Aegiant accelerated toward Randidly, moving with a speed that would only be possible if he had broken past the physical limitations of the System. Randidly’s lips twitched, but honestly he couldn’t muster up any sort of indignation.

After all the unfair things he did, this Samsara boosting the power of his past opponents was a pill he could safely swallow.

His images were gone and his Nether Core was absent from his chest; the only accumulation of current power present was the Truths rioting in his Soulspace, which was quickly approaching the point of meltdown. And a few quiet tugs seemed to confirm that trying to extricate these Truths from one another at this point would only hasten the situation. Without access to the raw forms of Aether and Nether, that meant his only viable opportunity for escaping the Samsara… would be to form his Penance.

But I still don’t even have a clue. Randidly gritted his teeth, but raised his spear. Other than that… well, my Grand Fate definitely has a response to this environment. If I can have some downtime to study the barrier and search for flaws…

Congratulations! Your Grand Fate Temporal Thaumaturgy Mends Eternity has grown to Level 200! Your understanding of time has deepened!

While a wisp of his will began to dig into the environment, he faced forward with a straight spine and a spear held in readiness. If nothing else, he had a lot of experience working through mental blocks with a spear in his hand.

As he raised his spear, Aegiant responded with a flicking, viper-like thrust toward Randidly’s neck that would have made Shal proud. Randidly swept his spear sideways to knock the blow aside, but Aegiant was already pivoting on the ball of his foot, bringing the butt of his spear hammering toward Randidly’s ribs.

Randidly’s eyes flashed as he took a half step back, far enough to turn the blow into a glancing one, but not far enough to give Aegiant space to shift his move again. Despite the fineness of his response, Aegiant grinned. “A mistake, boy.”

God, I don’t miss people calling me boy, and feeling like it was deserved… Randidly reflected. Then Aegiant blazed with a powerful, all-consuming image of the sun. Heat and light warped space; the image wasn’t detailed enough to actually be this powerful, but the Truth of this memory pressed its entire hand against the scale, upping the danger.

Even so, Randidly ignored the pain of the burns and hopped only a short distance backward. When his feet hit the ground, he shifted his weight forward and thrust. Aegiant shimmied his muscled body to the side, but Randidly calmly withdrew his spear and unleashed another thrust. This one Aegiant attempted to intercept, but Randidly drew a half-circle with the tip of his spear and knocked the other weapon to the side.

His third thrust approached an almost defensively heart of Aegiant, easily sheering through the opponent’s image with just concentrated kinetic energy.

“You-!” Aegiant’s eyes bulged and he scrambled back with unnaturally quick speed he didn’t originally possess. However, Randidly was a few barriers beyond the System limitation. The point of his spear pricked through the opponent’s leather armor. The entire memory shuddered around him. Time froze and fractured as the Truth made itself known.

Aegiant is more powerful than Randidly Ghosthound.

This time, due to his heightened focus, he caught an expulsion of significance from the Samsara. It expended quite a bit of energy when the Truth was forcefully used to suppress his actions.

“Yea, yea,” Randidly clicked his tongue as the environment shifted around him again, gobbling down the released significance. Now that he knew what to expect, he could feel the transition much more clearly. His Grand Fate buzzed against the shifting forces as it tried to understand the mechanism. Definitely, the overwhelming power of this Samsara made it difficult to get hold on it, but it was definitely possible to interrupt the shifts.

His mouth twisted slightly. Provided Randidly had enough power, which wasn’t entirely clear, without true access to either his images or Nether Core. Perhaps he could try and gather enough kinetic energy in a few brief clashes to help fuel the process…?

The familiar portrait of the Nexus web appeared around them. He floated in the air in a meditative sitting posture, while significance drifted steadily down toward the abyss waiting below. Struck by a sudden impulse, Randidly reached out and took some of that significance into his body. He might not have a Nether Core, but the Weight of his own existence had already reached the point that the pressure in this place barely bothered him.

