The Nether King had earned Randidly’s ire, and for that it would bleed.

Screaming in pain, the dragon instinctually twisted away from his aggressor. A furious, seething part of Randidly demanded additional compensation beyond the eyes, but he managed to suppress his wild fury. Instead, he turned away and focused on Sulfur. As soon as his senses settled across the Soulseed, a notification popped up in front of him.

Warning! Soulseed Sulfur has experienced extreme damage! Warning! His core areas are being threatened! However, due to the nature of Sulfur, an incredible amount of energy has been absorbed. Due to the accumulation of previous energy and the recent additions, Sulfur has begun the evolution process!

Recalculating…

Warning! Please do not allow any outside source to interfere with the evolution process. All extraneous influences should be prevented. Soulseed Sulfur is attempting to incorporate aspects of Authority: Wither into its body. The balance is extremely delicate.

Randidly snorted before he could suppress the flood of amused relief he felt. Wordlessly, he shook his head. In front of him, the sharpened ridges of Sulfurs armors began to grow soft, almost like they were melting due to the confrontation. “You’ve learned by watching me for too long, haven’t you? Evolving and growing in the middle of a battle like this… there are easier and more reliable ways. Paths that won’t end with you dead, almost 90% of the time.”

Sulfur didn’t answer, locked in its private struggle. Strange fluids dripped away from its curled-up body, a testament to the continued corrosion of the Witherball. Occasionally pieces of the semi-solid Soulseed inflated rapidly due to the chaotic combination of energy, but they gradually slowed their expansion and even more slowly contracted back to normal. Randidly also noticed that there were three sharp spikes stretching out from the arm that didn’t grow soft, suffused with a green-brown light.

Even during the transformation, some aspects remained the same. Yet his relief felt short-lived as the implications of one of the notifications hit him.

All extraneous influences should be prevented.

Hissing, Randidly spun around. A wave of force from Bleak Sky and Cerulean’s confrontation rushed toward his position. Not enough time had passed for the skyisland to move out of the line of fire either. So an increasingly incensed Randidly gathered the storm of force he had absently created and forged a blade of concentrated energy. He smashed the attack against the reverberation and was surprised to find he gave a little bit of ground before the force dispersed. All of his accumulation dissipated, spent to protect his charges.

More than the lost energy, Randidly felt drained as he looked out toward the battlefield. His torso ached; even if the wither had been removed, he hadn’t quite healed all the way from enduring the Authority. Meanwhile, Sulfur continued its strange bulging and deflation as it proceeded through its evolution. He positioned it almost directly behind him, so his body would soak up most of the aftershocks from the battle.

With the pressure of the Nether Ritual looming over the whole situation, Randidly glanced over at the clash in front of Malloon. The ground had been blasted with waves of images and Nether, leaving the surviving ground looking vaguely irradiated. The two fighters flickered back and forth, both moving at speeds that broke through the sound barrier and crackled the brutalized ground around them.

However, Randidly widened his eyes as he observed Cerulean’s movements. The raptor construct fell slightly short of the speed that Nether King Bleak Sky could utilize in his harsh movements, but the aura and style of attack kept changing. Usually he maintained his fierce, predatory style. But occasionally he flipped a switched and produced a violet spear. He only used it to chase and thrust, but his speed and piercing power kept catching Bleak Sky flatfooted.

Then, before the Nether King could heal, Cerulean utilized a strange world-state ability that healed his foe. Despite the Domain, Cerulean’s image moved with relative ease; it was a slippery, oozing thing. But after witnessing the ability a few times, Randidly could tell it subtly altered the world to make it easier for those wounds to recur.

Bleak Sky didn’t flinch, even against those strikes which now should shatter him more easily and the varied fighting styles. He adapted to the alternate fighting methods and used his powerful body and heavy Domain to maintain a superior position. His blows hammered the air with each strike, forcing Randidly to utilize some power to protect Sulfur. Yet anytime the Nether King started to accumulate too much momentum, Cerulean would switch again and open up some space. A vicious, hungry Engraving would form on the ground and he would drain energy from the surrounding in a manner reminiscent of Randidly’s the World Tree Sips from Every Realm.

But this was a much more violent taking, one that damaged the environment. Had not Hungry Eye’s Desolate Horizon Domain remained so omnipresent, the energy absorption technique would likely have stretched its greedy fingers further outward and suffocated children and the elderly living within Malloon. It was only due to the same long shadow of the Engraving that Sulfur remained unaffected.

Its those distortions behind him. Cerulean can somehow draw out the power of those stored within. His skin tingled. The dark significance he could glimpse through those distortions hinted at the horrifying way they had been earned. What a monster.

