Despite the different aims of the personalities that swirled around within the maddened Wick, one thing was clear: two of them wished for the current confrontation to end in violence.

Currently, the grey clouds remained neutral, but they definitely kept his Nether from accumulating much influence.

Randidly sucked in energy from the surroundings, corralling ripples and nurturing his bruised ribs with the raw vitality he gathered from the air. The ancient foundation of Military High Command contained plenty of stability to sap. The titan stumbled a bit in its new form, but then bounded after Randidly using its massive legs. The joints flexed and bulged strangely, like alternatively inflating and deflating balloons, but somehow the thing managed to careen forward.

Randidly rolled sideways, taking his time to gather momentum in his storm. Flames of Nether Weight wove themselves together with blasts of kinetic forms, creating a wind that began to force the titan’s grey clouds backward. At the same time, he threw more waves of gravity and grasping roots to harry the titan’s charge. Fortunately, all of the small clashes of image produced a multitude of ripples. They spun and flattened themselves as Randidly sucked them into his body and began to forge a blade to fulfill this thing’s stated wish.

The ground crunched underneath the titan’s heavy foot as it heaved its bulk into the air. Randidly’s eyes narrowed as its rust-colored flesh began to morph mid-leap. By the time it had reached the apex of its jump, it had changed into a three-headed wolf. The central head was oversized and slobbering, its eyes near blind with cataracts. The left head had copper teeth and molten eyes. But the right head-

It was much smaller than the other two, half the size of even the left head. And it yipped and yowled, seeming to argue with itself. Meanwhile, the middle head opened its mouth and belched out a jagged grey spray. Which, in terms of keeping which images were which, was relatively confusing.

Randidly’s mind spun as he crouched. The reason that Wick’s image is so overwhelming is the combination of his detailed image and the emotional intensity he possesses, being the combined form of six souls. The madness doesn’t seem to blunt the former, but if I target the ancillary personalities, I might be able to impact the latter.

Wick might be able to reassert control, but actually, I don’t think the central figure I’m fighting right now… Randidly’s eyes glittered as he looked at that bulging central head, blind and voracious. Grey smoke and bulging, rust-colored flesh characterized its quivering nostrils. -is actually Wick himself.

His body blurred. The grey breath cracked into the ground where Randidly had been only a moment early. This flesh titan might be able to rival Randidly in terms of power, but Dreadful Alacrity still made him nearly impervious to mundane attacks he could see coming. The emotional handhold that Randidly used to decelerate was slightly sloppy, but the three-headed wolf was still whipping around as Randidly pulled out Acri.

The spear hummed with glee to be utilized and Randidly shopped sharply downward. Cosmic Necessity. Grit of the Ascendant Bane. The Inexorable Toll of Exodus.

Congratulations! Your Skill Inexorable Toll of Exodus (T) has grown to 401!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Grit of the Ascendant Bane (T) has grown to Level 533!

Congratulations! Your Skill Inexorable Toll of Exodus (T) has grown to 454!

Skill Levels blurred through the corner of Randidly’s vision as the great branches of Yggdrasil creaked and something monstrous stirred in the shadows. It opened its mouth and released a silent scream that made Acri’s blade resonate. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the relatively low Skill Level, Acri penetrated the neck of the weakest head but couldn’t sever it completely. The right head yowled in fear and already the two Unborn peaked from behind Randidly’s back, salivating at the weak souls contained there.

Randidly kicked off of the flesh titan’s side, but not before copper spikes erupted from along its back, aiming directly for his body. The harsh manifestation of Wick’s image scored several deep cuts across Randidly ribcage, the heat of them immediately cauterizing the wounds. The shrinking ache in his ribs jumped up again.

Randidly hit the ground and hopped to steady himself. The rusty flesh shifted again, twisting until two absolute massive, twig thin arms stretched out of an emaciated humanoid body. An open palm whooshed through the air and cracked against Randidly’s shoulder before even he could react. He grunted as he was sent flying again. The imagined power of this monstrosity was immense.

Cursing, all the while still gathering the natural energy ripples into his bruised body, Randidly crashed against the ground and bounced back to his feet. The second hand ripped toward him now, this time armed with copper claws. The individual images were working together, both releasing an oppressive aura.

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That wasn’t good news.

But Randidly’s eyes locked onto a bulging abscess on the remaining torso of the thinner version of the flesh titan, seeing the weeping wound he had left on what had previously been the right head. He planted his foot and flared his images. Cosmic Necessity. Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil. Chimeric Impunity.

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 550!

