Randidly considered the floating consciousness in front of him. She regarded him coolly, aware of how the power dynamic had shifted. His method of defeating this Devick, of removing all the antagonism aimed at her and leaving her adrift in her own madness, meant that her image had lost the bite of rusted iron, even if she still released a whiff of a feral wolf.

He also knew he was taking a gamble with this choice; the third element in this grand ritual needed anchoring, sure. And of the three, he felt the most conflicted on who and how to find a proper anchor for the negative subconscious. His familiarity with that darkness that threatened to unbalance them all was shaky at best. An easy answer didn’t present itself.

He selected Devick for two reasons. First, because of the presence of Pangu that Randidly had witnessed inside of the accumulated negativity of the Nexus. Any anchor he chose from within the darkness, despite perhaps having an easier time of the acclimation, might possess a connection to Pangu that Randidly wanted to rip out and discard. Plus, if Pangu had methods to reach back… Devick was contrary enough to sock the foreign Eternity in the mouth before she would listen to some plot to betray him.

Secondly… Randidly narrowed his eyes as he considered her. His actions were purposeful, reaching back out to those he had defeated to claim his supremacy in the Nexus. They would not just become additional corpses to fuel the growth of the universe because they had lost to him. You could fail, you could disagree, and there would still be a place for you in the home Randidly attempted to build.

Besides, the restless dead of the underworld have my condolences if they think resistance against this insane parasite will go well for them, Randidly smirked. They might complain loudly about the situation foisted upon them… but soon, they might even be quite pleased.

“Oh, do you find my request amusing?” Devick’s consciousness pulsed, releasing small rust-colored sparks. He felt her defensiveness, overcompensating for her weakness. “I can assure you, I am not willing to negotiate in my demands.”

“Do you know why you don’t rule us all, Actus Suprem?” Randidly said instead. The sparks quieted, proving that he had her attention. This was what he needed to unravel, that need to lash out, if she would work, if he could trust her, if this was possible. She needed to feel seen— because if he demonstrated he understood, she wouldn’t be able to avoid facing her flaws any longer.

Randidly cleared his throat and spoke slowly. “You found yourself dealt a very disadvantageous hand. You were the last of your kind, struggling to find a connection. And after that failed repeatedly… well, I admire your stubbornness. You didn’t change your method. But you did change your target.”

Randidly leaned forward. His emerald pupils burned. “You started lying to yourself. You decided, if the universe wouldn’t acclimate, you would, just the slightest bit. Everything spiraled out of control from there, until you had folded in on yourself. In the end, you flinched. And that is why, here and now, you cannot fight against me.”

“Very rich, coming from you, Ghosthound,” Randidly could hear Devick’s sneer. “What a privileged view you had of my life, getting an opportunity to scoop me from my impressionable cradle and now suddenly you are such an expert in my mistakes. Would you like a practically irrelevant opinion, from the woman herself who lived such an existence? I did not begin lying to myself purposefully, pretending to possess these children… I just-”

Randidly’s heart ached, but he kept his face stoic. He had hopefully lanced the boil and now it would leak. Of course, he understood he had completely steamrolled the complexity in Devick’s life with his words. He had so much sympathy for her, despite all the crimes she would later commit, because of the apparent loneliness she experienced. Which was why now he waited for her to say her own truth.

He had metaphorically extended his hand to her, offering her the chance to be a part of what came next. Because even if she didn’t deserve that, she deserved better than she had gotten.

“...I just began to twist a bit,” Devick admitted in a quieter voice. “Slamming myself for so long, again and again, against the ‘reality’ of the universe. My vision went a bit… strange. Not everyone is like you, Randidly Ghosthound. The rest of us… we warp and break under the stress of conflict. Rather than simply stealing the tools of our betters and then acting smug about it, after the fact.”

Randidly didn’t bother to hide his smile this time; if Devick was willing to admit weakness, it was as much as acknowledging she would accept his offer. He extended his hand. The Actus Suprem’s consciousness spat out a few rust-colored sparks but then curled down around his fingers.

“I will make you regret this.” She whispered.

“We all hope we will live long enough to be preoccupied with regrets,” He countered.

He pivoted and looked up at the darkness looming above them, radiating waves of distortion as the people of the Alpha Cosmos prevented the weight from falling for a bit longer. “Alright, let’s finish this.”

Randidly Ghosthound no longer had a true physical body, but he went through the motions of inhaling a slow breath. He raised his fingers. For five entire seconds, sensing the rippling distortions in the Nexus, he was entirely still.

