As Fiona had suggested, the next several floors passed in a blur that was less business and more just a series of journeys. The group moved through alien landscapes and idyllic valleys, depending on the proclivities of the ring owners. However, they rarely needed to fight.

Xershi eventually insisted that they make a stop on a floor where the owner flared its image to intimidate them but made no move to actually engage. The only reason Randidly agreed is that the image in question was of a torrential downpour. Even just flaring the image made the journey much more difficult and obnoxious. So the liger got his duel.

After ten minutes of howling winds and sitting while getting slapped in the face by fat drops, Randidly, Pullas, and Fiona greeted a swaggering Xershi. The clouds parted, revealing a gloomy yellow moon. They headed toward the next ring, ignoring Xershi’s bragging.

The combination of the empty lands and the slight ease in Randidly’s tension due to Neveah’s message made him spend more time taking advantage of the traveling. With a lowered pace, he could keep himself fresh and do some extra training. The Ascension Pact paused every two floors to rest and make a meal. In the downtime afterward eating, Randidly allowed his images to spread out and boom throughout the beneficial Sonara space.

The roots of Yggdrasil dug deeper into the fabric of existence with this deeper echo. The Grey Creature became blurred at its edges, as though it wore a cloak of woe that unwound space with its presence. Yet while the details shifted to their new form, the fire that burned at the heart of the image grew increasingly intense. The hungry pull of the Stillborn Phoenix became monstrous, making even Randidly’s companions uncomfortable with its dangerous proximity.

He also began to press forward to the goal of his impossible task, relying on his Fatepiece. He activated the next layer and doggedly forced himself to experience the forces at the edge of a universe.

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 799!

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Hierarchy of Burden has grown to Level 62!

In the end, this particular training session didn’t last very long.

Randidly trembled as he released the Fatpiece and fell panting to his knees. He had contacted Raymund and received his, Charlotte, and weirdly Helen’s, assistance in bearing the earlier portions of the Fatepiece. All of the electromagnetic layers and the first half of the light radiation were handled. Randidly just had to deal with Entropy and the newest layer, the Ivory layer of the Fatepiece: Spatial Collapse.

The pressure of this newest layer was difficult to endure, partially because it was more of a mental strain than a physical one. At least it manifested in that way.

The best way Randidly could understand it was that some internal scaffolding of his body was removed underneath that force. Or he remained a three-dimensional being, but he was only playing at being one. He was a paper mache version of himself, ready to fold back to his true, two-dimensional form if he made any sudden movements. Unexpected stimuli made him… spatially collapse on himself.

Randidly wiped the sweat off his brow and sat back on his heels. It takes a lot of mental balance to resist those folding forces… and heh, I’m lucky my Stats are already so high. If not, a mistake here would be catastrophic, instead of just gruelingly painful.

His organs, which had been blended by the vicious forces of the Fatepiece, dutifully pieced themselves back together. His breathing eased.

“Ready to move?” Fiona asked with a small smile on her face.

Randidly nodded and stretched. “Sure, in a few minutes. You said the next ring will be dangerous?”

Fiona nodded. The other two gathered around to listen. By this point, the glow from Xershi’s jealousy for the spotlight and subsequent fight had worn off. “Yes, the thirty-third ring. Well, I cannot be sure that he’s still there. But these are the floors where the old monsters linger. They are content with the effect of the Sonara at these rings and don’t bother to fight against Duulys for the highest spot. But… this one in particular always liked Duulys. And because of that-”

“They don’t like you,” Xershi said. “The quarreling spouse.”

Fiona released one of her brilliantly beaming smiles, which Randidly was steadily learning were all artifice. “More than quarreling. But perhaps he simply hasn’t yet spent enough time with me. Until my charm wins him over, it is fair to say a grudge exists between us. Things… might come to blows, even with a group of us confronting him at once. Although perhaps the act of cleansing the Sonara as we did will earn some goodwill.”

