All of the movements he had learned started with a step. This one, at this high-level conflict in the Sonara, was no different.

Dreadful Alacrity had Randidly cutting sideways, even as he finished the aggressive thought. His body blurred, destabilizing the surrounding space and allowing him to squeeze himself through even more quickly than should be possible.

Perhaps instinctively, Duulys Ambar’s image flared in a massive burst of silver fire. A paw whipped sideways directly toward Randidly’s position; even if Duulys didn’t have the Stats to keep up with Randidly’s movements, his image believed itself ‘strong’ enough to make up that difference. Speed wasn’t quite enough, on its own.

Snorting, Randidly planted his foot and adjusted his vector. All the muscles and tendons along his leg strained as they experienced the rapid transfer of forces, but the movement was sharp and snappy. Space twisted around his body as he ripped up in an unexpected direction. Duulys’s image crushed the lingering spatial disturbance that Randidly left in his wake, but didn’t manage to reach its target.

Randidly kicked himself off the air to spin above Duulys and then launched himself directly downward. He hefted Acri to pierce through the target and lance him into the ground, while also groping once again for his emotional affects. To his surprise, Duulys’s gaze was already rotating to lock in on his position. Randidly clicked his tongue; This was not a man easy to take by surprise.

Well, if it was too easy, it wouldn’t be fun, Randidly thought.

Even worse, the silver lion began to shimmer with a dangerously light. Its claws and teeth especially became incandescent as it looked up at him. Swearing quietly, Randidly twisted and kicked out a wave of kinetic force in every direction. For a split second hung in the air, as a sudden wall of silver flame seared through the airspace he had been about to enter.

As the image faded, Randidly kicked himself down to descend, relying on Chimeric Impunity to force his way through the lingering heat and painful image remnants. The Stillborn Phoenix could devour some of them, but they were powerful enough that it took time. Even Randidly’s powerful body began to ooze sweat as he cracked the ground with his landing. Such was the power of Duulys’s image that even its departing shadow felt overwhelming, squeezing against Randidly’s skin.

In a smooth movement, Randidly spun his weapon around and aimed Acri’s tip at the hollow of Duulys’s throat. The strike was so quick that not even Duulys could react. Yet right as he was about to land a serious blow, a solid suit of silver flame manifested around Duulys’s body. Acri’s tip skittered sideways, leaving Randidly abruptly aware of the phantasmal silver lion standing over Duulys’s shoulder and growling at him.

He pulled back the weapon with the same smooth return he had learned from Shal all those years ago. Just as he prepared to unleash another thrust, this one backed by a torrent of Nether and Duulys’s experience be damned, a silver rune rapidly drew itself in looping lines on the ground beneath their feet.

Swearing again, Randidly ripped backward through space until he was out of the area covered by the rune. Good thing too, because Duulys soon became the single bit of tinder in a veritable pyre of chemically bright silver fire. The heat wiped itself across Randidly’s face and hands, leaving him slick and dripping. Pullas and Xershi hopped to stand nearby, looking solemnly at the shadow of Duulys within the flames.

“This guy doesn’t fuck around,” Xershi observed. The fire gradually receded, leaving a panting Duulys in its wake. However, where he had previously been bare-chested and with cotton pants, his entire body was covered in heavy silver armor.

The most interesting point was that the armor was clearly a used item, not unmarred or shiny. There were dents and long scratches across its body, a testament to its previous uses. Looking at it, Randidly realized that this was Duulys’s Fate.

“Why don’t you yell again about how you trashed his chandelier,” Pullas quipped back. Her words were playful, but her face was pale and she struggled to catch her breath. Duulys rolled his shoulders and pushed his head side to side, methodically cracking his spine. A helmet grew out from his head, a massive, feathered silver plume that resembled a mane. Despite the fact that the flames had vanished, the heat only increased.

Xershi clicked his tongue. “Why the hell is it so hot? Randidly, you got any ice images hidden away inside of you?”

“Unfortunately not,” Randidly responded. His heart pounded as he considered different ways of attacking this enemy. Purple-black Revelation energy dances across his eyes. He even folded space with his Nether Core, trying to peer a bit into the future. Across from them, Duulys showed his wide teeth again.

Both groups launched themselves into motion. Behind the trio, Fiona watched with an empty gaze, seemingly lost in her memories.

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Above, the valiant silver lion smashed into Xershi’s metal liger, swiping a paw to knock the smaller image off balance and then pouncing toward its throat. Pullas released more blasts of pale death, leaving sizzling scratches in its fur, barely giving Xershi time to scramble back and recover. Meanwhile, Randidly accelerated forward along the ground to meet Duulys for a second round.

As each meter vanished between the two of them, the heat intensified. At three meters away, just out of range for Randidly to extend Acri and pierce through the foe, it became a constant existential grind against him. The air distorted and swirled in strange patterns. The heat wanted to ignite Randidly’s body and soul, leaving him a burnt-out husk.

