Neveah had been standing at the edge of the Eastern lands for almost two hours when she felt the horrifying pressure of silence coming from Randidly. Immediately, she broke out in a cold sweat as it spread through her, a sudden winter chill across her existence-- this is what she had feared for years.

The day Randidly had finally pushed himself too far too fast and vanished. His life, so precious and bright, had been extinguished.

Neveah couldn’t breathe, not with the horrible, constricting silence creeping through their bond, chilling her blood, seeping life out from her veins. Without Randidly, she-

Yet then the feeling vanished and Neveah was left blinking and gasping. The sudden shift sent tremors through her body. For several seconds she simply sucked in long breaths, settling into hyperventilation as her confusion did very little to address the rising tide of panic and long-suppressed fear. But very obviously, Randidly was still fighting on the other side of their Soulbond; if Neveah closed her eyes, she could practically see him, their perfect connection giving him so much awareness about his motions and brutal economy of attacks.

Then the silence came again, a horrifying oblivion where he didn’t seem to exist at all. An awareness she had possessed for so long she no longer noticed it had been erased. Neveah was ready for the phenomenon this time, and tried not to dig her nails too deeply into the palms of her hand as she waited. Blessedly, the feeling passed; awareness of Randidly returned. And now that she paid close attention to the transition, the sensation of absence wasn’t even an external force. The Stillborn Phoenix itself caused his brief annihilation, the image consuming or perhaps containing its host during moments of expansion.

Well, I don’t love that, Neveah bit her lip and released a nervous laugh and tried to focus her eyes forward, on her own task. The Stillborn Phoenix would continue its weirdness. Better to find a distraction.

The Eastern Lands glistened in front of her, verdant stretches of jungle, floating crystal spires, and huge systems of sulfurous mustard gasses that rose when affected by the ambient energy of the crystal spires and slunk against the ground as they cooled. They formed ugly yellow arches, drifting before the fickle nudging of the wind. The East was a place of jungle, deep darkness, and gorgeous refracted beams of light.

Yet Neveah’s instincts warned her about going too deep, too quickly. There didn’t seem to be anything strange about the energy, but she felt uneasy. She had been creating a Nether Ritual and an Engraving to protect her when the strange sensation had arrived from Randidly.

You can do this, Neveah. We are bounded. Just like he possesses your understanding, you possess his spine. Her teeth continued to press against her lip until she drew blood. She felt so, so hot, sweating out the extra panic that had exploded in her when she thought Randidly had vanished from her life. Aftershocks from the Stillborn Phoenix’s antics continued to wash against her. Besides, your image has evolved, just like Randidly’s has. And while you might only have a single image to work on, that means yours had received much more direct attention. You can do this.

She repeated the thought several times, until she believed it.

Neveah was about to move forward when she felt the Stillborn Phoenix shatter. Not totally, the image hadn’t been destroyed, but the amount of damage was alarming. And she also could sense it had gained something incredibly valuable, from its newfound abilities to leech silence and motion and even the appearance of life briefly from existence. However, it was wounded beyond easy repair, leaving Randidly with Yggdrasil and his new Dread Homunculus for his clash.

Swearing, Neveah spun around. Randidly is going to keep fighting, not considering how much of his image physicalizations are based on the Stillborn Phoenix or the now-defunct Dread Chimera. Against the Nether King… that double-edged sword might not be enough. He needs me.

*****

Randidly’s body sang with the joy of being able to go all out and test his new capabilities against a dangerous foe. Only a few inches away, Enmya the Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil glared at him over Acri lancing through his side. The Wolfman flexed and tried to bring his hands around to strangle Randidly, but he simply smirked and knocked the attempts to the side.

Primordial Nether Juju demonstrated its overwhelming specs as Randidly forced Acri even deeper into the Nether Being’s torso. However, this current advantage didn’t mean he felt confident in his victory.

Even though his name had been restored and the Phoenix’s heartbeat had retreated to a deep place within his body, Randidly still had trouble perceiving the surrounding environment. Because the hatched Egg of Depression flailed and bulged, screaming and howling, its hunger obliterated by pain and the complex mixture of literal and figurative damage dealt to it.

The lack of a name had liberated it to seek the legitimacy it had long craved. But it also opened up the image to attacks that normally would have just been consumed and absorbed. Randidly’s soul shook from the waves of damage to the crystalized Aether sigils that made up his Soulspace. He hadn’t experienced wounds like this since either his first trip to Tellus or when he had drawn the gaze of Elhume and his Class had been severely crippled.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

His image physicalizations faltered, the absence of the Stillborn Phoenix looming surprisingly large across his body. However, Randidly had already a built-in fallback to this; he switched over to the Moirae of Minute Repercussions Skillset. It didn’t possess an image to give him a powerful shape, but it could modulate between Yggdrasil and the Dread Homunculus.

Enmya first growled out something unintelligible, but his eyes were almost joyous when he spoke. “You… are strong, Nether King Hungry Eye. I can understand why you amused the Arbiter so.”