Randidly glanced back toward the Nether Ritual. His skyisland was finally far enough away he at least didn’t need to worry about the Nether Kings moving and striking it down. And despite the fact that the emerald dragon crashed against the ground after being heavily wounded by Randidly, no other foes flew out to challenge him.

He drew a deep breath in through his nose, tasting the currents of Nether. With the kinetic energy he had gathered over the last thirty seconds, he generated a shield to screen Sulfur. Then he raised his gaze and simply studied the rising Nether Ritual for almost ten uninterrupted seconds. Neveah could utilize the edges of his awareness to discover some things about the working, but Randidly had created his Nether Core with his own hands. He had worked steadily, increasing his understanding and discovering his Authorities. Before his eyes, everything could be separated into the base energy blocks. From structure, he could reveal truth. He witnessed the ritual and stripped away all the ancillary pieces.

Congratulations! Your Skill Infinite Incendiary Filaments of the Dove Moirae (P)(U) has grown to Level 1102!

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 983!

His eyes began to glow. The deeper he attempted to pierce into the ritual, the more extra aspects he encountered. Ways the Nether Kings intended to disperse the energy and stabilize the connection for the few moments required for Pine’s power to touch down on the area and annihilate everything. While important, those weren’t the key aspects Randidly required. His heart pumped faster and faster, his brain rapidly heating as it categorized the swirling currents of Nether and pushed them to the side.

Before a rising Nether King, a Nether Ritual could only hide its secrets for so long.

Congratulations! Your Skill Yearnings of a Nether Heir (P) has grown to Level 988!

With a gasp, he came back to himself. He had a pounding headache and he had evaporated most of the water vapor in his skin from an overheated brain. Yet he shook himself and smiled, finally understanding the core of the Nether Ritual.

As the details fell into place, he began to have an idea of how this could be handled.

Yet Randidly could only grimace as he glanced between the swirling Nether Ritual and the confrontation in front of Malloon. It’s one thing to understand the Nether Ritual, it’s another entirely to know how to proceed. I think I see a way to break the Nether Ritual cleanly, but I won’t be able to do it through three Nether King’s defenses. If I want a chance to strike, I’ll need a convenient distraction.

…maybe someone massive, arrogant, and covered in blue flames, for example…

Humming to himself, Randidly applied his will to the movement of the Skyisland. He reached out and gently dragged Sulfur along with him, intending to watch over his companion carefully until the evolution had finished. Then he drifted away from the fallen Nether King dragon, in case it felt like seeking vengeance.

Below, for the first time in the confrontation between Bleak Sky and Cerulean, Cerulean’s third distortion began to stir.

****

“Prepare to move,” Westrisser announced, his arms tight behind his back. His gaze didn’t waver from the fighting that would determine the fate of his city.

Grettic raised a bald eyebrow. “What, you want me to help? I told you, not my sort of fight at all. I’m a supporter, a supporter! And this Domain-”

“I have some theories about what sort of… being was hunted for Cerulean to form his third trophy,” Westrisser felt a deep sense of fear due to his theory, but it also made a great deal of sense, considering Cerulean’s strict intensity. “He will soon make his move. Based on my calculations, he will seize the initiative. I just want you to be prepared for when that occurs, so you can move out and begin the assault on the other Nether Kings.”

Grettic spat again, her saliva sizzling against the barrier. But she stepped down off the wall and headed to the gate, following his orders. His daughter remained silently at his side. Finally, the girl had learned the proper sort of manners.

Westrisser almost felt proud.

Outside the barrier, Cerulean lashed out with a powerful leg. Bleak Sky managed to deflect the blow upward, but the raptor construct simply spun and slammed his other heel against his enemy’s chest. And as he did so, the third distortion behind him began to ripple.

Bleak Sky shrieked, releasing a powerful pulse of Nether in response. The grey flames around his body spread to form a barrier around his body. His eyes sharpened; he had learned how dangerous those distortions in the air were. Yet despite his preparations, he couldn’t expect that a raptor construct would rip through his Nether barrier from behind and shove his long claws through his torso. His broken flesh parted as the tips pierced through to the other side.

When he gasped, blood dribbled out of Bleak Sky’s beak. His eyes were filled with a lack of understanding as he felt Cerulean’s claws in his chest cavity… and also looked at Fatia Cerulean, standing about four meters in front of him while also being the one skewering him. The Nether King’s expression twisted with disgust. “These trophies… you gain them by hunting and absorbing your foes. So why is your third trophy yourself?”