Winds and emotions swirled together into a grass mass of darkness. The dim illumination of this world was completely screened. What remained was a bleak half-light as the desolation spread.

Claudette’s image projection had been irrevocably altered by Randidly reaching into its heart and adding a flaw to the emotional core. The stable path of its existence shifted as liberated forces seeped downward and upward, upending the previous status quo.

Randidly licked his lips and clapped his hands against his cheeks as he pulled himself out of one of his rest breaks. I need to get everything in place before the image begins to settle again… or the shifts will be that much more difficult. I can’t slow down now.

His Willpower billowed outward, sewing the small changes he desired in the infinite folds of this image. He continued to refine the terrain at the periphery of the image world, adding abandoned stone settlements where the Lizahk had bunkered down to escape the grasping frost taking over their world. Randidly could feel Claudette’s emotional truth attempting to find its place in this altered state, waiting to settle and push itself toward emotional stasis once more.

But Randidly continued to work to the point he possessed a blinding headache, unwilling to let the spirit of this image settle quite yet. The darkness in the sky deepened as he pushed back the original foundation to reshape the whole of the image.

Congratulations! Your Skill Grand Perspective (R) has grown to Level 125!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Grand Perspective (R) has grown to Level 144!

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 499!

He felt a flicker of anticipation as he got his Conviction to Level 499, but for now, the mental strain quickly soured the brief flicker in his mood. Randidly raised his eyes and looked at the swirling grey clouds that bubbled along the horizon. He had expanded the scope of the mountains keeping the chaotic weather in check, giving the core area of Claudette’s image a towering barrier of unfriendly granite to protect the interior. However, the emotional force leaking upward from the flawed sword was stronger than Randidly had anticipated; looking at the crackling lightning in those dense clouds, he worried they would soon break out and spread over the world.

The guide-Claudette kept her mouth closed, but looked toward the horizon and hooted her worry. Her eyes were wide and white.

That release would create a horrifying storm that would ravage the world, likely adding some weight to what Randidly had created with his details. But at the same time, the potent tension that currently filled the image would naturally dissipate. Some of the momentum for further change will have been lost.

After chewing on his lip for several seconds, Randidly nodded slowly. “Time to head deeper. I can’t miss this chance… especially not after I’ve pushed things beyond the point of no return with the flaw in her image.”

Randidly pulled out the Visage of Obsession and steadied his breathing. His headache was painful, but he could already feel Yggdrasil beginning to blunt the edges of his exhaustion; very quickly, his eyes settled on the dark staircase and then he was there within the Fatepiece. Randidly began to descend, the slap of his feet against the sturdy steps echoing in the empty stillness of this fake world.

As he predicted, the descent this time required three thousand three hundred and thirty-three steps. Which was fine in this case, but Randidly’s mouth twisted as he approached the gatekeeper of the Visage of Obsession. Right now its manageable, but if the required steps continue to escalate at this rate… Heh. I’ll need to set aside a bit of time to descend to the next level.

A grey-haired Mrs. Hamilton waited for Randidly above the severing shadow that lay across the staircase and this entire world. Randidly cocked an eyebrow up at her and she laughed. “Believe me, sometimes there is no deeper meaning to what gets regurgitated from the subconscious. Or it could be said that deeper meaning of each choice is always assigned after the fact, and some truths are a better fit for the chaos of life than others.”

Randidly shook his head without commenting on her words; he didn’t have time to get into a philosophical debate with a projection of himself. Instead, he glanced down at the screen of darkness. “What do I need to give up this time?”

“Your ability to recognize faces.” Mrs. Hamilton responded cheerily. “Afterward, you will have what people call Prosopagnosia. Your ability to sense images should keep it from being too much trouble for you if you have reason to leave Claudette’s image world.”

“...why is that ability relevant to improving Claudette’s image?” Randidly couldn’t help but ask. Of course, the projection of Mrs. Hamilton just smiled at him and shrugged. After rolling his eyes, Randidly stepped forward and took the step.

Unlike the previous barriers, this one had a bit more substance. The shadows oozed sideways as Randidly’s foot passed through it, the slippery texture making his skin crawl. But he kept his expression stern and took another step. The darkness readily absorbed him, stripping him of one more part of himself in the name of accomplishing his goal.

*****

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Zack Krum hip-checked the Calamity Touched Greater Werewolf and flipped it onto its back. The stone-ground cracked, splashing blood onto Krum’s ankles. The snarl of its approaching fellows set the hairs on the back of his neck to tingling. His feet skidded on the slick floor of the cave, but he pounced upon its back before the monster could recover. His hands slithered around its neck and he wrenched the bones of its spine in an overwhelming burst of torque.

Crack!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ghosthound Inspired Jiujitsu (A) has grown to Level 234!

Congratulations! Your Skill Momentum of Carnage (R) has grown to Level 199!

The goblin-provided torches illuminated the carnage in flickers and flares. Krum’s head swiveled back toward the action, even as he removed his last Stamina potion and drank the luke-warm liquid. BA-Zeta held the front of the tunnel, using its buzzsaw arms to keep three normal Greater Werewolves at bay. Just as a fourth wormed its way through the pile of dog corpses that they had stuffed into the entrance to the cave-system from the streambed, the group of goblins supporting them unleashed a barrage of steel arrows.

