Chapter 1134 (1/2)

Truly… was Vualla such a monster borne of hate…? Randidly wondered. And to him, it seemed like a completely legitimate question, although not one that was very helpful to think about. Because History had a way of vilifying the atrocities of the powerful. Her relatively innocuous, albeit likely Heretical, actions could have been blown out of proportion as time passed. Setting aside the supposedly real proof of her genuinely good character that Randidly learned by interacting with the duplicated Vualla.

But either way, he forced himself to relax rather than respond to the allegation in Ileot’s words. Although he could somehow imagine the familiar parts of her personality acting in these ways… this Vualla was not the one that Randidly had known. He should not take it personally. This was not the one that he had chosen to embrace, despite the consequences.

An open question whether I would have been foolish enough to embrace this one too, Randidly thought with not a little bit of humor.

Yet Randidly currently felt that heat in his chest, the one that had been burning since he kissed Vualla, slowly surging to life as he thought about her. And as he released a breath, something strange happened.

When he had stopped trying to force the two to be the same woman, suddenly the image he had in his head of the other Vualla became crystal clear. Suddenly he was witnessing this alternate Vualla, this true Vualla, this beautiful azure haired and eyed woman who was crushed by the weight of a vast darkness as though he was standing next to her as she was mobbed by corpses and Nether Beasts.

As this specter of the true Vualla appeared in Randidly's mind, illuminated by the heat in his chest, she wasn't driven by a mad desire for power. She was a woman slowly crushed by her fear and pain the weight of all of the death she had witnessed and then profited by. That knowledge that she only grew power because of the deaths of others strangled her just as certainly as a noose. Kindness was the knife with which she bled herself much more than hatred.

So she found a distraction: experimenting with energy. A flimsy distraction, compared to that constant emptiness she felt that was so vast that she couldn't help but be flattened by it. Yet it was all she had. She was alone, her family dead, her companions dead and devoured by her for fuel. And due to the constant presence of Nether in her life, it made sense that she turned to that as her default with which to play. It was what was always there, threating her. It was what laced the Path she had walked. Hell, without any surviving family or friends, it might have been the most constant presence in Vualla's life. It became a bitter comfort when all other existences abandoned her.

Familiar and certain. By those qualities, it had earned the place in Vualla’s march of death.

Randidly could see it so clearly. Vualla's profile, the bright deep-sea color of her hair, standing in that darkness that would someday drown her. As her hands moved she guided the dark energy in strange patterns. The skin of her arms was pale. She seemed so alone.

Randidly's hands clenched into fists.

Heedless to the internal vista that spread out before Randidly, Ileot continued blithely along. ”Of course, her obsession with her experiments was her downfall. Obviously, there are significant advantages to the grand formations... you are currently experiencing the apex of them with four stars condensed. But... you will soon find that as soon as you develop a fifth, there are unintended side effects to that borrowed power. Physical limitations as the Nether, even diluted to almost nonexistence, reacts poorly to your body. As she was the first and the best at developing the Nether cores, Vualla discovered this before anyone else. She was able to develop eight cores before she retired... and after that, it is rumored that she continued to experiment.”

She reached ten, Randidly thought lightly. But there was no need to say it aloud. And he almost suspected that Ileot knew much more about Vualla’s fate than he was letting on.

Then Ileot's face brightened. ”Luckily, her experiments bore unexpected fruit. For some reason... there is a strange resonance effect that occurs when a sufficient amount of Nether and Aether is gathered together and not allowed to destroy each other. It hasn't been able to be reliably reproduced... but Vualla's existence changed the entire face of the Nexus. For you see...”

Pursing his lips, Ileot appeared to think about something for several seconds. Then he shrugged. ”Well, it matters not if you know. The real Vualla was born a long, long time ago. So long ago that the underlying System was present... but it wasn't as easily accessible. One of the many skills you needed to hone during those days was the ability to understand the information that was contained in your inner world. Otherwise, you wouldn't even understand what you were capable of.”

The fingers on Randidly's right hand tingled. ”She was from... before the overlay System was present.”

”Yup.” Ileot smacked his lips. ”And basically the energy phenomenon that was observed from Vualla is the only reason that we were able to create the... overlay System, as you say, today. She revolutionized the entire Nexus without even meaning to. Heh, who says hatred is always a destructive emotion?”

And what she truly meant to do to the Nexus was destroy it, Randidly thought sadly. Again, he could see how that vast darkness would drown even that fervent desire that had driven her so far as she proceeded alone, deeper and deeper, into that darkness. Worse still because even with her great energy manipulation skills, she couldn't utilize the Nether cores to their fullest potential. So not just emotionally, but also physically she had been slowly strangled. The heat in Randidly's chest spiked up to become near agonizing.

You were so frustrated, weren't you? Randidly whispered to the specter of Vualla. To feel yourself growing more and more powerful... and also more and more incapable. Likely you fought the hardest against the physical bindings... but it was the slow creep of apathy that finally did you in.

Randidly released a breath. Then he looked at Ileot. Obviously he hesitated to say that he had recovered Vualla's Fate, but if Ileot was being this free with information... ”So what happened to her?”

Ileot waved his hand. ”The same thing that happens to us all. Time devours us. But I can understand why you are asking... a being with that much hate animating her every action, surely she went out with a bang, right? Heh, many thought the same thing. But to everyone's surprise... she passed quietly. It seems that the binding at the high end of the Nether cores can even strangle hatred. That’s why none have attempted it in her wake, despite the obvious protection from Nether you can acquire.”

Sighing, Randidly turned away from Ileot. Did you still have it in you to cry, Vualla? After your body stiffened around you?