Chapter 1278 (1/2)

Although he had his perfectly sinister island in the sky floating only a short distance away, out of habit, Randidly returned to the roof of town hall and looked up through the drifting clumps of moss spirits to the stars above. Perhaps it was because of the star arrival of the cold to New Earth, but the light from the stars was especially bright tonight.

No matter what atrocities occurred during the day, the passage of time would continue to generate brief spans of beauty that could break a watcher’s heart.

As the pale light filtered down around him, Randidly idly wondered if there was still a space to explore around New Earth or whether what he was looking up toward was an entirely different space in the universe. He made a mental note to ask someone more familiar with astronomy whether the skies had changed since the System arrived. He tried looking for the big dipper but wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the fact that he couldn’t find it.

Randidly raised his right hand and attempted to seize the unassuming beauty of the sky. His three images spread outward and pressed down against the surrounding space. His Nether flooded outward like a swarm of locusts and devoured everything but those strands of starlight. Yet just as soon as his fingers were about to brush against the captive light, it faded.

Without much hope of success, Randidly continually attempted the impossible. Failing didn’t dissuade him; he was simply trying to find his place in this world.

As he had long expected, Tatiana eventually came up to the roof to find him around midnight. His hands fell to his sides and his images faded away as he heard her approach. She was carrying a stack of paper that was covered with hastily written handwriting; clearly the day had not been a restive one. Randidly decided that he would wait another day or two before talking to Tatiana about his idea to host a birthday party on Kharon only 15 days from now.

I couldn’t do this without her, I should find some way to thank her. Randidly reflected. In the past, Mrs. Hamilton also fulfilled the role of enabler to make sure that Randidly’s activities in Donnyton wouldn’t cause unnecessary ripples. But ultimately, there was something extremely parental about the way that Mrs. Hamilton had assisted him. Meanwhile, Tatiana was here because she believed in his vision. And having her support behind him had made quite a bit of difference in his ability to affect the wider Earth.

“Are you prepared for the report?” Tatiana asked lightly. In her tone, Randidly heard the slightly exasperated expectation that he might say no.

Inwardly, Randidly sighed. He needed to be better at not seeming annoyed during the briefings. Even if he didn’t know how long he would remain on Earth, while he was here he should not dismiss the importance of these sessions. Only by understanding the situation could he better adjust his strategies to prepare Earth for the Calamities that were coming. “Of course.”

Randidly rubbed his right thumb against the smooth metal knuckles of his left hand. These hands, despite everything, were still the hands of a human. He could no more grab starlight than anyone else on Earth. As hard as it is to stick to this… the reason I am doing these things is to prepare the Earth. Even if the cost-

“The initial reports put the death toll at thirteen thousand one hundred and three,” Tatiana said as she looked down at her paper. “We expect that number will be updated to something close to fourteen thousand as they begin to excavate the buildings that collapsed during the final portion of the fighting as the Nemesai made their escape.”

Randidly released a breath. With a single thought, he could still see the bloodsoaked stands in the Grim Chimera’s memory. These are deaths I could have prevented. But… it is not my responsibility to save humanity from everything; that is why they have governments and Orders outside of me. And this… will prove that those organizations are currently failing. Maybe… this will be the wakeup call that the Earth needs.

But it’s still so hard to know I could have prevented this and chose not to…

“The Order Valorem is coming under heavy fire due to the widespread reports of Straud controlling almost half of their number during the worst of the fighting. The leader of the Order Valorem, Mark Rowel, has admitted that he recently had a very lax open recruitment into his Order so that he had additional manpower to promise Zone 1 for the game. Needless to say, calls for the Order Valorem to replace the Order Ducis as head of the Orders have ceased. Especially after Naffur and Valor were seen subduing the Rakshasi.”

Randidly forced out a chuckle. “They take interesting vacations.”

As she looked at Randidly, Tatiana pursed her lips. “Seems to me that they take after the leader of their Order in that respect.”

When Randidly couldn’t figure out how to respond to her veiled accusation, Tatiana flipped to the next page of her notes and continued to speak. “Theodora Greyman has voluntarily stepped down as chairperson of the World Council. In addition, she’s been widely criticized for forcing Alana Donal, who is widely regarded as the hero of the day by everyone involved, to endure attacks to defend against the second attack of Mjolnir.

“Other Zones have stepped forward and pointed out that Mjolnir is of very little use against monsters and basically only operates at a threat against entities with fixed bases: in this case, the other Zones. There are calls for the weapon to be dismantled as a show of sincerity on the part of Zone 1 to work with the rest of the world.”

Randidly nodded lightly. It was never going to be possible to say that these lessons were worth the price in lives that the world paid, but it was good to see that people had learned from the experience. Although Randidly understood that some of it was political posturing on the part of the other Zones for more leverage. “And from our allies at the scene… any serious injuries?”

He had asked almost reflexively because he knew first hand of the strength of everyone involved. But almost immediately, Tatiana’s mouth twisted.

“...during the last stretch of fighting, Kiersty was heavily injured.” Tatiana’s voice sounded tired. Randidly’s emerald gaze sharpened. “She was defending civilians. Luckily, Nathan was there to stabilize her almost immediately… but the only reason she survived was that someone else threw their body in front of her at the last second. One of the football players, Jake Tuck. He did not survive.”

“Who struck the blow against Kiersty?” Randidly very purposefully suppressed his rage and tried to keep his voice even. But the Grim Chimera image was already seeping steadily outward. The shadows on the roof grew dark and dangerous. Its form flickered behind Randidly, its huge claw curled maliciously.

Even if these hands couldn’t catch moonlight, they could rip almost anything to pieces.

“Decklan Hyde. But… he died shortly afterward.” Tatiana replied.