The day Vualla left for her training was a strained moment for Randidly. They met alone, on the edges of the old supply track and looked at each other for a long time. Those same unsaid conversations from Ileot’s alcove hung between them. Both were awkward about saying goodbyes, so neither gave breath to the anxieties that they each felt. Even though Randidly was almost furiously determined not to simply let her go without saying anything, reality proved that some issues couldn’t be overcome even with Stats.

They hugged, they kissed, and then she was gone, taking the Ileot’s corpse with her to free up the original Vualla before she proceeded to report to the Xyrt Brigade.

Randidly had watched Vualla leave and thought of all the things he could have said. Even then, watching her departing back, very few things came to his mind. But Randidly could tell from the sweat on his palms that he should have said something more.

Turning away, Randidly tried to comfort himself. It’s not like this is the last time I see her. And Vualla is strong. Strong enough to overpower the original Vualla’s attempt at possessing her. Even if there are dangers in the Xyrt Brigade, she can handle them. After all, compared to me, her image is extremely powerful…

The week of sparring had actually been quite eye-opening for Randidly. True, reaching the Nether Gatekeeper density made it extremely difficult for Vualla to injure his physical body, but she routinely overpowered his image. Leveraging his advantage in terms of Mana-efficient Skills could distract Vualla enough for Randidly to take the initiative, but all of his images paled in comparison to Vualla’s rapidly developing image of physical motion.

That explosive destruction that could be produced by a body seemed to be constantly improving. It bruised the Grim Chimera, extinguished the flames of Ignition Essence, and blasted away the bark of Yggdrasil.

Vualla’s finally tapping into her potential and making full use of her advantages. I might have more advantages, but I’m still trying to find the perfect way to utilize each of them… Plus I’m working on three images at once… Despite the resulting existential dread, it might be nice to have a duplicated version of myself that could give me some pointers about making more better images...

Jokes aside, her performance in the spars made Randidly increasingly focused on growing stronger. After watching Vualla stride confidently off toward the military checkpoint, Randidly returned to the gathering area that he had agreed on with Heiffal. When he arrived, there were almost seven hundred individuals carrying leather backpacks and gripping their weapons in white-knuckled fists. Zauna and Salazar were there as well, which had Randidly raising his eyebrows at his two direct subordinates.

Because shock immediately surfaced in his heart upon seeing them; the duo had recovered their bodies. Considering the fact that most of Lord Miln’s headquarters had been ransacked and destroyed, Randidly began to suspect that it wasn’t Nether Beasts that so perfectly annihilated Lord Miln’s research.

Randidly tried his best to smile innocently. If they didn’t want to bring up recovering their bodies, Randidly wasn’t going to grill them over it. “Is being my assistants such a bad job that you're pledging your services to Heiffal here?”

“W-w-we w-would like to c-come as well,” Salazar mumbled when he felt Randidly’s amused stare.

Randidly could only shake his head helplessly. It was already a gamble to create so many Aether connections. Even adding two more made him hesitate. “The whole reason I’m sending this bunch to Earth ahead of me is so that none of the Xyrt Brigade notice missing troops. The final reports on casualty numbers are due next week. So they need to be gone as soon as possible.”

“W-we can be d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-”

Sighing, Randidly waved Salazar to stop so he wouldn’t be eternally struck on the inauspicious word ‘dead’. “But I’ve already reported both of you alive. It’s not that I don’t value everything that you’ve done for me, it’s just that you’ll likely be pursued.”

Salazar’s scaly face fell, but Zauna stepped forward and passed Randidly a bit of paper. After scanning it, Randidly could only chuckle bitterly. It was a form detailing that Lady Iellaya, Supreme Commander of the Forefather Frontline, had honorably discharged Zuana and Salazar due to their exemplary behavior in the wake of the Nether King’s attack. There were several paragraphs detailing their contribution to the forces of Aether, but Randidly didn’t bother to read them closely.

Guess this solves the mystery of what happened to Lord Miln’s base. Must be nice not to have your activities catch the notice of military high command. Grimacing, Randidly rubbed the growing stubble on his cheeks. I know that Lady Iellaya said that the increase in our service time was a punishment for the disappearance of ileot’s body, but in light of that, I’m surprised Lady Iellaya’s request to pardon the rest of these two’s service time went through without a hitch. After all, they are my direct subordinates…

...is this some kind of trap…?

But perhaps it was just as simple as Lady Iellaya had stated it was; they had been punished, so afterward the high command didn’t really concern themselves with ‘unrelated’ parties. Obtaining the service of four powerful individuals for a few more years was benefit enough for the high command to consider the issue resolved.

Stolen story; please report.

“...well, either way, I suspect you two will head out with me later. Lady Iellaya had a good point; I should be seen passing through the military checkpoint before I disappear rather than letting them know I can build a bridge from everywhere. So bad news Heiffal, you’ll still be in charge for the next few weeks. Do you remember your orders?”