Some clanged off the claustrophobic stone walls, but many sank into the vulnerable muscles of the werewolves. With the small opening, BA-Zeta sheered into the thigh of one of his foes and ripped into the throat of another. The third scored a deep scratch across Zeta’s chassis, but the machine planted its foot and slammed its body into the offender to knock it back before it could follow up with more serious damage.

Two more Werewolves snarled and drooled as they squirmed their way into the tunnel. But now Krum could feel his body refilling with the reassuring heat of Stamina. The potion had been brewed in the private warehouses of the Order Ducis; it could restore almost a thousand Stamina in five seconds.

Reinvigorated physically even if his mental energy was running out, Krum hurried forward to crush the two new werewolves. But of course, a horrifying howl shook the stone walls of the cave as he approached.

Small stones on the floor rattled with the explosive noise. His expression turned bitter. Guess it was too much to hope that we would make it through the entire time without this bastard appearing…

As they had suspected, the Werewolves had pretty quickly discovered that the Ghosthound’s protection period had run out and began waves of assault against the human and goblin position. Only a few Greater Werewolves could come through at a time, but Zeta had pointed out early on in their struggles that each beast the pushed through clawed open the entrance a little wider. At this point, two could squirm through at a time.

Congratulations! Your Skill Submission Twist (Un) has grown to Level 289!

Krum snapped the shoulder joint of a Greater Werewolves and tossed it sideways. Zeta, sensing his desire, swept a humming saw through the monster’s waist and left it howling in agony on the ground. They fought now around puddles of blood, a testament to the brutality that dominated the stone passage. The only thing separating the cave entrance from a charnel house were the corpses being hung from changes, rather that being repurposed for a poor sealant on the entrance.

How long have we been fighting? Krum reached up to rub the sweat from his eyes, but really just smeared blood across his forehead. Before he could try and correct the situation, more Greater Werewolves surged out of the passage, followed by one of the tan Calamity Touched variety.

Zeta bravely moved forward and began to attack the frontrunners and Krum hovered behind the machine man, waiting to assist when the powerful foe made its move.

But to both of their surprises, the tan Werewolf didn’t attempt to attack; instead, it began rapidly dissecting one of the corpses of its fellows, left slumped where Zeta had bisected it a few minutes earlier. Its claws made short work of an elbow joint.

“What-” Krum’s mind struggled to understand why it would act that way, but then he saw its purpose as the monster twisted and whipped a severed arm through the air. Krum kicked off the ground and then off the wall, attempting to intercept the projectile. “Shit! It’s targeting the torches!”

He moved too late; the Calamity Touched Werewolf threw the arm quickly and accurately, whizzing the projectile past Krum’s outstretched fingers and splattering the burning torch with flesh and blood. The illumination was knocked from its perch and sizzled out in a pool of blood. The shadows in the passage deepened.

Before Krum had even touched the ground, the tan enemy had done the same to the other two torches in the area, leaving Krum and Zeta in partial darkness. There was a torch back by the goblins and the fighters could still see in the darkness, but not as well as their opponents. And just as Krum landed-

HOOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLL!

A horrible scratching and cracking noise followed the howl as the leader of the werewolves used the cover of darkness to forcefully rip its way into the cave. Krum shivered and swayed, suddenly unsure of what to do. Based on the volume, it is just as superior to the Calamity Touched Werewolves as they are to the base troops. Even if I was at my peak-

“Get back!”

Krum whipped around. A bloody and dirty Todd stood beneath the remaining torch. His arms trembled and his glasses were smudged, but he held four stone spikes aloft with the assistance of the moss spirits. Releasing a sigh, Krum leapt forward and wrapped his arm around Zeta’s waist. As they retreated, he shouted. “Use the horn, Zeta.”

“We may need that as a strategic asset in the future,” Zeta replied. “Perhaps-”

Shadows hid most of the detail, but a claw large enough to palm one of the diminutive goblins ripped through the cramped entrance to the stone tunnel and sunk into one of the restrictive walls. Then it ripped backward, pulling a chunk of stone with it and reveal a glowing violet eye through the opening.

Without bothering to continue arguing, Zeta’s chest cavity adjusted into a sonic cannon. Krum set the brass warrior onto the ground and it unleashed a piercing, high-pitched noise toward the approaching Werewolves. The frequency of the noise was theoretically too high for Krum to hear, but as he stood next to the machine one of the fillings in his teeth rattled in place until his jaw ached.

The Werewolf leader howled in agony and pulled back, leaving its subordinates slumped and mewing from the sonic blast. The goblins were already retreating in good order, so Krum picked up Zeta again and gestured to Todd. The kid jabbed his finger forward and the stone spikes ripped forward to smash into the cave entrance, causing a small collapse. Hopefully, the stone would keep the werewolves at bay for a while.

“You cleared the Rift?” Krum asked tiredly. Todd nodded.

Zeta chirped, almost in surprise. “Then it is time for exploration of a new location. Do you also feel that tickling in your emotional cavities? Is this the human emotion of excitement?”