As the remnant energies dissipated from the Nexus, Randidly led Claudette down to the camp of the Elite Squad. Talking helped him focus, even though his mind was racing. “For now, we wait. I suspect that these next two days will be relatively mild, while the Nexus Ways remain down. But after that…”

After that, what should I be doing? Randidly wondered.

“The fallout will be immense.” Claudette winced. “If it is discovered that you are associated with anyone who attempted the Path to the Pinnacle… well, Elhume might not move against you directly, but the orthodox factions will be only too happy to launch an inquisition to settle some old grudges with independent groups.”

“We will likely be busy,” Randidly mused aloud. The Elite Squad finally noticed their approach and Diortho Vant. Most of the rest continued to churn in a scrum of images and chaotic Skills as two large groups battled. About half were in this massive battle, while the other half were doing individual training methods.

Randidly could feel their flaring intensity; feeling all the Paths to the Pinnacle opening had clearly motivated the group. He felt a similar drive rising in his chest. I need to improve in a concrete way. Perhaps its time to look in on that invitation to the training camp...

“What next?” DiOrtho asked when he arrived next to them. The ram demon face rippled with barely contained aggression. His fighting spirit flared around him with a physical heat that wafted off of his body. Likely the sensation he received about all those individuals reaching for the Pinnacle was a fraction of what Randidly and Claudette could sense, but that green tinge that had briefly covered the universe was sign enough to light a fire in their chests.

If Randidly had felt it, Vant had definitely experienced that sense of minute helplessness, staring up at a universal phenomenon. They were still so small, even after improving so much.

“Next we wait for a few days,” Randidly responded, although he wanted so much to offer some small comfort to DiOrtho. To tell his subordinate that he had definitely improved a lot since he joined the Elite Squad and it wasn’t his fault that Randidly continued to drag them into conflicts with even more overwhelming foes. But Randidly couldn’t, for whatever reason, offer that comfort. He found himself shrugging. “Until the Nexus Ways come back up, we continue to pursue the Pinnacle Seekers who conspired with the Nether King. But since all the leads have dried up, we will remain here.”

“That’s still our mission eve after that green light…?” The ram demon gestured. Randidly sighed and nodded.

There was a long moment of silence, cut only by the clashing of images in the training occurring below. Vant seemed unwilling to accept the inactivity, but he also didn’t say anything else. Finally, Claudette leaned forward and peered down at one particular individual struggling against his sparring partner. She pointed. “How is he doing?”

Randidly and Vant glanced downward, their eyes eventually settling on the very much overmatched D’Min, barely able to keep a grip on his javelin as he tried to block his opponent’s attacks. Vant grimaced. “Well… he’s definitely improving quickly. But Head Drill Sergeant, I have to ask… were we that weak when we started training with you? That bastard is absolutely pathetic.”

A ghost of a smile danced across Randidly’s face. D’min’s scales were shattered and his ambiguous image was repeatedly smashed to pieces by the efficient actions of Benjamin Rex, who was handling his new training. When the Lizakh warrior asked to be trained, Randidly knew of no one better to handle that than those who received the teachings of Helen.

Especially if D’min wanted results quickly.

His smile faded somewhat as he answered. “Well, no. You had a much higher starting point. Whether it is physical Stats, Skills, or images… D’min is weak. Incredibly so.”

Claudette flinched somewhat, but Randidly wouldn’t sugarcoat the truth. They had a strange bond and he suspected that D’min was pushing himself for the sake of closing the distance between him and Claudette. But reality was cruel. Even Randidly had required years of training to grow from struggling on Expira to being a force within the Nexus.

“So, three days,” Vant said again. The object of his gaze changed and he snorted. “Ballast won’t be happy. He’s already driving himself insane with the training regimen. Seeing his brother really got to him.”

“Then let’s distract him,” Randidly grunted. He turned and nodded to Claudette. “He might be a good sparring partner for you. His image is nowhere near powerful enough to rival yours, but its particular applications will make him a worthy foe.”

“Hmph, do I look like I need a confidence boost? Sparring against you suits me just fine,” Claudette sniffed. “Clashing against easy foes will benefit him much more than it will help me.”

Randidly’s mouth twitched. You say that, but you are already flying over to fight against him…

*****

Lady Iellaya stood at attention next to Jeroac Stom, Commandant Wick’s other direct subordinate, and waited for the Commandant to finish his brooding. The air in the office was tense. The Commandant’s furry face was curled into a grimace. Subtle emotional reverberations spread out from him as his mind carefully sifted through their possible next moves.

For the past three days, they had been in a process of frantic damage control. Lady Iellaya learned that Wick and several other Commandants had supported a particular individual in refining their image and reaching the Speculum tier. They had finished right before the mad dash for the Pinnacle, which allowed this figure to be one of the second wave to try and open the door. Due to good luck, this individual was far from Elhume’s warpath and had managed to step through the door onto the Path to the Pinnacle.

