The group returned from its meeting with the Master and split apart to their respective caves. The young humanoid woman, gleeful after receiving her requested reward, departed from the isolated space and returned to the Nexus.

In a way, Number Four envied her for the quick entrance and exit into this dangerous realm. He wished his own dream could be accomplished so easily, without lingering so long within this place. He had tried to keep his image strong, but the Mountain and Sky both possessed defects in addition to their great power.

If you weren’t careful, those crippling weaknesses could creep into you. Depression from the Mountain, Apathy from the Sky.

But at the same time, the rewards I shall obtain after my long quest will dwarf the pittance she took away with her. Number Four thought with glittering eyes as he sat in his cave and looked at the beautiful array of colored flowers he had gathered over the years. She leaves with a Path. One blessed by the Master, who has seen so many reach for the Pinnacle, but still, a limited tool. Meanwhile, I will take it all.

The entire inheritance of the Master will belong solely to me. And then-

He immediately squashed that thought. He couldn’t allow his emotions to get the best of him. He had bided his time for too long.

About twenty-four hours of meditating in silence to calm his mind, Number Four opened his eyes. Against the surface of the Mountain, Number Four could hear the Grand Pattern howling with its previous force. But something strange was running through the energy radiation coming in from the surface of the mountain. Likely, whatever loud report they had heard had weakened the Master’s energy.

Number Four’s smile snaked outward. A weakened Master was an opportunity that they all pretended that they weren’t waiting for.

Number Four leisurely stood and proceeded through the interior pathways of the Mountain to arrive at the training area of Number Two. Number One might be Number Four’s primary competition, but Number Two was the key to dislodging Number One. They had been entrenched here for so long, but it was just about time to uproot them. Remembering Number One’s bulging eyes when Number Two showed up-

Number Four paused at the entrance to a particular passage and listened. Then he narrowed his eyes and barged into Number Two’s cave: the other disciple was gone.

For several seconds his mind just whirred, trying to understand why the previously cloistered Number Two would suddenly be so mobile. But then Number Four laughed aloud, delighted by this turn of events. In the end, the true explanation doesn’t matter. All I need to know is that this is an opportunity.

Number Four left Number Two’s cave and strode toward Number One’s abode.

*****

Randidly shimmied back and forth, avoiding the powerful blows of the wind whip. A slipstream of patterns formed around him, letting him borrow the natural power of the forgotten and left-behind energies in the universe to boost himself. Each ripple was exceedingly small on its own, but folded together through Randidly’s body-

The shade’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he approached. “No matter how quick you can dodge, unless you can suddenly overcome true power, your parlor trick will earn you no accolades.”

Randidly didn’t answer. The shade stepped forward and slashed with her purple saber. The weapon whistled through the position that Randidly had just been standing, a split second too late to land. But although he remained fine, his patterns were aggressively trimmed by the attack. The left portion of the patterns Randidly had maintained immediately began to warp and fade, as they were forcibly detached from the others.

However, Randidly grinned boldly in the face of this development. His head was pounding from this extended confrontation, but he had finally found the answer he was looking for after several clashed. His mind took on additional strain. He gripped those wilting patterns and pulled them gently back into his embrace.

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of the Hungry Deep (P) has grown to Level 301!

For a split second they seemed not to line up correctly, but Randidly nudged the patterns back into the correct alignment. The wound rippled and faded. After a strained second of re-energizing, his patterns healed and he blasted forward. His palm strike ripped forward, shaking the air with its force. The shade hissed and brought her whip around to block.

Unfortunately, Randidly was already too close for the whip to do much good. The line of his palm strike arched downward, impacting the tightly rotating whip and forcing it to the ground. Perhaps a full-strength strike was beyond him, but without time for the whip to accelerate, he could overcome it.

“Finally barring your fangs, eh? What a hungry warrior you are.” Even as she spoke, the shade pivoted and brought her saber around again. Randidly shuffled left, once more avoiding the horrendous power in the weapon. His patterns were obliterated by its passage, but Randidly didn’t need them this time, Instead, he reached out with his right hand to press against the rigid patterns that the shade used to defend herself. If he could unlock them-

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The shade vanished and Randidly twisted around and cursed himself for forgetting about her ability to reposition herself to that purple saber. Almost blindly, he kicked out with his back leg as he raised Sulfur to block the wind whip, buzzing like an angry bee toward his shoulder.

He felt the impact in his food a split second before the whip smashed him. Sulfur hummed with pleasure, while both Randidly and the shade skidded back from one another. To his surprise, she moved first; she must have been expecting his counter-attack. The shade bounded forward while Randidly still was steadying himself. That purple saber shredded everything in its path as it cruised toward his throat.

