The short announcement of combat set off a chain reaction amongst the five hundred Xyrt Brigade members. They moved into small groups that had the vague shape of Nether Rituals to amplify their power. Their images rose and gathered together into a dense, concrete blade of destruction. A pulse spread from warrior to warrior, gathering momentum as it rushed around the group.

Next to Randidly, Tuthak Eloise’s strange features twisted into a grimace. Yet there seemed to be resignation there, too. He flowed forward, his movements oddly graceful as his image manifested. “You do not fight against tyranny alone, Randidly Ghosthound.”

The few dozen members of the Upper Sonara released their powers, soon creating a chaotic soup of images that bounced off one another in defiant resistance to the show of force from the Xyrt Brigade. The familiar figures of Pullas and Fiona rushed to Randidly’s side, taking up fighting stances. Randidly licked his lips, falling behind the rapidly developing incidents. He tried to speak out and stall the confrontation. He almost felt like he was missing some crucial fact which led to the current situation. “Vualla, you are now the core of a Xyrt Brigade formation?”

She spat to the side, her own images of pure, concentrated destruction rising through her limbs. “What, you don’t believe me capable enough to earn this honor?”

“No, I-” Randidly blinked as all the currents of force running through the Xyrt Brigade slammed into Vualla’s body from four directions. Her image rapidly inflated, becoming a black dragon of force that raised its head and roared. From small enough to be a scarf, soon the black dragon became a long bus, then a river large enough to wipe out an unsuspecting valley. Randidly felt the desperation and certainty of that dragon resonate in his bones.

His expression turned serious; he had improved since they had last met, but so had Vualla. The support of the Nexus’s most developed military arm wasn’t just for show.

However, even as the Upper Sonara Society mobilized their own images, a new ripple ran through the tight ranks of the Xyrt Brigade. They raised their weapons and crept closer, but now a new image began to swirl around them, a suppressing image. About one person per small grouping produced it, but the structure of the little arrangement strengthened it quickly.

Randidly almost felt impressed as he observed it constrict around the Upper Sonara Society and weaken the resistance almost instantly.

“What a chill touch,” Pullas shivered next to Randidly as her image of death began to waver.

Vualla’s eyes remained locked on his. Her lip curled. “This is an ancient method, one lost to the current Nexus. Before it, all are taught humility. We will speak further, once I have carved the word respect onto your bones, Randidly.”

Randidly barely even registered the challenging words, instead following the strange halo his senses detected, signifying this new image. It even felt familiar. And when Randidly followed that familiarity, he realized the Xyrt Brigade released a subtle world-state image. One fixated on the fact that no other images existed but this rampaging one of destruction.

Oh, Vualla. Randidly’s eyes softened as the images of his allies of necessity began to falter before the adjustments of the image. They clearly hadn’t encountered similar images and struggled to find ways to ground themselves, as the ‘world’ began to shift. Well, let’s see how much you’ve grown. You are at least correct… we need to establish the pecking order to sort this situation out.

Vualla snarled, as though she had heard the rather unimpressed thoughts in Randidly’s head. He belatedly realized that perhaps his inner workings had shown directly on his face— Neveah always chided him on not being able to school his expression well. But those thoughts fell away as Vualla attacked. She leapt forward, the black dragon of destruction merging with her body and rushing forward.

The world-state image wrapped around Randidly, trying to shift his foundations away and cause his image to collapse. Layer by layer it pulled the ground out from under him. However…

Yggdrasil’s canopy rustled in amusement at the efforts of this foe. Its roots could pierce more deeply than this image could quickly reach. Randidly had too much experience fighting against Mae Myrna’s world-state image to be easily swayed. So he stood tall and struck back against the black dragon as it attempted to devour him.

He raised his spear. Because of how much energy was stuffed into Vualla’s body… there were bound to be flaws in her execution. He kept his eyes peeled during his first strike, watching for the fault lines.

Absolute Insight of the Smoldering Abyss. Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil. The Homunculi Pursues Perfection.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Homunculi Pursues Perfection (GD) has grown to Level 1021!

His three images settled across his body in the first arrangement of image physicalizations. His skin turned translucent, his veins bright and golden. The harsh physical adaptions stretched across Randidly’s shins and forearms. His left eye was replaced by a swirling abyss, hinting at the hungry creature waiting beyond.

With his images ignoring the world state image, Randidly thrust forward with Acri. Spear met dragon in a suicidal crash course. A pulse of light and force blasted outward, briefly distorting the nebula around them. Bits of shredded image sprayed in every direction. The Songstress of Absence sang and sang, pulling the broken shards into herself. Meanwhile, his Moirae Skillset grabbed all that extra force and created his usual maelstrom of force.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Yet during the impact, Randidly needed to take several steps backward. His eyes narrowed as he felt his body heating up. Something like anticipation bubbled in his chest. Shit, Vualla, you haven’t been slouching have you?

Their respective images swirled back around their persons as the violence of the clash echoed outward. The Upper Sonora Society clumped more tightly together, still struggling against the pull of the supporting world-state image. Every second they thr

But if Randidly was merely surprised by the outcome of the clash, Vualla’s eyes bulged.

“You… what the hell was that?”

