Randidly woke up hours later after he finally got the chance to rest, staring up at the blank ceiling of his new personal tent. With a great sigh of release, he sat upward and rubbed his eyes.

Nice change of pace when I’m not woken up by Abiodun demanding that I run somewhere and solve some problem… Randidly thought as he yawned widely. His fingers flexed as the small craving for some more of that tangy orange juice hit him. I wonder if Vualla has any more. From her expression, it didn’t seem like it, but maybe-

Then Randidly froze as his more well-rested brain abrupt reviewed the way Vualla’s face tightened as he had happily guzzled the orange juice in front of her. The slight strain at the edges of her smile as he had handed back the empty glass flask that had once been filled with her favorite orange juice floated in front of his vision.

Did she… wait for me to try some of the juice… and I drank all of it right in front of her…?

Randidly rolled over and pressed his face into the ground. Then he lifted his head and banged it several times against the orange stone. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that his Stats made him more damaging to the ground than it was to him.

When, several minutes later, Randidly was able to straighten again with a certain amount of resolve, he wondered how he should apologize. But some part of him knew that rushing over to see her immediately wasn’t the answer. Even he could sense that. Especially after the Nether Ritual between them burned with such fiery intensity immediately afterward.

So Randidly forced himself to relax as he lay on the ground of his dark tent. Ultimately it was… dumb of me to do it. But it’s a small thing in the grand scheme of the war. Better to focus on… other matters. But also, to make sure that it won’t happen again…

Randidly smashed his head against the ground one more time. The ground cracked with a very satisfying noise.

As some of the sear of the embarrassment faded, Randidly’s mind turned more… long term issues. Because although he had been somewhat insensible during the past several hours in order to recover from the mental strain of prolonged extreme exertion, some parts of him continued to tirelessly prepare for his opportunity to condense a Fate.

Specifically, Ignition Essence had slowly been absorbing an increasing amount of memories from the hiltless blade while the rest of Randidly was at rest. Now that he had recovered his capability, it was time to examine those.

And as Randidly looked at his Status screen, he grimaced. And it’s a good thing that Ignition Essence was preparing for the condensation of the Fate. I tried to avoid gathering experience in that battle, but it was one of the things I couldn’t quite spend attention on toward the end. So now I’m 81% of the way toward Level 50… if another big battle or two happens, I cannot delay Leveling up much longer…

Pressing his eyes closed, Randidly cleared his mind and prepared to receive the information that he had slowly absorbed. As the memories from the Fate blade came, a broader picture of the original owner of the Fate came into focus. It started with the memories of the arms of two loving parents, who even as a child the owner was able to see were awesomely powerful.

There was a name, Illym, the girl who would one day produce the hitless blade.

There was a reflection of Illym in a mirror, perfectly duplicating the image of a young girl with soft brown hair and softer brown eyes. She sat in the darkness of one of her parents' palaces and stared listlessly at her own reflection.

There were the memories of Illym, admitting to herself as she twisted side to side to view herself from different angles that she could definitely be considered pretty, but nothing more than that. Her talent with images and martial arts was above average, but as the daughter of two of the most powerful people in the area… how could Illym not be a disappointment to her parents?

There was the heavy weight of that anxiety. That constant fear of disappointing her parents.

Only made worse because Illym was only one half of a pair.

There were memories of a gleaming, sparkling sister. One with golden hair and golden eyes who laughed like wind chimes and the whole world seemed to orbit. Her name was Radiance, and Illym loved her more than anything else in the world.

But the world did not love the sisters equally. Or at all.

There were long memories of Illym being confined to her bed, unable to move due to the violent shakes that were wracking her body. Her grey bedsheets became covered with sweat and snot and Illym wished she could cry but she could do nothing but endure and shake.

But those were still somewhat manageable because at least Illym felt like she could survive that. What she couldn’t survive were those other weeks were Radiance would collapse into a deep sleep, and wouldn’t wake for days at a time. The lack of her sister’s bright laughter left their home empty and dim. When her parents visited Illym, they were always so kind and warm, encouraging her to try her best.

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Yet when Radiance was sleeping, all that Illym saw in her parent’s eyes was a terrible loss.

There were the slumped shoulders of Illym and Radiance’s parents as an exceedingly old man from the Nexus walked up to the two girls, currently aged ten. Although the old man seemed incredibly frail and his gnarled wooden staff was his only pillar of support, he methodically lowered himself before the two girls. His eyes were brown just like Illym’s.

“Destiny has chosen you two,” The old man had whispered to the two girls. “It will not come tomorrow, or in a year… or maybe in ten. But someday… you will need to face it.

