Chapter 1206 (2/2)

Yet even as the strain on Randidly eased, he could see the tremors running through Lady Iellaya’s body. Blocking out so much pressure was not an easy feat.

Honnng.

The light above them flared and then went out. With a strange sense of finality, the bright yellow working shattered under the strain of amplifying the Nether King’s strength. Instantly the pressure it unleashed dropped sharply downward, but a wave of kinetic destruction spread outward with the echo of that final, resonant noise. The Great Rift opened up and dropped it downward.

It hit the edges of the badlands first, knocking up huge slabs of stone and then annihilating them as it bowled its way forward without a care for the damage it was doing. It happened so quickly that the edges of their lands didn’t even shake, but were directly devoured as that wave spread outward.

Lady Iellaya scrunched her eyes shut and braced herself. Allowing himself one long sigh, Randidly thought of absolutely nothing for a moment as the wave ripped its way forward through space, leaving only darkness in its wake. The physical ground was ripped to shreds. Lord Miln and Ileot were lost in the spreading avalanche of debris, while Lord Miln’s subordinates seemed to be eviscerated by that terrible noise.

The sky of the Aether was slowly deteriorating, gobbled up by the Great Rift in a horrifying spread of darkness. Tremors in the ground grew even more intense before the final wave arrived, signaling how close to collapsing this base of Aether had become. Earthquakes heaved beneath their feet.

Be safe Vualla. Randidly thought softly. And then the brilliant light of the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis surged outward. The ground behind Lady Iellaya’s camp was ripped to pieces slightly early as a small sapling poked itself out of the ground and then exploded upward in a twisting, surging growth. Soon it was a towering tree with rich brown bark covered in a sprawling golden script that told the history of all things that had been and will be.

Its branches and canopy spread wide, providing cover for Lady Iellaya’s camp. The leaves rustled, sending out powerful ripples of an image that Randidly was already having trouble projecting outward. He simply hadn’t had enough time to rest.

Lady Iellaya’s jaw was so clenched that she spoke through her teeth at Randidly, “How much of this can you really withstand?”

Yet Randidly didn’t flinch from her baleful gaze. “I guess I’ll need to handle whatever you cannot.”

Their gazes were locked for a second. Lady Iellaya couldn’t deny it, but she refused to give any sense of acquiescence either. The battlement between the cracked slightly as the foundation beneath their fort began to fall apart. Then the noise rushed forward to hit them.

For a brief moment, Lady Iellaya tried to withstand the whole wave of pressure that the Nether King had produced as it had shattered its own working with this final effort. Cracks snaked forward from the expanding Great Rift toward the base of Lady Iellaya’s camp. Randidly saw the huge trench they had dug and the small fortifications beyond that slowly upended by the wave of force and then disintegrate as space began to destabilize.

Then, as Lady Iellaya’s pride was forced backward by the viciousness of the approaching destruction, some of that pressure was passed onto Randidly. Their two images spread out over the base. The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil stretched underneath and seized hold of the ground, forcefully resisting the destabilization of the surrounding ground.

Randidly’s spine was on fire. The pressure was like nothing he ever felt before. The world was ripped away, leaving away a weird skewed perception remaining to Randidly that were only colors. The surrounding world was a deep, deep black. Lady Iellaya was a dim white light that was hovering next to him. And his spine… Randidly’s spine burned red, staring with a luminous cherry at the base of his skull.

Pain lost meaning; it was only another color that pressed down over Randidly. Yet even as Randidly’s mind struggled to protect him, he couldn’t escape the pain. The red color grew brighter and brighter.

Perhaps Randidly would have collapsed immediately from the terrible pain of hearing that noise, but there were suddenly two hands on his shoulders. Neveah was there mentally, making her presence know for the first time through all the suffering that Randidly had endured on the frontlines.

Your struggles are mine, Neveah whispered. Pain flowed out through Randidly toward Neveah, located on the distant Earth. We may live different lives, but we are one.

The pain eased somewhat. Yet even with Neveah adding her mind to the effort, Randidly’s image rapidly began to fail. He had done too much, for too long. This battlefield was just beyond his abilities.

I… can’t… fail… Randidly strange red existence was becoming increasingly feeble, barely able to stand up to that horrible noise. Even if he dearly wanted to protect all the people within Lady Iellaya’s camp, who would be eviscerated by this terrible noise, he didn’t have the strength remaining to do so. He had already given too much.

The monarch’s crown… is heavy… Randidly’s head fell farther forward. But more hands caught him on the way down.

Annie, Sam, Alana, Mrs. Hamilton. Suddenly they were there, hands on his arms to support him. Even when the wave of pain spread outward through them, they didn’t waver.

Randidly released a breath. Then a new color was added to his warped perception; emerald.

Randidly opened his eyes and stood next to Lady Iellaya, enduring the pain until the power unleashed by the Nether King had dissipated. Because the monarch was never truly alone. Not so long as there were people that called him liege and would support him when he needed it. That was the truth of him: Randidly Ghosthound had been built up by people who believed in him.

That emerald color grew brighter. As long as they are here… I won’t fail.