Randidly crouched on one of the stone pillars, a storm of natural energy rushing around him. He waited, preparing for his next opportunity. His eyes were sharp as he examined the flows of the Grand Pattern. The sun beat down on his every move, bombarding him with heat and dangerous force spikes. There were occasional wind blades, but those almost seemed more like afterthoughts than actual attacks.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko (T) has grown to Level 557!

Although, perhaps the reason I don’t notice the wind blades is that the natural energy maelstrom is almost too good at what it does, Randidly reflected.

Congratulations! Your Skill Dodge has grown to Level 390!

Randidly swayed to the side, remaining on top of the stone pillar while avoiding the exterior force of a spike. His ears twitched as the force spikes ripped through the surrounding space. There was no visible or sensory way to predict the force spikes, but they couldn’t come from nothing. Right before they erupted, there was the smallest noise as the air compressed into a tight coil. It gave him the smallest bit of warning. His ears twitched again.

Congratulations! Your Skill Philosophy of the Boundless Deluge (M) has grown to Level 485!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Force spikes ripped giant holes in Randidly’s storm, weakening his presence. However, all those energies that originated from his body and dominated the surrounding space were not fragile. Natural force and Nether gushed together in a wave, forming a wind that was so much more than a simple breeze. The storm was Randidly’s significance transformed into a blade, cutting a path forward. His eyes glittered as his observed the flow of the Grand Pattern in front of him and decided how he wanted to slice.

The pattern may be called grand, but there is no particular order to how it unfolds. That made the initial attempts to move forward in this Step difficult, but… if it’s not about a predetermined pattern, but more about reacting and understanding organic arrangements cascade without some maestro manipulating them.

Randidly planted his foot decisively. He launched himself through the air, crossing from one pillar to another. As anticipated, the consciousness above unleashed a barely perceptible attack. The force spike manifested- but one of the three sharp fangs that stirred the surrounding storm shot forward and blocked it. The glittering fang glowed with a red light.

Neutralize.

Congratulations! Your Skill (Domain) Resonant Fangs of Extinction (M) has grown to Level 378!

Congratulations! Your Skill (Domain) Resonant Fangs of Extinction (M) has grown to Level 379!

Pressurized natural force erupted and was met with a bloody light that slaughtered it in a blink. Unlike an image, this natural energy weapon had no follow-up. So Randidly continued to glide through the air until he landed with the soft patter of bare feet on stones.

The inputs are always chaotic. Randidly thought as he sidestepped on the restricted platform to avoid a horizontal force spike. Below him, the mist churned endlessly around the bases of the stone pillars. The Pattern is only ‘Grand’ because it manages to incorporate all of them without losing its own flavor.

It’s like a juggler who lets the audience toss more objects into the mix. That sort of adaptability is certainly intimidating.

However, he had his own weapons. Randidly pressed his hand to his chest as he viewed the gushing natural force and Nether running freely together to create a stable storm around him, despite the best efforts of the force spikes. Every time an attack removed a chunk, the fangs would cut through that area and turn everything into a chaotic mess of raw energy. The flexibility to turn that chaos into the anticipated movements of energy was nothing for his Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae.

Gradually, he was learning. Missing chunks didn’t slow him down nearly as much as they used to. However, his current position was a bit frustrating.

Randidly glanced to his left, where the passage to the Fifth step waited, across a gap of only five meters. He had gone halfway around the edge of pillars in a semi-circle, until he reached the other side. Yet his face twisted into a scowl. “Not yet, huh?”

HIs instincts warned him against jumping into that space. Something dangerous lurked there that he hadn’t yet encountered. Both the Stillborn Phoenix and the Grey Creature were wary. So he turned away from the path to the Fifth Step and looked back toward the way he was guided by the weakest points in the force spike storm. As far as he could tell, it would lead him in a spiral, around the edge and deeper, until he reached the middle portion of the pillars.

As for what happens there, I cannot tell. Randidly sighed. But I suppose that would be considered the halfway point of this Step. Any less than that would be too easy-

Then his eyes widened. He subconscious stepped to the right, his body already anticipating the force spikes that harried him. Meanwhile, his mind was racing after new possibilities. Wait a second. The natural energy of the storm uses me as the core; it comes back and grounds itself in my body. Therefore… shouldn’t it be possible to incorporate any energies that originate from my body in the storm?

