There is a problem with buying one of the planets you requested, Claudette said by message.

Randidly allowed the Mana to fade from his fingers and moved away from the warehouse Engraving he had been adjusting. Even though he and Helen had installed a ventilation system, he still walked out of the underground bunker as he frowned at the message. His eyes were heavy as he considered how to respond. He had guessed this would be the case… but Randidly was rather desperate to buy this particular planet.

I don’t know if you have heard, but another ‘terrorist' attack occurred at a Swacc Family base last night. The other forces of the Nexus are moving in earnest against them now that public opinion has turned against them. Therefore… the Swacc Family is in no state to field any offers for the planet of Tellus.

Randidly’s emerald eyes burned. He pictured the broken expression that he had seen in the Fifth Cohort on Shal’s face. Randidly wasn’t sure if it would be enough, but he wanted to remove one restriction the Swacc Family had over his teacher. Hopefully, that would be enough… to get him out from under the Swacc Family’s thumb.

Of course, the reasonable part of Randidly pictured Shal’s expression and knew that it wouldn’t be so simple. But right now, Randidly Ghosthound didn’t want to be serious. He wanted to repay Shal for all of the things his teacher had done for him. He wanted to help as best as he could.

He owed Shal that much.

Besides, Tellus was admittedly important to Randidly for other reasons. A large portion of the Grim Chimera was birthed from the Spear Phantom, which originated on Tellus. It was on Tellus that Randidly’s image began to solidify and obtain its current vibe. For this long-awaited evolution to push the Rarity of the Grim Chimera Skillset upward… Tellus was significant.

Randidly flexed his hands as he looked at the message one more time. His skin tingled as a plan began to form. One of the reasons that Randidly had asked Claudette’s help with this planet, in particular, was that the Swacc Family was screening it from him his sense, somehow. And since his Philosopher’s Key was blocked, Randidly was rather helpless; he didn’t know the Nexus well enough to search for Tellus.

But if the Swacc Family was distracted by other matters…

Randidly huffed out a breath and sent a message back to Claudette. Can you find out where the planet is located?

Her response surprised Randidly. Yes. But I’m coming with you.

*****

Claudette bit her lip as the two of them floated in space. “It’s probably a trap, you know. There was a large explosion at one of the Swacc Family critical bases… but my father’s intelligence says that nothing vital was truly damaged by the blast. It is extremely likely that the Swacc Family exposed a bit of weakness purposefully, to draw out the small fries that want to profit. They will crush any attempts people make to take advantage of them and then negotiate directly with the Engraving Guild and Military High Command.”

There was something… strange about the current Randidly Ghosthound. His eyes were unnaturally luminous in the darkness of space as he peered down through the planet’s atmosphere at the surface. Already Nether was flowing out of his body and filling the surroundings, which set off warning alarms for all of Claudette’s instincts.

The volume of energy he was mobilizing made her scalp tingle.

It had been extremely difficult for her to sneak outside of the Beigon Estate to meet him, but she managed it. Of course, a part of her acknowledged that her father likely let her go purposefully… he was willing to play into the growing rumors of a romance between the flower of Beigon and the ascendant young Head Drill Sergeant. But even with the threat of the Swacc Family and her father’s observation, she had still come.

Because she was worried. Because it felt like she was suffocating to remain in her room every day. And she couldn’t decide whether she wanted the man in front of her to stoke the flames of hope or smother them.

Yet now, looking at all the Nether he could handle at once… The feeling that had convinced her to ask Randidly for his assistance had returned. Even through the depths of numbness that surrounded her, Claudette felt it again as she looked at the expression on the Ghosthound’s face: this man, impossible as though it may seem, could help the observer change her fate.

Perhaps… I’m reading too much into it, Claudette told her pounding heart. That expression… the Nether… perhaps he is just… excited to have another world’s population to toy with…

Yet her ‘insights’ into the dark truth of Randidly Ghosthound suddenly rang hollow. That genuine earnestness he displayed... Small ripples of uncertainty surrounded the observer that sat at the bottom of Don Beigon’s shadow.

“Even if that’s true…” Randidly said slowly. “I suspect we are small fries even amongst the small fries of the Nexus. From what I understand, the Swacc Family does not have any special regard for a single planet. And I have it on good authority that several groups are moving to the Swacc base world. Their powerful soldiers will head there to defend against raids.”

Claudette blinked. How does he know that…? Does he really have access to the information of Military High Command…?

But if Military High Command is supporting him, why...

Claudette shook herself and released a pulse of creeping chill. The reassuring stillness of cold helped her center herself. Then she cleared her throat. “...well anyway. Before you… begin to do whatever you came here to do, I have something to ask you: Why the hell do you want to take me to the Imperium Ball?”

Randidly’s blank look was all the answer that Claudette needed. Clicking her tongue inwardly, she produced a copy of the invitation that had been plastered all over all three entrances to the Beigon Estate yesterday, assuring that there would be no way for her father to sweep the invitation under the rug.

