Chapter 1457 (1/2)

In the third match of the day, Randidly watched Alana and Wivanya absolutely dominate Lucifer and Giuliana. Perhaps together, the whip-wielding Giuliana and the tenacious Lucifer would have been able to rival Alana’s positively biblical strikes and images, but it seemed that almost everyone who was present in the tournament had overlooked the scaled elephant in the room: Wivanya.

The frost dragon alone was a force to be reckoned with; the image of frigid chill she released was no joke. As it radiated outward, Randidly suppressed the urge to eradicate it from the area around him as he suppressed an urge to shiver. Combined with a Mana pool that made even Randidly raise his eyebrows, the duo from Franksburg soon couldn’t keep up with the Dragon Broodmother’s attacks.

Still, until the last moment, Randidly did not avert his eyes from the battle. That was the respect that he gave to the heroes, or Legends as the fans had begun to call the most powerful image users, who had managed to make it this far.

Lucifer and Giuliana were strong. They had just encountered two individuals who were stronger still.

At the end of the match, Lucifer’s feet were frozen to the ground and Giuliana had collapsed in a snowdrift. But he still raised his massive saber and turned his attention to Wivanya, who was hovering in the air and bombarding them with chilling waves of ice. His image began to boil and his fingers tightened on the hilt of his weapon. “Lucifer Slash.”

Alana shot forward to strike at Lucifer’s exposed back, but he didn’t waver from his attack. His image ballooned upward in a destructive aura that then rushed through the sky toward Wivanya. The frost dragon raised her head and roared in challenge. “Frigid Storm!”

She breathed out ice and sleet in a dense cone, but the slash ripped through that. Compared to the image of cold, the direct power of Lucifer’s image had enough of an advantage that he could strike a serious blow. He wasn’t powerful enough to prevent his body from being riddled by wounds in his clashes with Alana, but more than enough to suppress Wivanya if he ignored everything else.

But such an attack obviously came with a cost.

Alana drove her spear through Lucifer’s shoulder while Lucifer’s slash ripped open Wivanya’s scales and set the dragon spiraling toward the ground. Wivanya landed with a crash that shook the stands. Meanwhile, Alana pursed her lips, adjusted the grip on her spear, and then twisted it painfully while it was still within his shoulder. “Why?”

“Pride,” Lucifer replied simply. The dust slowly began to clear and the dragon struggled to prop herself back up into a sitting position. It seemed her right wing was badly damaged.

“Satisfied?” Alana asked.

“Not when I am about to lose, no,” Lucifer replied. But he didn’t lower his head. He turned and gazed at Alana. “Do you intend to win everything?”

Alana didn’t bother to respond. She just smashed her fist against Lucifer’s jaw and sent him sprawling. Just like that, the third semi-final duo was determined.

Immediately, as the audience seethed and chattered excitedly below him, Randidly returned to the task of weaving Nether. The energy spun quickly into the desired thin strands and then wove themselves together to the Nether equivalent of linen. After making sure the thickness was exactingly uniform, Randidly spread the Nether out into the surrounding space and began to weave.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 300!

Congratulations! Your Skill Experienced Creator’s Ingenuity (A) has grown to Level 145!

His movements were smooth and even as he spread his Nether out to fill the surrounding area. When Randidly closed his eyes, he could still sense the immense amount of memory and historic weight that had existed here due to the tournament. Of course, it was slowly being broken down and stolen away by the high pressure of the System Aether.

Randidly rolled his shoulders and then sighed.

Even compared to watching that weight be stolen, it was somewhat vexing to weave for an hour and to suddenly realize that the thickness had been gradually increasing to the point where it would warp surrounding space. So he needed to banish his earlier work and start again. Randidly could only throw his hands up in the air and make attempt after attempt the time between matches.

Before the fourth and final match of today began, Randidly had time to start and scrap his woven Nether nine times.

As he did so, he was careful to control his Nether Nebula very purposefully. When he was weaving, it spun clockwise and generated energy outward. When he needed to destroy and start anew, it spun counterclockwise and devoured all the Nether in the vicinity. He was somewhat bitter to see that light grey color steadily decreasing at the core of his Nether Nebula, but Randidly supposed it was worth it to increase his control.

He could always refine the density later. But for now, he simply couldn’t weave Nether that dense effectively. He needed it in a relatively less cumbersome state to keep the movements as precise as was required for the weave. And now he was faced with the rather disheartening thought that perhaps he needed to decrease the density even further, so flaws wouldn’t emerge so consistently as he extended the scale.

But ultimately, Randidly wasn’t willing to abandon his current method quite yet. His Nether Sensation steadily rose in Level, providing him with marginal improvements. And with his almost ridiculously high Control, Randidly’s base proficiency with utilizing his Skill was growing just as quickly. He was definitely improving at a ridiculous pace. But part of that improvement just ended up demonstrating how little he had understood about Nether when he had begun this side-project.

Sighing, Randidly once again rolled his shoulders and ripped his failed weave to pieces. The final match was about to begin. ‘Break’ time was over.

Lyra and Stan came out first and Randidly allowed his emerald gaze to focus on Stan. Since he had helped adjust the man’s Soulskill and the result had been so negative, he couldn’t help but be curious about him. Perhaps more directly, some old portion of Randidly’s paranoia dedicated to Lyra raised his hackles at this unexpected arrival.

A sudden and complete recovery to randomly participate in the tournament didn’t seem… likely.

Yet when Randidly peered down at the man, he could detect… almost nothing from him. It was like his image didn’t exist. Rather than being concerned, Randidly’s mouth slowly curved into a smile. To test a theory, he eased his tight control over his image and allowed the horrible hunger of the Stillborn Phoenix to radiate in a tightly controlled beam downward.