Chapter 205 (1/2)

His legs were numb and useless; at the moment, it seemed that anything other than his eyesight and right arm didn’t exist. He was trapped, bobbing up and down in a sea of darkness. So he frowned upward and prepared himself.

Randidly would not flinch.

The wheel continued to descend, slowly spinning. But a small distance above Randidly, the wheel stopped descending, simply floating there. Now that it was closer, he could see that the wheel itself was the size of a building, a monstrous iron thing that could easily crush spirits and break bones if it continued down towards him.

But as it began to spin, something even more sinister and familiar began to happen. As it spun, speeding up at an even pace, the air itself began to twist and hum, with greater and greater intensity. It was… Agony. That same skill that the Sphinx had used on him, all that time ago. The skill of a monster.

Randidly hadn’t used it in quite some time, mostly because he didn’t want to use it on people, due to the mental anguish it could cause. And also, he didn’t want to become reliant on the opportunities it created for him in battle. Better to focus on the spear currently time.

It was somewhat nostalgic, to feel that vicious, burning, twisting again. It reminded Randidly of a time of confusion and rage in his past. Tessa’s face sprung to the surface of his mind, someone that Randidly hadn’t thought about in quite a while, and he grimaced. The fact that he had gotten so angry that he felt fine using Agony on her…!

Guilt clawed at his heart, tugging on his resolve to remain here. It hurt his pride, and the fact that he was considering listening to this heartless creature drove him crazy, but was it really so much trouble to consider her proposal, for people like Tessa…?

She hadn’t adapted to the system like him. She was forced to work at some sort of gentleman’s club in Franksburg in order to survive. Her skills hadn’t grown, she hadn’t found any unique paths, she was just an attractive, average girl. The peace that Randidly could create would be for people like her.

When he viewed the option in the general sense, it didn’t carry that weight, but when he remembered Tessa’s face, twisted in Agony, due to someone like him, who became callous to the vicious power that he could control…. Randidly’s frown deepened, as more and more jagged daggers of guilt tore at his resolve.

The wheel above him began to spin faster, and the pain increased.

A small sizzling noise distracted Randidly, forcing him to look down. The wisps were still there, but now they were twitching and wiggling. Randidly’s eyes widened; they…. felt this pain too…?

“Those that help you…. will perish.”

And with a soft pop and a sigh, one of the wisps, the weakest and dimmest, dispersed in a small expulsion of energy, and disappeared. Randidly’s gaze hardened.

The long, thin wisp wrapped itself around the smaller, dimmer wisps, protecting them by moving them together. Instinctively, Randidly reached for his Aether, but found himself grasping at nothing. Showing his teeth, Randidly’s body began to hum as fury circulated through his veins. He reached again, harder, smashing outward.

But whatever was around him, isolating him, was soft and easily dispersed the force. Growling, Randidly forced his will into his left arm, slowly bringing it forward, doing his best to ignore the numbness. Slowly, as the wisps began to keen in terror, Randidly brought his hands forward and wrapped them up with his fingers, insulating them slightly to the vicious vibrations that tore through the air.

Above him, the wheel only turned faster, producing an increased level of Agony.

By now, the skill was getting above the level of pain that Randidly could produce with his body. But it was not above the level that he could withstand. His Mental Fortitude had grown much in his adventures in the prison, as his Battle Intent developed. But the wisps….

Randidly’s voice, when he spoke, was simultaneously hollow and gravelly, as if his lungs were clogged and hadn’t been used in quite some time. “Flee….. You must…. flee. I’m… fine.”

In his hands, the wisps vibrated in response. He could feel their unwillingness. He could feel their resolute loyalty. Even after one of their own perished, they remained here, being slowly ground down by the Agony produced by the wheel.

With another pop and sigh, a wisp perished, even with the protection of the larger wisp, and Randidly’s hands. His fingers tightened, and Randidly tried to activate Rejection, Eyes of the Spear Phantom, Root Control…. Anything really, to lash out against this strange creature that isolated him. But the world remained dark.

“Flee… if you don’t-”

Randidly began, but to his surprise, the wisps left his hands, the 5 remaining ones, shooting outward, all of them bright and vivid. He blinked. Well, he had said that, but…. to have them accept and flee so suddenly….

Randidly shook his head sardonically. It was for the best. He would find a way out of this, and-