Chapter 1219 (1/2)

Lady Iellaya drifted in the darkness surrounded by fizzing chunks of orange. She blinked slowly and her eyes focused, allowing her to watch the inky blackness slowly dissolve the nearby stones. The stump of her right arm was still warm, a phantom sensation of when she had touched ord Miln’s back. The righteous fury she had felt when she had struck him and pinned him to the Nether King still felt amazing.

The empty space where her forearm had once been was curiously cool, completely severed by that strange white lightning that Ileot used in his strike. The charred skin of Lady Iellaya’s elbow twinged in discomfort.

...I avenged you, Abiodun… Lady Iellaya worked her mouth, tasting blood on her tongue. Her head throbbed painfully. All she wanted was a well-deserved nap. You can rest in peace.

A voice continued to whisper persistently in her ear despite the fact that she allowed most of her consciousness to settle into numbed silence. The once familiar tone it used suddenly felt extremely strange. We failed… we couldn’t protect Abiodun. Everything we touch… is cursed to die. Better to just… drift here…

Lady Iellaya frowned and gently chided herself. Why had the voice made her current action out to be so bleak? This rest isn't a permanent state. Not so long as there are still other subordinates who have sworn their lives to me. I made a mistake and lost Abiodun… but that is a lesson for the future. I cannot stop here. As soon as I recover-

The voice grew louder and continued as though it hadn’t even heard her words. Lady Iellaya’s skin itched to hear it so shrilly in her ear. Hate. Hate them. It’s their fault. This world… these lives… they could all be-

“What the hell are you…?” Lady Iellaya whispered. She forced her eyes open. To her horror, she found that her whole body had been covered in a sea of feathers. They grew increasingly thick over all of her body, submerging her toes, legs, abdomen, and torso until only her face was currently bare. And as her skin continued to itch, Lady Iellaya felt those feathers slowly sprout out of her neck and creep upward like a beard.

I am the path you have chosen. The Path of vengeance. Seeking power to avenge your Abiodun, at any cost.

“I don’t choose you.” The pounding in Lady Iellaya’s head grew worse. A dawning horror seized her chest as the voice in the back of her head sounded less and less familiar. Those huge, throbbing wings she had dragged behind her began pulling her even more deeply into the darkness. They were rivers of feathers, an endless burial in an oily, dark flow.

You needed power! The voice insisted. We all need power. Only with power can we be saved. You let me into your heart. We want the same thing. Only with power can we avoid failing again. But we will always fail. Our touch is poison. The power we want is a perfect power that has no reason to be used. Because by using it we’d swallow everything up.

As the black feathers began to sprout from her face, Lady Iellaya smiled. “Am I really like you? Whatever you are… you have no future. And I won’t let you devour mine. No… not when I hold the future that Abiodun dreamed of in his life. The dream of the whole world belonging to me.”

You want to swallow the world… just like-

As the feathers began to spread across her high cheekbones and obscured Lady Iellaya’s vision, the raven winged serpent roared. With its short and sharp jaws, Lady Iellaya began to gnaw her way out of the sea of feathers that surrounded her.

*****

Randidly’s skin tingled as the beam of white lightning cut toward him through the intervening space. His instincts made it quite clear that this wasn’t something that he should face directly. Its power seemed to curdle the Nether of the Great Rift around it, leaving a trail of grey goop as the two powers rubbed against each other with enough friction to spark.

Randidly instantly surged into motion. His image spread out through the pure Aether maintained by his Nether Gatekeeper bubble. With his skin tingling, Randidly gritted his teeth and twisted out of the way to avoid the sudden attack. Chimeric Avoidance.

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Avoidance (L) has grown to Level 232!

The beam of sizzling lightning ripped across the edge of Randidly’s ribs, melting through Sulfur’s exterior rigid in a heartbeat. Glaring upward at Ileot Swacc, Randidly activated Man is Proud but the Chimera Takes. The empowered Skill surged into action, mobilizing Randidly’s own Nether to turn his body into a torpedo that surged forward toward Ileot. But just as quickly as he activated it, Randidly was forced to desperately activate the Skill again in a different direction as Ileot unleashed a bombardment of three more blasts of white lightning toward his vital points.

Congratulations! Your Skill Man is Proud But the Chimera Takes (L) has grown to Level 193!

Congratulations! Your Skill Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality (A) has grown to Level 251!

Gritting his teeth, Randidly could only flex his body to disperse his momentum into the surrounding space. The blasts whizzed by harmlessly, but Randidly could see that several more flames condensed around Ileot’s distant figure, ready to be shot forward. Yet Randidly couldn’t help but think there was something wrong with Ileot. His posture was rigid and his face was locked into a constant sneer.

But most strangely, Ileot had seemed to Randidly to be someone who loved the sound of his own voice. Yet now he attacked him without even speaking…? And the quality of these lightning blasts...

The performance of my Skills certainly has improved, but Ileot’s attacks are even faster than mine. If we were fighting near each other, there wouldn’t be any way for me to dodge… but still… Randidly’s eyes tightened. Even if I’ve improved… it should still be easy for someone like Ileot to crush me with his image. So why isn’t he doing that…?

Ileot’s eyes were half-closed, completely preventing Randidly from discerning any of his emotions or intentions. If Randidly didn’t know better, it would seem like Ileot was dozing off. Yet as Randidly paused and scanned his sudden attacker, three more blasts of white lightning shot down toward him. Swearing quietly, Randidly rolled to the side and quickly avoided the blasts.

Doesn’t he want to talk? Guess we aren’t friends any longer... Randidly’s gaze was sharp as he looked up at Ileot once more. There were no words waiting for him in Ileot’s half-closed eyes, only more tongues of white flame that sprung into existence around his foe. Either way, I won’t be able to do anything from this far away… But if I move closer too recklessly…

Damnit…! What the hell is going on…?

Then Randidly’s eyes widened as an idea occurred to him. He began to chuckle. Then he cracked his knuckles. “Alright then. Let’s do this the hard way. Even if you are more powerful than me… I don’t think you can compete with me in the Great Rift.”

“None will leave this place alive,” Ileot whispered.