Chapter 1277 (2/2)

Randidly blinked. A very bad idea occurred to him. But it only took him a short amount of time to realize some unintended benefits of such an idea. After casting his mind around, he realized that he actually was quite lucky; based on the calendar that the World Council had adopted, the actual date that he had in mind was only two weeks away.

Releasing a breath, Randidly stepped forward. He tried to keep the movement relatively quiet and unobtrusive, but he knew as soon as he moved that he wasn’t quite used to the juice that Nether Brawn provided his movements. He passed through the air at a speed that caused it to hum and appeared ten meters in front of Ezekiel like he had ripped off a cloak of invisibility.

Ezekiel immediately froze. Before taking the time to figure out who had appeared in front of him, a purple energy surrounded Ezekiel’s finger and he took several quick steps backward to open up space. The scent of blood intensified.

Randidly simply watched the rise and fall of Ezekiel’s chest. Wind rustled the tall grass around the lonely road. “Hey… dad. I assume… you’ve heard that I’m back.”

If anything, this induced an even more violent reaction in Ezekiel. Every limb seemed to tremble and the purple energy around his fingertip disappeared. “...Randidly. You… you came looking for me? Look, son, I know we talked before, and I-”

“I really don’t want to talk about that right now.” Randidly’s face twisted. Ezekiel was referring to the requirement of his Class that he kill a conscious being each day in order to continue to exist. If he took days off, he would slowly lose stats until he wasted away. “No… today I just… I wanted to give you an invitation. To a birthday party I’m throwing for myself.”

While those words hung in the air, Randidly’s emerald eyes went to Ezekiel’s chest. Because he actually was quite curious about how a Class with such requirements was constructed. It was obviously a special existence, but that meant that Randidly could probably learn a little about Classes by examining it.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to Level 188!

Several seconds passed while Randidly looked intently into Ezekiel’s Soulspace. When the complex series of rotating glyphs of Ezekiel’s Class left him stumped even after several seconds of wracking his brain, Randidly reached through the Soulbound and prodded Neveah. Almost instantly, her Perception overlapped with his so she could see what Randidly was looking at.

Fascinating. But hard with your senses to feel how the depth of the four rotating glyphs manages to fuel the cycle. Can you grab him and bring him to me?

Randidly’s mouth twisted while Ezekiel looked solemnly at him. He’s… my dad. I can’t just… grab him.

Isn’t he killing people to live? Neveah asked. Randidly’s chest tightened.

“I… you want me to come to your birthday party?” Ezekiel asked. He sounded bewildered. Which Randidly could somewhat understand; as a child, Randidly had always insisted on low key birthday parties. Basically, he had invited one or two friends from school and celebrated their shared birthday with Sydney and that was it.

But this time…

Randidly’s small smile in response was chilly. “Yes. But you don’t have to worry. Since I’m doing this… I plan on sweeping in everyone I can at once. I’ll send invitations to the leaders of each of the Zone and the Orders. Everyone talks about how I’m constantly absent… well, for this party, I won’t be. It’s time that the Earth’s leaders and I have a frank conversation.”

His smile widened and became even more frigid as his gaze refocused on Ezekiel. “I think I’ll also extend invitations to the remaining Nemesai at large. Or even… other independent factions. And I’ll guarantee that there will be no fighting at the event.”

“What?” If anything, this confused Ezekiel further. “Why? It’s not like the two sides have anything to talk about.”

“Really? But I think it will be good. Because ultimately… we should never forget that this isn’t personal to the Nemesai. They are simply dancing to the tune of the Nexus,” Randidly said lightly. He tried not to blink as he looked at Ezekiel.

The idea to invite everyone was something of a whim, but Randidly thought it might be a useful opportunity to start revealing the truth about the System to more people. But at its core, this sudden birthday party was only meant to cause Ezekiel to give Randidly a gift. Randidly cast his mind around for other ideas to try and ensure that he would get a gift for other reasons, but he hesitated from doing anything too drastic or dishonest.

This was still his father, although he had been broken down by the System. Before seeing evidence to the contrary… Randidly decided to have faith that his father would get him a gift, whether he attended the party or not.

“I’ll think about it,” Ezekiel finally answered. He lowered his gaze and walked past Randidly without looking back.

“Dad,” Randidly turned around and looked at Ezekiel’s back. His father paused. Even now, under the thick scent of blood, Randidly could detect the energy of the Creature. Randidly’s hands clenched. “If there is anyone threatening you… or trying to control you… just tell me. I can help.”

Ezekiel just nodded. Then he continued to walk away.