Chapter 847 (2/2)

Frowning, Randidly crossed his arms and waited for Octavius to continue.

“Your image cannot Ascend now. You are marked. And because you are so widely credited for intervening in another world to defeat a Calamity… I am required to report even the smallest change in your… status.” Here, Octavius Shrike grimaced. “So as much as I would prefer not to, I am bound to report if you were to… attempt to remove the mark from yourself.”

Randidly just looked at Octavius.

Octavius shrugged. “Yours will not be the image your world uses to Ascend. I am sorry. They can be influenced by you, but-”

“What?” Randidly felt like he was struck with a physical blow. For several seconds, he scrambled to understand what Octavius was saying to him. “My image… is marked?”

Octavius nodded with relief. “Oh, I thought this would be more difficult. I’m glad you understood so quickly. Much more quickly than I anticipated. Onto the next order of business; your status as a Heretic. As you might have noticed, once you pass Heretic XL, your Path will tick up automatically after a certain amount of time. Essentially, facing the final Judgement at fifty becomes inevitable.”

Pointing at Randidly, Octavius continued without seeming to register Randidly’s continued shock from his prior statement. “Based on what I can sense… you have about three months. Which will be accelerated by actions the System deems… deviant and normally impossible. So… perhaps less than three months in your case…”

Randidly stood there, still struggling to gather himself after the statement about his images that hit him harder than he had expected.

Your image will not be the one your world uses to Ascend.

It honestly shouldn’t matter, but-

“If you don’t have any questions, that will be all, Mr. Ghosthound.” Then Octavius leaned conspiratorially forward. “Although your actions have been decidedly disruptive, I am quite pleased. It is a faint hope, but… every Administrator dreams of having a planet from his Cohort passing the Fourth Calamity. It’s a very exclusive club, at the moment. Only the Second Cohort can boast such.”

“What-” Randidly began, but then he winked out of existence and appeared back on Tellus.

Randidly sighed as he finally raised his gaze from the ground toward the kaleidoscope of colors that soaked slowly out from the rising sun into the sky.

Octavius Shrike had told Randidly three things, and Randidly wasn’t sure which he was most disturbed by. First, that his actions on Tellus had brought individual attention to himself by ancient entities that had been able to pass the Third Calamity, and now were possibly plotting a method to pass the Fourth.

Randidly almost fondly remembered his time of just having to worry about the Creature.

Second, and perhaps the least worrying, that his Heretic Path would now grow naturally, as he had passed the point of no return. At some time in the next few months, he would face the final Judgement. Perhaps this was the most imminent threat, but Randidly somehow couldn’t work up any tension toward this trial.

He had beaten Judgements before, and he had been much, much weaker at that time. Unless it scaled at a mind-boggling (basically Randidly-esque) rate, it would be manageable.

Third and finally, Shal’s image gave him benefits, but also prevented his image from being the one used to allow Earth to ascend. In addition, due to the attention Randidly had gathered, they would be watching him very carefully in order to make sure he didn’t circumvent this restriction.

So even though he probably possessed the capability to remove the mark, Shrike seemed to warn specifically not to attempt it. He hadn’t been specific as to why, but the fact that he had finally been motivated to contact Randidly couldn’t bode well.

Randidly sighed. For several seconds, he simply watched the majesty of dawn. It felt somewhat flippant, especially after conspiring to kill Aegiant, someone who used images of dawn. But at the moment, Randidly needed a rest. In the starburst colors, he found it.

The logical conclusion of this tiring truth was that, eventually, someone else would need an image strong enough to support Earth.

And so it comes full circle, with myself as the Spearman, aiming for someone else’s Ascension because my own image is insufficient…

In spite of himself, Randidly chuckled.