Randidly’s head throbbed. His eyes ached weirdly. His body, while physically fine, felt strangely light due to the small amount of Nether that he had been able to produce in the last few minutes to run aside his boiling blood. His images still felt heavy from his earlier physical manifestation, which varied so much from his usual showing.

A distant part of him wondered if he would eventually find a third configuration, with the Stillborn Phoenix serving as the core.

But right now, he allowed himself to be swept away with the fury tinged with panic he had experienced since he had woke up and discovered the situation in the Alpha Cosmos. Randidly’s fists tightened. Not only had these three come into his Alpha Cosmos utilizing Pullas’s tattoo, but Randidly could literally feel Fiona lashing out at the local idiots to blow off some steam.

Empathy and understanding wouldn’t come right now. These actions were too much. The toying with lives and disregarding their struggles, it resembled the actions of Yystrix at her worst. Randidly burned to feel it.

And it could be said that Randidly had some particular sensitivities to individuals finding their way into his Soulskill. He clenched his jaw so tight he thought the joint would shatter. And Fiona simply stood there, looking defiantly back at him…!

Yet the original reason he had been woken up popped back into his mind; despite the fact the trio had thoughtlessly left him alone, Randidly wasn’t so out of commission that his instincts didn’t react to movement around him. In Selene’s shop, his emotions wavered. A small corner of his heart still functioned, even through the haze of exhaustion. Genuine concern began to weaken the tide of fury. More than that, he understood what Fiona was doing. He had done something similar when he had gone into the Dungeon with the feathered race.

Turning the destruction outward was a common way to handle the feeling of collapsing in on yourself.

Such a resemblance would not be enough for him to forgive. But it was enough that he would grit his teeth and take the high road. He forced his shoulders to relax and lifted his chin. “...get out. Of the Alpha Cosmos. Let’s talk about this later.”

Fiona leaned back in her chair. “Whaaat? But your subordinate invited me to dinner. You don’t want to make a mockery of her hospitality, do you? And this place seems quite comfortable; the people are pathetic, but the food smells are just fine. No, I think I’ll stay.”

Fine then. Upon hearing her words, all the tension and fury came seething back. Randidly gestured and thick roots of air manifested in the small room. He cupped Tatiana’s body rather gently, but simply shoved the tables and chairs back into a tumble to clear some area around himself. Fiona watched the whole thing with a predatory smile, perched like a despot on her chair.

Pullas stepped forward. Her lip trembled. “Randidly, this is my fault-”

He raised a hand, never looking away from Fiona, “Not now, Pullas. One problem at a time.”

Fiona barked out a laugh and stood. “Do you really think you can handle me?”

Nether darkened Randidly’s gaze. He had pumped the room so full of energy that it became a durable rind, protecting the floor and walls. On Expira, he had a direct line to his Nether Core. Most of that energy had been depleted as well, but it had been constantly churning out more in the last few hours. “Within the Alpha Cosmos? Heh. You should have gotten out when I gave you the chance.”

“Arrogance doesn’t suit you, Randidly Ghosthound.” Fiona's body became veiled in mauve light. It crackled and spat as it encountered suddenly antagonistic negative energy. “In a one versus one situation-”

“Not alone,” The Patron of the Void announced, suddenly materializing behind Fiona. She whirled around, but the Patron of Blades scythed into her image from the other side. Under the assault of two of the Pantheon, a huge divot emerged in her defensive barrier. With a sharp hiss, Fiona kicked her chair out of the way and released a pulse of her image to cover the gap.

Randidly stepped forward, rapidly allowing the Grey Creature to arrange his images. His skin tightened to leather and chitin, the dark eggs of depression settled in his eyes and mouth, and finally Yggdrasil ripped its way out of his back, forming two emerald wings. He found the note of emotional affect and ripped open the barely covered weakness.

The floor underneath her feet cracked, despite Randidly’s preparations to protect the space, and Fiona stumbled backward. Randidly felt Fiona mobilizing her powerful image to infect him with an image of taboo, but her first attempt faltered. Randidly heard the vague groan of the Earth Golem Emperor, as he took the brunt of restraining the foreign image within the Alpha Cosmos. Fiona very quickly began to overpower that impediment, while also twisting and blocking another slash from the Patron of Blades.

Yet Randidly didn’t need any extra time. He took a step forward, his body blurring. Even with the extra Stats they borrowed from him, no one could hold a candle to his speed. Sulfur’s massive fist buried itself in Fiona’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her. The Patron of the Abyss spread its amorphous body and pressed itself against more of her image. Fiona struggled and forced her head upright as Randidly stretched out a hand and pressed it against the shoulder bearing the Ascension Pact Tattoo.

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Her eyes were wild and wide, like a cornered deer. At the same time, there was a certain satisfied depression in her expression. That dark emotion sneered at his reaction. Of course he would try and rip apart the one remaining connection that she possessed. How typical. Being tossed out of the Ascension Pact would confirm, in Fiona’s heart, all her worst suspicions about herself.

