The crystal ball vision in front of her had fallen into a curious state of stillness, but Devick didn’t mind. She knew that this meant that the final confrontation was upon Randidly and Wick. All the elements were present. Considering the ending of this story, she forgave them for their small transgressions of competing using bland patterns.

In the end, she was a woman concerned with results; the methods didn’t matter as much.

She patted her stomach affectionately, as though these rambunctious two were really hidden there, inside her body, about to be born in a curious miracle. In a way, that was exactly what would happen.

Then her gaze landed on the bound figure and a sharp tang of lemon was added to her good mood. Smacking her lips, she sent another finger of power into his body and healed his wounds. Blood began to flow more freely from the rips in his skin made by the chains, but he didn’t stir at all. Sighing, Devick pressed herself to her feet and walked over to examine the man. She lowered her face next to his and scrutinized him.

“You decided to even kill your image to escape me?” Devick frowned. Then she flicked her wrist and the chains around he body tightened until he popped and splattered across the side of the room. A cracked rib skittered across the ground; half of the man’s jaw was flung sideways. The rest was forced out between the rusted and spiked chains in a peculiar jelly. Devick didn’t even bother to wipe the sprayed bits of gristle off her arm and torso as she sat back down and began to pop grapes into her mouth.

“Your allies… I wonder how easy they will be to find…” Devick’s smile was predatory as she chewed and talked with her mouth open. “You might not know it, but there are consequences for boring me.

“Speaking of which...these two better not make me wait for too long.”

*****

Every moment, more and more violent emotions poured out of the metaphysical vessel of ‘Wick’ and sloshed around in this strange restricted zone hemmed in by a literal fence of Devick’s madness. But when compared to the river of violence that Randidly had ridden while within the Shaft-

Congratulations! Your Skill Breath of the Cosmos (T) has grown to Level 531!

Congratulations! Your Skill the Twin Lingering Shadows of Misfortune (T) has grown to Level 899!

Compared to Pine, your troubles are small potatoes, Wick.

One of the Unborn spirits burped, its stomach full from all of the emotion it absorbed in the last ten seconds. The Stillborn Phoenix, in a remarkable show of affection, cooed at the suddenly sack-sized spirit and slurped up the surplus around those twins. Watching a black hole be affectionate toward the two massive slugs of bad luck proved relatively off-putting. But if nothing else, Randidly was quite confident that the Stillborn Phoenix could handle Wick’s emotional attacks.

However… Randidly’s chest burned as he looked over at Wick, guarded by a small fortress of molten copper that he erected in only a few moments. Randidly could feel the tension building in his shoulders. Their violence and conflict had given him a taste, a taste of the opportunity to avenge Helen. All of the pain and sadness that he had suffered through, the long days of feeling blank and lost, the moodiness, the fact that he had taken much of that out on his subordinates… all those sins could be buried with the corpse of Wick.

Here, today, in this barren place.

Even beyond his usual wild behavior, Randidly felt the edges of himself becoming inflamed and blurred. Distantly, a part of him recognized that some of these emotions weren’t entirely his own. The Stillborn Phoenix ate the emotions coming at him through space, yet other influences were seeping into him. Unlike Neveah’s grounding touch, this had a much more aggravating effect on his disposition.

And just as Randidly thought about her, his Soulbound companion was there, injecting a refreshing gust of rationality into him. Her cool observation swept the creeping aggression away. Ah, so that’s what’s happening here. They are forcing a Soulbond between the two of you, Randidly, using some medium that I cannot quite sense from outside the mental arena. Even if you slurp up all of the emotions, you will eventually be mashed together into a strange mental wrestling match. Do you think that you can overcome Wick’s Willpower?

Perhaps the Randidly of a few seconds ago would have aggressively made preparations for a decisive mental clash, but under Neveah’s influence he took a step back. He grimaced. Probably not.

Then you need to find the medium and destroy it, Neveah said gently. However, Randidly could feel her discomfort growing. The longer she touched his mind, the more she risked touching Wick, whose sweaty palms were already pawing again toward the edge of Randidly’s psyche.

He pushed her away gently. He felt no qualms about serving as a buffer between them. Thanks for the assist, but I’ve got it from here.

He came back to his mental body on this fabricated area and sucked in a breath. With fresh eyes, Randidly looked over at Wick. He felt a flash of amusement to see how furious his superior was as he stared out past his defenses; obviously, this conflict had not gone the way he had predicted. Then Randidly looked away, examining the surroundings more directly.

Neveah’s touch had given him a beat of reflection to examine the dark plain; he felt a flash of embarrassment that his rage toward Wick had distracted him from the make-up of this place for even a short time. Because once he opened his eyes and truly looked, the entire place was a woven tapestry of connections and significance. Aether formed the substance, creating a simulacrum of a location. The ‘plain’ beneath his feet was a hollow shape held in place by a grand working.

And of course, Randidly’s gaze immediately dug down through the intervening arrays and found the pulsing heart of this place, a strange carved piece of metal or stone about the size of a toddler. That item formed the fulcrum of the emotional connection that bled them together and applied subtle pressure toward uniting.

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His first instinct was to activate his First Authority and simply Seize control over the place. Then he could rip his way out and perhaps even harm Wick. But then he glanced around again and saw the tell-tale signs of Devick’s touch. Madness curdled in every direction. His expression grew pained; Seize-ing here would take that madness into himself.

Randidly resolved himself to try that only when all other options had failed.

Forceful Soulbond, huh, Randidly spared another glance for Wick. More and more emotions flowed down into the area, but the Stillborn Phoenix was only too happy to absorb it; due to other concerns, Randidly hadn’t fed it in some time.

