Randidly glanced up at the looming form of Dozer in front of him. He had been surprised that Dozer made the trip up to his island, and even more surprised by what he had to say. “You want… to go into my Soulskill? Why?”

It was night and with the constant presence of the silver mist, Dozer’s silhouette was large and dark. The overhanging clouds even smothered any hope of starlight. They were facing each other in near darkness. The man tilted his head to the side. “I believe it is my duty as a father.”

That certainly made Randidly alarmed. He put his hands on his knees, slightly distracted by the coolness of his metal left hand against his thigh. “Did something happen?”

“No. And I don’t think it ever will,” Dozer replied in a placid tone. After a moment of scrutiny, Randidly leaned back and considered that. He was actually very impressed by Dozer’s self-control; it was clear from a single look at his image that Dozer was deeply upset. But considering the iron grip that he had over his reactions, Randidly didn’t think that Dozer would go wild within his Soulskill. Despite the fact this matter clearly was related to Delilah.

Besides, the people in his Soulskill weren’t that easy to bully. If Dozer behaved too wildly, he might encounter quite a bit of resistance.

Randidly thought for several seconds and Dozer stood still in the darkness and didn’t push. That was enough to convince him.

So Randidly agreed and teleported Dozer to within his Soulskill. After monitoring him for a few seconds to make sure he didn’t immediately destroy the surroundings, Randidly pulled his attention away and made a mental note to ask Lucretia about the situation later. Then Randidly turned his attention back to the swirling Nether Nebula in his chest. Yet only a few seconds later, Randidly frowned and looked over to the Southwest.

Dusk had fallen, with the Order Ducis managing to endure through all ten of the preliminaries to arrive at the goal of reducing the number of duos to 1000. The process of Randidly monitoring the situation and removing defeated teams while also counting points proved both tedious and unnecessary; the people participating in the tournament were so enthusiastic about the violent competition that they quickly fought until their numbers dropped to the appropriate amount without needing Randidly to count at all.

However, they faced a new problem after the preliminaries were over: complaints.

It seemed like every one of the defeated people had special circumstances that made their loss unfair. They were ambushed. They were lied to. The elements of the preliminary were particularly harmful to them. Their opponent had cheated. They hadn’t realized that the match had started before they were attacked.

On and on, these complainers ranted about their lot in life. They found the Order Ducis members that were busy keeping the peace and kept them from doing their jobs. The huge crowds and the festive atmosphere already strained the small city’s resources; even the Order Ducis couldn’t handle everything itself, let alone with the buzzing of these flies.

So Randidly had intervened, creating a Redemption Arena that would go on throughout the night until the matches started again tomorrow. After all, the ideal number for a tournament would be 1024, so the matches could proceed to the finals without byes. So Randidly allowed that the 24 most powerful duos from the Redemption Arena would become a finalist, even though they had lost in the preliminaries.

Randidly had quickly constructed an arena in a forest to the Southwest, but that area had quickly been destroyed and the rubble flattened by the sheer number of people who enthusiastically participated. Randidly’s eyelid twitched as he clearly sensed that many people that hadn’t been allowed into the tournament rushed to participate. The place quickly evolved into a raging brawl with no signs of abating after several hours of conflict.

After all, there were no rules to this arena. It had been created too quickly, just to alleviate the other problems. So after people were wounded, individuals could leave the worst of the fighting and recover some before returning to the action. Randidly crossed his fingers and hoped that the mass of bodies would be able to agree on the 24 strongest, come dawn.

Helen and Ajax had been all too happy to monitor the situation so things didn’t get too out of hand, but they just ended up joining the melee. But as long as they understood that they wouldn’t be able to join the tournament, Randidly didn’t mind their enthusiasm. He just welcomed the chance for a break.

Tatiana did say that Senator Firefly sent over a short letter requesting that Randidly and Kharon help with the clean-up effort afterward, considering that a sizable area that was being demolished while the Redemption Arena raged. The television broadcasts trained on the area went all night, and talk show hosts apparently began claiming that Randidly’s image was so powerful that it “incited anyone nearby to violence” and referring to him sometimes as a ‘Chaotic God of War’.

Tatiana found it very amusing. But Randidly could only grimace. It felt… extremely strange to have the world so casually push all the responsibility for their repressed and violent population on to his shoulders.

Shaking his head, Randidly refocused himself. He quickly pushed away the chaotic noises and images from the fighting below. From the level of the people participating, Helen and Ajax were more than capable of handling it. They didn’t need his help. Instead, he focused again on his Nether Nebula and the slowly increasing weight at its core.

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The pale streaks of grey around that core were increasing as time passed, seemingly churned outward as the Nether Nebula completed a rotation. Those grey streaks began to change the character of his Nether. Randidly clearly felt that, if he hadn’t been suppressing the Nether around him into a thin disc, he could rather easily destabilize the space around him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 237!