Smiling wolfishly, Randidly shoved his opponent backward. The Nether Leader grunted in pain as blood spurted out of his wound, but he moved smoothly into a defensive posture against Randidly’s oncoming thrust. Unfortunately for the former Nether Herald, three destructive Skills channeled themselves through Acri with more force than his body and a hasty Nether shield could defend.

Congratulations! Your Skill The World Tree Sips from Every Realm (T) has grown to Level 980!

Congratulations! Your Skill Severing Tide of Amenonuhoko (P) has grown to Level 1040!

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimera’s Suffocating Rebuke (T) has grown to Level 998!

The first Skill pulled energy from the environment to fuel the blow, taking the dense Nether, the violent notes the symbols released, and the desperate pain of the Stillborn Phoenix. The second and third Skills unleashed all that force and more, driven by fury and joy.

Enmya’s left arm, already with a chunk taken out by the egg’s aborted hatching, now completely splintered and collapsed underneath his thrust. A Nether Ritual had already formed behind the Nether Leader for a counterattack, but Randidly whipped his elbow around and smashed back his chin. Ripples of kinetic force bloomed and Randidly pulled all that force into his body as he took a quick step backward. His Soulspace continued to release shudder-inducing waves of pain, but the Dread Homunculus coated even Randidly’s soul in darkness, letting him advance despite the agony.

The Nether Ritual sizzled, spitting out dangerous waves of energy. But the small step had taken Randidly outside of its area; a briefly blinded Enmya had missed.

Condensed Nether and kinetic force congregated into a tightly squeezed left fist for the follow-up blow, but the resemblance to the Stillborn Phoenix brought the habitual accumulation to a screeching halt. He felt a sort of empathy for Enmya as pain shaped like a spear and scaled up to the size of a train ripped through his Soulspace. And in that moment of hesitation, Randidly felt his Nether Core begin to seize; one of the insidious notes from the Nether symbols finally reached home.

After that, they came in dense clusters, the notes almost lovingly layered atop one another so they chorused their discordant notes against the flow of his Nether. The combination barrage brought Randidly’s Nether Core screeching to a halt.

The Nether in his body seethed and roiled. Blood vessels burst. The only relative blessing was how mild this discomfort felt, compared to the Stillborn Phoenix’s constant pain.

With viridian coals for eyes, Randidly gave Enmya a long look. Their two Nether forces struggled against one another, the massive spurts of Nether coming out of his foe’s body once more beginning to add up in the environment, after the Stillborn Phoenix had sucked so much away. The heat in his gaze was the reply to Enmya’s words; the Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil was strong, too.

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 997!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 1001!

But did you really think a little pain was enough to stop me?!? Randidly’s Willpower surged through his body. Despite the suffering of the Stillborn Phoenix, the Dread Homunculus urged him forward. His concerted focus broke down the small impediments around his Nether and sent his core spinning once more. He grasped at the surrounding energy, but the opponent’s energy was too dense, and his Nether Core didn’t have the momentum to activate the First Authority. Instead, Randidly settled for skipping forward and smashing a roundhouse kick into Enmya’s broken arm. The ground collapsed beneath him and the Nether leader was thrown backward.

More invasive notes knifed toward his back, but Randidly cast a contemptuous glance over his shoulder. He raised Sulfur and caught the notes. They might be an energy variation of Nether, but they possessed a kinetic aspect as well. As such, the living arm could consume it.

Another small spike of Randidly’s left arm began to glow, as a portion of its abilities was absorbed.

Such was the force of the kick that the wolfman’s body pierced out of the Nether haze they had maintained around their fight, crashing into his subordinates. Randidly followed with the immediate harshness of a bolt of lightning, using momentum and energy to blast away any assistance from his allies.

A glance around informed him they hadn’t exactly been idle while the duel had occurred; several massive Nether Rituals loomed around their location.

The damage to his Soulspace intensified and Randidly felt himself sinking into the thought processes of the Visage of Obsession to avoid any mental slowdown; he couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. He was surrounded by threats, but there was also an opportunity here. He couldn’t miss this shot at Enmya.

Randidly’s existence was damaged but alight with passion as he touched his limits and pushed beyond them. Randidly gleefully prepared to charge forward… but before he could move, Yggdrasil stirred.

It spoke with a voice of balance and nurturing, to nudge him out of the streamlined awareness into which he had been about to settle. The World Tree looked at the squirming Stillborn Phoenix, the Unborn Duo which looked legitimately fearful, and the vicious drive of the Dread Homunculus that had fixated on an outside target, when the problem was within: The hatched egg, confused and twisted in on itself, trying to settle back to its shape but unable to incorporate what had shifted.

Every moment he lingered here, more of its vital essence leaked out of the Stillborn Phoenix.

His face turned grave. Yes, Randidly could likely inflict serious damage on the opposition leader right now. But it would come with a steep cost.