Chapter 280 (1/2)

Randidly opened his mouth for a retort, but thought better of it. His entire body was quivering, slightly, with the rebound from using the Phantom’s Embrace. The physical toll was higher than it had ever been in battles against Azriel, but Randidly had somehow expected it. That was simply who Drak Wyrd was.

But because of that, Randidly was forced to allow Drak Wyrd to take the initiative. This was both a necessity and strategic: he needed those extra seconds to recover, but he also wanted Drak to attack and use his Aether, depleting himself. Goading him on like this seemed like the best strategy.

Then Drak moved, and Randidly began to feel a prickling of doubt, even as the rising tension in his body drew his mouth into a grin.

Drak advanced like a force of nature. Suddenly, everything else fell away, leaving only a wide, vast expanse, with the sun slowly creeping up over the horizon. The light and heat smashed into Randidly, sending him sprawling.

The force of the image itself… was enough to completely suppress him?!?! Randidly hoped that it had at least cost some Aether.

Even though he was knocked up off balance, the world became cold and dark, in stark contrast to the rising sun. A low mist clung to the ground in front of Randidly, and a low ticking began. With burning eyes, Randidly felt Phantom’s Embrace settle around him like a mantle. As long as he wasn’t forced to use the dodging component again…

Drak’s displeasure was palpable, as their images warred against each other. So much so that Drak stopped, and just pressed, the huge sun smashing down towards Randidly’s image for the Phantom’s Embrace.

An image, of course, wasn’t completely necessary for an attack. Even Randidly, who was starting to get a hang of using them, wasn’t entirely sure of what exactly they did, but they clearly helped. As best as he could understand it, the process of focusing on an image was strangely similar of focusing on punching through someone when you threw a fist.

You obviously didn’t throw a fist hard enough to go through someone, but the difference in mental aspects increased its power.

Images were that, except impossibly more broad and on a larger scale. At least for the Phantom’s Embrace, too, there was a sensory component, so that everything within the area of influence of the image Randidly was aware of.

Which was hard to wrap your head around, logically. By pretending to be part of a cloud of energy, his subconscious upped his detection skills within that cloud, giving him a sort of radar…? Well not radar, more like an amorphous body….?

Of course, the System, fueled by Aether and held within meaning, took care of the details, but it-

Randidly twisted his mouth as the impact came, Drak seeming to take his image and physically smash at Randidly’s, causing him to stagger again. The image of the dark location flickered, the mantle around Randidly’s shoulders weakening.

Gritting his teeth, Randidly suppressed his first instinct to lash out at the image. That was foolish. From just the earlier contact, it was clear whose image had more weight. Randidly was very adamant that it wasn’t stronger.

Which left only the option of testing how his completed path affected his Battle Intent…

Multifarious and varied, the darkness and mist and ticking pressed forward towards Drak Wyrd, seeping swiftly forward. Again, he responded by lashing out, but again, the affected parts of the image were squished and dissipated, but Randidly just pressed more forward, filling the gaps.

Within him, Randidly felt as the Aether began to circulate more quickly, moving to match the rising need.

It was strange and oddly draining to allow his image to get knocked back, but Randidly was starting to get the hang of it, especially after his spars with Azriel. She never bothered to clash against Randidly directly in terms of image, likely because she didn’t feel the need to, but it had given him at least the first steps in utilizing it, otherwise he would simply have been smashed backwards by Drak here.

Apparently, Drak abruptly realized that this was pointless. Or rather than pointless, his own limit in terms of Aether was much different than Randidly’s. Growling, Drak continued his advance, and Randidly winced, inwardly torn.

But it was too early to run. He needed to save his highest mobility for when Drak struck with his higher tiered skills. Better to meet him now, before he worked up a head of steam.

Empower and Haste, Mana Strengthening and the active of the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil, and finally Stalemate Breaker all activated, Randidly thrust forward with the Inevitable Phantom Arrives; the attack one of his most powerful on short notice with all of the combined active and passive boosts.

Randidly blinked.

Drak had twisted and was past him, turning smoothly around. Whatever he had done… Randidly was shaken. That speed, the grace of his spear… It wasn’t just levels higher than him, Randidly would have sworn it was above Azriel. No, even possibly at the level of Divvet or Shal.