Randidly took advantage of the short conversation with Devick, doing his best not to let his fury seep into the work he did within his Soulspace. His chances for downtime had practically vanished.

Only through his new ten thousand Privilege of the Half-Shallah could he create advantages for himself on such a tight schedule.

A new small grey Nether bubble had finally formed after battering his way through Fiero’s projection. With the utmost care, he inserted it into its rightful place in the very middle of his array, filled with drops of liquid Aether and other Nether bubbles trembling from the strain Yggdrasil could barely suppress. Or at least, he tried to; the pressure of the situation seemed to have sank into the essence of his liquid Aether. It refused to relax down from its swollen and bristling form. Yggdrasil’s roots could squeeze and make additional space, but that would again push the Nether bubbles dangerously close to popping.

You need to relax, Randidly told himself, as he prepared for the confrontation he had been building toward for almost fifteen years, as Elhume manifested and unleashed a fist image with a much higher concentration of power than he had previously in the bout over Techetadore’s body.

His pupils dilated. His powerful will flowed through his body, doing his best to eliminate as much tension as possible. He just needed to create the smallest opening, the slightest release in the array-

But he couldn’t. Elhume’s attack took up more and more space, absorbed more and more energy. Too much had been channeled into this confrontation. For too long he had been preparing, too many of his fears centered around exactly this moment. Beyond that, his emotions seethed and crashed in his chest over the matter of Actus Suprem Devick.

He couldn’t forgive her, the indulgent madness she represented, the casual cruelty she wielded, the sharp pain she so obviously enjoyed inflicting. The betrayal almost felt more raw due to his association with the past Devick. Now, Randidly understood exactly the sort of person she could have been. This twisted husk who laughed at his protests made him incandescent with impotent rage.

Then, the matter of Shal-

Relax, Randidly released a breath and stepped forward. But he didn’t raise Acri. Sulfur hummed against him, confused by his actions, as Randidly took a few more steps forward without even gathering any of his images. Elhume’s fist crackled and rumbled as it moved forward. Randidly just stepped into its face and stared straight forward.

He needed a reset on his emotions, in order to operate at the high level he needed to reach. And nothing put life into perspective like the prospect of death. Just for a second, he needed to brush against that atramentous threshold.

Randidly Ghosthound gambled, because in these situations if it wasn’t an overwhelming victory, it would be a loss.

Randidly heard Devick cackle but ignored her obvious glee as she recognized his decision. At the last second, his images surged forward of their own accord, the instincts of his image physicalizations providing a natural defense against foreign attacks. Ghosthound’s Cloak of A Thousand Lightless Horizons and Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil bundled him up and prevented a bone-shattering impact. Yet when the fist landed-

Randidly’s body slammed against the ground as he skidded backward, the energy of his body in chaos. Even his Nether veins were thrown into disarray by the force. After he started Leveling again, he had achieved a Health of a little under 75,000. A single unblocked punch from Fiero had taken 31,289 Health.

He crashed across the strange dais, the image relentlessly tearing through the muscles of his arms and legs, pressing against him from every angle. Elhume stolen image chewed him and spat him out.

But it had also stilled Randidly’s furious liquid Aether, given it an outside distraction. His body might have been discombobulated, but his mind had not. The strain eased. The pressure dropped. The small Nether bubble popped into place.

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The ritual in his Soulspace trembled. Yggdrasil’s roots eased out, allowing the pressure to be totally bourne throughout the construction of energy. The tension pinged back and forth, the give from Nether bubbles steadily calming the liquid Aether. As those ripples passed across the working, they decreased in violence. More tension was absorbed and siphoned off. The reverberations became smaller.

New patterns and flows had the opportunity to begin.

As Randidly paused and stood, he felt the world almost stilling around him. Not literally— already Fiero’s projection doubled in size as he pulled more Aether into this form. The great monster atop the Nexus took a fighting stance, preparing to throw his next punch. Randidly simply sat in wonder, feeling the shift.

Congratulations! Pantheon intervention. Recalculating…

Recalculating…

Updating parameters… Expanding scope…

Recalculating…

Allowing the Pantheon definitional discretion… consulting past examples… seeking explanations…

Recalculating…

Gathering data…

Randidly almost laughed at the meaningless notifications. He felt shifts continuing to build within the working but had more pressing matters at the moment. Wiping blood from his split lips, Randidly considered Fiero’s specter. His Homunculi’s Engineered adaption jumped up in its activation, going from Legendary to Transcendent Rarity as it healed his wounds. The world around him continued to experience the strangest sense of tilting.

Or perhaps more accurately, draining. Everything seemed to be swirling and congregating in a single point.

Elhume’s cavernous mouth opened. He raised his arm. “The Fourth Fist-”

Randidly felt his flows of Nether reorientating themselves to pass through his new creation. The working in his Soulspace stilled.The world seemed to fold in on itself. Randidly sucked in a breath, finally understanding at least the first use of this new creation, without it even being involved in the production of a Grand Fate and a Penance.

Randidly now held a small mirror in his chest. He gazed into it, enthralled.

“BOUNDLESS!”

The world had folded because the mirror showed the world from another angle. Twisted and compressed and warped, but accurately scaled. All the energy without, produced within. Even more bluntly, Randidly had suddenly acquired a second perspective on the layered energy around him. A perfect world of inverted energy. And with two perspectives, the amount of truth he could glean about energy flows had been transformed.

Randidly looked up at Elhume’s follow-up attack and smiled. His irises burned emerald. A strange pressure condensed in the spinning heart of his Nether Core.

Recalculating… Shapes imported through Sea of Statues… Incorporating insights…

Congratulations! By forging a genuine Memento of Eternity, you have obtained another hint of the Shallah! Efficacy of Privilege of the Half-Shallah (GD) has increased. Analyzing foreign-universe Memento… adjusting for relevant Hierarchies within the Nexus…

Nyx’s Hollow Needle has been reclassified as a Memento of Eternity.

Ghosthound’s Cloak of a Thousand Lightless Horizons has been reclassified as a half-Memento.

You have earned the Skill Pengu’s Asymptote (GD)(U) Lvl 1! Muse’s Reverie +1.

Pengu’s Asymptote (GD)(U): A powerful Memento within the Multiverse, Pengu’s Asymptote is the boundary generated when Pengu forced his way out of the primordial egg, separating cloud and clay. Those in possession of Pengu’s Asymptote will experience an extreme boost to understanding; for naught but chaos may exist without its reflected opposite. Effect increases with Skill Level. Gives owner a preternatural sense of awareness and an acute instinct for danger. Effect increases with Skill Level. May provide brief glimpses of a higher order of being. As Skill Level increases, it may become possible to manipulate energies of the reflected world in order to change the present.

Randidly’s energies swirled through his body. He didn’t question his new insights, although a part of him was wary after noticing this came from the Sea of Statues. But for the moment, he looked at the attack from Elhume, pressing in on him from all sides. It was less a punch and more a chokehold, built by a punch not bound by the laws of physics. He saw its approach, inside and out.

Congratulations! Your Skill Pengu’s Asymptote (GD)(U) has grown to Level 2!

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

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Pengu’s Asymptote (GD)(U) has grown to Level 72!

Now that you are liberated, are you ready for this, Yggdrasil?

The emerald canopy rustled in anticipation. Randidly spread out his hands. Acri slithered into position. “Absolute Insight of the Smoldering Abyss. Nyx’s Successor Births Fate. Dawn Opens the Sky and Reality Stirs.