Chapter 1109 (1/2)

Randidly’s had crossed space. He could feel the rough stone of the hastily carved image tone even though he no longer had his physical body and he was quite some distance away. He could even feel the thin seed of the seed he had originally left in the image stone.

This time, Randidly left something much more powerful with his meaningful touch. Then the darkness consumed him.

Randidly woke up intermittently several times over the next few hours, but every time he did so his throbbing headache informed him that it was better to allow himself some more time to recover. Perhaps it was due to using Vye as an intermediary, but imparting a portion of his increasingly powerful image had taken a lot out of him.

Although maybe that’s because I actually passed a kernel of my actual strength and consciousness through to Earth… Randidly thought fuzzily. I actually sacrificed something to so that they could continue to grow their images in the future. But if it keeps them from being consumed by their fear of something like Zone 1’s weapon, it will be worth it.

So Randidly allowed himself to rest. Then there was one point where he had basically restored his mental strength to the point that he at least wanted to get up and speak with Salazar and Zauna, but just as he was about to do so an annoyingly familiar drowsiness ambushed him. His eyelids slid swiftly down to snap shut as his consciousness was buoyed away toward the waiting Eidolon Crucible.

After all I do for you, Kharon, this is how you repay me?

When the surroundings began to resolve themselves, Randidly found himself in the vast darkness of the Great Rift. The drifting blue veins danced in the air around him, adding a little depth to the emptiness around him. But the reason that Randidly gritted his teeth in fury was that, when he looked down, Vualla was lying unconscious in his arms. Her eyelashes fluttered as she struggled against the nightmares that seized her in this fake image realm.

You were the first stranger who trusted me to protect you. Randidly’s claw tightened around Vualla’s shoulder. But even Randidly himself knew that it wasn’t him speaking; it was the Grim Chimera. To everyone else, I am a monster. But to you…

Even as his thought trailed off toward a rumbling sea of emotions, the numerous images of Kharon’s people flowed out of the darkness to surround Randidly. They wore the form of Nether Beasts, strange amalgamations of different physical creatures that were designed to maim and kill those built of Aether. These images disguised as Nether Beasts possessed none of the toxic constitution of Nether’s servants, but they flowed forward with the same determination that the attendants of the Nether Gatekeeper had possessed.

Randidly knew this was fake. The reason that this location was chosen was exactly that it affected him so strongly, even now. Randidly couldn’t even prevent his claw from tightening around fake-Vualla’s shoulder. But even so.

Even so. Maybe it was the constant heat that Randidly was devouring from the Fate blade, but being pulled here pissed him off in a way that he hadn’t been in a long time.

It had been quite a while since the last Eidolon Crucible, so these images possessed none of the fuzziness that Randidly had seen previously from the people of Kharon. Perhaps because Randidly had so often pilfered some of their image’s weight, they took advantage of the preparation time and came with dense and focused images to make up for the lack of weight that Randidly had repeatedly taken from them.

“But none of it matters,” The Grim Chimera said coldly. His tail snapped back and forth as he considered the approaching images. “Not when you choose to bring me here. For her… I will never allow defeat.”

They came like a swarm of locusts but Randidly roared and his voice and body were suddenly fire. He consumed them like beetles rushing toward a bonfire, accepting their small popping bodies without comment. The terrible intensity of his determination didn’t waver as his image was impacted by thousands of smaller images, all seeking to tear him down.

Compared to the System, you are nothing. Randidly’s eyes were neon-green lanterns in the fake Great Rift.

As Randidly had expected, this was the most difficulty that he had triumphing in the Eidolon Crucible since he had acquired the Skill. It might have been the preparation time and the growing number of images that seemed to come from Kharon, but Randidly could also sense that he truly had lost some amount of his power when he had repaired the image stone for the Order Ducis. Not much, but it was noticeable.

Plus, the fights against Kharon’s images were trials of resolve. With a weakened mentality, those sorts of struggles quickly became agonizing.

Still, as Randidly also had expected, he eventually slaughtered all of the false Nether Beasts and took his due as victor of the Eidolon Crucible. Weary and victorious, his consciousness returned to his body. Then he once again fell into a deep slumber that required a significant amount of time to work through.

When Randidly opened his eyes again, he was ready to move. Hopping quickly to his feet, Randidly left his hut and walked out to find Zauna and Salazar continuing to tend their ever-growing farm on this Aether built island surrounding by Nether. But what brought Randidly to an abrupt halt was how large the lush fields of crops had grown.

Almost half of the land was now covered in fields that were flowering or covered with ripening vegetables. And it also seemed like Salazar and Zauna had taken the time to build relatively modest lodgings of their own at the opposite end of the island from Randidly’s hut. Slightly dazed by their accomplishments, Randidly walked up to Zauna, who was carefully weeding in a small herb garden. “This… You’ve done a lot.”

Zauna nodded. Inwardly, Randidly sighed. In some ways, Zauna was the exact opposite of Salazar, but similarly obnoxious. She would usually only speak if a question was asked directly to her. Otherwise, she kept her own council.

“How did you accomplish this so quickly?” Randidly asked tiredly.

Zauna gave him a strange look. “...not very quickly…”

Randidly reached up and rubbed his forehead. Well, nowhere near as obnoxious as Salazar, but still. Somewhat of a surprise for her to reply with snark right now…

“Alright, how long did this take you?” Randidly asked.