild, not giving Randidly any further attention.

Randidly’s eyes flashed. “Even now, you run? What happened to you Shal? Why won’t you show me your spear?!?”

Shal didn’t even pause in his retreat. It almost seemed like Shal hadn’t heard Randidly. Randidly’s metal left arm flicked out and caught both the items. He dearly wished to charge directly after Shal and force his master to answer, but at the moment, Randidly had another concern.

For a second he teetered on ignoring this rare opportunity and chasing down Shal anyway, but Randidly pressed his lips together and lowered his head. As long as Shal remains in these isolated spatial islands, I’ll at least know where he is. I have time. Meanwhile, this issue of being constantly observed and tracked…

While he touched the Fatepiece, Randidly rapidly adjusted his Aether apparatus again so he could see the resulting notification.

Congratulations! You have obtained the fourth piece of your Fateset, the Hierarchy of Burden Lvl 1! The Hierarchy of Burden is an ancient implement that can elevate one’s very soul toward the realm of a deity. Under its influence, you may finally perceive the complete truth of your own existence. While the utilization remains a mystery to you now, the journey to discover that information will bring you ever closer to the truth of the Alchemist!

In addition, due to possessing the Hierarchy of Burden, +5 Endurance, Reaction, and Willpower per Level of your Class!

At the same time as the notification was displayed in front of him, Randidly’s focus was entirely on the substance surrounding his Soulspace. The Fatepiece had arrived, and as he was told by Nathaz Eloise, there was a brief moment where the seemingly invulnerable ‘lock’ of Aether constructs placed upon him by the System opened of its own volition to allow the Fatepiece to seep into his person. As his Fatepiece flowed forward into that opening, Randidly’s Willpower became a harpoon that shot forward and pierced through that shitty construct of Aether that allowed the Engraving Guild to track him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to Level 249!

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to Level 250!

For a brief moment, Randidly was completely immersed in the complicated machinery of his Class, Soulspace, Skills, and the ambiguous connections all those pieces held to the strange pseudo-intelligence that provided him with new Paths. Because that was the final question that he held regarding the System. He was dearly tempted to spend a half-second memorizing the Aether he could perceive here, but already the lock was once more closing.

Nathaz Eloise hadn’t lied about this either: one would need to be quite capable with Aether to manage this operation.

Grimacing, even as he remained stiffly standing on the edge of the battlefield, Randidly used every ounce of ferocity he could manage to tear that offending bit of Aether away and then withdrew his consciousness from those secret machines of the System. The other Aether constructs closed like jaws around him, with enough brute force to crush his will.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Manipulation has grown to Level 253!

The confines of Randidly’s Soulspace smoothly slid back together, suddenly seeming like they had never parted in the first place. Clicking his tongue at how much he still had to learn about Aether Constructs, Randidly opened his eyes and glanced around at the changes in the surroundings.

As the orthodox factions of the Nexus retreated, they gathered together in a tighter and tighter group. From three small battlefields, only one extremely tiny one was left. But the clashes there were extraordinarily intense. The immense yellow skeleton had returned and now released blasts of blue-green beams every second to buy time for the troops to retreat. Those beams scythed across the slope and left waves of fire in their wake.

This time Seeker Thunder Wing didn’t move, so the yellow skeleton had an advantage in terms of raw power. Yet the combined forces of the grey cloud with black raindrops, the weaker iteration of the Crimson Thunder Eagle, and the Thousand-Armed Alabaster Titan were significantly pressuring it.

By the time Randidly had finished with his internal Aether adjustments, Shal had vanished; he must have made it to the spatial wall and escaped to the next area. In the next ten seconds, more and more members of Military High Command and the Nexus Labor Council escaped. But at some point, too many Pinnacle Seeker had gathered their images together to contest the enormous yellow skeleton. After taking a deep wound from the grey cloud, that skeleton image user forcefully smashed the images away and escaped himself. After he left, the dark patterns on the spatial wall flared to life and began to release waves of pressure that destabilized the area.

Meanwhile, the dozen or so individuals that hadn’t managed to escape in time were slaughtered by the Pinnacle Seekers.

Seeing that things were wrapping up, Randidly released a long sigh. The fight hadn’t taken very long or required him to expend much Willpower at all, but the constant state of emotional tension he had maintained left him feeling drained. And he didn’t even reach a satisfying conclusion. Although that last strike had cut perfectly along the stitched on additions to Shal’s image, Randidly just didn’t know enough.

He didn’t understand why Shal had changed his attitude. And that wasn’t his only reason for disappointment.

With a bitter expression, Randidly looked down at his Fatepiece. Worst of all, I’m left with more questions than answers. I might have received the Fatepiece, but the notification seems to hint that I need to research its usage on my own…

Hah… what a hassle.