Alana glanced sideways at Hank. His image was spreading across the top of the sand dune, keeping the worst at bay. “You ready?”

Hank flashed her a grin and spun his repeater. “Both barrels are polished, ‘Lana. Just give the word.”

Alana’s gaze slid sideways along the row of dunes around them. They had patiently waited, on alert, for the past two days. Based on the warning from Randidly, Alana had made sure that they were partially ready at all times, in case the opposition moved before they did. But the past two days had been quiet. By this point, her people were eager to attack and get this over with. The waiting had begun to wear on their nerves.

They were also tired of being the only task force not to eliminate its Danger Zone.

After checking her watch, Alana raised her gaze. There was a shimmer in the air around her and then two long, pearlescent wings spread from her helmet. Orange and gold flames exploded from those wings, giving Alana an almost holy brightness. A clear clarion call spread out over the surrounding desert, briefly suppressing the whipping wind. As one, the independent forces moved with surprising cohesion to assault the Corrupted Invaders.

“Show off,” Hank muttered as he adjusted his hat and began to run.

Alana grinned at him as the two accelerated down the slope to the force below. “Next time, don’t call me ‘Lana, Hank Howard.”

Snorting, Hank drew his revolver, flicked the cylinder to set it spinning and then took aim. At the last second, he flipped the cylinder back into the gun and fire. A screaming bullet ripped forward and hit the center of the Corrupted Invader base with all the subtlety of a cruise missile. The Skill that created a dome of white light around the base shattered. A building erupted in a blast of fire.

*****

Randidly sat in the center of his island with his legs crossed. All that was left was to wait for the Special Investigator to arrive for the fated duel. Alana’s assault had just begun and it wouldn’t be long before the Epic Danger Zone would be revealed. At that point, the representative of the Xyrt Brigade wouldn’t need to hold back any longer.

And Randidly was now as prepared as he could be.

All three of Randidly’s images were held in his chest, ready for the fight. The Grim Chimera paced back and forth, his ashen breath streaming from his nostrils. Yggdrasil spread its branches into the surrounding air, absorbing energy from the sun and channeling it into Randidly’s body. The Stillborn Phoenix hovered in Randidly’s chest, bending the surrounding light as it continued to devour. Second by second, his newest image was working its emotions into a frenzy. Its wild hunger was rapidly growing in power.

Neveah sat nearby, looking at a scroll and making some notes on it. The corner of Randidly’s mouth quirked upward. Even now, she was reviewing the Engravings that she found in Yystrix’s tomb. At this point, Neveah had made some progress all of the ten different areas in the grand Engraving on the floor of the tomb. Each she had deciphered about 20% of the way.

Based on her interest, Neveah was now pushing forward in only one specific area, an Engraving pattern related to giving life to lifeless things. At this point, she had been able to make it 50% through the complex series of tasks and puzzles of that section. But Randidly couldn’t fault her for her dedication; he understood that the reason that she had chosen that area of study was because of his arm.

Randidly glanced over at the dark metal of the limb. Good timing too, because it really is nearing its limit… in some of those projected fights against Illym it gave out at very inconvenient times. My new physical power isn’t always a good thing.

In particular, Randidly remembered a time where he had collapsed Illym’s house on top of himself and earned a brief counter-attack from one of Illym’s parents. It had hurt. Apparently losing both daughters had hurt their Willpower, because the power that he had felt in the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night was just as intimidating as Kaan Swacc.

Sighing, Randidly pushed those thoughts away and breathed to calm himself. His heartbeat was steady.

The minutes ticked past. With nothing else to think about, Randidly once again considered the decision he made prior to giving Alana the go-ahead to attack the final Danger Zone: whether or not to complete the Image Cooperation I Path.

While training the past two days, Randidly had accumulated 617 PP. Most he had carried over from his prior look at Paths, but Randidly still wasn’t sure what he wanted to spend it on. The only choice that really appealed to him was the Image Cooperation, but Randidly didn’t quite think that his Stillborn Phoenix was quite ready for the merging.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

With his physical body no longer limited by the System, both Yggdrasil and the Grim Chimera rapidly improved their capabilities. Both were much easier to manifest in the real world now that Randidly had a more powerful body to channel them through. But the Stillborn Phoenix was different. His understanding of how it should function was still growing, even if most of his Skill training concerned related Skills.

So he had decided to wait. But now that he was simply sitting here…

Too late now, Randidly thought with a focused finality. He closed his eyes and pushed even those thoughts away. Gradually, he brought his heart rate up. He could feel it now, the weight of the moment. After the situation at his birthday, feeling the importance of the moment, and then becoming aware of Kaan Swacc, Randidly had been very careful with letting his Nether shift at all. But now that the fight was coming…

There was no longer a reason to hold back.