Yet despite Randidly’s knowledge of what was happening and what he needed to do, he almost lost himself as he looked at Wick standing safely within his copper fortress. Heat rose through his body. The image of Helen’s corpse flashed in front of him. Her crumpled face came next when he visited her in the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night and she had quickly intuited the reason for his listlessness. More heartbreaking than watching a specter of Helen recognize her own death was the way she immediately felt empathy for him who could have saved-

No, Randidly forced himself to turn away. He kept his gaze fixed on the ground. I would like nothing better than killing Wick. And I can still do that. But I cannot simply allow Devick’s weird obsession with possessing a child to continue without interference.

Not when I’m her latest target.

With Wick locked away inside his own defensive perimeter, nothing disturbed Randidly as he mobilized the swirling, Nether-edge wind around him and tightened his grip on the area. His flames of Nether Weight stretched and swayed. His three images flared too, utilizing their Moirae of Ripples adjacent images to make its power balloon at a ridiculous rate. Perhaps it was a good thing that nothing existed on this plain, because anything in from of his grey firestorm would have been leveled.

“Do you think avoiding the emotions is enough?” Wick bellowed. A wave of emotions lashed harmlessly against his defenses before it was devoured by the Stillborn Phoenix. “If it were possible to escape her fickle whims, do you think I wouldn’t have done it already? But we are trapped; her madness pervades the very essence of this place. As long as we remain here, it will slowly sink into our minds and corrupt us. Better to just accept our fate. We will have a fair conflict of Willpower, and the winner-”

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of the Hungry Deep (P) has grown to Level 599!

The storm became deafening, drowning out the rest of Wick’s words. Which was just as well, because his presence seemed to be an itch that Randidly couldn’t scratch; the more he spoke, the more Randidly would be tempted to drop everything and unleashed his full power against the Commandant without any care for the consequences.

Then, with the Skillset based upon the inheritance he had received from Helen, Randidly began to manifest powerful spearheads in Nether flares that ripped up the heavy black plain beneath his feet. They came quickly, flickering in and out of existence, ripping deep gashes in the strange ground and annihilating the dirt.

Immediately, the surroundings began to tremble; it did not like the direction of his ire now turned. Plus, the work of excavation was not gentle. Even more than the copper barriers that existed around Wick, the ground was thick and insubstantial, calcified shape grown more stubborn by Randidly’s sudden desire to drill downward. However, the spearheads proved effective enough as spades that he made good progress, digging first five meters and then ten meters down in the plain.

The rumbling intensified. Wick continued to shout and demand attention, but Randidly asked the Stillborn Phoenix to slow its slurping of emotions at any time that Wick seemed ready to deconstruct his defenses and stop him. Unhindered, the Nether storm lashed the entire spectral landscape with its power. At this point, this was the most powerful storm he had even supported. It hummed through his limbs until his tendons and veins sang.

How appropriate, Randidly began carving steps down through the matte substance to make the passage easier. He took the steps slowly, ignoring the noise as the blades of Nether hacked and chopped away at the base of the mine to dig deeper. Helen’s original Domain was the Depths of Horror. And now, against Wick, I use her capability to descend to the bottom of this place, where the lingering taint of Devick remains.

However. Randidly’s eyes sharpened. I intend to slay the lurking abomination. If you are watching, Helen, that darkness in your depths… I will eradicate it.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko (T) has grown to Level 672!

Once Randidly had framed his descent in that manner, the steps became easier. The winds churned with even more power and potency. Wick ceased to be a distraction. He could feel his Nether Core humming with significance. A strange momentum built as he descended. He could almost feel her hovering above his shoulder.

Helen had always had his best interests at heart, but she did not start out as an easy person to get along with. She cursed often and met most problems with violence. Even in their final days together, she was demanding and vindictive.

Randidly took another step. How appropriate that the woman Wick killed would now give Randidly the tools to foil him.

The rumbling of the plain became almost the entirety of sensation, rubbing away any other sound or texture that would reach him. Even ripples were steamrolled before the roiling displeasure of the black plain. Above, Randidly could distantly sense that the chain fence binding of Devick’s madness began to tighten urgently.

However, only a few meters remained and his grey firestorm carried hatchet blades to rip away the last few layers of shape around the carved stone-

BOOOOM!

Randidly’s head jerked sharply upward. That ripple had been felt clearly through the entire area. Wick finally could stand it no longer and ripped apart his defenses. A portion of Randidly’s storm had remained above, churning and growing with power from his efforts down below. Without hesitating, Wick had slammed directly into that storm and forced it backward.

The Commandant manifested at the edge of the hole Randidly had made, looking down the black steps at his subordinate. Those liquid, iridescent rainbow emotions slashed at him, but Wick weathered the attacks. His shoulders heaved. “Fine then. Let’s settle this-”

Randidly gestured slightly. Almost sulkily, the Stillborn Phoenix gurgled for a half-second then regurgitated some of the emotions it had absorbed earlier and now refined. These speared Wick in the chest and threw him back before the parasitic emotions began to pierce toward his eyes and nostrils to invade his body.

Too late, Randidly thought distantly. A few more Nether bursts tore away the last crusted covering of the carved stone. Immediately, he felt it tug at his Willpower once more, urging Randidly to turn around and clash pointlessly against Wick.

His hand hesitated, then curled into a fist. He cut with just his hand, a simple thrust. An attack that he had practiced with Helen millions of times.

With a tinkling crash, the carved stone exploded.