Chapter 569 (2/2)

The light faltered, then winked out. The Lava Golem pressed its body against Father Foster, holding her struggling limbs down as the metal melted. Soon, the suit twitched and faltered, and then the engines driving it failed as the hardware gave way beneath the threat of heat.

All the while, what Randidly was most surprised about was that Father Foster didn’t speak.

It was a strange silence then, as Randidly walked over towards Father Foster’s form. The Lava Golem continued to lay on top of her, melting through the metal of the exosuit-

Randidly blinked. Her limbs-

“I am a tragically small thing. Does it make you disappointed?” Father Foster remarked, a bitter smile on her face.

Randidly just stared down at her, increasingly numb. This… this couldn’t be the individual who defeated the Creature, correct…?

“More metal than flesh,” Randidly said, surprised with how cold and even his voice was.

“Killing me means nothing.” Father Foster spat. “I am but a cog, a seed. Others… others will take up my….”

Her eyes widened, and for the first time, Father Foster seemed truly upset. And then she died as the machines in the exosuit that were keeping her alive failed. Spit oozed out of the corner her mouth and her eyes went blank.

Randidly stepped back. He turned and looked around. The Lava Golem straightened. His eyes narrowed, because behind him was the cylinder, with a small chunk missing were that strange concentrated plasma attack had struck. Cracks slowly spread upwards through the contraption, and Aether was pouring out of the hole into the room. The terminals in the powerplant began to flash red, warning of what was to come.

Randidly swore quietly. One last spiteful move, Father Foster freed the Creature from this… thing…? Well, at least Randidly could put his worries to rest. He wasn’t as prepared as he would have liked, but if the Creature came now, at least he wasn’t injured.

Lucretia?

Ready. I have… I have a weapon prepared. Just one, but it should be enough.

Then we strike first.

Randidly activated the Spear Advances, Ash Trails. Even without a spear, he felt the image of a spearhead infuse his movement. His body blurred as he charged at the cracking cylinder. He raised his hands, and the air pressed against him in an iron wall. And then, abruptly, he thrust a hand forward in a Talon Strike, and the air shattered.

A sonic boom echoed outwards, and Randidly crashed into the cylinder. His Aether Skills were activating at full bore, both splitting the wild Aether in front of him apart and sensing what was inside the area. After the cylinder broke, there was only the tiniest fraction of a second for Randidly to feel everything. Aether smashed outwards like a physical force, slowing his advance immediately.

It tore at his skin, the raw energy so thick that it began to burn at him. His Skills, those he was using, began to flicker as the raw Aether ate at them and their power. And floating at the center, there was a core of power, glowing with malicious glee. He could almost feel the Creature’s delight as it spread its baleful wings of power.

Now!

The attack was just a long knife of Aether. But Randidly knew that Lucretia had been working tirelessly on this. Day after day it had been tempered and strengthen. There was not a day these past 8 months that Lucretia had not been working on this knife, designed for this one moment.

She had even added a drop of energy from Randidly’s most distrustful Skill, Touch from Beyond.

And when it was released, it cut through everything and severed the Aether connection at the core of that figure in the cylinder.

A second later, there was an explosion.