There was a moment of silence as Randidly continued to focus on corralling the rising emotional pressure in his body. Then Lady Iellaya laughed. “Yes, well, if they intend to eliminate all witnesses-”

Even through the din of impacts as images forced their way forward through the relentless solar winds, the huge surge of energy and noise as another army teleported directly into the area marked by the Hush Spike. Apparently, the bypass teleportation functions could only cover a specific area, because the tight clump of bodies that appeared rapidly separated itself into what looked like fifty thousand more soldiers wearing the eye-catching silver uniforms of the Swacc Family.

“Well, at least that explains why they took the time to create those stabilizers and didn’t care about revealing their trump cards. They knew that word about the stolen item would get out; if the Pinnacle Seekers were ever worried about having their defenses breached, they could spread the word.” Lady Iellaya clicked her tongue. Despite the forces arranging themselves in front of their group, she didn’t seem worried at all. “But damn, if Military High Command is willing to give a Tier 3 Citizenship Coin for it… the thing we’ve been scraping contributions to accumulate for almost a year-”

Booom! Booom! BOOM!

To their left, the battle with the PInnacle Seekers continued to intensify. To the right, the fifty thousand new troops unfolded like an origami crane into ten thick cohorts. Half flew down to join the groups heading toward the star array, which one-forth each went toward them and the remnant Engraving Guild forces.

Randidly’s emotional power howled through his body and flames of Nether Weight flickered to life across his person in response. His body temperature began to rise. Below them, the river of bodies in silver uniforms forced their way through the howling solar winds, entering the stabilized space between the white dwarfs.

Randidly huffed out a breath. His images manifested across his body. One eye darkened to black and his lower tail thickened into an armored freight train. The non-armored portions of his skin became translucent and golden veins shimmered within his body. His heartbeat continued to accelerate, pressurizing the blood and Nether that animated him.

But more than either of those things, it was the shift in emotional power that curled his fingers into clenched fists. Randidly buzzed. The edges of his image physicalizations seemed to pulse and breath, as though the life they contained couldn’t just be described by shape. The whole of the image Randidly created was in constant, relentless motion.

Randidly could see it so clearly as the shade raised its daggers and streaked toward their position. Its lack of emotional vibrancy was appalling. The flames of Nether Weight on his body darkened. This is the difference that I felt when I saw the Speculum fight. This internal animation of the image. As though the shape of the image wasn’t the dominant feature; the emotions became the heartbeat, the breath, the characteristic movement of the power.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Torch of Fast and Slow Silences (A) has grown to Level 281!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill the Torch of Fast and Slow Silences (A) has grown to Level 301!

If I can channel these emotions through my images...

Randidly’s muscles tightened. His hair lightened to emerald, but a kaleidoscope of green was contained within each strand. The spreading darkness that clustered around his left eye pulsed and shivered, tasting the universe and liking what it found. And across the claws of the Grey Creature, different rust-colored stains faded in and out of existence.

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 517!

He could feel that the application of this newfound emotional force was uneven. Sometimes his image flared rather randomly; the distribution of potency was random rather than natural. He still had a lot to master with manipulating shape and emotion at the same time, but his work with Claudette had opened a door.

Here, with this infuriating and dull version of Shal, he intended to step across the threshold and figure out how far he had come.

“Teams three through six-” Lady Iellaya turned around and looked at the troops, but her eyes stopped dead on Randidly. She cleared her throat. “Well, it seems like you need to work off some steam. I suppose that smaller group that slaughtered the Engraving Guild is yours? The rest of us-”

Randidly grinned and accelerated, so lost in the rising tide of power within his body that he didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence. He pulled up Acri and let Nether Weight rush down the shaft of the weapon and congregate at the tip.

Stolen novel; please report.

The dull shade noticed Randidly’s movements and screeched. It shifted left and right, seeming to slide through space outward and snap back in a closer position. The movements accelerated and light gathered along the edges of its blades. Yet all Randidly could sense was the decrepit stillness of the emotion within this group image.

Randidly tightened his grip on Acri as he shot forward. The rejection from his Nether Core gathered up all the emotional sludge that had gunked up Randidly’s soul in a huge wave. The heat from his emotions steadily melted through the detritus and released something pure and feral that had been accumulating in his body. The shimmering emotional intensity across his images made him glow in the darkness of space.

Randidly breathed two concentrated streams of fury out through his nose.