In his core, the Alchemist examined all the elements he had gathered. Broken fragments of a mirror, from Pangu’s Asymptote. Acri, which Randidly had pulled into his Soulspace to prepare for one more trick. His vibrating Nether Core, as it housed a half-formed Eternity event, either to be frozen and forged into a Samsara or expended to create an Aspect. His three images, all morphing in more and more ways as Truth became more of an afterthought, replaced by perseverance and opinion. His Vessel, constantly being reinforced by the accumulation of VPs. His Muse’s Reverie, which had grown over his preparations to sit at 6 of 8.

He looked over at Pine. “Are you ready? Once it begins, we won’t get another shot.”

As though to punctuate the sentiment, space near the darkness cracked open. A freezing cold suction pulled and pulled, apparent even from across the vast chamber, the presence of the Nexus’s darkness tearing a hole through to the void. The fabric of the Nexus began to fray and tear— the Vessel of this universe had borne too much abuse for too long.

Soon, the hammer would fall. After Elhume and Fiero knocked away the protections, the Nexus would tear itself in half.

Pine’s glassy eyes reflected that truth as he stared at Randidly. Yet despite the worsening tears, he didn’t say anything to hurry the universe seed. His images swirled within him. Nether roared through his veins. His body hummed with the outflows of energy. He watched Pine.

“Are you sure this is worth it?” Pine whispered. Even as he meant, ‘I’m not sure.’

Randidly smiled. He smiled even though he wasn’t sure he would be ready for the burden he was shouldering. He didn’t know even if he’d be able to handle his role, while this pure universe soul struggled with his own home-grown demons. Yet he allowed none of that hesitation to show. Because he had one opinion that had repeatedly proven itself true: Nothing would change if he did nothing.

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And fuck, Randidly Ghosthound wanted what came next to be more and better.

Randidly tilted his head in askance, even as the last dregs of light faded from the Alpha Cosmos’s resistance. To their credit, they did not lash out again, despite the gathering momentum of the darkness’s fall. They allowed the heavy darkness to accelerate, to descend toward the vulnerable Nexus. The tears in the fabric of space and time spread, the condensed darkness ripping its way into a cataclysmic collision.

He waited.

Pine wavered, his eyes flicking from Randidly to the darkness. His pupils dilated and the small hound began to tremble. But then he nodded.

He took a step, so for better or worse, everything began to change.

Randidly Ghosthound activated the array and everything began to change.

His Yggdrasil image fueled the shift, releasing a thunderous rustle of the canopy as it began to expand. It remained the fixture of one of the three smaller, outer circles of the array, but its roots had woven themselves through the whole of the working by now. The small root stitches bound everything so tightly together.

The World Tree pulsed with life. The working began to spin steadily. But perhaps more importantly, it began to swell.

Congratulations! Your Skill Genesis Opens a Thousand Doors and Baptizes All Comers (GD) has grown to Level 1751!

Congratulations! Your Skill Echoes of a Living Myth (M) has grown to Level 1804!

The working spat out golden motes of transient luminance as it activated, then began to whirl its way outward. The first few rotations were slow, but by the third, it managed almost an entire rotation every five seconds. The fabric of the Nexus hummed around them, perhaps taking another step closer to total collapse, but the noise felt weirdly joyous to Randidly’s senses. And at that point, the working had swollen to become the size of a city. A rotation later, it became a country. By only two more rotations, it was an entire world.

The working, even with its upward geyser of golden light motes, felt minuscule next to the looming darkness that stretched so high and wide it seemed like an absolute wall of oblivion. Yet the working rotated. It grew, racing to catch up with the approaching doom.

Randidly was incendiary with Aether and Nether, both the sparkplug and the fuel tank. He stretched and stretched his senses, shoving aside his Grand Fate, feeling the whole of the Nexus and simply observing it. He saw and gave freely of the vast tides of energies within him. The Engraving continued to grow, releasing enough pure power to hold the dark subconscious back from cracking the Nexus any further.

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of Unimagined Tolls (GD) has grown to Level 1796!

The cracks slithered outward from the darkness, but they were within acceptable parameters. To be honest, Randidly hadn’t minded a little bit of damage to the Nexus; it would make the first part of his role that much easier.

Yggdrasil stretched up from one circle with Enmya sitting cross-legged at the bottom. Randidly could already feel the tugging at his chest, as the Alpha Cosmos was drawn out from his projected body by the connections into its part of the circle. Elhume remained inert in the second circle, releasing powerful ripples as the Nexus began to orient itself around his anchoring presence. Devick waited alone in her circle, her consciousness pulsing steadily along with the release of lights.

Despite the pressing nature of the situation, Randidly spared Devick’s consciousness a second glance. Her gaseous form pulsed in what was recognizably dancing. He shook his head, hoping his faith in her purity wasn’t misplaced.