Nether circulated quickly through his body. Sensing the impending storm, his Nether Nebula grew increasingly dense. In their inert form, the Aether Mines didn’t even react to the growing store of Nether that Randidly had in his body. Faint distortions appeared in the air around him as he let the Nether run wild.

Come and suppress me, Special Investigator. A ghost of a grin crossed Randidly’s face. Neveah and I have prepared a surprise for you.

The tension steadily grew. Randidly continued to breathe and his heart continued to beat. But then Randidly received a message from Alana.

Danger Zone cleared. Returning to Zone 1 to assist with the Epic Danger Zone.

Randidly’s eyes narrowed. Well if we have a bit of spare time, might as well take advantage of it…

“Get ready Neveah,” Randidly said aloud. “We’ve cleared the last hurdle.”

“Thank god,” Neveah said flippantly. “I’ve been getting so bored.”

Randidly then closed his eyes and sent out his Grim Intuition. With Neveah next to him, he wasn’t really worried about being surprised by the Special Investigator. Or rather, he trusted that Kaan would show himself and want to taunt Randidly before launching a deadly attack.

So Randidly sent out his vision to feel the manifestation of the Epic Danger Zone. And even Randidly had to admit he was rather impressed with its entrance.

Lake Apollo was an enormous lake. Or at least, to Randidly’s knowledge, it was extremely large. The size was such that even with enhanced eyesight, it wasn’t possible for someone to see across to the other side. Yet as Randidly reached out to see the situation, he saw the water draining out of Lake Apollo.

First gradually, but then in a sloshing torrent, the billions of gallons of water vanished. Aside from the occasional sea monster flobbing around in the revealed ground, nothing was left but stone and seaweed. With grim expressions, Helen led the Earth’s forces toward the enormous hole that appeared at the heart of Lake Apollo. After gathering themselves, they followed the missing water down to drive out the threat.

Randidly tensed and prepared for the Special Investigator’s arrival… and stayed tense for the next eight hours.

At which point a notification appeared in the sky.

Congratulations people of Earth! You have successfully risen to the challenge and defeated the Corrupted Invaders! Because you finished the task set to you within the time limit, the energy given to Earth has been greatly increased! In addition, all random Classes offered at Villages will be slightly more valuable! The chance of an extremely rare Class appearing has increased by .3%! The chance of a unique Class appearing has increased by .001%!

In addition, in the depths of the Epic Danger Zone there are two tokens. Those tokens can be redeemed to gain Tier 1 citizenship in the Nexus. Please also note that if someone obtains three such tokens, it is possible to combine them to form a Tier 2 token, with greater benefits.

Randidly’s expression was solemn as he looked at the notification. “...the Special Investigator didn’t come. Did we miss something…?”

“Perhaps we were tricked,” Neveah admitted. She, too, was staring at the notification. “But if so, then where didn’t the Special Investigator want us focusing…?”

A split second later, Randidly’s heart dropped out of his chest. He had checked his Alpha Cosmos directly after he obtained the Aether Mines to see if they affected the wellbeing of the people living there, but since then-

Without waiting to inform Neveah of his thoughts, Randidly appeared in the Alpha Cosmos. With a furious roar, Grim Intuition exploded outward from him, quickly figuring out the situation.

“...not here either…?” Randidly panic turned to confusion. He scanned the Alpha Cosmos several times but could detect nothing strange. But he supposed maybe fighting against Yystrix for so long just made him paranoid about his Soulspace; aside from her, Randidly had not met anyone else who could influence it. Ileot wanted to duplicate it, but he needed Randidly’s assistance for that.

He left his inner world and then flicked his hand to conjure the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night. The complex geometric lines made by the rope between the various hoops were mesmerizing as he entered that world of chimes.

He quickly returned to an impression he had purposefully created for later, one right before he had sent Alana the order to attack the Danger Zone.

In the projection, Randidly exploded in a wave of Nether. He undid all of the Aether Mines. Then he waited in the projection until he began to feel the beginnings of a headache, but Kaan Swacc didn’t show up.

Randidly returned to the real world. He glanced at Neveah. “This… damnit, honestly I want to be relieved that we made it through without trouble, but this…”

“Actually, I don’t think we have quite made it through without any trouble,” Neveah said. She pointed upward. “Look.”

Randidly glanced upward. Then he blinked several times. With a hand gesture, the silver mist cleared. Above him was a bright blue afternoon sky… but sitting in the middle of it like an ink stain on a t-shirt was a deep, endless darkness filled with questing azure veins. Circling around that was a dense network of Aether connections, burning with intensity as though under fire.

“Why the hell is the Great Rift here…?” Randidly asked aloud.