Randidly let the oppressive pressure he was releasing with Yggdrasil slowly fade as he stalked forward toward the Nether Gatekeeper. Although the effect of stabilizing the visual distortions released by the Nether was certainly impressive, Randidly was rather sour that his image took so much time to even annihilate a few weak Nether Beasts. The raw power of Yggdrasil wasn’t quite where Randidly wanted it yet.

Likely it was because he focused his attention in other places, but he was still not yet the equal of Lady Iellaya when it came to the power of his image.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ruinous Drive (Ru) has grown to Level 84!

Per Randidly’s orders, Heiffal and the veterans from the frontlines surged forward to meet the horde of Nether Beasts that were emerging from the impact point. Randidly could have annihilated all of the weaker beings of Nether on his own, but he still wanted to reign in his experience gain until he acquired more Fatepieces or needed additional power. Besides, Heiffal’s Squadron had essentially just babied the Order Ducis applicants for the past month.

They deserved a chance to expend some of their frustrations. And it seemed that they still remembered the feeling of Randidly’s Ruinous Drive adding an extra bit of damage to their attacks because they rapidly immersed themselves in the aura that Randidly released. They quickly scythed through the charging Nether Beasts, despite being outnumbered two to one.

Their attacks blasted outward, images and Skills making use of the power Randidly offered. Immediately the loose assemblage of Nether Beasts buckled and collapsed. They began to band together in order to resist Heiffal’s assault.

Of course, Randidly could see that the Nether Beasts were being replaced from the crater just as soon as they were being killed. But that was fine, it would hopefully impress on Earth the dangers of the Nether creatures. Meanwhile…

“Don’t you think I deserve the chance to work off some stress, too?” Randidly muttered to himself as he continued to walk steadily forward. The Nether Gatekeeper’s eyes were locked onto him, radiating hate. Yet it dared not approach, for fear of the power of Yggdrasil that Randidly had previously demonstrated. Randidly almost wanted to laugh.

“Well I have good news,” Randidly said aloud, perfectly aware that the Nether Gatekeeper couldn’t understand him. “That won’t be the image I kill you with. No need to thank me…”

BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP.

Rather than Randidly prodding his own body into action, this time it was excitement that began to quicken his heart rate. The Nether Gatekeeper was largely humanoid in shape, aside from the fact that its hands were double the size of normal appendages and ended in sharp claws. Its smoking eyes were locked onto Randidly’s form as purple-black energy speckled with emerald and orange spread out and coat his skin.

Congratulations! Your Skill Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 278!

Randidly’s body began to heat up. Then each object in his vision began to be starkly outlined against the backdrop of the world. Even the visual distortions caused by Nether were pierced through by Randidly’s Revelation energy. The Stillborn Phoenix settled into Randidly’s left eye, creating an entirely new series of distortions in the area around his face.

And although Randidly kept careful control of his own Nether Nebula, he couldn’t help but click his tongue in distaste as he felt the energy from the Nether Gatekeeper. Strong… but nowhere near the strongest Nether Gatekeeper I’ve seen… I can manage this amount of density on my own.

The revelation energy chimed lightly and Randidly saw the oncoming attack even before the Nether Gatekeeper had moved. It seemed it wasn’t willing to allow Randidly to control the momentum of this fight. The phantom of its left claw shot forward toward Randidly’s chest and Randidly moved even as the Nether Gatekeeper stepped forward with enough force to shatter the ground beneath it.

Its aura of Nether blasted outward in a wave, but Randidly’s denser Nether harmlessly guided it away, keeping it from eating away at his image overmuch. Which meant that Stillborn Phoenix that was housed in Randidly’s left eye was free to raise its imagined beak and shriek in fury that this peon would dare attack it. Its hungry influence over the surrounding area intensified.

Crouching down, Randidly’s right hand swept across his body to knock the Nether Gatekeeper’s strike to the side. A boom echoed outward as the two powerful bodies met and the Nether Gatekeeper came out on the losing end. Continuing his rotation, Randidly brought his metal arm around and slammed the back of his fist into the Nether Gatekeeper side.

It stumbled a half step backward, releasing another wave of Nether to eat at Randidly. But of course, this Nether was dealt with just as easily as the previous one had been. And in that split second of pause in its attack, Randidly hopped up, conjured a Cosmic orb behind him, then triggered it to thrust him forward as he brought his head down to forcefully headbutt the Nether Gatekeeper.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cosmic Necessity (M) has grown to Level 243!

DA-DUMP, BA-DUMP, BA-DUMP, BA-DUMP

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Again, the Nether Gatekeeper stumbled backward from the blow. But this time, Randidly didn’t attack. Instead, he leaned lightly backward and avoided the sharp slash upward that the Nether Gatekeeper released after feigning weakness for a split second. The pre-emptive counter whipped by with enough force that Randidly raised his eyebrows.

Randidly grinned over at the Nether Gatekeeper as it looked at him with hateful eyes. It’s calculating scrutiny was quite obvious to Randidly. That’s more like it. You might not look it, but you possess a predator’s tactical calculus, don’t you? At the very least, you know quite well how to kill.