Dearest Claudette,

Your face fills my every waking moment. The smallest of your gestures sends reverberations to the core of my being. Every moment without you feels like an eternity. To that end, I implore you to join me at this year's Imperium Ball. Without your beauty, what a hollow event it shall be!

Yours always,

Randidly Ghosthound

Randidly’s eyes bulged. Then he began to laugh and shake his head in disbelief. “That fucking asshole…!”

“I figured you weren’t responsible for this… but we will need to consider how we proceed carefully,” Claudette said. “The Imperium Ball… is the most important non-violent event on Military High Command’s calendar. You might not know this, but it is profoundly irregular to invite someone who is not in the Military to the ball. There are apparently… quite a few secrets at the ball best not observed by outsiders. Essentially, the fact that ‘you’ sent this to me is an affront to both my father and Military High Command.”

“I figured it was something like that…” The Ghosthound barred his teeth, but then his gaze turned back to the planet. The emotions passed and he remained unaffected by this new wrench thrown at him. “However, that problem can wait. For now… I need to prepare.”

Six more weeks until this man… shapes my image… Claudette fell silent, even as she felt the Nether around Randidly begin to move. But very quickly, her eyes widened and she felt a thin thread wrapping around the delicate flesh of her heart. Because the scale at which his Nether began to cover the surroundings could only be rivaled by the horrors that she had seen on the Fifth Cohort, from the Nether King.

That inky black energy he wielded wriggled its way outward, sinking into the atmosphere of the planet below, steadily flowing across the sky. Nether this carefully spun wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but Claudette could feel its movements constantly, dampening the movement of Aether on the planet of Tellus. The effect steadily spread until the entire world was wrapped in a net of Nether.

Randidly paused then, releasing a long breath. Sweat dripped down his face; it was obvious that this was not easy for him. Then he rolled his shoulders and raised his arms. His animated tail began to twist and tug, pulling at the creation that he had made.

Existence shuddered as Randidly’s Ghosthound energy began to tighten in a way she couldn’t quite understand.

Just as Claudette was about to shiver in disgust at the Aether starvation that Randidly might possibly, probably, subject all these people to, there was a more minor ripple in the surroundings. She spun around and discovered that two figures forced their way out through the Nexus Ways and now observed the floating Randidly and Claudette.

At first, she was afraid about the very public display of him utilizing Nether, but very quickly a new fear blasted away that minor threat.

“Well. Well, well,” Velio Dunn favored the two of them with a wide grin even as the Nether Array began to rumble. Tension increased between the planet and Randidly’s body. His tail was blurring into motion. “I woke up this morning and told myself it would be a good day… but who would have guessed that I would have been right?”

Randidly twisted slightly and glanced over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed, but the movements of his hands and tail didn’t falter. That same unflappable determination made his expression unreadable. He continued to activate the Nether Array… or, as Claudette quickly recognized, he didn’t dare stop.

“I’ll send in the report-” The second figure said, but even as he finished speaking, the glowing sword of Velio Dunn sheered the man in half. In the next instant, a wave of burning cobalt fire blasted outward and devoured his flesh and clothing. One second there were two, the next there were four, and the following they were back down to three.

“Tsk, send in a report? What a waste.” Velio Dunn licked his lips. His dark eyes glowed.

Claudette marshaled her frigid image of the true sword sticking out of ice, but Velio looked at her and just laughed. The muscles of his arms bulged as he put his hands back on his hips; she hadn’t even seen him re-sheath his sword. “Relax, relax. I can see Mr. Ghosthound is otherwise engaged… and as an elder, it would be shameful of me to strike at him while he is distracted. So I’ll wait to start our duel… until when he has finished his little experiment.”

Probably exactly when he finishes. Claudette’s heart was pounding. She attempted to send a message to both the Frost Matriarch and her father, but from the way Velio Dunn’s smile widened, she knew that he was skilled enough with the Nether Ways to prevent messages from leaving in a localized area.

“And I know what you are thinking, ya fucking cockroach,” Velio Dunn said with remarkable cheer as he looked at Randidly Ghosthound. Velio looked Randidly up and down, as though admiring a racehorse. “As soon as you can, you will try to withstand an attack and then try and flee. But how about this? If you don’t immediately agree to try your best without retreating for a half-hour against me... I’ll immediately kill this cute girl. I’ve always wanted to find out how sharp the Don’s teeth were, anyway.”

“You-” Claudette gasped. Very few people dared make such flippant threats against her. If Velio Dunn thought that the Swacc Family could insulate him from her father-

She was even more surprised when Randidly spoke up in a rough voice. “Five minutes.”

Velio chuckled. He took his hands off his hips and began to roll his shoulders. “Ten.”

“Deal,” Randidly hissed through bared teeth. Then he turned his glowing emerald eyes and focused on whatever task he was doing with his Nether. The tension increased. The fabric of space in the surroundings shuddered.