The question is whether I need to do something about this before heading to the Nexus… Randidly thought with narrowed eyes. In addition, how can I establish the equivalent of a Class within my Nether? Perhaps if I give the Nether more structure, it won’t occupy such a large area or be so obvious…

The problem with this idea was that Randidly truly didn’t have the slightest clue where to begin. His mind flashed back to Yystrix’s movie and he cursed her for not showing more of her interactions with the Nether King. Without an example, Randidly was essentially groping in the dark.

The problem was that Randidly didn’t have any ideas about the basic principles that governed Nether or how it functioned. He could utilize it, but that provided little illumination to its core essence. Even in regards to Aether, Randidly’s knowledge was woefully insignificant; he only could study Engravings and hope to intuit some of its secrets in that manner.

Which was why Randidly looked helplessly at the dense Nether in his chest. He could rely on its weight to suppress others or weaken Aether, but that was about it. Essentially, Randidly was currently doing the equivalent of trying to figure out the uses and traits of water by splashing himself with it. He was clearly getting wet, but he couldn’t tell how to progress further in his understanding.

So he sat in his Nether Nebula and allowed the dense waves of energy to flow through him. More and more Nether was pulled up from his Nether Wells and surrounded his suspended consciousness. Humming softly to himself, Randidly simply existed there.

If he couldn’t find his epiphany, he would approach this problem with determination. That was how the ‘Chaotic God of War’ would grow stronger

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 238!

*****

Huang Li, the greatest warrior of Zone 7 and Captain of the Royal Guard, bowed lightly to the man in front of him with a genuine expression of respect on his face. Despite their differences, the man in front of him clearly possessed an image as steadfast and vast as the sea. “Grandfather, you go first.”

Haung Shou chuckled with a lightness that belied his casual strength and shook his head. “It makes no difference to me which of us goes first. And with your youth, you cannot deny that you are the more powerful-”

“Please, grandfather,” Huang Li stayed in his bent over posture without wavering. “It is a matter of prestige. There is no doubt that the people of Zone Seven will be very proud to see that you, a man who is over the age of seventy, will be participating in the first match of this tournament. Our people will raise their fists subconsciously, buoyed by the pride in their hearts.”

“What a cunning grandson I have,” Huang Shou mused, a frozen, standing foil to Huang Li remaining in his bowing position. Huang Li could feel the older man’s gaze like a physical weight on the back of his neck. “To think that even I, the man to which you owe everything, can be used as a political tool. Are those three girls truly so important to you…?”

“They are important to all of our Zone 7.” Huang Li replied. “The are the Glorious Leader.”

The elderly Huang Shou pursed his lips. “You fool, we are not just some random Zone. We are the descendants of the greatest dynasty to ever grace the surface of the Earth! Leaders such as them are as common as cabbages in the grand expanse of history. And if you think if your tiny role as Captain of the Guard gives you even the slightest ability to affect the trajectory of our world-”

“The grandfather I know would not get so emotional over a small thing,” Huang Li replied placidly. His words were like a strange catalyst that had been cast into the surroundings. Both were silenced and suppressed. That casual statement laid bare the years of abuse Huang Li had endured at the hands of Huang Shou, justified by the mandate of ‘education’. Huang Li stared at the ground, while Huang Shou looked deeply at his grandson.

Then Huang Shou smiled. “A cunning grandson indeed.”

Huang Li waited until his grandfather had walked forward into the arena and was greeted with the roaring cheers fo the crowd. Per the intentions of their glorious leader, Huang Shou was the first fighter to walk out onto the stage. Even if they didn’t want to be moved, those intractable elements within Zone 7 would still be quite pleased by this development. It was brought quite a bit of honor to their Zone to see a peer their age participating in this contest that was the apex of Earth’s power.

Huang Li straightened and followed the old man out to the arena. Huang Shou had a tight smile on his face as he glanced over toward Huang Li. Of course, the two weren’t related by blood; Huang Li had been adopted into the Huang family soon after the arrival of the System when he had demonstrated his great strength.

The two stood only two meters apart, but a gap of age and outlook became a gulf that they couldn’t cross. Their shared name was as binding as gossamer between them. If anything, the closest comparison for their strained partnership was a political marriage. Neither truly wanted to be here with each other, but for the broader good, both were willing to lower their heads.

Things weren’t exactly peaceful, however. And as such, Huang Li produced a stool from his interspatial amulet. “Grandfather, please take a seat. Allow me to handle these ruffians.”

Huang Shou’s eyebrow quirked upward, but he still took the seat. He then produced a thick walking stick and put both of his hands on its head as he serenely smiled around. Somehow, he managed to speak quietly to Huang Li without moving his mouth. “What nonsense. Do you truly intend to participate in this tournament without my assistance? Do you truly believe our terns are so insincere they cannot even be considered?”

Huang Li’s eyes were on their opponents. Both were large, muscular men carrying assault rifles. Likely they were part of Zone 1’s so-called ‘Mana Marines’. This level of foe was still within his expectations. He turned to his grandfather and bowed without acknowledging his question. “Please, grandfather, just a moment. Allow me to handle this.”

Huang Shou harrumphed. The crowd around them rapidly stilled as a great weight pressed down over them and silenced outside discussion. Then Randidly Ghosthound spoke.

“Let the tournament… begin!”