She would be freed from the guilt of responsibility, allowed to wallow in her self-pity until the end of time.

Randidly pressed his tongue against his teeth, two powerful emotional forces colliding with each other in that split second of eye contact.

His primal wrath demanded harsh retribution for the transgressions and refusal to apologize. A message needed to be sent. His instincts had experienced how any time she had been given the slightest slack, Yystrix had found ways to dig her claws deeper into him. Even if her interference turned out to have spurred Randidly to additional growth, the process had been fraught with peril.

His instincts whispered that Fiona might end up being just as destructive.

And opposite that was a growing emotional center that Randidly possessed, mostly based on the calm and supportive ideas of Yggdrasil. Looking at the raw wound in Fiona’s face, it urged a different approach. Looking at her, it was obvious how much pain she experienced.

Fuck me, Randidly growled to himself. Building up the Nether in preparation for this confrontation had been difficult enough. But now he needed to come up with enough Nether to reach a different solution on the fly?

His body was running dry again, but he had other methods. Randidly began rapidly folding his perspective. He felt Fiona beginning to gather a counterattack, but ignored her efforts. He folded the world flat and opened it up in different directions, searching for a perspective where Nether was plentiful.

Congratulations! Your Skill Yearnings of the Nether Heir (P) has grown to Level 735!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Yearnings of the Nether Heir (P) has grown to Level 750!

Even with the extra Nether density due to the proximity to his core, Fiona gathered enough of her image to force her way through the ambient interference. That fear and vulnerability he had seen in her eyes became a weapon, a sharp blade aimed at Randidly’s admittedly strained psyche. She wanted to tear him down, to make him feel exactly what she felt. But at the last moment, Randidly unfolded a perspective directly based on Fiona.

Within her being, Randidly found rich deposits of Nether. His pupils dilated slightly. Usually he wouldn’t have access to this sort of energy, but just like the tattoos allowed them into his body, Randidly could move freely through the connections and drain this powerful reserve.

Congratulations! Your Skill Yearnings of the Nether Heir (P) has grown to Level 787!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 900!

In just a single second, Randidly followed his intuition and wove a Nether Ritual. The working was a tiny thing, delicate and easy to overcome if she utilized a simple method. All she had to do was sever the Ascension Pact herself. Yet despite all the evidence to the contrary, Randidly weirdly believed that she wouldn’t.

Congratulations! Your Skill Yearnings of the Nether Heir (P) has grown to Level 823!

The Nether Ritual activated, draining a thin stream of Nether from his body. His limbs cramped, complaining again of how thin his Nether had become.

Abruptly, Fiona’s image dissipated. Randidly took a sharp step backward and gestured; the Patron of Blades and of the Abyss bowed and vanished, returning to the realm of the Pantheon. Fiona blinked at her hands, confusion written in large letters across her features. That reaction soon shifted to alarm. “You… what did you do?!?”

Randidly kept his guard up for a couple of beats, waiting to see if Fiona ripped her way through the fragile Nether Ritual he had left within her. Watching her increasingly frantic twitches, the remnant of his fury dissipated and became pity. He bit back a sigh and answered in a gruff tone. “Fine, if you wish to stay in the Alpha Cosmos, fine; you can do so for a while. But you won’t have your image. You will just be an average person. Perfect for staying for dinner, right?”

“You can’t just-” Fiona hissed, but Randidly took that step right back, towering over her. She flinched and put her arms protectively around her stomach where he had punched her. Her eyes once more had that wild quality.

Randidly felt vaguely sick to his stomach as the last dregs of emotion drained out of him. Even his fury couldn’t survive that flinch. Intimidating her so obviously made him vaguely hate himself. He felt so, so tired. Plus, he had his own emotional turmoil to sort out, while still being totally drained from the fight against Duulys. His tenuous grip on the borrowed Nether from his Nether Core flowed back, once more spreading out and supporting the interactions in the Alpha Cosmos.

He pivoted; right now, he didn’t want to even look at Fiona. “Tatiana-”

“I’ll handle the clean-up,” Tatiana smiled at him, her eyes filled with so much understanding that it made him vaguely uncomfortable. “Unless you want to stay for dinner?”

“No, I need… some more rest.” Randidly hesitated. Xershi gave Randidly a cheerful thumbs-up, as though he had enjoyed the show. Pullas just looked worried. Some of the furniture had been shattered, despite his best preparations.

But his mind returned to the arrival on the fortieth floor which had awakened him.

The clank of metal on metal brought him back to himself.

Actus Suprem Devick wrapped a rusty chain around the oblivious Duulys, tightening the binding until movement seemed almost impossible.. As Randidly stood at the window, shock freezing him briefly in place, he noticed the way that the rust-colored madness of the chains began to seep into the man’s skin.

Devick noticed his presence at the window and waved enthusiastically. “Ah, Commander Ghosthound! What a coincidence! Did you subdue this shit for me? Not that it would have been any trouble for me, but I appreciate the assistance. Remember, three weeks until my party. Be sure you come.”

Then she cheerfully dragged Duulys Ambar away.