Alana Donal just focused on breathing for a few seconds. She felt slightly dizzy as her brain slowly registered the reality of the situation.

The phenomenon of her person was not a physical response. Although she was bruised and battered from the intense earlier clashes, she hadn’t taken enough hits to experience dizziness. No, Alana was dizzy because her mind was buzzing. After all these arrangements, after the best that Expira could offer gathered and ambushed Randidly Ghosthound in his exhausted state, this was what they had been reduced to. She wasn’t shocked, but rather just sick to her stomach.

It was a disappointing result, to say the least.

All of this had been her brainchild, although many of the fighters had secretly harbored similar desires to understand where they stood in comparison to the Ghosthound. It had been easy to spread the word and gather support. But she was the one who breathed life into the attempt. She had called on old contacts and made the plan. She had led the simulated fight discussions. She had thrown the first attack. And all this she had done selfishly.

All to prove that she would be useful to bring to the Nexus. To give her the clout to make the request.

Lyra seemed to finish shaping her dagger and gripped the gleaming amethyst weapon backhanded. Alana could tell that the woman was more nervous than her sharp-featured face revealed. So she wasn’t surprised when Lyra hopped sideways and landed only a few meters away from Alana. Huang Li was nearby too, but he was panting and sweating. Likely the Sky-Slaying Sword had depleted a lot of his remaining energy. They were running out of usable fighters.

Alana couldn’t sense Paolo, but she knew that he would be stubbornly moving through the rocky terrain, preparing for his next strike. His continued stubborn refusal to quit was perhaps the only reason they had made it this far. If he had gone unconscious when the Ghosthound had grabbed him earlier...

Alana shook her head. Her failure to prove her strength here became a key that was steadily twisting the ignition of some engine in Alana’s mind. The process was painful and depressing. That was why she was currently buzzing. As time stretched on, that buzzing wormed its way outward. First just her neck and shoulders, but then her muscles and organs and skin were all buzzing. Her entire body was straightforwardly facing the realization that Randidly truly was on another level altogether than she was.

If she went with him, she would only hold him back. Compared to him, her fighting strength… was insignificant.

The Ghosthound, looking monstrous and proud as the Grim Chimera, twisted and cracked his back. His lower tail flicked side to side ineffectually, severed about a meter along its length from Alana’s earlier strike. It felt like that was her only contribution to the effort to defeat him. Alana licked her lips, they were dry. When she spoke through the buzzing, mostly out of the sense of responsibility that even now pushed her forward, her voice sounded distant. “The fact he didn’t attack immediately means he’s just as wounded as we are. Be careful of his ability to siphon off your energy and we can still...”

“If I’m being honest, Alana…” Lyra glanced over at her with a half-smile. “...I suspect only you and Paolo believed we could win in a direct confrontation. Fighting is Randidly’s are of expertise. He has spent all his time becoming the best at it. The rest of us just… well, we have our own reasons for the attempt.”

Then Lyra twisted around and looked back toward Huang Li. “You alright, kid?”

“I still have a little more energy… maybe one attack…” Huang Li whispered. So much sweat had dripped off of his nose that a small puddle had formed on the ground in front of him. The tip of his sword pressed against the ground. Lyra seemed to want to vocalize the clear doubts she had toward Huang Li’s abilities, Alana could read the urge on her face, but ultimately the Village Spirit thought better of it. She just turned toward the Ghosthound and raised her dagger.

We have our own reasons for the attempt, huh…? Alana reflected. The key in her head continued turning. Something settled into place and felt right. She admitted it to herself; this attempt had failed. She could not fight as well as Randidly did. Perhaps not even after training with him for several months. Where once there was an emergent buzzing, now a strange coolness spread through her head. And like the buzzing, it ran out across her shoulders and then through her whole body. That’s true… this… is Randidly’s Path…

And my Path...

Warning-

It’s been changing for a while already. It’s time to follow through that shift to the end. No more holding back.

Recalculating-

Warning! Strange fluctuations detected from your Fate-

Please see a Village Spirit immediately. Warning, failure to do so might result in sickness or death.

Alana ignored the notifications that popped frantically up in front of her. Her gaze cleared as she realized her own Path. She could not stand by his side with her spear, but there were other ways that Alana Donal could be a part of the Legend of Randidly Ghosthound. With gentle fingers, she reached up and touched the wings that grew from her Fate. Then she twisted them at the base until the wings were inverted. The dazzling white feathers faded to a metallic gold. Where the wings once beat powerfully above her head, now they stretched almost lazily downward behind her back.

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WARNING-!

Raising her hand, Alana pointed in a line that passed directly through the Ghosthound. Finally, she understood her Path. “The Fourth Revelation: Divinity.”

*****

Randidly narrowed his eyes and crossed his massive left arm in front of the gaping wounds in his chest. He had seen this Skill of Alana’s in the past, and the effect was powerful. Even in her weakened state, he dare not take it lightly.

Besides, something had… suddenly shifted about Alana. The Grim Chimera could smell it in the air; she now smelled dangerous. The doubt in her desires had vanished.

Yet after Alana pointed… nothing happened. Randidly frowned. Then he swore and rolled to the side, cursing himself for being foolish enough to have all of his attention drawn forward. A haymaker smashed into the ground where he was standing, shattering the already unstable ground.