As if in response to Randidly’s thought, the Nether Gatekeeper controlled the Nether around its body to spiral inward. Seeing as Nether only had a negligible effect on Randidly’s image of the Stillborn Phoenix, it concentrated its efforts around its body. Its physical form grew larger and menacing, releasing an aura of violence that even impressed Randidly. Its already large hands began to swell.

What sort of battles do you remember to produce an aura like that…? Randidly wondered as he considered the Nether Gatekeeper. But then he lowered his shoulders and charged forward.

The Nether Gatekeeper responded with sweeping its claws downward, but Randidly slid to the side to avoid that blow. Its other arm shot forward to rake its claws across Randidly’s eyes, but he ducked under that and arrived before the Nether Gatekeeper’s chest. He lashed out, his right hand unifying with his image of a spear as he targeted the Nether Gatekeeper’s core.

The hit was a direct one and Randidly felt the Nether Gatekeeper’s core crack slightly beneath the force. It paused for a half-second with its unbalanced limbs stuck without any effective recourse to strike at him, but then it unleashed a flurry of blows toward him. Randidly took several steps backward, weaving through the vicious slashes. Yet just as he was about to step forward and finish the job, Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold pinged again, causing him to pause in his assault.

Congratulations! Your Skill Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 279!

Randidly tilted his head to the side as the Nether Gatekeeper opened its mouth and shot out a spiked tongue into the space where Randidly’s head had just been. This time when Randidly smiled, his expression was quite a bit crueler. “Oh…? You aren’t just battle instinct, are you? There is some genuine intelligence in the way you fight.”

The Nether Gatekeeper just continued to stare hatefully at Randidly. Around them, the fight between the reinforcements that Randidly had brought and the Nether Beasts began to stall out as Randidly’s side began to tire and the reinforcements from the crater began to slow. It seemed that the invasions force was not as large as Randidly had feared.

“Still…” Randidly released a breath and it came out of his nose in two spouts of steam. His heart was solidly pounding in his chest, spreading heat and physical power with it. “I’m afraid that tactics won’t be enough for you to live. This time… I’m the one with the overwhelming power. You shouldn’t have let me warm-up.”

All at once, the muscles of Randidly’s body flexed and released a burst of power into the surrounding area. The ground cracked and the Gatekeeper raised its arms warily around itself to protect its core. But Randidly charged forward without acknowledging its defenses, one eye brilliant emerald and the other radiating sinister darkness.

Again, the Nether Gatekeeper did a remarkable job of predicting Randidly’s path and unleashing a blistering thrust that should have pierced through Randidly’s chest. But this time, Randidly simply smirked and stepped as quickly as he could to the side. The muscles of his legs strained and tensed.

The force of his step released a sonic boom as he ripped through the air and arrived next to the Nether Gatekeeper with his right arm raised to strike its core once more. Despite Randidly’s speed, the Nether Gatekeeper managed to lean backward and shoot out its spiked tongue to intercept him.

With his heart hammering in his ears, Randidly continued to smile as that almost invisible tongue was snatched out of the air by his metallic left hand. He was about to crush the Nether Gatekeeper’s core when his left arm groaned from the strain of the quick movement and warped slightly underneath the strain. A crackling of dispersed energy sounded out even as Randidly swore and stomped the ground.

For a brief second, the Engravings had been interrupted. Like in his battles in the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night, it would not be long before his arm failed entirely.

The stone beneath Randidly shattered, large gashes in the ground spreading rapidly outward over the surrounding space. The concussive force of the stomp was enough to knock the Nether Gatekeeper backward, which was exactly what Randidly had intended. As it scrambled backward, Randidly surged forward to finish it off.

Of course, it unleashed a viciously timed counter once again as Randidly moved forward.

Its eyes flashed with a sadistic gleam as its claw neared Randidly’s chest. The sharp talons passed harmlessly through Randidly’s after-image at the same moment that Randidly’s palm hit the Nether Gatekeeper’s core and shattered it. When its body collapsed, Randidly straightened and shook his head. “You are too slow to play this game with me. If this is all the Nether that you can manage…”

Then Randidly turned to look at the surrounding area. When the Nether Gatekeeper was killed, it took the wind out of the Nether Beasts’ sails. Those that had been working together lost their cohesion and began to be slaughtered by Heiffal’s troops, with the forces of Franksburg assisting. Strike by strike, they whittled down the Nether Beasts’ numbers until Randidly could walk unobstructed to the edge of the crater and use his image of Yggdrasil to forcefully eradicate the taint of Nether in the area.

For the moment, Earth was clean.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ruinous Drive (Ru) has grown to Level 85!

There were three other projectiles that had dropped from the sky when the Nether had broken through, but they were all smaller than this one. The smallest was handled by Alana and Hank, one went to Helen, and the rest of the Order Ducis went after the third.

But despite receiving word that the other groups had managed somehow, Randidly frowned as he looked up toward the sky. The Aether constructs that had been around the Great Rift had shattered and Randidly could see the veins swirling within the Great Rift. Yet he could find no sense to the strange movements of those azure veins.

Are you really just here to attack the Nexus…? Randidly thought as he looked upward. He hoped it was that simple.