Shimmering manifestations of the Egg’s Illusory Plume spread out from Randidly’s body, insulating him from the worst of the image’s effects; all he had to handle was the sweat. He ripped through the heatwave-warped space and arrived at Duulys. However, his senses were on high alert as he planted his foot and prepared to thrust.

He didn’t trust that Duulys hadn’t responded at all to his attack. He didn’t want to just attack, but he also didn’t dare hesitate and let this opportunity pass.

Is it that he’s that confident in his armor? Randidly’s thoughts whirled through him. His image physicalizations manifested across his entire body. Or perhaps he’s just confident enough to wait until I strike and then unleash his counter-attack… well, I’ll make you pay for that. You might be specced to fight against me, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for me to overcome you. The Vindictive Calamity Smites. Wicked Waltz of Tartarus. Dawn Opens the Sky and Reality Stirs.

Congratulations! Your Skill Dawn Opens the Sky and Reality Stirs (T) has grown to Level 650!

A pure, unadulterated light spread Acri as Randidly attacked. The primordial churn at the genesis of existence, just the slightest hint of that inexplicable miracle, wrapped itself around the tip of the blade. Heat and space parted cleanly before that higher-order energy. The edge shimmered and danced, insubstantial as a dream.

At the same time, Randidly reached into himself and pulled again at his emotions. He felt the beginnings of a headache but knew he wouldn't be able to clash against Duulys without his affects. All three swirled together. Even more quickly than the previous time, the Grey Creature responded to his call. It arrived second, after the foundational Yggdrasil but marginally before the furious Stillborn Phoenix.

He couldn’t hesitate. Randidly immersed himself in the affects.

The moment that Randidly touched that emotion at the core of the Grey Creature, he was transported back to a moment in his past, one he had completely forgotten about until now. He sat in the teacher’s lounge with his math teacher. A black and white clock ticked loudly on the wall. He had failed a test by such a large margin that he had to skulk home and tell his mom she was required to come to a meeting to talk about his performance.

The teacher crossed and uncrossed his legs, the dull brown covering of the chair groaning as he shifted his weight. The clock continued to tick. An hour had already passed since the agreed-upon time. His eyes on Randidly were sharp. “Did you lie about telling your mother about this meeting, Mr. Ghosthound?”

Randidly lowered his head and said yes. His cheeks burned with shame.

Saying yes was easier than facing the truth.

The Grey Creature screamed with shame, all that energy rushing up and intensifying the primordial energy around Acri. Randidly thrust, his eyes burning. His entire body tremble, craving a release of the burning energy and emotion he held. In no uncertain terms, this was the most powerful strike he had ever unleashed.

The weapon cleaved apart the screen of silver flames around Duulys and arrived at his target. Duulys’s armor screeched in failure as the attack forced it open. A thin line of blood dribbled across Duulys’s exposed neck. His skin sizzled from exposure to the energy.

However, Randidly’s emotions were already fading-- The opponent’s defense had exhausted his offensive. He was panting and his head pounded, the shame slipping from Randidly and leaving him exhausted.

“You truly are a Nether savage. Just like them, you always overestimate your strength,” Duulys laughed as Randidly ripped Acri out of his armor. He raised his fists even as Randidly began to flicker backward. “Not so fast. Pinning Gaze of the Apex Predator.”

The head of the silver lion shimmered, catching Randidly’s gaze. For whatever reason, he found himself planting his feet and raising Acri. By the time Randidly had realized what had happened, a massive paw covered in silver flames was cutting toward his position. Duulys guffawed, loud and triumphant.

Randidly showed his own teeth. Drained he might be from using his emotional affects, but he wasn’t out of tricks yet. You think this is enough to catch me?

He had been steadily absorbing kinetic energy from the image clashes and unleashed it now all at once. His legs were still strangely stiff from Duulys’s Skill, so he ignored them. Instead, he just released all the force he had gathered directly upward in a sudden spike. The expulsion hammered Randidly into the ground, cracking through the dusty floor and driving him down into the dirt. The swipe passed harmlessly over him.

Dust and debris rained down on Randidly’s head, followed by several powerful blasts of silver flame. The area began to smell like burnt hair, but Randidly ignored that. He spread out his fingers, digging them in the surrounding dirt. His toes stretched and squeezed. From his spread limbs, he began to drink of the area’s energy.

All the layered Aether that had sunk into this ground over the last several hundred years became fuel. Randidly’s Skills dug into the area and harvested the energy. His body hummed as more and more energy was stolen, converted, and packed into his body.

“If even this amount of power isn’t enough,” Randidly spoke to the dirt. Above, he could feel Duulys’s image becoming more agitated. He released more and more Nether into the area, taking the place of the plundered Aether in the ground. “I guess I’ll need to dye the environment so that I can do better.”