Another contingent of Malloon’s guards must have been waiting for the signal because they marched down from the end of the street almost immediately. Randidly’s eyes flicked sideways to the group; their combined image was one of sticky spider silk and mud. With twenty of them activating altogether, the image inflated enough to pose him an actual threat.

But Randidly’s main thought was that this group couldn’t have earned a moniker like divinity all on their own.

Of course, they weren’t designed to defeat him, just slow him down. Despite their continued approach, Randidly remained poised observing Elhume and Westrisser as well as the surrounding guards. If this group was a pitfall, there would be a blade coming soon to actually give teeth to the trap.

His ears actually clued him in first; the distant thrum of Malloon’s monstrous barrier changed its tune to a breathy exhale of anticipation. Glancing up, his eyes widened. In a surprisingly short amount of time, the barrier had shifted to shunting the dangerous Aether exhaust inside the city rather than out. A previously hidden mechanism activated; all that ambient energy in the sky was compacted into a tight cylinder, with a light seal on the front.

Even upon the energy within his own maelstrom he could feel the slight tug, although he resisted its gravity.

Randidly whistled to himself as he examined the structure and made some rapid calculations.. “That’s… actually fascinating. I always assumed the constant expulsion of exhaust was a costly mistake, but looking at this…”

He trailed off as more and more energy gathered in the sky above Malloon. The swirling power was invisible to the average person, but to his energy senses, it blazed like a sun. More and more force packed itself into the tight cylinder, preparing to erupt downward in a pillar of Malloon-controlled smiting. Divinity indeed. His eyes narrowed as he calculated the threat it posed; at the core, he observed a few drops of kinetic energy condensing into a liquid form. Soon a fist of sloshing power created a core.

In the center of that core, occasionally a pale flicker of ghastly plasma revealed itself.

There was no pure image animating the energy, but its association with the barrier apparently made it cohesive enough to condense into a dangerous form. More Aether byproduct than actual Aether, the imperfections weakening its punch while also making it easier to compress into a tight form. But in terms of raw power, the energy flooding the sky would be overwhelming for most foes.

Yet Randidly could only smile up at the array above him, despite the worry. He had to admit to himself he probably couldn’t face the force such a working could unleash directly. But like all of the Engraving and Nether Ritual combinations of the Second Cohort, the construction was clumsy and rough. Against such a inept work, he had plenty of methods to neuter its power.

His storm of force rushed upward, the winds looping and weaving together like a pack of ravenous wolves falling upon a bleating elk. Randidly nudged the assault pattern smoothly together, cutting into the framework around this rapidly swelling pressure chamber and replacing it before the nascent bomb could destabilize. His smile widened slightly as his Nether edges force scythed directly through the ungainly protections in place and snapped a cap on top of the cylinder.

The sky hummed forward, undeterred. More force was still being compressed into the cylinder, despite his interference; he didn’t want to recklessly trigger the explosion while Jotem, and a lot of other citizens of Malloon, would probably be pulped by its release. But he deftly tied a Nether Ritual over the planned opening, binding it shut.

Several seconds passed. Elhume and Westrisser continued to brawl, shaking the surrounding ground. The first wave of guards sent to subdue Randidly staggered back to their feet. Powerful bodies meant that unless they were killed, they would recover quickly. The group of guards with the swamp-like image marched closer. But more worrying of all, Malloon’s grand array continued to pump energy into the block cylinder.

The smile vanished from Randidly’s face. He watched the pressurized area with increasing alarm. By now, the fist-sized concentration of liquid energy had spread to become a bathtub. The flickers of plasma at its core were becoming quite frequent. Shit. The individuals operating the array probably don’t even have the sophisticated understanding of energy necessary to understand what I just did. All they saw was my energies shooting upward… and failing to outwardly damage their weapon. They haven’t stopped supplying energy.

In a way, it was a good thing. More and more power flooded into that cylinder. The vibrations in the air grew stronger. But based on Randidly’s impression of the cylinder it would soon-

An audible click sounded as the safety released. His heart dropped out of his chest at the thought of that bomb being allowed to simply detonate over Malloon, but the handlers weren’t that foolish. They had simply discharged it early. Randidly’s woven cap warped and growled, but held. Randidly clicked his tongue and caught the arm of a guard that had thrown himself at him. He twisted and snapped the limb at the elbow and tossed him aside. Significance continued to pool in the sky.

Dogeol stomped back toward Randidly with a grim look in his eyes, so he tried to speak reason before they began fighting again. “Your array has failed. I recommend you stop feeding energy into it if you don’t want it to level the city.”

“What is the point of threatening our citizens, Nether King?” Dogeol rasped. “We all knew what letting one such as you into the city might mean. We have resolved ourselves.”

Fury and a strange sort of embarrassment warred in Randidly’s chest. His emotional sea surged together and gathered up everything into his resolve. All that emotional force enhanced his image physicalizations again, causing a strange bleeding effect; his Aether became so intense that it left an impression on existence that lingered for a few seconds, giving the lingering visuals of afterimages.

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If he crushed the guards quickly and helped push Westrisser quickly, the bomb waiting above them wouldn’t even come into play.

Randidly pounced forward, avoiding a sloshing wave of murky impediments thrown at him by the newly arrived group of guards. The few remaining stretches of street beneath him were pounded to sand and silt with his passage. He arrived right in front of Dogeol in a split second, but the guard captain responded remarkably well. His heavy limbs couldn’t rival Randidly’s raw speed, but the stone man settled into a rather stable defensive stance.

