Step after step, Randidly devoured the distance on his journey South. Above, the swirl of consequences goaded him forward, hinting at a rapidly approaching event. An event Randidly didn’t quite understand and didn’t quite have a good response to.

He looked up, always up, tracing the bones of what would soon happen. Yet within those subtle reverberations, he found no clues about his own response. As events tumbled toward the climax of the Second Cohort, Randidly felt uneasy as he tried to grasp at what exactly was happening across the Nexus. The war was too big and too unwieldy for him to follow it all.

However, he made more progress in other areas. The Cloak of Utter Night gradually acclimated the right sort of emotional affect, just from constant use on the journey. A wistful, yet firm grip on reality achieved the best result. As though Randidly acknowledge reality and the influence it exerted on him, but he refused to surrender that last shred of control that would allow it to completely affect him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cloak of Utter Night (P) has grown to Level 961!

Congratulations! Your Skill Nyx’s Successor Births Fate (GD) has grown to Level 993!

A tingle ran through the cloak, a hint of the danger he rushed toward. However, Randidly ignored it; after all, he only needed to look up with his consequences vision to see the way the sky was crumpled and folded by the events about to occur.

The entire memory seemed poised over a precipice and Randidly felt frustrated that he wasn’t exactly sure what event would send them all over the edge. Neveah hadn’t yet discovered the source of the tension in the East, but Randidly’s thoughts moved to Charlotte’s brief report. Elhume went after Devick? Or attacked Devick while she was in the way? The only explanation I can think of is he acted as a way to get back at me for not helping with the Arbiter kidnapping, but…

Randidly’s expression became stormy. Well, if he is lashing out now, the result must not have been what he hoped for-

Congratulations! Your Skill Nyx’s Successor Births Fate (GD) has grown to Level 994!

This time when the notification came along with a meaningful twitch from the cloak, Randidly took notice. Especially because of how quickly two Levels arrived for such a high-Level Skill while he was ostensibly just hurrying South. He paused in his steps, finding himself on the edge of a plateau and looking down at a large stretch of fertile lowlands that had been trampled to mud and hell by the passage of the Nether army. This was likely the edge of Cerulean’s domain. A dense contour map arrayed itself in front of Randidly, made of condensed Nether and consequences that flickered and twirled in the sky.

“A deliberate facade,” Randidly clicked his tongue in distaste. Once he knew to look for the pattern, he saw the way most of the dense confusion was artificial. Either the Nether army possessed enough hardworking Nether Heralds they maintained an almost constant obscuring aura, which Randidly couldn’t quite rule out, or he had a welcoming party waiting for him.

Randidly grimaced. Both the Stillborn Phoenix and the Dread Homunculus urged him to charge directly forward and breakthrough whatever waited for him, but the part of him more aligned with Yggdrasil warned how foolish that would be.

But at the same time-

“It’s been a while since I’ve felt my limits,” Randidly’s eyes blazed as he took another step and moved into the lowlands. Within a few more steps, the Nether pressed more tightly around his body and squeezed at him. On the fourth step, he felt the Nether Ritual snap into place around him, rising and tugging at him with a domineering tide.

“You are a fool, Nether King Hungry Eye,” A voice boomed out across the low valley. Hearing it, Randidly started as a wave of Nether even heavier than his own crashed against him. The prepared significance rushed around in a flash flood of energy and then began solidifying as though it was fast-drying concrete. A shadowy army rose from the surroundings, moving toward his position. “You sensed the trap and came forward anyway. You foolish-”

Congratulations! Your Skill the Cloak of Utter Night (P) has grown to Level 969!

Congratulations! Your Skill the Cloak of Utter Night (P) has grown to Level 970!

The cloak might be part of the Regalia received from that strange statue and Randidly felt conflicted wearing it, but when he felt the soft material ignore the grip of the significance and let him squeeze out of the trap, a smile crossed his face. He broke through the edges of the Nether Ritual and found himself along the banks of a sluggish river. He glanced around, finding almost a thousand Nether Warriors arrayed around him.

Uncommonly strong Nether Warriors, Randidly noted with the first brush of trepidation. His eyes flicked around until he settled on the central figure. Others seemed surprised, but this one simply stared. He possessed a squat body and massive furry arms, ending in long-fingered claws. He wore bangles around the bulging muscles of his forearms and had the head of the wolf. A dense network of tattoos covered the skin of his chest, but they were mostly covered up by the figure’s short fir. And looking at his Nether Core, Randidly found it difficult to breathe.

His Acute Nether Nose ached, just trying to get a sense of that energy.

“You are…” Randidly spoke slowly, reeling from slamming against that density.

“The name I was given at my birth is Enmya,” The frightful Nether Leader announced. When he breathed, huge gouts of steam escaped his mouth. His shoulders rose and fell, speaking to the volumes of air passing through him. His eyes glittered dangerously as he scrutinized Randidly. “I am now simply one who seeks justice for what was done to my people. To the heart and soul of us all.”

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Before Randidly could respond, another figure stepped forward out of the surrounding force. This one bore much more recognizable tattoos skittering across his copper skin. “It is our great shame, but he has broken the humble order of Nether Heralds to be named. You make call him the Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil. In this instance, your fate lies within his hand.”

Randidly blinked several times. He looked from the bashful speaker to the annoyed wolfman. The heavy, hard style of their Nether Cores resembled each other, albeit with Enmya’s pushing the limits incredulity. Yet with the other figure present as a comparison, he could see similarities in the construction of the Nether Core, if not the frightful execution. “...you aren’t actually a Nether King. You… you are a Nether Herald?”