“I usually find that the truly old individuals in the Nexus trust favors from strangers even less than naked antagonism and aggression,” Pullas said quietly. “A foe they understand and know how to handle. But a sudden boon? It makes them suspicious.”

Inwardly, Randidly agreed with that dim view of the Nexus population. He packed up his cooking supplies and readied his images and Nether Core. The group started back up again, marching quickly up through the staircase. The journey continued to feel unnerving without any grinding images wearing at them, but it did give them a better ‘ear’ to interpret the images coming from other levels. It was clear that their group wasn’t the only one that sensed a shift; not only were more powerful images honing themselves, but it was clear a lot of parties were moving between the different rings.

The blast of significance that tapped into had been a signal. Now different forces began to stir.

Perhaps part of it was Pullas’s departure from Idylla, thereby shattering the delicate balance of undoubtedly surly Sonara dwellers, but the whole vibe had changed. Even after the Nether Ritual settled between only the four of them, a flow of significance had been created in the Sonara.

Randidly blinked as his senses picked something else. Is that… Devick’s image in the Sonara? Why would she be here?

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Further worry on that front was delayed by their arrival before the golden portal. Fiona proceeded serenely through, as though she hadn’t warned them beforehand of the owner. Xershi strutted after her, seemingly settled into his role as assistant to the vanguard. Pullas wandered next, lost in her thoughts. Randidly came through last, his skin itching at the deafening cacophony of images, which was at least present in the barriers.

Fiona clicked her tongue as Randidly’s senses returned. A hot sun hung above the group. “Is it too much to ask for you to let us pass without a fight?”

“Fighting?” The voice was high-pitched and coy. Randidly’s eyes focused on the speaker; a humanoid with the twitching mandibles of an insect sat on a short rock. “Are we not just here for a discussion? It is quite like you, Fienalora, to inject drama into even the most minor of matters.”

“Fienalora?” Xershi glanced at Fiona.

Toward the metal liger, Fiona waved a hand vaguely; she had bigger fish to fry. To the creepy insect head, her voice turned harsh. At her sides, her hands clenched into fists. “I cannot understand why you take an interest in matters between Duulys and myself, Yuroach. This is a personal matter. Outsiders are not welcome in our business. I believe Duulys has told you as much many times. He would be happy to try and kill you for the unwanted meddling.”

Yuroach clicked his jaws together. “Us old-timers from the original clans must look out for each other. If your grandparents could see how your line has dwindled to nothing… they are undoubtedly rolling over in their graves. Their daughter, breaking an oath-bond! Your obscene image gave them enough worries, without your personality being just as twisted and sick.”

Fiona took a step forward. Her face was still, the skin slack on her cheeks. Randidly felt somewhat uncomfortable, given how clearly Yuroach’s cruel statements bothered her. Just listening felt like an act of participation. “Duulys failed in his duties. I would have gladly held up my end of the bargain.”

“You are barren. How could even Duulys’s virile seed survive in such an inhospitable environment-” Yuroach scrambled to his feet and backed up when Fiona took another step forward and blazed with fury. Vague shapes flickered in the air around her, Fiona’s image chomping at the bit to lash out. Even as he opened up some distance between them, Yuroach’s laughter was mocking. “You dare threaten me now? In my own home? Heh, if you think I allowed you here without making some preparations-”

Yuroach’s image surged to the fore. The ground around them trembled. All across the surrounding stony hills, versions of the insect-headed man manifested. They began marching to surround the group of four, each with a depleted power compared to the original but perhaps with the force of a weak Nether Gatekeeper. However, the real problem was the overarching image of solidarity and a united will. They hefted their varied weapons with a zealous surety animating them.

Randidly felt a sinking feeling in his chest as he scanned the surroundings. Which was why Fiona’s words surprised him.

“Mr. Ghosthound, I believe I have figured out the purpose of this sigil I bear. It is exactly the sort of knife that will cause this overgrown maggot to bleed.” Fiona’s smile returned, brilliant and cruel as she twisted to look over her shoulder. “However, I believe you will need to bear the cost of its activation. Is that fine?”