However, in the aftermath, these Commandants realized that this individual they boosted had been one of only two individuals from the Orthodox factions that had defied Elhume’s orders not to make any attempts on the Pinnacle. The other being an old and isolated Military High Command Speculum that most believed to have died in seclusion. So they had desperately tried to smooth things over with the other half of Military High Command and prepare for the inevitable response from the Nexus Labor Council.

This move would completely destroy all the momentum that Military High Command had gathered due to the actions of the Swacc Family.

However, none of their worst fears came to pass. The Nexus Ways were restored this morning without any grand condemnation. For a few hours, they still prepared for political or even martial conflict. Because honestly, they couldn’t imagine that no one had noticed. But what they eventually received was not an attack, but news.

Lathis N’Gick had died, days before anyone attempted to make it to the Pinnacle. Without him at its head, the Nether Lattice had collapsed and several of his students were now fighting for control over the scraps. If anything the state of their orthodox rival was worse than their own.

While Commandant Wick had been solemnly staring at the messenger, as though hoping that concentrated attention would unravel the news, another messenger burst through the door and stumbled to a stop. More headlines flowed in from the suspended machine of the Nexus.

A Heretic was active in the core portion of the Nexus. Hundreds of bodies were discovered with their energy sucked out of them, just laying slumped in their homes. In addition, an extremely active planet in the Sixth Cohort had taken advantage of the situation and butchered several other planets, seizing the nearby Aether pump and monopolizing it for themselves. Due to those actions, millions of people on other planets in the area were now falling into Aether Sickness comas.

In fact, the more they investigated, the more is seemed like there was no place in the Nexus that hadn’t been wracked by violence during the downtime of the Nexus Ways. There had been riots and racially motivated terrorist attacks. Some smaller factions had apparently fought each other in the streets, leaving the bodies for today, where they were found and carted away by the Military High Command patrols. Several financial institutions had been attacked and robbed.

The veneer of civilization is so thin these days, Lady Iellaya reflected. Her heart burned with a desire to abandon this post and focus on her own training, but she suppressed that desire. Currently, she still needed to be here, embedded in the military. And they don’t care, none of these people do. The messes will get cleaned up with violence and crackdowns, problem solved. Even with the death of a pivotal figure like N’Gick, they only think about their own benefits. And avoiding the consequences of their actions.

Commandant Wick finally raised his head. “...we must still make preparations to fight. If the Engraving Guild was going to try and apply pressure and lower the influence of Military High Command… The rest of the NLC will eventually get around to it, but they will want to deal with their own problems first. In the meantime, the other factions in the military will come at us with knives.

“Recall all our forces and have them gather on standby. Perhaps Commandant Keckle will be able to convince the other Commandants to wait, but the other side has the right of it. Of course, listening to that damn purple witch came back to bite us-”

Lady Iellaya grimaced, but then opened her mouth. “Commandant, there is one thing I wish to report. When communication was established, Randidly Ghosthound reached out and informed me that he intended to take advantage of an invitation to a training session by the creator of the Grand Pattern. Should I inform him that he should not attend?”

“Of course, did you not hear the Commandant’s order?” Jeroac grumbled. The bearman was a notorious ass-kisser to his kin and took any opportunity to put her down. Lady Iellaya ignored him and kept her eyes on the Commandant, gauging his reaction.

But what she wasn’t prepared for was for the Commandant to start laughing. He pushed his chair back from the desk and leaned back, his large shoulder bobbing up and down. Only when his guffaws had run their course and shifted into chortled did he pull himself forward and fold his hands in front of him. “Heh… this Ghosthound has quite the sense of timing, doesn’t he? That old bastard on his weird mountain… he might claim that he’s independent, but if there is internal fighting at Military High Command, he will be the one pushing for it.”

For a brief second, Lady Iellaya saw something like genuine hesitation on the Commandant’s face. But then his expression firmed back to the familiar look of implacable resolve. “At the same time as this vulnerability by our faction, I send a talented subordinate to participate in some of his Grand Pattern nonsense? Heh. I’m certain it will give that old man pause. If only because he cannot understand why I would do so. Heheh. Yes, the Ghosthound is ordered to do his best while attending this training camp. Even if he still needs more education in proper manners, his ability to escape certain death is truly admirable.”

Lady Iellaya bowed her head slowly. She sent a message to Randidly saying that he was free to attend the training session, leaving out the portion about being ordered to do his best. Then she responded to the other half of Randidly’s message.

When I finally have some free time, I’ll provide what information I know about the Path to the Pinnacle. Also, don’t worry about the passage of time. Although the time dilation there isn’t strong, I know the Grand Pattern Mountain experiences about two days for everyone in the Nexus.

Be ready. The chaos has the big groups moving cautiously, but that will end soon. And when the fighting begins, I have no doubt that you will be targeted.