“You two only have one life, shared between the two of you, split between two bodies. Somehow… somehow you are a miracle of life that you both have survived to this point. But miracles do not have an easy Path forward. Likely to rid yourself of the sickness that afflicts both of you… one of you will have to die. Die so the other can benefit from the half of its life that is currently missing. Or someday, you will die together as two rotten halves of a whole.”

For a very long time after he emerged from the borrowed memories, Randidly stared upward at the same bland surface of the tent. The slight mental exhaustion made a rather unfortunate return to him, leaving him feeling drained.

Yet he could not avoid this issue. So Randidly rolled his shoulders and focused. Time trickled past as he reviewed the fractured memories several times. Sighing, he eventually pushed himself up into a sitting position and cracked his shoulders. This world… so many small tragedies played out on a grand stage. And when those small tragedies afflict those with power… they are magnified into something extremely dangerous and tragic.

Randidly shook himself and stood, instead turning his attention toward his other foci for his Fate. But the lingering feeling of those undeniable, demanding shakes that gripped Illym kept tugging at his attention. It was difficult to lose the echo of that helpless chill out of his mind.

“Ah… fuck me,” Randidly muttered. He flexed his hands so violently that his knuckles cracked. Acri slithered questioningly down his upper arm to present itself for use, perhaps recognizing the emotion contained in the harsh gesture. At first, Randidly shook his head, intent on continuing to focus upon his Fate, but then he hesitated as Acri rubbed his spearhead insistently against his forearm.

...one of you will have to die…

“Certainly a hard message for a child to hear. Probably harder still for the parents…” Randidly shrugged his shoulders and thought of the fiery repressed fury of Kalim, and the patient vision of Nadia, who he had encountered at the Fate Armory. And he thought about how both had ended up beaten down and broken by what had happened to their children.

...Although I haven’t seen the specifics of what happened… it seems pretty clear by the way they are now that they didn’t find a way around this destiny… Randidly thought sadly. His hand tightened on Acri. Because the truth of the matter was that even with the foggy memories of a child, Randidly had caught glimpses of the power of those two.

Yet they had not succeeded. They hadn’t been enough.

Some part of that failure haunted Randidly, indicating that if he continued, he too wouldn’t be sufficient to succeed at his grand mission to dismantle the villainy of the Nexus. If they couldn’t manage it… how could Randidly?

That seed of doubt continued to swim in the back of his mind, no matter how Randidly tried to push it away and focus on his upcoming Fate. Perhaps he would have continued to stand there, letting that doubt take root if Acri hadn’t hummed in frustration and inflicted a small cut on Randidly’s head.

His blood bubbled up crimson but filled with small gleaming emerald gems. And Randidly couldn’t help but laugh an let his chin fall to his chest. “You’re right. Even if I cannot accomplish now… even if they couldn’t accomplish it then… that doesn’t mean that will always be true. So for now… focus on what I can do.”

Instead of fighting with his insistent and probably correct weapon any longer, Randidly put his other hand on Acri and walked out of his tent. Like spring-loaded children’s toys, both Zauna and Salazar were thrown upward to their feet as Randidly walked out of the tent and appeared before them.

“D-d-d-do we h-have another m-m-mission?” Salazar squeaked. His scaly arms were wrapped around his torso, nursing the shallow remnants of a wound on the ribs he had sustained in the large scale Nether attack. Because their assistance around Randidly hadn’t been necessary, Randidly had ordered that they go assist with holding the line. Zauna had managed it alright, but Salazar…

The tragedy is he is probably the more powerful of the two, Randidly thought tiredly as he looked at his wounded subordinate. But his fear… he carries it with him constantly. Unless he can find a way to manage it…

“Not yet,” Randidly finally said. Then he forced some cheer into his expression as he smiled at both of them. “But if either of you is interested in a spar… I was about to go train.”

“I-I’m okay.” Salazar raised his hands and gestured frantically to push Randidly away. Then he snake man returned to his seat, his gaze fixed on the dusty and cracked ground. Randidly’s gaze lingered on the man for several seconds, torn between going with his planned training to clear his mind and trying to do something about Salazar’s funk.

...but the honest truth is that, right now, I might be just as frazzled as he is. Randidly thought as the smile faded from his face. The truth of Nadia and Kalim’s failure still tainted his outlook. Then Randidly clenched his jaw. And this… is definitely an area in which I am extremely weak. I know how to lead by example… but to directly cheer up a subordinate… ah damn, it sucks to think that Donny is probably a better leader in that manner than I am…

Randidly shook his head. But isn’t that why I left Donnyton to him…?

“...I’ll do it…”

Randidly blinked and turned to find Zauna looking at him with a stern expression.

Suddenly, Randidly grinned, one hundred percent genuine. “...alright then. Let’s work off some of the tension we have, shall we?”