The shade image lashed out with its daggers. Randidly gathered three images together and raised Acri. He felt his Soulspace howling with the combined force of Nether and Aether moving in tandem. Cosmic Necessity. The Implacable Price of Exodus. The Vindictive Chimera Smites.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Vindictive Chimera Smites (M) has grown to Level 336!

A horrifying shadow hung behind Randidly as he shot forward, reaching its long claws out from the dark boughs of the world tree. His eyes redded at the edges and the two forces smashed together.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Randidly was blown backward; the shade group image might not utilize emotion at all, but it still was an image composed of twenty highly trained individuals. In direct conflict, Randidly was no match for that force. As he stabilized himself, he even noticed that he had earned a deep gash across his chest. Drops of blood spun lazily in the air. Of course, the thick Nether of his body and his Uncommon Metabolism healed that damage almost immediately.

This was a foe that could rip through the Engraving Guild before they could defend themselves. Yet Randidly was not someone whose body would succumb to surprise attacks. Even Velio Dunn had failed in that regard.

The shade struck again before Randidly had readied himself, quiet and sharp with its blades. This attack dug deeply into his already damaged metal arm, twisting Randidly’s face into a scowl. The massive daggers withdrew, but Randidly stretched out his hand. A resonance built between his rotating Nether Core and the surging emotions he possessed. He opened his mouth as the shade flickered backward, trying to create some distance. “Are you going to make me drag you out of there, Shal?!?”

The only answer he received was raised daggers.

Emotions ran on a frequency and for the briefest moment, Randidly discovered the perfect intensity for what he wanted. The movement felt natural, inevitable. The spotty application of emotion aligned. He stretched out his left hand and the shining trunk of Yggdrasil manifested behind him. Golden roots sprung into being and swirled up to form a cage around the group image.

Congratulations! Your Skill Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil (T) has grown to Level 392!

Congratulations! Your Skill Golden Roots of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 400!

Congratulations! Your Skill Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil (T) has grown to Level 393!

The image manifestation practically sang with life and color, running with the perfect emotional frequency to empower it. The shade spun quickly around and slashed left and right with its daggers. It cut through several of the roots, but not enough- more formed as Randidly poured himself into the effort.

He raised his right hand and darkness congregated within his palm. The Inscrutable Mien of Genesis. Tide of the Void. The Wandering Deity Demands.

In that moment of synergy, a brilliant and holy aura infused his outstretched hand. But that holiness was tainted by the relentless hunger of the Stillborn Phoenix and the domineering tithe that was the birthright of the Grey Creature. With those tools, Randidly pierced through the amorphous shade’s exterior and truly seized upon its heart, meaning to rip Shal out of the group image and face him directly.

BOOOOM!

The impact was less massive than their physical clash, but the shade brief shuddered and paused in its movements. A single body drifted out from its edges, rendered unconscious from the attack. Randidly was smiling and furious and horrified and made nearly insane by the possibility that he could kill Shal without being able to speak to his master.

And that surge of emotional intensity was too much. Randidly slipped from that perfect emotional frequency. He was still expending his wrath at an extremely high capacity, perhaps even higher than before, but the efficiency fell. Some of the extra liveliness to his images faded.

Still, Randidly didn’t miss the chance to move while the shade was briefly listless. The Wrathful Calamity Rends. Piercing Gaze of the Egg. Ripple of Amenonuhoko.

Congratulations! Your Skill Piercing Gaze of the Egg (L) has grown to Level 299!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 380!

The darkness around Randidly’s left eye deepened and spread, covering a portion of his face, as he unleashed a brutally empowered thrust with Acri. It was difficult to balance Ripple of Amenonuhoko with the two well-defined images, but Yggdrasil supported it as best as it could. The weapon traveled through the air and borrowed the discharged images and solar energy from the battlefield below, crashing into the shade’s chest.

Two more bodies seeped out of the shadowy form, but suddenly the whole demeanor of the shade changed. The head rippled and suddenly Shal’s face was there, glaring down at Randidly. His two normal eyes were closed, but the third eye on his forehead was wide open.

“Is this what you wanted, Randidly?” Shal’s projected voice rumbled out. Then the shade disappeared, moving with a grace it previously hadn’t possessed.

Even as his instincts tingled at the sensation of danger, Randidly just grinned. Yes. This is exactly what I wanted.