Chapter 1122 (1/2)
Once Randidly really thought about Nether’s Caress, he had a whole host of questions. But he also had one very tempting idea that sprung out of his musings.
Why not use the portal to return to his body and surprise Lord Miln by breaking out of the suppression pod?
Of course, this idea had to be swiftly abandoned. When all he been able to learn was how much the main body was struggling to manage against the Aether bindings of the pod, it wasn’t possible that Lord Miln wouldn’t have other defenses in place to prevent exactly that from happening. But that didn’t mean the inverse wasn’t possible.
Why couldn’t he use that portal to bring the main body out of the pod and into the Great Rift?
It required the main body sustaining quite a bit of damage from Nether in order to loosen the restrictions on it in the pod itself, but it worked out in the end. As an image, Randidly easily abandoned the Aether Key, especially when he could sense the oncoming assault of a huge army, and flowed through the portal into an unfamiliar part of the Great Rift. Then the main body opened its own portal, and with a lot more difficulty, forced its way through.
And once the Grim Chimera merged back together with the main body, Randidly Ghosthound had the full benefit of both an Aether Crossroads and the five Nether Cores that he had condensed while preparing in the Great Rift for this very occasion.
He had been somewhat worried about what would happen when the two energies were present at the same time, but there was no negative reaction. Because for the first time, the Nether and Aether were aligned completely. It didn’t feel like he had grown stronger, but a weird sort of understanding had grown in him from the harmonious combination.
Aether held his images and gave him a physical presence. Nether provided the history of his memories and connected him more intimately than ever before with the other images and histories of those he had bound himself to.
Abruptly, Randidly felt solid in a way that he never had before. His energies had united.
But, of course, he didn’t have much time to examine the changes that were happening inwardly; there was a war going on. Randidly quickly located a nearby blue vein in his portion of the Great Rift and had to spend almost a week jumping along, resting, and then jumping along the vein some more to traverse the vast distance to the frontlines.
Then, using his five Nether Cores to disguise himself, Randidly had joined in the assault of the frontlines to finally return from where he came, after spending what felt like a year and four months in the Great Rift.
“...I’m so glad you made it.” An extremely bedraggled Vualla took a staggering step forward toward Randidly. Due to her right arm being almost completely useless, she reached up with her gauntleted left hand to touch his face. “I… without you… Randidly, I-”
Pressing her eyes together, Vualla shook her head. “...I suppose it can wait. Yes, let’s fight to save as many as we can.”
Randidly’s gaze contained immeasurable sadness as two truths warred with him as he looked at Vualla. The truth of the Grim Chimera, who possessed deep feelings for Vualla was perhaps stronger and purer. Because Randidly did indeed share those same feelings for her. The qualities the Grim Chimera admired, Randidly also admired. And even now, wounded and exhausted, Vualla was beautiful and bright as an iris growing wild on a mountainside.
Yet Randidly now also knew the truth that the main body had been able to sense about Vualla. He couldn’t yet understand why her Aether was so familiar, but he knew why it was so ancient. And why it would be a tragedy to let his emotions for Vualla to develop further than they already had.
Cail Tweocs… ha, what a joke. Randidly gritted his teeth. I’ll make you pay for this… did you do this on purpose, to toy with my emotions?
Aloud, Randidly said blithely. “No, we will be saving them all.”
Blinking, Vualla didn’t react for a few seconds. Then she began to laugh. “You… ha, fine then. I shouldn’t have expected anything less from the man with the emerald eyes.” Her braided azure hair swayed behind her back as she favored Randidly with a pure smile. “Let’s save them all then, Randidly.”
“Well, it’s not like we won’t have help,” Randidly said as a smile tugged at his mouth. Even if I know the truth, if you smile at me like that... God, it feels good to smile back…
Right on time, three figures smashed into the ground nearby. Lady Iellaya and Abiodun looked in wonder at Randidly, but he ignored them. Instead, he smiled at Yggdrasil and opened his arms. “You were almost late.”
“Heh, please forgive me. We were held up,” Yggdrasil said simply. Then he became incorporeal and phased back into Randidly. A warm, familiar feeling spread through Randidly and he unleashed a relieved sigh.
That two down, one to go… but for now, this is enough.
Then Randidly turned and looked at the battlefield. The familiar feeling of Mana began to boil in his veins as he saw countless small battles across the clashing armies where Nether Beasts used their superior numbers to strike and slay soldiers of Aether. Dark octopi, bears, hedgehogs, wolverines, dinosaurs, werewolves, and slugs lashed out and ate away ate the Aether in the air. I will not let this turn into another tragedy like the Hallat River.
Like an old friend, when Randidly pulled, his oldest and most influential image came. Within a split second, a towering image of Yggdrasil rumbled up out of the ground behind him. Even if it was only a brief break before Randidly called on it again, there was a very distinct difference between being a physical image and being an image that was based in a real body.
It roared upward, parting the ground on the Aether side of the battlefield as the deep brown trunk lined with golden script forced itself up into the sky. Then the emerald leaves began to sprout, so large and broad that a family could sleep under those leaves like they were a broad and comforting roof.
Across the battlefield, both sides paused as the enormous image weighed over them. The Aether soldiers began to cheer. The size difference from Yggdrasil’s form as a solo image was staggering. The long shadow cast by the vast trunk and gleaming leaves of Yggdrasil covered the entire battlefield.
Even Lady Iellaya raised her eyebrows as she looked upward at the towering tree. “This…”