To his delight, the significance acquiesced to his will and settled in his chest. Oho? Won’t be as steady as the original, but looks like its entirely possible to build up my accumulations from scratch in this place. Images should work the same way. Shaping the Songstress of Absence or the new Tiamat would be a bit complicated… but just like before, Yggdrasil can start with just a seed…

While he turned over these new possibilities, Randidly looked up. Velio Dunn rushed at him like a cataclysmic comet, his elaborate tattoos covering his arms. The man’s wild satisfaction at the thought of eliminating Randidly was broadcast in his wide grin. “This is where you die, Mr. Ghosthound. Truly, it’s been a pleasure.”

In terms of physical power, this memory foe had received a boost for the second attempt as well. Having started at much higher base specs, Velio would have turned memory Aegiant into a skid mark as he cruised past. Randidly barred his teeth, adrenaline coursing through him at the thought of the challenge. His thoughts focused on the small possibility in his chest, which he rapidly carved half-remembered shapes that had become the foundation for his Nether Core. The nascent Yggdrasil wiggled.

Velio chopped down with his weapon. Randidly thrust out his spear. The impact shook the air and forced him a few meters backward. But also, the force was enough to crack open the edge of the seed. A few small green shoots, lined with golden lettering, wormed their way out. The shoots tested the air, curious about the new environment.

Velio’s body accelerated, meaning Randidly couldn’t give the young Yggdrasil much more attention. Saber strikes swept back and forth, a storm of violence that gradually pushed Randidly back. For his part, Randidly could almost feel the Truth of this memory pulsating with pleasure. As he acted in accordance with the boundaries of this Samsara, its sticky feelers stretched out to sink anchors into Randidly keeping him locked here.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He hated the feeling, gnashing his teeth and lashing out. A small whirlwind of kinetic force settled around his body.

Congratulations! Your Grand Fate Temporal Thaumaturgy Mends Eternity has grown to Level 219!

Randidly’s Grand Fate tore through these distorting feelers, keeping him free from their influence. He pressed his lips together and ducked under one of Velio’s slashes. Whipping his left hand around, he slammed a kidney blow into Velio’s hardened abs with all his strength. Velio just barked out a laugh and swiped at him with a hand.

Randidly ghosted backward. Honestly, this Samsara… if my Grand Fate makes me almost immune to the negative consequences of lingering here too long and I can safely deconstruct it… this would be a great place for one last massive training situation. However without knowing the exact temporal distortion-

His mind fixated on the distorted image Laplace had produced when it searched for Pine’s last bit of life. In that frame had been Devick, a triumphant smile on her face.

I can’t waste time here. Randidly pressed his lips together.

Velio repeated his typical line, a storm of kinetic power churning around his body. “This was always your fate, for having the hubris of breaking through the physical limitation limitation- ugh!”

Randidly’s spear moved with deceptive lightness, rushing forward, crashing against the edge of the saber slash, and then rebounding to hit Velio’s chest. Velio might have gathered a larger kinetic storm, but Randidly could wield it with more incisiveness. Yggdrasil’s young roots swam out from Randidly’s body, feeding small amounts of power to his strike. At the moment, it was enough to pierce through the protective storm.

Immediately, a wail of condemnation rose from this place’s Truth. The Samsara tightened, trying to squeeze him. He rolled his shoulders, forcing it slightly back. Undeterred, the mechanism of the Samsara activated.

Randidly Ghosthound fled in the face of Velio Dunn.

The memory warped. In the next moment, Randidly lay on the ground, bound by the restrictions of Yystrix that held him in place. He could almost feel her crouched over him, salivating over the gestating potential in his body.

Yggdrasil’s young roots stretched farther outward and he felt her quickly creating a bubble around him that would restrict the spread of his image. The response was impressively fast. Even now, Randidly couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of admiration for Yystrix and the effortless manner she used to weave together Engravings. In only a few seconds, she created a barrier that would require genuine pulses of power from Randidly in order to penetrate.