Randidly looked down at his hands, still glowing with the golden arteries of his image physicalization. Darkness swirled around his left eye. The streamlined musculature of the Grey Creature lay atop his own. Therefore, my image physicalizations can become part of it in a much more concrete way. And also-

Randidly’s eyes narrowed as a new possibility occurred to him. But before he could begin experimenting, he received a message from Edraine.

Randidly, I have found an opportunity. It will require you to allow powerful beings into your Alpha Cosmos, but I think it is worth it. We have stolen an extremely destructive weapon from Elhume and are now on the run.

Randidly blinked. Just as he was about to respond to her message, another came.

Did you not notice my message? We do not have much time. It is paramount that you respond quickly. Even now we are being pursued.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Just as soon as that arrived, another came.

If I do not hear from you in the next ten minutes-

Randidly didn’t even finish reading the message. He pulled out his Philosopher's Key, spared a glance for the sky above him, then thrust it into the air. Damn, this time acceleration-! I don’t want to needlessly allow powerful individuals into the Alpha Cosmos, but I feel a bit better after the Pantheon could suppress that Patron. Plus, if Edraine believes it is worth it- she’s been gone with Velio for a while. Hopefully, this mountain doesn’t raise too much of a fuss.

The portal opened and several blurs came through immediately, causing Randidly’s eyes to widen as their speed. They were moving so quickly that he couldn’t even distinguish their features. They blurred back and forth around him, as though examining the situation. One even walked up to him and seemed to hum in front of him. Somewhat nonplussed, Randidly closed the portal and observed these beings.

Steadily, they began to slow. The conscious above pulsed with confusion, but it didn’t increase the force spikes it rained down on Randidly. It seemed that portals in and out of the area weren’t a big deal.

“Ah, so the time is accelerated here.” The figure in front of Randidly grinned at him and spoke in a high-pitched voice. Soon he recognized him; It was the very same Patron of the Sun that had been beaten up by the Pantheon. Soon the others settled back into identifiable features. There was an older man with a grey beard, a plant being, a pulsing purple amoeba, Edraine, a folded feather mummy, and the Patron of the Sun. “Certainly, i didn’t expect you to be Edraine’s method. But it makes sense. Your Alpha Cosmos would certainly work-”

“One of my children!” The plant being hurried forward and cooed above Sulfur. Her voice dripped affection. “Ah… what a beautiful and true heart he has… yes, you are a good boy, aren’t you? Don’t you remember your progenitor? Such a generous and kind child, protecting this miserable human…”

Randidly’s mouth twisted as the plant being completely ignored him and poked and prodded Sulfur. He could sense Sulfur’s confusion, both due to the obvious affection wafting off the woman and also the innate connection the Soulseed felt, telling it that she wasn’t lying about being the progenitor of Soulseeds.

And considering their auras… damn, the amount of significance they casually hold, Randidly spared a glance for the other individuals, who regarded him with obvious interest. The purple amoeba waved a tentacle at him. He bit the inside of his cheek. Are all of them Patrons? If they all come into the Alpha Cosmos at once-

Then Randidly’s eyes locked onto a hovering object that the older man dropped on top of the platform with an ominous clatter. Nether seethed in a tightly bound knot, warping even the thick Nether that Randidly released through the storm around himself. His eyes widened the more he studied it. Even his awareness of the Grand Pattern fell away; he felt like he could rely on the storm and his body to weather anything it threw his way.

“What? You don’t want to abandon this guy and follow me?” The Patron of Blooms pouted at Sulfur. Sulfur hummed emphatically in response, even while Randidly began to walk toward that object. It set his senses on fire as he cautiously observed.

This thing… Nether force to follow the shape of Aether? But that destructive aura it releases-

Randidly stopped; Edraine was in front of him, bowing. “I don’t mean to interrupt your current… training, it seems? But we truly need your help. That small token is a weapon being refined by Elhume. Even now, one of his attacks is pursuing us. If we cannot hide ourselves and screen the attack, he will track us and retrieve the item. I understand if you are not ready for that risk, but perhaps-”

“Now, don’t pressure the boy,” The Patron of the Sun said, not without a little irony in his tone. He gave Randidly a small smile and folded his arms across his chest. “After all, he wishes to protect his Alpha Cosmos from unstable outside influences. Letting so many of us in at once might be… dangerous.”

