Chapter 831 (1/2)

Aiden Darke stumbled backward, about three dozen dead Witch King bodies around him in a grim circle. Near the portal, Shal was a whirlwind of spear strokes that was ripping apart the slowing river of Witch Kings that walked through the portal to assist with their defense. Their assistance wasn't much use, at this point.

Despite Darke’s shocked expression, Randidly still felt a trickle of fear in his heart. The first reason was that it could not be a good sign that so many of the Witch Kings were flowing through the portal. Randidly couldn’t believe that they had enough Witch Kings to divert a lot of them from the fight against the Spearman and his forces. His working had spread to this connected world. All of the Witch Kings they had were created in the last twenty-four hours.

Was the First Propagator more powerful than Randidly had guessed…?

That would complicate things.

The second reason that Randidly felt a sharp rush of fear is that his river of Aether flowing toward Azriel was beginning to dry up; she wasn’t absorbing anymore. Gritting his teeth, Randidly did his best to isolate all of the meaning he still received from her and make it into its own self-contained marble that he could provide to her after this was all over. But that still didn't explain why she no longer was drawing meaning from him.

With the images that Randidly gathered, she could hopefully recover from the wounds that this process inflicted upon her.

If she could still recover. If she wasn’t broken by this flood of images.

He and Shal needed to move. This was taking too long.

Shal looked up to his bloody work of mopping up the remaining Witch Kings and considered Randidly. “You waste time, why? Do you need assistance?”

Randidly flashed a vicious grin; he hadn’t explained the details of his plan to Shal. Or not, at least the heavy lifting that Randidly needed to do. But that was for the better. Some things worried Randidly; this was one of them. Even if they needed to hurry, it was useless if Randidly wasn't prepared. “No. Go on ahead. I’ll finish up here and then continue forward to meet you.”

Nodding, Shal struck sideways and smashed a Witch King sideways and then proceeded through the portal. Randidly thought it comforting that there wasn’t an immediate explosion of battle noises as soon as Shal went through the portal. Hopefully, the flood of Witch Kings onto Tellus wasn’t such a bad sign then.

Carefully, Randidly turned to Aiden Darke.

“So… kill me,” The man said bitterly. His eyes were red and his hands trembling. “I’ve certainly had to finish such tasks enough in my line of work. I do not fear it. I worked with death for years.”

Is there a point to posturing so…? Randidly wondered. He raised Acri but hesitated for several long seconds, considering letting the man off.

But then Randidly remembered the fleeing Style he had met with Shal. They had been cold and chased away, haunted by the pursuit of men just like this. In fact, if not for Randidly’s chance encounter with them, he would never have been able to become as competent as he was at Mana Engraving. And Randidly knew he still had more to learn.

Long ago he had promised to come help when he could.

If you are still out there… this is my long awaited help, Randidly thought as he slid his spear into Aiden Darke’s heart. There were tears on the man’s face, and it looked like he pissed himself as the attack was coming. Sighing, Randidly let the body fall to the ground and walked a few steps away.

Before he could proceed after Shal, he needed to-

Randidly froze and looked slowly up. Out of the portal, another figure came. Tall and burning with the endless heat of the sun.

Aegiant Wyrd smiled at Randidly. “Ah, I thought you might come. And you lived through the Witch King attacks, wonderful; I had hoped I would be able to do this personally.”

This was… not on the short list of things that Randidly wanted to deal with. But it made sense; he had been warned about Aegiant Wyrd's grudge. Why hadn't Randidly thought of his name when he heard the Northern expedition sided with the First Propagator?

For several seconds, his mental wheels simply spun while he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Why was… Aegiant here and uncontested? Even if Aegiant was strong, it should have been three versus two, correct? Had Randidly grossly underestimated the power of the First Propagator faction? Shal hadn’t fought, so most of the hostilities should have already ceased…

Either way, Randidly was faced with Aegiant’s grinning face.

Cracking his knuckles, Aegiant continued to walk forward. “So, do you wish for me to explain your transgressions, or have you been able to piece together the details?”