Chapter 1130 (2/2)

The second gauntlet hit the ground.

The truth that the main body had brought back with it, that led to such a conflict with the Grim Chimera’s emotions, stemmed from a relatively simple premise: that the individual who had taken an interest in Shal’s world, and Randidly by extension, was the same one interfering with his arrival to the frontlines.

It wasn’t even a clever anagram. Cail Tweocs.

Ileot Swacc.

Or more importantly, the nickname that Randidly had been given for this individual.

Ileot Swacc, the Duplicator.

And what does he duplicate?

In front of the slightly numb Randidly, Vualla began to pull something off of her right hand. “God, I wish my Fate would heal as quickly as my palm did…”

A person. And if Ileot Swacc did duplicate someone, he would duplicate someone who would get close to me. Does he control the person? It doesn’t seem like that’s the case, because ‘duplication’ doesn’t usually involve modification, but it’s impossible to tell. And if he simply hasn’t been exercising that control thus far-

Vualla offered the fingerless leather glove she removed from her right hand to Randidly with a teasing smile. “It’s a very intimate thing, you know, to let someone else touch your Fate. They say you can see someone’s secret desires that way…”

Randidly’s own right hand was burning as he carefully reached with his left arm and took the glove from Vualla. There was a large hole in the center of the leather glove. The soft brown material was so intimately familiar. And as Vualla had indicated, crystals had begun to form on the edges of the hole, perhaps indicating that it would soon heal inward.

Looking solemnly at the glove, Randidly’s mind continued to race. It was rapidly becoming obvious that he had been altogether too self-absorbed in his initial assumptions about the duplication.

Even if Ileot Swacc had duplicated someone to get close to Randidly, Ileot Swacc was someone who was playing a much larger game that just Randidly. The person he would duplicate would serve multiple purposes for him. Vualla was more than just an individual who Ileot suspected of possessing compatibility with Randidly. She also was someone who had a very high potential for growth. And for a very specific type of growth.

Which explained why Vualla had somehow risen to the six Nether core level, even while the grand array was turned toward defense instead of growth. Because she-

Randidly pressed his eyes together. The glove in the trunk that had saved Randidly’s life was Vualla’s Fate, from the original Vualla who had lived an untold number of years in the past. And also Randidly suddenly knew why the Aether around the glove felt so ancient and so familiar. It wasn’t because he had met Vualla, because the Aether of the ‘her’ Randidly interacted with hadn’t yet developed that distinct flavor.

But there was a distinct tang to the Aether that Randidly immediately recognized as having been submerged in at the frontlines. The Aether on the ancient Fate was the Aether of the grand array that condensed the Nether stars.

Randidly shook his head helplessly. A brief conversation from the first time that Randidly had met Vualla popped into his head.

“Is there an upper limit on Nether stars then?” Randidly had asked aloud.

“Ten.”

“So someone’s gotten all the way to ten, huh…”

Vualla had shaken her head, causing her braid to bound back and forth across her shoulders. “No, I think the actual record is eight stars. After that, the individual couldn’t even move properly and retired from the frontlines.”

Frowning, Randidly asked. “Then why did you just say ten?”

“I honestly don’t know. An instinct, maybe?” Vualla flashed Randidly a smile.

An instinct, or a subconscious memory from a past life. And Randidly wasn’t sure what the relationship between Vualla and the array was, but some part of him knew that it did not mean rosy things for ancient Vualla’s health or sanity.

“...Randidly, is something wrong? You’ve just been…” Vualla trailed off. Then, of all things, she blushed. “Uh… it’s not… true that you can see my desires in my Fate, right? Maybe you should just give it back…”

Randidly passed it back over, unsure of what to say. And as she looked at his expression, her eyes crinkled at the corners in sorrow. As the blushing face cracked, Randidly realized that it had been a forced joke. Something to push away the heavy truth that lay between them.

With the steady beat of a heart, that warmth that connected the two of them pulsed with the truth of what they felt. Fear surged up from the bottom of Vualla’s heart, spreading through the connection between them. After licking her lips, Vualla spoke. “So… so it’s true. I started to have my suspicions after talking to Cail today, but…”

Vualla did her best to smile. Tears coursed down her cheeks. “I’m… I’m not real, am I…?”