Both the older man and the amoeba seemed to shrug, as though this response was actually quite normal, but the Patron of Blooms turned and eyed Randidly with her dull green expression. She began to release a bit of her aura. An ominous image rose in the area around the pillar. “Oh? Well too bad, child. Even if my descendent helps you, you will assist us. Or else-”

RUMMMMMMBBBBLLLEEEEE!

Everyone flinched and raised their gazes, seeming to notice the destructive environment for the first time. The Patron of the Sun looked up at the sky. His eyes widened. “This… what the hell sort of place is this?!? That is no sun-”

Randidly felt a dismissive snort from the consciousness in the sky. Disdain became the clouds and the force spike fell like rain upon Edraine’s guests, smashing the ominous auras that these individuals released. Within ten seconds, all of them stopped paying attention to Randidly and instead looked up at the brilliant ‘sun’ in the sky. Their images had been suppressed back to within their bodies, now vulnerable to the force spikes crashing around.

Be a real shame if some of their attitude was squished out of them. Randidly smirked around as several force spikes ripped past, cutting a hole in his storm and making the Patrons move toward the middle. But with so many individuals on top of the pillar, there wasn’t much room to maneuver.

Randidly coughed lightly after seeing the Patron of the Sun getting caught in the edge of a force spike and having his finger mashed to paste. “Alright, let’s be civil, yes? If you think that Elhume won’t be able to track you, you can go within my Alpha Cosmos. As long as you behave. In addition, I want to study this… weapon.”

Randidly reached out to pick up the strange bone charm. The purple amoeba trembled and spoke to him. Of them all, the Patron of the Abyss had the most amicable vibe. “Move with care.”

The older man nodded. “There is something… insidious about the energy. It corrodes you, just from touching it. Holding it… reduced a great Patron to this state…” His sorrowful gaze turned to the feathered mummy.

Randidly’s gaze flickered for a second. That… why is that figure so familiar?

But then he shook his head and picked up the item. He shook in in front of the individuals, demonstrating that he was unharmed. The Patron of the Sun’s jaw dropped. The reason it hurts them is they don’t consciously control their Nether; it is Nether in the shape of Aether, so their bodies accept it as Aether without realizing the caustic reaction that results from admitting it into their system. Meanwhile... “Don’t worry about me.”

Randidly opened a portal into his Alpha Cosmos, his excitement building as he toyed with the small item. Each of the Patrons gave him a meaningful gaze as they entered into his body. Not that it wasn’t a risk, but Randidly wanted to examine the bone charm; he felt Nether around it at a density he had only seen from the Nether King before. And the way the Nether was folded, it was another sort of Nether Penance, done in a completely different style than the crown. After studying it, he knew he would be able to make a breakthrough in his understanding of Nether.

He was grinning down at the admittedly creepy bone charm when a new disturbance emerged from the sky. Frowning, Randidly looked up. “You were so well behaved when I had visitors, even helping me suppress them, and now suddenly- huh?”

The consciousness was moving with rising alarm, but it wasn’t targeting Randidly. He observed a fist literally punch a hole in the fabric of the sky and rush downward. Light congregated and pulsed, releasing deadly heatwaves. But the fist pushed through all resistance as it rushed toward Randidly. The sky began to shake as its attempts to slow down the fist were fruitless. The Grand Pattern slowed and stopped as it twisted and began to constrict across the interloper. Yet still it rushed forward, rumbling the entire mountain that some of the pillars cracked.

His skin prickled because he recognized that aura. Apparently, Edraine hadn’t been exaggerating. He straightened and huffed out a breath. Time to defend against Elhume’s attack. Damn, even from this distance, even without seeing them, he can wield so much power…?

Yet Randidly grinned. His heart was pounding.

Once more, it was time to brush against his ultimate goal, the villain who spent billions of lives to accomplish his selfish goal.