Randidly felt rather bewildered. His eyes went to the Stillborn Phoenix tattoo swirling on Fiona’s shoulder. Ultimately, he nodded. He wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and Fiona didn’t seem like the type to exaggerate. Plus, he had sensed some hidden features of their bond but hadn’t figured them out.

He was very interested in her method. He felt it as soon as she began, as Nether began flowing between their tattoos. Randidly gritted his teeth; she pulled quite a bit of Nether to fuel the ability in her Stillborn Phoenix. His Nether Core revved itself as fast as it would go, trying to keep up with her demand. Flames of Nether Weight began to sparkle in Fiona’s bright irises.

“Bravado? Cheh, how cheap-” Yuroach began to mock her right as she unleashed the ability of her tattoo. All four tattoos glowed as she did so; Randidly might be fueling the process, but it relied on them all to activate. Both Xershi and Pullas showed a pained expression, as they bore their portion of the strain.

Little pieces of them all spun together. A hidden mechanism activated. Randidly’s skin tingled; the pattern of Nether she triggered bore the shape of the Stillborn Phoenix, but it felt strange and dangerous, even to him.

Scrambling backward amongst his clones, Yuroach raised his voice. “Hum? So some sort of Nether method? Pah. No matter what you attempt, you are and always will be a failure.”

The rotating blackhole tattoo pulsed on Fiona’s shoulder, almost as though it had heard his words. Then it popped off, becoming concrete. It rapidly swelled outward, devouring Fiona’s body, even as Randidly’s eyes widened in alarm. Light and energy were quenched and consumed by the rapidly spreading pattern.

His expression rapidly fell as the effects of this working became clear. This unfolding Nether pattern contained all of his understandings, conscious and unconscious, about the process of Entropy. The chill crept into his limbs, less any sort of temperature feeling and more a horrifying, eternal stasis seeking to claim him.

He drew a deep breath through his nose, but that didn’t provide much context either. The darkness ate its way outward, spreading from Fiona to the ground and then to the surrounding stones. Absence yawned open, lazy and dangerous. Information about this ability wasn’t easily allowed to escape. Randidly looked into the darkness and had only a vague idea of what his fellow pact member had unleashed.

Despite his throbbing headache and still strained Nether Core, he zigzagged backward, plucking up both Xershi and Pullas as he fled. With his high Stats, he carried them away from the epicenter of the horrifying void that chunked a huge area out of the Sonara. So distracted was he by avoiding that dark entropy that they simply crashed their way through a score of Yuroach clones.

All the while, the demand on his Nether Core continued to escalate-

Randidly’s gaze sharpened. He cut off the flow of Nether between himself and Fiona. The light in their tattoos flickered and died.

A horrifying shudder went through the darkness. Then, unwillingly, it collapsed and left a changed world behind.

Color had been bleached out of the rocks. But even more ominously, Aether had been almost entirely sucked away in that central space. All the Yuroach clones caught in the darkness had vanished and any sort of image advantage the man had made on the terrain had been scourged clean. Images fizzled and buzzed at the edges, unable to sustain themselves in this lacking zone.

Fiona swayed, clearly dizzy and weakened by the same lack of Aether. About twenty meters away, Yuroach was sitting on his butt and groaning. Randidly fed a thin stream of Aether to the air around Fiona, trying to provide energy to the woman without revealing his Aether Crossroads. However, she immediately gave him a thankful smile.

She doesn’t miss much, Randidly made a mental reminder to be careful of that. He knew through the Nether Ritual they were united while climbing the Sonara, but that wouldn’t last forever.

“So, Yuroach,” Fiona crooned. She pressed her foot to the ground and shattered it; her briefly perplexed expression revealed she had forgotten about the boost in Stats that the connection to Randidly gave. But she mastered that expression. A light step brought her before the insect-headed man. “Let me demonstrate to you what it’s like to be helpless before a failure.”