By the time Randidly had rolled and popped back up to his feet, Paolo was already pursuing him. Worse, with the addition of Alana’s Divinity Skill, Paolo moved quickly enough to catch up with Randidly. He was wreathed in golden fire, his right fist raised and his left still hanging broken at his side. He was the avatar of vengeance, come to take one last swing at Randidly Ghosthound.

Randidly pulled air through his teeth. He really didn’t have enough energy for this. Cursed Appetite of the Wraith.

Unfortunately, he had used this Skill too many times. There was an implacable zeal visible in Paolo’s eyes that also existed around his mental energy reserves, meaning that Randidly was only able to take a few grains when he activated the Skill. Paolo didn’t even slow in his attack. He just laughed and bellowed. “This is what it’s supposed to be like! Right Hand of the Challenger!”

Randidly clenched his enormous left hand and met the blow directly. The heart at the core of the Grim Chimera’s body continued its industrial tier blood pumping, flooding his arm with heat as his muscles tensed. At the point of impact, Randidly felt Paolo’s already weak knuckles shatter into even smaller pieces. But somehow, Paolo’s blow had crossed their previous gap in capabilities. After they clashed, both were forced a small step back.

Alana’s Skill had empowered the idiot.

Of course, Randidly’s right arm used that step’s worth of opening and slashed up like a whip. His sharpened fingers of his right hand skidded off the golden light surrounding Paolo’s skin, diminishing it, but unable to pierce through. The Grim Chimera growled. “Molten Fang of the Pariah.”

When heat flooded his right arm, it was on an entirely different level. His skin, bones, and tendons all began to glow various shades of cherry red. Paolo’s eyes recognized the threat but Randidly’s hand was already moving as he adjusted. Alana’s light had dimmed too much. So the strike pierced cleanly through his right shoulder, scalding the surrounding muscle.

Congratulations! Your Skill Molten Fang of the Pariah (L) has grown to Level 246!

“I… wanted….” Paolo grinned as Randidly’s left hand came up and grabbed toward his skull. “Champion… this time…”

As the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night finally did its work on Paolo, Randidly heard a new threat approach. “Sky-Slaying Slash!”

Unlike the massive Sky-Slaying Sword, this Skill of Huang Li covered the distance between them in the space between two separate seconds. Randidly’s pupils immediately tightened as he realized that he couldn’t both dodge the attack and extract Paolo’s memories. So he gritted his teeth and marshaled his remaining mental energy. The Grim Chimera raised its head and roared in defiance as Haung Li slashed it.

For a split second, Randidly lost consciousness. He came to when he hit the ground, Paolo shaken from his grip but seemingly safely unconscious. Just as Randidly’s body began to bounce up away from the cracked stone, he spun at lightning speed, his eyes blazing with all the intensity of a firework. He regained his footing instantly and prepared his counter-attack. Especially because he was once again on the last dregs of his mental strength; he needed to finish things as quickly as possible.

More than the need, what Randidly felt in that brief stunned moment that made him ready to strike with no hesitation was the Want. Maybe it was because Paolo had planted the tiniest seed in his mind with his words, but the Grim Chimera yearned for this victory. Each moment of survival in the face of long odds was an affirmation. Each scar a further development of the Grim Chimera, spiting the universe’s continued attempts to kill him. There was wild joy in the Grim Chimera’s heart now, so close to another victory. All he had to do was seize it.

Randidly Ghosthound was a blur as he planted his feet, tore the ground beneath him, and then accelerated back toward the final three individuals. But he was somewhat shocked to see that Huang Li was in the midst of falling over without any action from his part; it seemed that the last attack had drawn too deeply from his energy.

The dagger in Lyra’s hand began to gleam as she brought it to bear on Randidly. “Until you’ve defeated me-”

Randidly touched Lyra’s head almost lightly as he loped past her. She swayed and fell to the ground, her powerful dagger rapidly dissipating. Although her attacks were certainly powerful, that power was practically useless against the physically dominant Randidly. Unless she raised her Perception and Reaction, she simply wasn’t’ able to land any hits.

Which left only Alana standing.

With all of his momentum built up, the increasingly bleary Randidly planted his foot and readjusted his vector. He made a beeline directly for her. And he likely would have charged forward and tried to run her through with his right hand had not Alana extended both hands outward in a clear gesture of surrender.

Although the Grim Chimera was suspicious, he slowed in his charge and stopped a few meters in front of her. Alana regarded Randidly with clear eyes. “We no longer need to fight. You’ve won.”

Randidly blinked slowly. “Just like that?”

Alana chuckled and extended a meaningful gaze around the surrounding area to the unconscious bodies, craters, burn marks, and piles of shattered rock that littered the surrounding landscape. If they hadn’t moved to a wasteland, probably quite a lot of the residential mountain would have been destroyed around them. Then Alana chucked. “Yes, just like that. We surrender.”

“Heh,” Randidly grinned. Despite the fact that she had led this attack against him, Randidly didn’t believe that Alana would verbally surrender and not mean it; he had truly won. And then he couldn’t help himself. With the last vestiges of his image strength, his whole body rippled and he was the Grim Chimera.

And then he raised his head and howled. He was dominant. He had survived. He was happy.