His arms shift to block even before Randidly attacked. His legs extended in a stride, his muscles tensing, Randidly blinked. He predicted me? Well, then.

Randidly’s heavy left arm was raised high in preparation for a haymaker, but his forces pivoted. His right foot crunched into the ground, all his weight on the ball of his foot. But with the guard already set into place, he twisted onto his right leg. His left arm still hung uselessly in a forced feint as his body whipped around. His left heel retracted to hip height as he spun and then blasted out and smashed into Dogeol’s side. The guard’s skin cracked and once more he crashed through a nearby building.

Just as Randidly was about to go intervene in the thunderous fight between Westrisser and Elhume, he felt his movements slow. A stickiness suffused the surrounding space. It wasn’t exactly additional weight, Randidly would have been able to rip his way through that, but it was one of those world images that altered the fundamental rules of existence. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the smug-looking leader of the new guards, a slug-like being with stubby arms and legs thrust out of his grey mound of his torso. The being held its arms aloft, its hands releasing pulses of mud-colored energy to restrict Randidly.

It was a world image, one which imagined an existence where movement was severely restricted. With just the fraction of a moment Randidly had adjusted his attack, they had caught up with him. The first flailing attempt must have been made so he underestimated them. The ploy had worked, which rankled.

But ultimately, the point was moot.

“Shouldn’t have done that,” Randidly commented. He didn’t have time to waste on these fools, not when Malloon’s wall continued to pressurize the bomb hanging above them all. His Nether Core accelerated even further, releasing a whisper of anticipation. Flames of Nether Weight sprung into existence across his body and then exploded in a pillar of grey flame. The image restraining him buckled and trembled underneath that, but Randidly wasn’t done.

The waves of force he had taken from Elhume and Westrisser spun down and established a small Nether domain around him. His emerald eyes flared as he took pinches of Nether, modified the environment to his benefit, then unleashed the attacks in a massive volley.

Fifty spears of grey flame condensed in the air and skewered the guards that tried to stop him, several receiving two or three weapons in their body for their troubles. The flow of Aether sputtered and died. He couldn’t achieve peak synecdochence in such a small-scale and rapid working, but he reached 111% of his Nether force on each manifestation.

Considering how thick his Nether had become, most were killed on impact. The restriction on his body fell away.

Randidly stepped and arrived at Westrisser’s back, while the lord of the city deflected Elhume’s attack and prepared for a follow-up.

To the old man’s credit, he clearly noticed and responded immediately; a rather deft piece of footwork shifted him sideways, putting Elhume partially in Randidly’s way if he wanted to continue his dashing attack. Which would have been a good idea, had Elhume not had the same sort of super Perception and enough implicit trust to twist and show Randidly his back.

Even Randidly felt his mind go blank as he realized what the movement implied.

For a fraction of a moment, some part of Randidly urged him to make use of the opportunity and strike at Elhume. No matter that this version of him had no idea of the deep grudge that layer between, a strike here would feel immensely satisfying.

Yet while waves crashed and surged across the surface of his emotional sea, the core didn’t stir. Randidly was ultimately here as an observer, to gain an advantage against Elhume, yes, but only through information about his history. Actually wounding this Elhume in the memory had no meaning. So instead of attacking, Randidly planted a bare foot on Elhume’s back and kicked off, redirecting his momentum back on target.

Elhume hunched over with his feet planted on the ground to withstand the force. Even then, the stone beneath his feet splintered; Randidly hadn’t held back in his step. Yet Elhume weathered the blow well, staggering slightly but pivoting so he could soon rejoin the fray.

Randidly and Westrisser looked at each other. Randidly didn’t know what Westrisser saw in his eyes, but he saw in Westrisser an endless series of calculations and distractions as the leader of Malloon tried to keep part of his awareness testing the wind for any sign of Nether King Bleak Sky.

Randidly’s eyes narrowed. Part of the reason this started seems to be Westrisser saw the chance to eliminate Origin Beasts in truth. I’m glad he failed; the Patron of the Deep definitely lived longer than this in the original memory. But the other reason… he doesn’t see us as a real threat. So he wants to use this chance to draw out Bleak Sky.

His fingers clenched tighter as he raised his hand. Space began to distort. Westrisser’s eyes remained still as his gleaming wings crossed in front of his body to block the blow. The best way to resolve this… is to decisively prove he can’t both fight us and be prepared for Bleak Sky. Once I’ve convinced him of that… I think talking our way out of this mess will be possible. But first-

Randidly followed his instincts. As he dismantled the forceful kinetic storm that howled above his head, he didn’t simply force it into his body. Instead, he spontaneously generated a massive Nether Ritual behind his body. The force became a prayer and he felt the natural world around his stir in answer.

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of the Hungry Deep (P) has grown to Level 1003!

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 905!

The principles of the arrangement came from the sigils he had created around his Nether Core, adding Nether Weight to his total. His coiled muscles began to surge into motion as he unleashed his empowered blow. Randidly released a quick series of sonic booms, his rapid speed igniting legitimate flames across his arm just from air friction.

The gains in power were largely additive, but they did possess a slight multiplicative property. So when an entire storm’s worth of power joined Randidly’s body, the resulting force-

Despite his early confidence, the memory shivered around him. One corner of Randidly’s mouth quirked up, still locking gazes with Westriser over the winged serpent’s crossed wings. Yeah, this should send the right sort of message.