Congratulations! Your Skill Unexpected Eddy (L) has grown to Level 435!

He swayed backward, still receiving a thin scratch on his chest that oozed blood. As the momentum of the shade’s attack pulled her forward, Randidly took his chance and did some pouncing of his own. Of course, she promptly smirked at him and released her grip on the saber. It tumbled forward-

Gotcha.

Congratulations! Your Skill (Domain) Resonant Fangs of Extinction (M) has grown to Level 505!

The shade’s eyes widened. It took fully all five of Sulfur’s glowing Fangs, all expending their force neutralization charge at once, to render that piercing power the saber possessed inert. The weapon hung motionless in the air, its momentum stolen. Randidly took his turn to smirk. You can shift a few inches if you want, be my guest.

His left hand shot forward and she did take that opportunity to shift at the last second. But this time, Randidly wasn’t aiming for impact; he just needed to interface with the shade’s patterned defenses directly.

At the last second, his palm strike turned into a caress. His fingers alighted upon her pattern armor like a butterfly. Then he reached within the patterns and found the small ripples between the rigid boundaries. Perhaps because they had been contained for so long, Randidly found immense power waiting for him.

His pointer finger tapped against the armor and those ripples stirred. He borrowed the motivation that bubbled up through the shade's every action and used that to mobilize all that force, in addition to his Skill. All at once, pressure exploded from inside and out of the shade’s rigid patterns.

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of the Hungry Deep (P) has grown to Level 302!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of the Hungry Deep (P) has grown to Level 323!

With a single touch, the shade’s patterns popped and ruptured.

Randidly already torqued his upper body, his left arm whipping around with a palm strike armed with a grey core and a storm of energy. It landed on the shade’s midsection directly and ripped a hole in her side.

For the first time, something bright and hard twisted the shade’s expression from its playfulness teasing as she tumbled backward. Satisfied with his performance, Randidly didn’t follow up and allowed the shade to crash to the ground.

He clenched his hands into fists. His hands still tingled. That’s the capability I’ve been looking for. Her power might be rigid, but you can’t escape the ripples. As long as I can influence those base units of energy in all its forms…

The shade’s side rapidly healed. Her eyes were blazing as she hopped back up to her feet, his shoulders heaving. “...satisfied? Because I can see that you are bleary-eyed and waning. And I am not. If you expected me to surrender after you bested me a single time, you are a fool. I can wear you down. You will never return to the Summit.”

Randidly’s expression shifted to something tired and sad. Although it was disappointing that her playful liveliness faded, Randidly intuited from the desire he sensed from her that this was perhaps the true version of the shade, right before she died. Playful and amused on the surface, but hiding a deep emptiness in her heart. And that last line-

Randidly showed a crooked smile to the shade. “I’ve never been to the summit, remember? It’s… you that’s been there before. I wonder what you found there you now keep yourself from remembering.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about,” The shade snarled. The rotation of her wind whip accelerated.

Randidly kept speaking. “I thought the barrier around the ladder looked familiar. You are the one who created it. You have stayed here and kept anyone else from ascending, consumed with grief. Considering I’ve already met other versions of you as I climbed… is there a version of yourself up there that you don’t want to face? Has the possibility I can unravel that barrier finally stripped away the last of your pretenses?”

“You are exhausted and rambling. Let me put you out of your misery.” The shade charged forward, her saber slashing back and forth.

With that same sad expression on his face, Randidly shook his head slowly. “Yes, I’m tired. But you know what has been the most exhausting part of our fight? Holding back. If I don’t have to do that any longer…”

Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko stirred. Steadily, his Moirae of Ripples Skillset and assorted supports combined together. Breath of the Cosmos to sense energy ripples. The World Tree Sips from Every Realm to pull energy into his body. The Maelstrom Entity Approaches to churn all the forces running through his body out into the surrounding space. Now, Motif of the Hungry Deep to consolidate his understanding and aid him in manipulating all the complicated forces.

All told, the reach of the Ghosthound’s fury was long and his power crushing.

After a long period of hibernation, Randidly’s Nether Core roared to life. Thick tendrils of Nether swam outward, paving the way for the muscular arms of the energy storm that followed. In only a second, Randidly’s swirling maelstrom dominated the surrounding portion of the platform and forced the shade to a skidding halt.

“You… what the hell…?”

“Ready for round two?” Randidly took a step forward. This time, he was the force that caused all the ripples to tremble.