Heiffal nodded seriously. “Proceed directly to Kharon, looking for Helen, Naffur, or Tatiana. They will establish our identity in Kharon and let us know the situation in the surrounding area. Afterward, help train the people of Kharon and the Order Ducis to use images. Assist them, but only handle only minor problems or those that appear too powerful to normally appear on a world that hasn’t yet experienced a Calamity.”

“Cool,” Randidly said lightly. Then he pulled the Philosopher’s Key from his belt and pushed it forward. When he found the line of karma that led to the Earth, Randidly turned the key and opened a hanging portal in the air in front of him.

Congratulations! Your Fate the Philosopher’s Key has grown to Level 91!

Getting close to a hundred… I wonder what sort of item I’ll get next… Then Randidly’s lips twisted. Still, these last nine Levels will probably be the most difficult… Also, I wonder how long it takes most people to finish Leveling their Fate up to 100…?

In case there was currently someone from the Xyrt Brigade keeping track of Randidly’s position, he didn’t dare step through the portal. So instead, he stood right at the edge and allowed his Grim Intuition to flow outward into the surrounding area on the Earth-side. He felt the activity of the Order Ducis suppressing Raid Bosses and a small village nearby. Randidly also felt the swirling activity around Kharon.

As he had sensed in the Eidolon Crucible about a week ago, it appeared that the number of people present in Kharon had almost doubled since Kharon had begun its journey. The moving city seemed to be functioning at something close to its maximum population capacity. For whatever reason, there had been a large influx of people into Kharon recently. This caused Randidly to frown slightly because his directives he had left for Tatiana were exactly to avoid this kind of thing. Due precisely to the worry that the image would waver when too many new people were mixed into the population at once.

Still, Randidly trusted Tatiana enough that he didn’t bother to find out right now what had happened to cause this; he would hear the reason in a few weeks when he returned to Earth. Instead, he simply let his Grim Intuition spread out and tasted the image that was present above the moving city animated by his living Engraving.

Randidly closed his eyes and felt the effect his Eidolon Crucible had on correcting the image of Kharon.

The hesitation was still there but Randidly was able to sense more details of the situation. There had been a loss recently. Well, not a loss. But something that had made all of Kharon acknowledge the ugly truth that even with all of their capability, it wasn’t enough. So after building itself up that image of success in the hearts of the people of Kharon, they had failed and been devastated by that.

Randidly knew that sorrow and sense of helplessness intimately. He struggled against it himself in the previous battle between Ileot Swacc and the Nether King. But after the Eidolon Crucible, he felt the thoughts of the people of Kharon slowly shifting.

...So what if we failed? We are not proud because we always succeed. No, the reason we are proud is because of the work we’ve put into bettering our world. Regardless of the result, the effort will not go to waste as long as we keep trying.

‘We aren’t doing enough’ is never a reason to cease our activities. It’s the reminder we need to reinforce our resolve.

Releasing a breath, Randidly stood to the side and allowed Heiffal and the other duplicated individuals who agreed to follow Randidly walk through to Earth. Afterward, he calmly closed the portal and returned to his tent.

In the days before his vacation would begin, Randidly divided his time between training with the new versions of Acri and Sulfur, working on his images, and understanding his Fate. Time quickly passed as he busied himself. As he expected, through two weeks of dedicated work Randidly only received one more Level to his Fate, bringing him to 92.

But after one of the days of training his image, Randidly sensed two individuals approach to his tent. So he released the handful of his Ignition Essence that he cradled in his hand and walked to the door to the tent to look out.

He wasn’t surprised to see the wistful faces of Nadia and Kailm when he left his tent. They greeted him politely, but it was clear that what led the couple here was not the desire to converse with Randidly, but rather because they were drawn here by the familiar remnants of Illym that now suffused Randidly’s Ignition Essence image.

Very quickly, the couple turned to go, but some trace of bitterness in Randidly’s heart compelled him to vocalize a question that had been bothering him for a while. “Nadia, Kailm… if you don’t mind me asking… why didn’t you use the liquid Aether of the Fate armory to help defend the front line?”

The two exchanged a glance, then Kailm slowly spoke. “Two reasons. The first is more selfish, I suppose. Using liquid Aether that someone else refined can be… dangerous. The image inside of the liquid Aether, if it's sufficiently different from your own, will warp your Skills and images. It’s akin to starting a fire in the middle of your living room to try and warm the house; it will work, but there will consequences depending on whether your home was designed for such a thing.

“And secondly…” Kailm glanced at Nadia. His wife looked at Kailm with tired eyes. “...secondly, we might be able to manipulate the liquid Aether, but it does not belong to us; it comes directly from the Nexus. And in the Nexus’ eyes… that liquid Aether is more valuable than all our lives put together. Being the caretaker of the Aether now is a result of us going deep in the Nexus’ debt as we tried to… help our daughters. We are bound to protect the Aether even at the cost of our lives.”

“Wasn’t the Fate armory almost destroyed?” Randidly asked in confusion.

Finally, Nadia spoke. “Nether Kings are frightful, but they are nothing compared to the Nexus that designed this System. Never forget that, Randidly Ghosthound. Please, protect the remnants of our daughter.”