Chapter 1096 (1/2)

Groaning, Randidly allowed himself to collapse onto the ground in one of the larger tents. Although he knew that he had already wasted quite enough time, he couldn’t force himself to head out and get whisked away by Lord Miln’s plot quite yet. He didn’t have the strength of will remaining to square off against the Supreme Commander of the battlefield at the moment. The armory had left Randidly Ghosthound almost completely drained.

It was honestly a satisfying feeling. Randidly rarely was able to push himself so perfectly on his own; the last time he remembered this sensation was during a training session with Shal.

As an added bonus, this wariness was much different than his usual damage after a journey into the Great Rift. Because there was no actual damage to his image, he could feel his energy recovery rapidly once he sat down and took a break. Plus, his Willpower seemed to come back much more compact and potent than it had been previously. The pressure of the liquid Aether certainly would end up being a long term boost to his capability.

But there was a single problem.

Randidly wiped sweat from his brow and turned his focus inward. If you don’t cool it down, I’ll drown you in Nether again.

A towering pillar of rage blossomed out of the bare blade that was nestled between his two Nether Wells. The force of the emotion made Randidly wince. However, the blade didn’t unleash any heat this time, so Randidly refrained from pouring Nether on it in response. The two squared off like that for several seconds, waiting to see the other’s response. Both were running short of patience and understanding.

Slowly, the rage from the blade dissipated into nothing. Sighing, Randidly leaned back and shifted his position to something more relaxing. The blade was difficult to predict. It was only with the help of its flames that he had been able to offset the pressure of the liquid Aether and escape the armory. However, the behavior of the Fate was extremely erratic.

There were times that it seemed to understand Randidly perfectly like it possessed sentience equivalent to a human. There were other times, however, where it completely ignored him or its emotions suddenly dispersed abruptly, as though it had reached the edges of its limited consciousness. Both of which made communication confusion and frustrating.

It did, however, seem like it was finally remembering where it was and its new relationship with Randidly. No longer did it suddenly send out terrible waves of heat to give Randidly internal agony at the slightest provocation. Which had led to Skill Levels, but it hadn’t made his journey through the armory any easier.

If I could figure how to get it to talk, that would be even better.But I have the feeling I’m going to need quite a bit of time before I acclimate to this Fate inside of me… I don’t want to force it before I’m ready.

At that thought, Randidly turned his attention to the wooden box that he brought out with him as his second selected Fate. Of course, the box itself wasn’t the Fate; the true Fate was locked inside by that extremely powerful lock. There were also patterns on the box that Randidly vaguely recognized as Aether Engraving. Yet the reason he had chosen this Fate was a sense of familiarity that Randidly felt as soon as he had touched the box. What was frustrating was that there was something… just a little off about that sensation that kept Randidly from being able to place whose image it felt like.

Considering some of the entities that Randidly was familiar with, he was deeply wary when he felt familiarity wafting up from the box. But it couldn’t be denied that every being that Randidly had met from the Nexus was extremely powerful. Perhaps even then Randidly wouldn’t have risked it without first learning how effective his two Nether Wells were at restraining the other Fate, so he hoped the risk would be somewhat mitigated.

Worst-case scenario and the Fate was the Creature’s, Randidly could open up his Nether Wells and simply drown the fucking thing until it disintegrated to nothing.

Besides, the box had saved his life.

It was quite soon after he had left the alcove where he obtained the burning blade. Randidly was still struggling to control the heat pouring out from his core while simultaneously moving through the dense Aether. The pressure was so crushing that his pace was abysmally slow. He had made it out into the tunnel but a rumbling made Randidly grit his teeth in furious helplessness.

One of those pillars of Fates had struck the ground. At that very moment, it had been rushing through the underground tunnel system toward him.

Randidly had pushed himself as much as he dared, ignoring the terrible internal burns his image received and simply dedicated everything to will himself toward a nearby alcove. Yet it wasn’t enough.

The current around him was growing, making proceeding even more difficult. Small Fates that weren’t stuck in the ground or walls began to tumble slowly down the tunnel around Randidly as they were tugged forward by the growing current. In the distance, the rumbling sound of the Fates smashing into each other and the walls of the tunnel grew steadily louder.

It only took a few seconds before Randidly realized that he wouldn’t make it; it wouldn’t even be close. He was stranded in the middle of the tunnel due to his abysmal speed. At that time he had immediately prepared himself to use All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth, when he saw something approaching rapidly from a distance.

A rather large trunk rolling directly toward him, spinning end over end. With a wild grin on his face, Randidly had lowered his body and prepared for its arrival. As the rumbling grew louder, Randidly’s eyes had glittered. More and more Fates were becoming visible, pushed down the tunnel by the force of the Aether current behind them. The walls of the tunnel had begun to shake.

So Randidly had seized onto the large trunk and allowed himself to be carried forward at a speed that he couldn’t duplicate with his body. Because the trajectory of the trunk was slightly off-center of the tunnel, as the rumbling behind him grew louder Randidly and his trunk transportation neared the wall and eventually tumbled into an alcove.

In the nick of time too, because the whole tunnel shook with the passage of the Fates with such violence that Randidly was jarred and numb afterward. It was only then as he was recovering when Randidly examined the trunk and realized how familiar it felt.