Mae scrunched up her face, focusing on the form of Nether King Hungry Eye and the churning maelstrom of power around him. The man seemed to blaze with the energies of Nether Weight and emotional affect, creating genuine distortions in space with his intensity. Her instincts, usually so direct and accurate about the goodness of people, now fed her conflicting information.

In his core, a monster howled. Yet a kind heart within him bled fat drops of regret.

It was almost like she saw two people within his body, fighting for dominance. Each’s influence waxed and waned with the fickle waves of force coming off of his body. One moment he burned with domineering arrogance, looking down across the assembled Patrons with an obvious sneer. The next his eyes were clear and furious but filled with righteousness… and a wisp of helpless fear.

But considering the vicious strike the Nether King had used on Elhume-

While Mae struggled to figure out the conflicting impressions, the other Patrons began to gather closer with stormy expressions. Their grips tightened on their weapons. The amorphous Patron of the Void, especially, burned with a vindictive image. It looked at Mae in askance, waiting for her judgment. If she signaled, all would attack before Elhume suffered further damage.

She hesitated. She teetered back and forth. Her instincts had never failed to give her an unerring answer. Her particular image involved a world projection of absolute justice. So to have it waffle, the implications-

“Ha!”

Elhume struggled to his feet, his from half covered in blood. His eyes flicked to his Patrons. To Mae’s surprise, his eyes were filled with irritation and disappointment. “What the hell are you doing? Pull back your images and step aside. We are in the middle of a spar.”

The Patron of the Sun stepped forward with a frown. “Perhaps it started as a spar, but his previous attack was obviously designed with deadly intent.”

“He warned me,” Elhume growled. After spitting blood out to the side, he raised his hand to the wound in his shoulder that steadily wept blood. Light flared around his hand and he cauterized the wound closed. Elhume’s eyes went back to the Nether King, a wild expression of excitement in his eyes. This was the happiest Mae had seen him in a long, long time. “He told me to come with everything, right from the start. I didn’t listen… because no matter what they’ve always said, the powerful individuals I’ve sparred with in the past held back. They feared others knowing their capability… of engaging in a spar with a relative unknown like me and losing. I had assumed you were the same, but you have no fear of that at all, do you Nether King Hungry Eye?”

The bonfire of emotion and grey flames continued to billow out around the Nether King. Silence became almost an armor, crusted around the edge of his display of power.

Chuckling, Elhume rolled his shoulders. “No. You meant what you said. A loss to you means nothing. I can see the resolve in your eyes, the same I possess. If you lose now, next time- heheh. Apologies. It’s been a while… since I’ve been this fucking pumped for a fight. Ready yourself.”

Mae’s senses had begun to settle back toward firmly believing that perhaps it was just his abundant Nether that interfered with her image’s characterization of him. Over the past few seconds, it settled firmly toward righteousness. Yet as Elhume spoke, suddenly that domineering arrogance flared back to life. She watched the Nether King’s eyes narrow to slits.

What the hell is going on…?

*****

A low tremor ran through the memory around Randidly. His attention was split almost completely in half, with one half concerned with making sure he didn’t let his rage swell to the point it ripped its way out of the memory entirely. It really would, if he let the flames in his chest run unchecked. His Nether Core continued to rev, stabilizing the environment around him as best it could, but his emotional force remained overwhelming. Only utilizing about half of the emotional sea pushed him to the limit of maintaining the space and keeping his senses reliable.

Even with the unique environment currently around him.

So begrudgingly, he stopped at that limit. He had a quick insight into the energies after his first strike, the way to split the two energies into aspects that didn’t damage the memory. Aether possessed shape and emotion while Nether exited within connections and significance. Yet what really strained the memory was the structured aspects of the energy: shape and connections.

Burning emotion and significance around him allowed him to unleash almost his full power, uncontrolled and undirected of course, but at a much higher rate. And because that energy just erupted constantly from his body outwards, he couldn’t even make any effective patterns. He became a tireless engine, releasing waves of raw power that pushed at Elhume and prevented him from utilizing his own image.

Considering the raw physicality Randidly’s body possessed and not wanting to interfere too much in the memory, he figured this would be the best way to satisfy himself with a few more pounding hits on this undeveloped Elhume.

Meanwhile, the other half of his attention fixated on the sudden storm of Nether around him, shifting into chaotic and oddly compelling organic patterns. Likely without the distraction of the Nether accumulation, he wouldn’t have such tight control of his temper.

Because the inflection point building within the memory… was this duel between himself and Elhume. Specifically, he saw all the Nether funneling down around Elhume and Mae Myrna, small whirlpools of connections which guided them toward certain specific epiphanies.

Randidly folded his Nether perspective over and over again, trying to glimpse the cause. Him being a critical component in the inflection point was impossible. He could only observe, as he had done at the meeting with the Cult of the Savior.

Until it occurred to him that perhaps the dream didn’t want to be derailed, despite his continued presence. His eyes widened in recognition. This theory explained some of the messy bridges in significance, even as the broader flow remained clean. So he was a stand-in for another moment. He took a deep breath through his nose, trying to follow the threads of meaning-

“...It’s been a while… since I’ve been this fucking pumped for a fight. Ready yourself.”

