Chapter 1400 (2/2)

His Willpower was sunk into the chill core of the Nether Nebula. The wild currents of Randidly’s Nether energy kept his emotions from overwhelming him. If he wanted to save Neveah, and also himself, he needed to be smart. Kaan’s Skill didn’t teleport him, but it still bound him. So all he needed to do was breakthrough that Skill, as Neveah had done, and he would be free to fight once more.

Kaan began to walk forward.

Freeing himself would leave him with the problem of dealing with Kaan with all three images being struck by counter-images, but Randidly ignored that problem for now. Kaan was three meters in front of him and Neveah was twenty meters behind him. He didn’t have much time.

His first thought was to borrow the knowledge from Neveah, but Randidly could tell through their connection that her mind was a mess. The targeted blast of loneliness had triggered a deep depression in Neveah’s heart that was probably there the entire time, waiting for weakness in her psyche. Now it engulfed her, making even the smallest action seem monumentally difficult.

Instead of searching around in Neveah’s chaotic mind, Randidly focused on his Nether. It was the energy of connection, after all. Usually, Kaan’s Skill would take away his ability to use Nether, but it hadn’t managed it this time. Therefore, as long as Randidly could create a connection with his Nether-

As Kaan passed Randidly, he took a small glance at him. In that glance, Randidly saw the answer to a secret question that he had: why didn’t Kaan use this opportunity to wound Randidly directly?

In that lingering gaze, Randidly saw that Kaan wanted to hurt him. And Kaan recognized that he could use Neveah to do that. Plus, Randidly had only been able to escape the isolation Skill with Neveah’s help. Now that she was dealt with, despite the partial activation of the Skill, Kaan Swacc was confident.

Kaan looked away from Randidly’s feverish glare. Then he proceeded forward several more steps. There were now only eighteen meters between the hobbled Kaan and Neveah.

Randidly’s mind continued to race, He attempted to create a Nether Ritual, but just as he started he stopped. That would let him witness himself stuck across space and time, but how would that free him? Its usual activation wouldn’t actually bridge the distance between two places. Then he thought about the old Skill given to him by Yystrix, Touch From Beyond, but he set that aside just as quickly. Both of those Skils had aspects of what he wanted, but he would need to take them apart to find the core activations.

Then he would need to repurpose those core activations… with time, it was possible. But right now-

Perhaps it was his panic, but his Nether rose to the occasion. It swirled around with increasing speed. The density of the energy at the core was becoming overwhelming, even for Randidly. In order to balance it with the Aether in his body, one of his five remaining drops of liquid Aether needed to take up residence-

Five? Randidly blinked. I should have refined seven drops of liquid Aether. Even if I used one, there should be six remaining. So where…?

But Randidly could only bite his tongue and tear his attention away from that issue for the moment. As ridiculous as it was, if he misplaced one of his drops of liquid Aether, so be it. All he needed to do was build a connection and the suppression would shatter. But Randidly was quickly realizing that he truly didn’t know how to utilize his Nether at all. He had simply unleashed the raw Nether against his enemies thus far. He had no true ability to use Nether.

Kaan Swacc continued forward. He was now ten meters from Neveah.

I can’t just stumble across the ability to manipulate Nether freely now, but maybe I don’t have to. As I’ve seen, Nether and Aether are two sides of the same coin; they mirror each other in several important ways.

Aether in the shape of Nether uses a Class to create a Fate to achieve a dream. Randidly pressed every ounce of the rage, panic, and worry that he felt in the current moment into the Nether rushing wildly around him. The beginning of something unusual was taking shape in his Nether Nebula. With a deft touch, he guided the currents of Nether to run in alternating circles, creating a huge amount of ambient energy in the areas of friction between them. The waves of power rolling off of him intensified. Then Nether in the shape of Aether… fueled with emotion…

A rumbling began to emerge from Randidly’s body. Although he couldn’t really understand the source, the collision of energy he was creating was damaging his physical body directly. But without any other ideas, he continued to push forward. What he needed now was power. Power he could use. This construct of Nether is also attempting to accomplish the same dream. But while Aether uses Fate as a tool… Nether would use….

The struggles of his muscles slowly shifted from preparations for an escape to agony-fueled convulsions. The pain came black today, nipping at the edges of his consciousness. Yet Randidly persevered.

For Nether, a Penance.

Randidly burned with the wild currents of Nether that continued to grind against each other. That word held weight. It began to depress the area in the center of his Nether Nebula. It was a base for something greater to form. But worryingly, he hadn’t completely succeeded in his attempt. The dangerous energies of Nether continued to flow without reservation or result. Very soon, the strange state of agonizing acceleration would collapse into chaos. He hadn’t been able to crystalize all his accomplishments in Nether thus far as Aether did to form a Fate.

But he hadn’t completely failed, either.

The density at the center of his Nether Nebula was overwhelming. That depression was a gulf, generating immense amounts of powerful Nether currents. A single, spectral grey bubble bobbed upward from the core of the nebula, radiating an overwhelming destructive power. Randidly tried to laugh but his body was still frozen.

He hadn’t truly formed his imagined Penance, but he had formed the equivalent of a drop of liquid Aether. And with this grey bubble, he could briefly wield the power of a pseudo-Penance.

So Randidly seized the bubble and it became weight beyond imagination. With that weight, he smashed Kaan’s suppression to pieces.