“I was aware you were untrained and foolish, but it is a disappointment to find you know so little about your own people. About the methods that have made us dominant within the Nexus.” The Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil shook his head and the air hummed with his disapproval. Significance bubbled and seethed around him, each gesture the groaning expulsion of pressure. He was almost more volcano than individual, each word blasting out significance into the sky that gradually drifted down and buried them all.

Congratulations! Your Skill Yearnings of the Nether Heir (P) has grown to Level 1020!

Randidly winced, his own Nether forcefully contracting underneath the constant precipitation of significance. An expression like a smile caused the Nether Leader to show his long rows of yellowed teeth. “However, I am glad I found you, Nether King Hungry Eye. The last order I received from the Nether Arbiter before she was taken to punish Malloon and you. While I sent an army to do the former, it is a great pleasure to personally handle the latter.”

“I think you will find I am not so easily handled.” Randidly’s voice was light, but already his Nether Core whirled within his body, generating a huge surge of energy to resist the pressure. Flames of Nether Weight flickered to life across his form, even as his three images rose within him in concert. Their unified efforts were tentative, but Randidly felt confident he would be able to mix them all soon enough.

First things first, measure this foe, then escape. Randidly pressed his lips together. Although… this figure defeated Cerulean. In terms of power, few are above him. If I can rival him-

“Blunt methods will not always save you, Nether King Hungry Eye,” The voice of Enmya rumbled out and his Nether Core separated. Randidly blinked, trying to follow the separation and segmentation of the Nether Core. All the while, the Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil looked at Randidly with a smoldering gaze, expelling more and more dense energy into the surroundings. “Existence is not an experience of fulfillment and justice. To live and love is the choice to embrace the bleak and consistent disintegration of those aspects you have embraced. To hold is to, eventually, lose.

“You have taken much from the world. Soon, those gifts will be confiscated.

As the Nether from this ominous figure spread out to cover the area, the rest of the Nether Warriors backed away, giving him space. The horrifying sense of density opened up as the segmented Nether Core continued to come apart. Randidly watched the whole process in fascination, at the way Enmya had created inorganic patterns and layered his Nether Core, like a bricklayer assembling a house. And now the house heaved itself out of its foundations and expanded, deploying itself into an autonomous missile defense system.

Orbs of Nether Weight flame popped into existence as the mechanisms of this being’s Nether Core began to settle into a new articulation. Dense plates of flattened significance condensed in the air and began to rotate around Enmya, with small spurts of flames of Nether Weight around their edges. The consistent blasts of significance up from his person added a constant layering of new Nether. More than ever, the Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil resembled a man who had become a veritable mountain of Nether.

The chunks of significance that had separated soon wiggled and reshaped themselves into snake-like symbols, looping and twisting bits of history that radiated power. Lines of burning black wicker floating in a purple haze. More and more pieces popped off of Enmya, the oppression of his Nether density vanishing but instead replaced with a horrible grinding as the pieces rotated around him.

Most alarmingly, Randidly’s Nether began to break down underneath the pressure from all these churning pieces. Even his images began to shrink before this unfolding monstrosity. The haze seemed outward, turning the surrounding Nether Warriors into vague silhouettes. Randidly gritted his teeth, a realization hitting him as he looked at the black twists of the symbols as they continued to seeth. “...this isn’t just your Nether Core. You hold pieces of others.”

“These are the ghosts of our ancestors,” The Sovereign of the Breathless Vigils admitted. His gaze flicked sideways to the Nether Herald who had said his name, who now scowled toward the ground. “Most hate that I have liberated these, from the tomb from which all black wicker springs. They represent a different time in Nether history, before the Arbiter was anointed. And yet… the scriptures of my people are very clear. Certain actions are forbidden, but mine are not. These pieces cannot be born by Nether Warriors, by Nether Kings, nor Nether Heralds.”

Suddenly Randidly could see the sculpted remnants of ancient Nether Cores in these shifting symbols, expanding and intensifying the influence of this being. From his true Nether Core, which seemed small and pale in comparison to the mountain of energy surrounding him, Enmya released a signal that was picked up and intensified by each, all in a unique way. The ripples blasted out of each symbol in complex and conflicting patterns, yet the individual symbols were arranged in such a way that by the time conflicting patterns reached each other, they had been softened to the point they could slip past each other without any dangerous reactions.

“How?” Randidly released a breath, genuinely admiring. The gorgeous balance he witnessed was almost enough to distract him from the mountain of significance heaving itself off the ground and preparing to charge him.

If anything, the look of hollow pain deepened on Enmya’s features at the question. “My teacher has a defter hand than any to have ever walked across the surface of this world. Now come, Nether King Hungry Eye. Receive your reckoning.”

A massive chunk of Nether history, of its greatest warriors, poets, and leaders, sang a song of destruction as the Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil began to walk forward.

Enmya moved slowly but carved his inevitability into the fabric of existence with every step.

Randidly’s eyes glittered as he gathered his three images together. His image physicalizations condensed across his body, forming into a new formation as the Dread Homunculus became a part of his repertoire. He wore a cloak of night, revealing only his eyes. From those emerald lines, wriggling golden roots stretched outward, suffusing the interior of the cloak’s hood with brightness. His left hand housed a portal to the abyss, devouring light, energy, and even significance.

When it comes to ghosts, Deep within the shadows of his cloak, Randidly barred his teeth. The two Regalia of Nyx resonated with each other, upping the efficacy of his images. He stretched out his arm and Acri straightened into its new, more compact form. Specters flickered through each movement. I don’t think I will come up short.