Using that thin buffer of impossibility, Randidly squeaked by the clawed palm without being hit. Then he leveled Acri and accelerated, lancing the weapon clearly through the flesh titan’s chest. As he expected, a thin and howling spirit emerged from the gooey pustule, resolving itself into an old and deranged woman who appeared to have clawed out her own eyes.

Before he could even feel an ounce of pity for her contorted features, the two Unborn began fighting over her remains, tearing the fragile remnants of her psyche to shreds. Their skin darkened and their pulsing veins became more obvious. Pursing his lips, Randidly mobilized an extremely dense blast of Nether and inserted it directly into the flesh titan’s body, hoping to buy himself a bit of extra time to create some space.

Then he kicked himself off and sidestepped a halfhearted sway from the copper-nailed hand as it returned to its body. But it seemed the infusion of Nether had messed up the cooperation between the images. This much was manageable.

Congratulations! Your Skill Twin Lingering Shadows of Misfortune (T) has grown to Level 900!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Twin Lingering Shadows of Misfortune (T) has grown to Level 917!

Nothing like devouring a soul to empower a Skill, Randidly thought with a slightly bleak glance over his shoulder at the massive slugs, their cheeks bulging as they choked themselves on the woman’s remnants. But then his attention snapped back forward because the image projection reacted immediately to the loss.

And in exactly the opposite of the way he had hoped, too.

Sure, its seething emotional power ebbed slightly, but it also streamlined itself into a more controlled physical form. The humanoid remained large, but now it morphed into a muscular body with four arms and two heads. Randidly noticed a bulge on its shoulder that probably housed the weaker personalities that had been subsumed, but he ignored that for now. Because the heads were speaking to him.

When they spoke together, their lips moved in unison. “I would give anything-”

The left head sighed. “To die.”

The right head gritted his teeth. “To escape Devick’s control.”

Randidly licked his lips. He tried to keep his voice casual as he gathered more ripples into his thrumming body. “You know, you could escape her control by letting yourself die-”

Both of the heads glared at him. As one, they belched out aggressive blasts of energy, the left producing the jagged grey substance and the left spewing molten copper. Randidly swayed around the strikes and planted his foot for another attack. He almost felt hurt that even the left head had responded so negatively. Well, it was worth a shot-

Congratulations! Your Skill Unpredictable Eddy (L) has grown to Level 465!

Swearing, he jerked his head backward. An abrupt copper missile cracked his cheekbone and ripped away a lot of the flesh of his temple. Still releasing a half-groan half growl, the flesh titan pounced at him and lashed out with copper claws. Again, a wave of pressure tightened around Randidly; even now, he couldn’t measure up to the image force3 released by these truly powerful figures in the Nexus. Even when he gathered all of his methods together and threw them in his foes' faces.

But I won’t give up. As long as I keep pace and survive for now, I’ll grow. And soon, I’ll be able to drag you down. Randidly rolled quickly sideways, but the horrifying image projection followed him. As it drew closer, he could smell its flesh: sulfur and pockets of forgotten dead matter stuffed themselves into his nostrils, nearly gagging him. Its four arms lashed out, acting more like whips than fists.

He shrugged off three of the blows, but the fourth hid a metal glove of copper until the last moment. Randidly sucked in a breath as he felt something fracture in his thigh. He stumbled backward, then flared all the tightly wound kinetic energy he had gathered. The golden veins hiding beneath his skin became blinding.

Both Wick and the monster that claimed it wanted to die recognized what he attempted to do and paused before they pursued him. Of course, Randidly had fought against Devick and was used to the quick uptake of these foes. As soon as the kinetic energy flared, it faded; it had been a feint. It expended a small amount of the force and left his jaw aching to recoil that destructive energy, but it bought him a few seconds to recover.

The leaves of Yggdrasil rustled as he drank deeply of the surroundings, absorbing ambient emotional force and some of the physical vigor of this tireless image he faced.

Congratulations! Your Skill the World Tree Sips from Every Realm (T) has grown to Level 700!

A few breaths of time were enough for Randidly to stabilize his injuries and strengthen the density of Nether in the surroundings. The rust-colored flesh titan glared at him, its collective consciousness recognizing that Randidly had tricked it. In addition, those few moments gave him time to plan.

This rust-colored monster… might say it wants to die, but its ‘assistance’ actually does very little. His emerald eye glittered. Instead… let’s feint toward it, make Wick’s personality believe I’m aiming to cut it out first, and then strike at him.

Helen, today will be the day I avenge you.