A secondary portion of Neveah’s grand working engaged and even Randidly couldn’t help but feel a sense of wonder to be witnessing it. The light fountained in every direction, the air suddenly thick with radiance. A waterfall of spiraling golden sparks cascaded over him, the tiny pinpricks of light bouncing off his body as they fell around him. Each bit of live energy felt warm and comfortable. He could see the beauty reflected in the dilated pupils of Pine next to him.

“Watch carefully,” Randidly said. “And if it needs it, give it the Engraving the last push to keep things going, Pine. Trust your instincts; no one knows the Nexus more intimately than you. I am needed elsewhere.”

“But I-”

Randidly didn’t give Pine the opportunity to finish his denial. Already, he was moved elsewhere via the Alchemist’s Passport.

Instantly, he was slammed by a dense wave of restriction as he had moved to the core area of the dark subconscious. Around him raged the incarnation of a cataclysm. It was a chaotic sandstorm of darkness, whipping and ravaging his skin as he attempted to stabilize his body. Randidly grimaced; without the unifying threat of Laplace working up the ire of the dead, he could feel the attention of millions of vicious spirits locking onto him.

He could sense their hunger and their chill eyes. They clearly knew how close they were to breaking through to the real world and had been whipped into such a bloodlust they no longer cared how much damage they would inflict by indulging in that hunger. Any sympathy was erased by overwhelming need. With greedy fingers, they reached out and began to claw at him, thousands of wan specters manifesting in the few meters around Randidly.

In the end, however, the restrictions were a problem that could be overcome with brute force. And rather easily, considering Randidly’s body. He shook his head slightly at their hubris.

Congratulations! Your Skill Absolute Insight of the Smoldering Abyss (P) has grown to Level 1742!

Congratulations! Your Skill Homunculi Pursues Perfection (GD) has grown to Level 1950!

He stepped, not bothering to restrain his raw physicality. The same dense darkness that ripped its way through the Nexus tore like wax paper. The spectators evaporated like candles on a birthday cake in front of an enthusiastic child. Randidly blurred up through the strange workshop of Pangu, into that reflected little cabin created by Pine, down the staircase into the abyss, and found the calcified exoskeleton Pine had left at the bottom.

He raised his hand. Not sure if you’d be as willing to help if you understood the extent of my planning…

Congratulations! Your Skill Alpha Dragon’s Fell Smite (GD) has grown to Level 1701!

He decapitated the crouched form, plucking up Pine’s head. Randidly examined the piece he had obtained, a chunk of Pine’s actual body, and made a face; this monstrous lizard form was hideous.

If Randidly did say so himself, Pine looked quite a bit more handsome as a ghostly hound. Definitely, that should be the default in the future.

But this was the last piece he needed for his grand gamble, his final trick. Randidly rolled his shoulders and wondered if he could pull this off.

Especially because the true threat to him… was completely unknown.

“Okay,” He released a breath. “One step at a time. Neveah can handle the process in here, Pine will hopefully manage the last coupling… and I…”

He envisioned the grand stage for his final trick. He released a vague, half-formed pulse of Nether, hoping he would be enough.

Despite having mentally prepared himself, Randidly couldn’t help but gulp. The plan was relatively simple; the Vessel of the Nexus could no longer support both the darkness and the Nexus proper. So they needed to be bourne by a new Vessel, his.

However, he didn’t want to directly merge both the darkness and Nexus into the Alpha Cosmos. Not only did Randidly worry about the massive burden on his psyche, but he also wanted to methodically untangle the System from those portions before the connections became permanent. The inevitable connection required a lot of work from his Pantheon, who were already overworked with the exploding population of the Alpha Cosmos.

So he would engage in a delaying tactic; he would accept the darkness and Nexus into his Vessel, but would use momentum and balancing, putting the two new arrivals and the Alpha Cosmos into orbit of each other, to host them without mixing them. At least until the problems could be resolved.

However, in order to truly reach and move the Nexus and the darkness into position…

…Randidly Ghosthound would need to stretch wider than them to allow the positioning to occur. For his final trick, he needed to go outside the Nexus.

And prevent any insidious vultures from swooping in while the isolated universe was at its most vulnerable.

He flared his images. He blinked back the lightheadedness as so much energy burned through his veins and fueled the working. His mind was overworked, his Vessel stretched in so many directions. But he gritted his teeth and focused.

His palms tingled. All the preparations, all the sweat, all the struggles, it all was for this. He took out the remnants pieces from Pangu’s Asymptote and stabbed them through the flesh head he had taken from Pine’s decapitated cast-offs. When he looked at the streaks of white goo and black ichor on the pieces, he couldn’t help but grimace.

Distasteful, but it was an insurance policy, just in case Randidly’s worst fears were confirmed.

With a graceful bit of sleight of hand, he stuffed those shattered mirrored shards in the waistband of his pants for easy access. He stepped forward and slipped out through the cracks of the Nexus and into the wider multiverse.