Suddenly, Sulfur was under attack.

The shift in Fiero’s focus came so suddenly that Mind Randidly wasted a second in reacting. By the time fury roared through his blood and he unleashed an obliterating cannon of significance through the arm, several portions of his precious companion had been plundered by Fiero.

Rather than trying to manipulate it at all and ruin the motion of Body Randidly, the Vulpine fuck started destroying Sulfur’s valuable marrow. The vital part that converted kinetic force to energy vanished under the assault of those infinite rat mouths.

“You fucking-” Randidly rage burned hot enough that even his body consciousness swore. But just as he was about to eschew the First Authority entirely and obliterate this threat by wielding the Third Authority: Intangible Burial, Sulfur released a reassuring pulse.

Don’t waste too much. We all are going to be scarred by this. I will not die. It is worth it. Stay focused.

For a brief moment, Randidly’s chopping emotional sea stilled.

Body Randidly pivoted and looked down at his left arm. Bits of ashy armor flaked away from the limb. The biggest loss was from the pinky finger, the entire bit past the last knuckle crumbling away to nothing without its energy marrow. Body and Mind Randidly came back together, thoughts and impressions circulating between them both. For a split second, the whole of him became united by his own certainty.

He felt such guilt. But he could not fault his supporters for sacrificing for this goal, not when Randidly had ignored his own needs for so long in order to chase this dream. Not a single one of them would emerge unscarred. Randidly hated himself for leading them down this Path.

But he would not falter, not now. He would just teach the monsters of the Nexus contrition.

The two consciousnesses parted and returned to their respective roles. Within his body, his violent Nether flows were frothed and invigorated by the presence of the suddenly well-behaved and frigid injection of stilled emotion. Those mixed energies began extemporaneously tracing out patterns. His significance spun through his body. A tremor echoed out from his Nether Core; he was close, so close.

The Nether Rituals writ themselves into existence and slaughtered their way through the mouths of Fiero’s mines.

Congratulations! Your Skill Randidly Ghosthound, Executive of Nether Reborn (GD)(U) has grown to Level 1710!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Randidly Ghosthound, Executive of Nether Reborn (GD)(U) has grown to Level 1760!

Body Randidly stalled slightly, earning a low chuckle from Solomon/Elhume. The truth in his eyes brightened to the point the air began to stir with the imminent arrival of another Pinnacle moment. “I suppose this is your limit, then? Perhaps we should reopen negotiations-”

Randidly felt his Nether click into place, grounded by the waves of chilling emotion spreading through his body. Over the past few minutes, he knew the different Nether bonds had been in place, but they had gone through a testing period; the energy flowing through him was partially shoring up the pathways so it could withstand the full force of his presence. It had just been a few last experiments.

And now, the limiters were removed.

Pantheon Intervention. Recalculating… a shift is occurring within your Nether Core…

His new Nether activated fully. New patterns swirled through his veins. Around his Nether Core he had previously established several Nether Rituals to emphasize and increase his Nether Weight, adding efficacy to all aspects of his person. But as the Nether flowing through him began to accelerate, his Nether Core slowed in its rotations.

The translucent exterior of his new Nether Core began to gleam as the constant motion slowed to a stop. The emerald gem sitting at the heart of the Nether Core swelled to double its previous size. Its facets hardened and sharpened. At the heart of the gem, the small portal to the Sea of Statues widened, making it look exactly like an eye.

Truth flowed out of the opening. His Nether thickened at a visible pace. The emphasizing rituals wavered and collapsed.

Your Nether Core is experiencing unprecedented growth! Attempting to calculate improvements…

Your Nether Core has grown! Your Nether Weight has doubled! (+1101) Your Scope has doubled! (+50,000) Your Influence has grown to 10,000,000! Your insights into Synechdochence have pushed up your capability! (127%->181%) The efficacy of all of your Authorities has increased!

Please note, your Authorities are studded with additional possibilities!

Body Randidly grinned and exploded with spectral flames. Before Elhume could respond, Randidly materialized right in front of him. He raised Sulfur, ignoring the continued assault of Fiero’s Ninth Fist, hammered against the rising note of truth from this ancient body.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Mind Randidly unleashed the crashing tsunami of his new overwhelming significance. The mines wavered and fell back underneath that indiscriminate assault.

When the first punch didn’t quite pancake his foe into the ground, Body Randidly clenched his fist tighter and threw another. Nether Weight blazed around his person, mixing with Primordial Nether Juju to become an overwhelming physical imperative.

Elhume’s Truth faltered underneath the Nether blasts. Again, a strange reverberation rippled out from his foe’s body. The ground cracked and disintegrated beneath Elhume’s feet as the shockwave passed through him and impacted the ground.

Seize raked its new weapons through the image lapping up against him, gaining back ground in Sulfur. Yet Fiero tore back with just as much vehemence. Unreasonability and ancient pain became the emotional claws. The two scrabbled and wrestled against one another while Body Randidly continued to single-handedly beat down his opponents.

