Chapter 900 (2/2)

At the last second, Roy was able to sidestep out of the way and only have most of his left ribs shattered by the blow. Randidly’s lips twitched. Crafty. But even as the dust was falling toward the ground, time seemed to pause and float back upward to reform into a skeleton.

After a bit of flickering, the human guise returned. Roy held up his hands. “Hey! Slow down! No good can come of senseless violence. At some point I’m going to run out of Mana, and then-”

Crack.

Acri crashed downward in an Idiosyncratic Cut, splitting Roy from collarbone to hip. Strangely, the illusion of humanity was kept over Roy’s face the entire time, so that he was a fleshy head above a failing skeletal body. After staggering for a single step, the skeletal frame couldn’t withstand it and collapsed.

“Heh, will you be my second trial, I wonder?” Roy muttered. The boar’s roar was almost deafening now. “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you, Randidly my friend. We are on the same side, after all. Who doesn’t want to show Earth its perfect Path?”

Randidly didn't even bother to respond to that. He simply stalked forward, causing another wave of roots to slither up out of the ground and wrap around Roy. But Randidly stopped in abject shock as he felt the almost house-sized mass of vines he had conjured up behind him ripped to shreds.

Spinning, Randidly turned and looked at the figure standings in the aftermath.

Roy’s laugh was long and loud. “It’s truly a tragic Fate… almost as tragic as being a hero. To be a blind, deaf, and mute tool, only suitable to be used by your betters… I’ve been keeping him under control as best as I could, but now that my Mana is depleted…”

Randidly recognized the figure. Or at least most of the features. It was Drake, Sydney’s right-hand man, the main pillar of East End. Yet his eye sockets were scraped and bare, with a jagged series of maroon spikes surrounded by the popped and rotten remnants of the eyeballs that had been housed within. From his mouth, a spike of that same maroon crystal parted his lips just a little, like a facsimile of a tongue.

His ears were completely covered with the crystal, giving him a strange resemblance to a science fiction villain from an 80’s television show. Other than that, Drake looked exactly the same.

Except for the dried blood across his face and hands that made it seem as though he had been crying and wiping away crimson tears. Except for the deep circles under his eyes. Except for his hunched shoulders and ripped clothes.

What… happened…? Randidly thought dazedly. Almost as an afterthought, Randidly reached out with his Aether Perception to feel him. He had been so focused on locating Roy and Earth’s Aether that he hadn’t peered too closely at what he was looking at. Now he regretted that decision.

When he looked at Drake now, he still couldn’t get quite a clear view of what was going on because he was once more obstructed, in the same way that his scan of the boar had failed. And this time, Randidly had a very good idea of what he was sensing.

He was being screened by a Fate. A Fate that had taken root deeply inside Drake and somehow warped him.

“What did you do?” Randidly hissed. But Roy only laughed harder, even as his body was tussled up and bound into the ground. Because it was clear now that Roy hadn’t been the one to clear the Danger Zone and achieve the triple stats.

It had been Drake.

After taking an unsteady step forward, Drake paused. Then his queer gaze drifted upward and locked onto Randidly. The boar arrived, its roars fading into a soft keening, even as the maroon arm continued to smash the ground in vicious glee. Those maroon forks that stuck up through Drake’s eye sockets remained fixed upon him.

In his chest, Randidly felt a slight tingle. His instincts warned of the presence of danger. In spite of himself, his face split into a grin. Oh?

“I?” Roy inclined his head dramatically, even as he was surrounded by thick roots that prevented any real movement. “I simply served as a veil; with my body surrounding him, it confused poor Drake enough that his more violent impulses were suppressed. Yet now that he has his gaze locked upon you...”

When Randidly squeezed with his roots, Roy’s illusion faded and all that was left was a bony grin, despite the increasing pressure. “He will serve his purpose as a blade that slays the foes in front of him. Ah, but it is ironic isn’t it… to have gained such power, but have lost the ability to discern friend from foe. Tragic, is it not? A lesson perhaps, for those who aren’t so permanently afflicted”

Growling, Drake ripped forward toward Randidly, conjured a bastard sword of bone. With a short side step, Randidly avoided the vicious blow. But there was still enough strength from the attack to cut into the marshy ground and leave a deep scar.

The tripled stats were the real deal. The air pressure from the sword...

After rolling his neck, Randidly put both of his hands on Acri. “About damn time. Let’s test how well this arm works.”