Chapter 1153 (1/2)

As if in response to his words, the surrounding Nether trembled and then accelerated even further toward its imminent completion. Finally, the truest spark of hope that Randidly had felt since arriving down here on this obsidian and jade and silver platform ignited the surrounding memories into action.

Randidly could see the way to spin this. Although it was simply a dull black marble of Nether, that small object that was suspended at the core of this working began to glimmer.

“...heh,” The Creature seemed to regard Randidly with obvious caution. Her eyes flipped between the glimmering marble and Randidly’s face. Even if she didn’t possess the same Skills as Randidly, the Creature could probably sense the same approaching conclusion that he could. “I suppose with this, we can finally consider ourselves… being of one mind. You will bear my hatred to strike against the System. I am… surprised you were willing to surrender to me. But-”

“Your assistance… won’t be necessary,” Randidly said softly. Then he gritted his teeth and forced out the next few words. “But still… I wouldn’t have gotten so far without you. So… thank you, Yystrix.”

That gave her a moment of pause as the thread after thread of refined Nether slithered up through Azriel’s torso. The threads were so dense that it seemed like a sinuous inky serpent was piercing up to be spun into the bead. “You’ve… never said my name before.”

Randidly just nodded. And this time was just to distract you.

It wasn’t that the Creature was emotionally moved by using her name that she was distracted, but rather… Randidly could clearly see her calculating mind trying to gauge what was going on here. So many uncommon behaviors in a row from Randidly had made her nervous.

But at this point, it was too late to stop. The core had been formed. An aura of light and images was already beginning to form, slowly filtering out to form a bubble around the core. The dense energy rustled the fabric of Azriel’s crimson gown as it floated down to sink into her.

“You aren’t flinching,” The Creature mused. Her eyes instantly sharpened. “What are you plotting, boy?”

Randidly grinned as the Nether bead slipped into Azriel’s chest. The Nether Ritual began to shake as it reached across the vast universe for the one thing that Randidly wished for, building a bridge that he could cross to reach that place. Time and space and possibility slowly spun, bringing themselves into alignment. “Stability.”

The threads of the Creature’s karma were like the many arms of a sea anemone, eternally sensing and testing its new home within Azriel’s body. Yet there was clearly a darkness to them as they began to highlight Azriel’s weakness. Azriel shivered and wrapped her arms around her torso. Before they could begin to bind, Randidly needed to act and create the opening he needed.

So he looked at the Creature and said. “Should I… be worried…? That Elhume… he left an Aether mark on me when he tried to trace your true body. Will he return?”

“Elhume…!” The Creature hissed out. Her reaction was much more controlled than it had been previously, but there was still a crack in her expression as she wavered. Through that small chink in her armor, Randidly could see both fear… and a faint longing. It was a name with great power, that dragged the Creature’s focus to it, despite the high stakes situation around them.

But that was all the opening they needed. Azriel’s hand twitched. Then her eyes shot opened and revealed crimson irises on pitch-black pupil and sclera. Before the heavy karma that Azriel had accepted could settle to its grim work, she used it like a blunt force and smashed it against the Creature’s assumed, metaphysical role as a focal point for Nether in the Alpha Cosmos.

Randidly couldn’t see the clash, but he felt it and saw it disintegrate the confidence on the Creature’s face. Her eyes widened. “You-!”

But the Creature had given all the weight of its karma to that memory. To bind Randidly, but Azriel was right to point out that those bindings didn’t just work one way. Azriel controlled the reins of power now, and the Creature’s remaining projection shivered and was suddenly supplanted. Randidly could almost feel her immediate absence, an ache he hadn’t even noticed until it vanished.

If he had wished it, Randidly knew that he could banish the Creature from this place once more. But he didn’t want her to go, not yet. Suddenly his Alpha Cosmos felt a lot more whole. Still, this wasn’t the end of it.

“Heh, this was your ploy?” To the Creature’s credit, she didn’t mourn the sudden shift very long. Instead, she sneered at him. “Regardless, you have now accepted my karma. I hope it scalds your sensitive skin and corrodes your lungs, boy.”

Almost as though the karma had heard the Creature’s words, it instantly turned its sharp tips back on Azriel. As she straightened on the stone dias her face was wracked by a grimace. Those threads of karma had dispersed from the focused weight needed to unseat the Creature from Randidly’s Soulskill and now began to stab deeply into Azriel, intent on binding her to that terrible hate born within it.

Randidly clicked his tongue lightly. The potent seed of Nether he created pulsed with power and released a wave that knocked those misbehaving threads of karma away from Azriel’s body.

The Creature cackled. “You wish to waste what little of your power that seed possesses to protect her? It won’t last long. That karma will not cease in its pursuit. Not ever.”

“It only has to work once,” Randidly replied. He felt it now, his own Path forward. The same Path that Randidly had taken through the past five years of living in the System. He raised his hand and the threads unwilling looked up to see the image created by his will: a baleful blade that would cut the System. Even if the greedy karma sought to tightly bind, because that was what it had done all its existence, Randidly offered it the other Path. The threads of karma hesitated, uncertain.