Randidly opened his mouth, but Vualla spoke harshly across him before he could get out any words. “Shit, I forgot what you were like. How frustratingly unpredictable you were. But if you believe this is my limit-”

“You could have reached out, too, Vualla,” Randidly said.

She gritted her teeth. He observed her pulling and pulling, drawing more of the destruction images from her fellow Xyrt Brigade members. “Without your damn Nether Rituals, I would have been caught. So I had to pick between the position I had earned in the Xyrt Brigade, all the effort I had already expended, or you, who appeared to have misplaced all your previous thoughts of me. Some choice, eh?”

Before they could exchange more words, Vualla raised her arms and strengthened the writhing black dragon. The beast’s hateful eyes fixed on Randidly. Through the halos of layered image, he could also feel the way the supporting world-state image began to gather momentum; each moment the Upper Sonara Society failed to resist its pull, they became unwitting amplifiers of the change. Very soon, it would begin to dig down to depths that would require some conscious effort.

So-

Take their image from them. But gently, just that annoying bit, Songstress. Randidly hummed to himself as he settled into another spear stance. His emerald eyes began to glow as he peered through all the surrounding halos of energy, mixing and interacting, the cumulative effect being the propagation of the world-state image. Just as he learned do do with his Nether awareness, he twisted until he could see all those halos arrayed before him in layers and then be stretched them out, pulling them apart and sensing the space between them.

For a split second, Randidly focused on his physical body. From within the depths of Yggdrasil’s dense foliage, a horror with feathers and wicked intentions grinned. He thrust forward his spear. “Lethal Tide of Izanami. Erebus’s Baleful Waltz. Darkness Withers the Horizon and the Watching Carrion Grins.”

Congratulations! Your Skill Darkness Withers the Horizon and the Watching Carrion Grins (T) has grown to Level 1053!

“Your Skills always had too many words to be sensible! More glitter than force!” Vualla gnashed her teeth as she leapt up, the channeled force of the Xyrt Brigade behind her. The dragon swooped down and she became its bloodthirsty fangs as the monster tore across the sky.

Randidly attacked with his spear, a thousand fantasms of the damned and forgotten mimicking the movement. He wove their attacks together into a massive crow, power crackling around its rotten wings and scarred beak. The attacks released enough pressure that the expressions of Pullas and Fiona turned pained.

Yet while those two massive beats rushed toward a meeting, most of Randidly’s attention flicked to that layered place of interactions and connections. His hesitation vanished as he fixated on the flaws in these casual little patterns. In a way, Vualla was right— they could converse further when one of them had been beaten into submission.

All of the free Status points he had gained from his sudden series of Path competitions had been pushed into Discretion of the Apostate Moirae. Now, that Stat had passed the eight thousand point threshold, his heights Stat by several thousand. He found all those tenuous connections, all those sacrificial and closed-minded bits of image that imagined a world of destruction populated by naught else.

Siren’s Dirge of Bottomless Taking.

Congratulations! Your Skill Emerald Eyes and Dove Whispers Certify the Objective (GD) has grown to Level 1508!

Congratulations! Your Skill Siren’s Dirge of Bottomless Taking (P) has grown to Level 1013!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Siren’s Dirge of Bottomless Taking (P) has grown to Level 1057!

The Songstress of Absence tore through existence with a hungry aria. The image manifested in two stages. First a peck on the cheek of the target, almost a chaste kiss, to leave them marked by the crooning absence. And then a second coming, one of crackling event horizons and horrible depth, as the image dragged away its allowed targets to feed the bottomless furnace of hunger it possessed.

It took everything from the target. Randidly had little guilt in gobbling down not only the offending image but also the emotions and history of the target. In the end, these were enemies.

Still, even with a monstrously high evolved Control Stat, Randidly couldn’t manage everything. He hadn’t yet grown to the point that he could handle the most highly trained fighting force of Elhume all on his own.

At least, not without spilling a bit of blood.

The shadowy figure of a crow released a high shriek and raked its talons across the dragon, but it was outmatched. The dragon swiveled and obliterated the crow and then rushed forward. Vualla avoided the thrust of Acri and tore into the flesh of Randidly’s shoulder.

Almost immediately, he felt a stirring from the depths of his body. He could almost feel the mitochondrial engines activating from the impact, reminiscent of the effect of Sulfur. Yet now it was his newly evolved Homunculi’s Engineered Adaption. Dense waves of heat spread from his body as the Stat began to activate, pushing the effect of the Stat higher.

Randidly was tossed backward. Pullas shot forward and caught him, while Fiona roared and stabbed forward with her own hyper-focused image. Vualla avoided the strike and snorted with derision. The dragon lashed out with a claw and cracked the attack.

By then, however, the effect of Randidly’s other attack became apparent. About a third of the arranged forces of the Xyrt Brigade, those that had supported the world-state image, shuddered. Their eyes rolled up into the back of their heads and they began to froth at the mouth.

The world state image stuttered and collapsed, completely eaten away from the inside by the Songstress.

Randidly patted Pullas on the shoulder in thanks as he straightened. Already, his shoulder wound healed up. He grinned over at Vualla. The Upper Sonara Society exploded in power, their images liberated.