He wondered whether he should try and physically rip his way out of there and see what Yystrix did to stop him.

Instead, most of his attention flowed into his temporal senses, via his Grand Fate. Not worth antagonizing Yystrix and getting kicked back into the memory cycle. At the very least, this memory gives me time to think; I need a method to crack open the Samara and escape. Otherwise Devick- no, its impossible to tell the passage of time outside. But I cannot linger here too long. Devick will die and the whole Nexus will be lost. If creating another bubble of Shallah energy is off the table… then its still just the Penance isn’t it? To give me that last boost?

Yystrix’s energies drifted closer, prodding and pushing. She almost seemed curious why he wasn’t struggling. For now, Randidly ignored her movements. I felt a minor shift when I gathered all my Truths together… something like a possibility of a Penance, but it didn’t feel right. The other reaction was when I thought about ignoring-- is my Penance to ignore a part of my own life for all eternity?

Even just thinking it stirred up echoes of that desired resonance, although his Nether Core was not present in the Samsara. The strands of Nether he had woven together gave a brief wiggle. Yet Randidly could only grit his teeth. That… fuck, even I’m starting to feel bad for myself. What if my Penance is to cut a portion of my life away, in addition to everything I’ve satisfied? Somehow, I don’t think Neveah would ever forgive me…

Also… His heart tightened. If what I need to sacrifice causes me to lose my connection to Devick, or become blind to it… I might have nudged her onto a different Path by intervening in the memory, but she will snap right back into something sinister if I let that go. Instead of trying to bind a child together, she will probably become a being who would do anything to revive that connection. Force me to remember her.

Haaah… the intensity of her obsessions can sometimes be a bit of a burden…

He pulled more significance into himself, ignoring Yystrix’s consistent approach. When he didn’t have a good idea to follow, the least he could do was store up supplies. The Alchemist in his core turned over the options, considering today’s miracles, eyes bright and glassy as it moved from one element to the next. Ripples ran through the significance as he considered various options, hinting at the possibilities, but not giving any definitive answers.

“However…” Randidly spoke aloud, not caring that the memory Yystrix listened. “At the very least, forcing the Truth to impress itself against the Samsara generates a lot of significance. If I want to escape-”

“Escape? That will never happen. Give in, Randidly Ghosthound,” Yystrix whispered into his ear. He could feel her possessiveness and her hopes for success. “You are mine.”

Randidly tsk’d, despite the fact he felt quite a bit of sympathy for her, after having dealt with Elhume and Fiero and their codependent antics. Please, don’t stick your nose into a place where you don’t belong. If I want to escape… maybe the first step should be breaking through one of the memories. By overcoming it… without violating the Truth?

As he had these thoughts, Randidly sharpened Yygdrasil’s roots. They stabbed into Yystrix’s barrier. The Engraving patterns instantly warped and twisted, almost expecting the attack, but Randidly could see the underlying patterns she had used to bind him.

She might still be faster at building it, but Randidly Ghosthound had a particular knack for destruction. He ripped his way out. The Samsara spun around him, an endless vortex that refused to loosen its grip.

Randidly Ghosthound is forged by Yystrix into the Vessel she had long hoped for.

But just like he intended, a great deal of significance puffed out into the environment, a massive exhale from this Eternity’s powerful technique. Randidly crooked a finger and the energy sprung to his will. It spiraled together into a tight little heart in his curiously empty chest. Soon, he would have the beginnings of a Nether Core.

The memory warped and faded. Soon he stood again in the middle of that room, Witch King bodies littering the floor, lava fountains on his left and right, Aegiant blazing at him from across the room. As with the second iteration, this version of Aegiant had become quite a bit more formidable.

“Let’s build up a bit of momentum then, shall we?” Randidly spun Acri and ignored the rising pain vibrating out from his Soulspace. “And then I’ll smash my way out of here.”

“Truly, your arrogance is a delight.” Samara power-leveled Aegiant boomed across the room. “Fine then, let’s see how your spear work has improved.”