The anger surged back to the forefront of his mind. Nether Weight and emotional affect fed each other into a conflagration of spite. Like a spinning top about to run out of momentum, the memory shuddered and twitched underneath the added weight. His Nether Core revved, but his fury gathered steam despite the warning signs.

Why… why the hell are you so much like her? You-

Elhume launched himself forward again. This time, a powerful image aura gathered around his body. Randidly felt the very specific focus of his power; truly, he relied on a thrown single fist. One attack at a time. He felt the natural affinity for violence within this foe, the trained body, the accumulated Stats. Randidly guessed Elhume possessed almost 90% of the Stats he possessed, at least in the physical categories. He was no slouch, even with the environment scorched by Randidly’s wild rage and Nether Weight.

But he was not yet the monster he would become. He focused on that fact, doubling down on his ruthless and slightly unreasonable desire to crush this man. His sins would soon start to accumulate.

Randidly had done a little research and noticed one element not yet present in the current Cohort were Dungeons. The isolated spaces, where worlds were deemed unfit were sent to rot and be utilized by others, greatly benefiting the System. Yet the people within were nothing but livestock in the System’s eyes.

Randidly burned, as much from his own sins as from the resemblance to Helen. The heat running through him made it difficult to remain unbiased. This is the System you will soon create, Elhume. You… for all those people you found wanting and damned, experience the long fingers of a tyrant. The First Authority, Seize.

Raising his left hand, Randidly tightened his fingers into a fist. The memory screeched in protest. His Nether Core groaned. Visible cracks emerged in Randidly’s awareness, but only outside of the barrier the Patrons had created. Within, the inflection point acted as an anchor, keeping the immediate area from rupturing. The growing whirlpools around Elhume and Mae Myrna stabilized them.

Randidly showed his teeth. With his Seize, he squeezed with as much force as he could bring to bear. The cauterized wound on his shoulder popped back open. Good to know I have a bit more leeway with power during inflection points.

Then almost all reasonable thoughts were lost in the pounce at the frozen Elhume.

The absolute power of Seize, fueled by the emotional affect with which Randidly blazed, had literally stopped Elhume dead, midcharge. He watched Randidly approach, his eyes bulging as he hung in the air without the ability to move. He was a dead fish, hanging off the end of a hook. Only at the last moment did the fist aura flare around him and he shatter the Seize.

Just as Randidly whipped a leg around and smashed it into his midsection; he couldn’t dodge in time. The force of the collisions smote the surrounding ground, kicking up shattered stones and dust.

Once again, Elhume skidded backward across the ground, unable to find purchase. Randidly landed on the balls of his feet and took another breath through his nose. Each breath gathered him more information about the strange superposition of this moment with the original memory, but right now he had other concerns.

Smashing around Elhume was way too much fun.

This time, Elhume had barely made it to his feet before Randidly unleashed another attack. He didn’t even bother to draw Acri, simply stabbing his hand toward Elhume’s chest. His opponent’s fist-based image solidified much more quickly, finally catching up to this desperate sort of spar. The power of his body tightened and multiplied in a defensive barrier to stop the rampaging Nether King in front of him.

Randidly Ghosthound sheered right through that physical power, knocking Elhume’s block to the side and aiming for his opponent’s throat. Yet at the last second, his gaze flickered. Randidly moved so quickly the ground shattered and he left after images in his wake. Elhume had chosen to take the trade to even his throat, aiming for a hook on Randidly’s ribs in exchange.

Tch, bastard at least knows how to use his body.

Scowling, he reappeared behind Elhume and thrust a palm to crack his lower spine. But despite the bonfire of Nether Weight Randidly radiated, Elhume’s image was stubbornly beginning to manifest itself. The more room it had to breathe, the more his power could manifest, despite the constant pressure of Randidly’s emotional gale.

With a sharp twist, Elhume pivoted and lowered his stance. His arm swung and met Randidly’s palm. The forearm shattered, but the blow was deflected. Randidly gritted his teeth and attacked again, even as surprise and relish flickered in Elhume’s expression. A little bit more, the fist image spread across Elhume’s skin.

Before Randidly could strike again, Elhume brought his elbows to his sides, fists out. A pulse of pure force pressed him backward; the Skill was extremely limited in scope but released an almost absolute pressure within a meter.

Taking advantage of the extra space, Elhume made the preparations for a move in such a clean and practiced manner, it almost appeared to have been done in slow motion. His fingers, one by one, clenched into a fist. All his image power rushed around his hand until it burned with coppery flames.

Elhume pivoted and punched. Randidly caught the attack with Sulfur. A pulse of force blasted out from their position, long cracks in the ground ripping themselves open across the entire isolated area. The barrier flickered and almost collapsed. Only the yelping efforts of some of the Patrons managed to stabilize.

Sulfur cooed in pleasure. Both fighters narrowed their eyes and blurred into motion.

Randidly shattered Elhume’s jaw with a backhand blow but took a punch to the rib, the first attack that had landed on him.

When Elhume hopped back to his feet, a wide grin stretched across his face.