From the depths of his Soulspace, a third Randidly emerged. The Alchemist unfurled slowly and spread out his hands; he reached out and touched against the ingredients he had identified during these Pinnacle-tier battles.

Truth. Vessel. Time. Momentoes of Eternity. The Shallah. Hierarchies. The pattern of three. Roles and labels in the universe, and how they can be misused. The strange ripples released as truths clashed against one another, the way Pine ate at the Nexus already and warped an entire universe.

In Randidly’s Soulspace, the rising notes of both a Pinnacle Truth and the Truth from Deviations began to sing in harmony.

What is a Grand Fate? Taking back from the universe and weaponizing the story you tell about yourself. What is a Penance? A sacrifice offered to the universe, for no other reason that it has been the foundation on which I’ve grown.

Mind Randidly ripped his way through mines with frigid emotions smothering all resistance around him. Body Randidly concentrated all the grey flames around his body, manifesting vicious spears that harried Elhume. They stabbed into his thighs and back, not strong enough even with Synechdochence of 187% of piercing through the skin of a vessel, but they inflicted small flaws into his image each time.

All the noises fell away from Mind Randidly and Body Randidly, except the sound of their breathing. Nether Core and emotional sea superimposed themselves on one another. Image became history, emotion became significance. The Eye was a sea that looked up at the world and saw meaning. The Depths opened and breathed out a promise of a better world. Small Nether Rituals and Aether patterns formed and mixed freely.

Space and time around Randidly began to distort.

“FIERO!” Elhume bellowed out the words, his body covered in Nether wounds. “For once in your life, put forth some effort!”

“Fuck you,” Fiero snarled back, but at the same time, Mind Randidly felt a renewed assault of the mines, an endless tide of demand that scratched and clawed and frothed and seemed to eat itself in order to fuel the assault. From concentrating on Sulfur, Fiero spread back out and began to assault the whole of him. In that desperate image, Randidly saw the corruption of Devick, the twisted heart of Mae Myrna, the self-righteousness of so many of the Nexus’s monsters. As a foil, his own truths found their own pure notes.

Randidly and Sulfur gave up small stretches of ground against that Ninth fist, which caused cracks to form across the arms surface. Parts of Randidly’s skin flaked away. But they were superficial wounds and Body Randidly continued to act as a grey-wreathed avatar of vengeance, slamming spear and fist again and again into an Elhume who couldn’t quite catch up, despite the power of his body. Those strange ripples blasted out from Elhume’s form as his truth dimmed.

Through the haze of energies, Pine’s horrible grinding, and the assault of Fiero’s image, Mind Randidly felt a strange tinkling in his Nether Core. His attention immediately shifted, worrying that this new plateau of significance would come with some drawbacks. But he just felt the small ‘pupil’ of the eye opening. Meaning flowed out… and settled into the dense network of connections within Pangu’s Asymptote, working double time to maintain all these Nether flows.

Randidly felt his skin crawling as that meaning formed into a familiar figure within the reflected area: a shadowy woman, her face shrouded in darkness. Nyx, from which he had obtained quite a bit of value. The female figure spoke to him.

…or at least tried to. Her mouth moved so, so slowly. The syllables took so long to form.

Well, just gonna need to pinch off a bit of attention for now, Mind Randidly spared a bit of itself and then focused back on the million other changes happening within him. The Alchemist moved more purposefully, drawing on different elements. He funneled Nether in complex patterns. He resisted the presence of Pine.

Body Randidly drove Acri all the way into Elhume’s chest.

With the notes of Truth within him turning triumphant in his chest, Randidly twisted the spear. Blood dribbled out and he forced waves of destructive, silky smooth Nether into the opponent’s body. Like a match being tossed into a lake, the note of truth sputtered out. Solomon Rex snarled. “Randidly… Ghosthound…!”

“Your truth of selfish predation… we don’t need it in the Nexus.” Randidly ripped the spear out of Elhume’s chest. He was pivoting toward Fiero, who still grappled valiantly against Mind Randidly, when a new change came over him. The strange unbalancing of his inner world was enough to dampen the notes of his truth. His Nether Core wavered.

Randidly’s face warped in bewilderment as he examined the sensation. What the hell?

Abruptly, Randidly felt a tug against his significance. Whereas he had been owed before, he now, somehow, owed Don Beigon.

And the other party demanded immediate repayment.

Randidly’s eyes blazed for a moment, torn between several vindictive moves. You dumb piece of shit. Well, sorry to those who might suffer from this, but…!

Randidly made a gift of all those gathered Grand Fates he had been hiding, Devick snakes of madness and all. Along with a generous wave of significance, an amount that was a pittance to the current him, Randidly ‘repaid’ his debt to Don Beigon.

Balance restored, Randidly looked around him. Pine filled the sky. Elhume crouched on the ground, clutching the wound in his chest, black veins of poisoned Nether worming its way out from the gash. Fiero’s eyes bulged so wide they seemed about to pop.

Randidly smiled. “Alright, where were we? Solomon, Fiero… I think it’s time the two of you reveal your last trump card. Otherwise, we are done here.”