Chapter 1597 (1/2)

Randidly looked at Raymund Ballast with narrowed eyes, barely suppressing his urge to growl. Something feral had risen up inside of him, a primal force that had the same roots as his newfound ability to understand and utilize his emotions.

But this time, this emotional acuity was strangling his rational thoughts. All that power had flared to life at once, in a very passable imitation of the way Randidly’s skin turned red and he hissed out water vapor when at his most physically capable. The emotional power was just as incendiary and the current Randidly couldn’t quite manage it.

It was only now, when his eyes landed on Raymund, that the pulsing waves of red that Randidly saw finally ebbed.

Every time he tried to force his rage downward, his mind responded by reminding him of the purposeful way that the grey haired woman had avoided his non-lethal defenses and attempted to kill Charlotte Wick. The merest hit of that memory poured gasoline on the flames of his rage. His hand on the woman’s arm tightened and Randidly felt what remained of her arm crumble beneath his fingers.

He had ground her limb to dust in the most painful way he could manage. Such a demonstration should be enough.

It didn’t feel like enough.

With a snort, Randidly released the limb and watched it disintegrate. Then he glared down at the top of her head, wishing he could make the wound a more permanent one. His fingers twitched.

After several seconds of internal struggle, Randidly’s eyes swept sideways. Around him, all was silent. Significance poured into him, more every second. Both his elite group and the ‘special forces’ arranged by the NLC and its allies had their eyes fixed on him. The Drill Sergeant near Banum, who Randidly didn’t recognize, appeared to be the leader. And as their gazes met, Randidly felt that this man was strong enough to pose a threat.

He was tempted to fight. A part of him demanded that his fury be sated. Yet Randidly closed his eyes and released a breath. The entire problem was that this emotional outpouring had taken him by surprise. The shade had likely dealt with similar issues… but its existence likely had made it immune to the warping effect these emotions held.

The novel experience did not mean Randidly was helpless, however. He pressed down and forced his rage into a dormant state.

At the moment, he was inconvenient for most of the NLC. The Swacc Family might care enough to push Velio Dunn toward him, but otherwise, he was a meaningless servant of Commandant Wick to most. Taking an aggressive stand here would change that. Hurting the special forces group would concretely impact the plans of others. Suddenly, Randidly would become a painful thorn in the side of those that had moved to earn contributions in this war.

Quietly, The Stillborn Phoenix shifted in his chest. In the harsh moment of churning significance, it opened its maw and slurped down the suppressed inferno of rage that Randidly carried. In a split second, all that remained inside of him was a chilling practicality.

His emerald eyes cut through apart those who would resist him as he studied them.

Congratulations! Your Skill Tide of the Void (L) has grown to Level 300!

With his newly frigid heart, Randidly stood at the center of their attention and absorbed the focus of the surroundings. This strained moment was an exceptional one because he could intuit how to better wield his Weight by observing the way significance moved amongst his watchers. The natural flow of Nether was an inspiration, as always.

Influence +4!

Feeling that the moment had lasted long enough, Randidly and his frigid heart smiled slowly. “...if the elite squad surrendered, I guess there is nothing I can say. Heh. Let’s get out of here, recruits. You deploy in six hours.”

Congratulations! Your Skill The Torch of Fast and Slow Silences (A) has grown to Level 262!

Congratulations! Your Skill The Torch of Fast and Slow Silences (A) has grown to Level 263!

For good measure, Randidly released a powerful pulse of Yggdrasil’s image in the surrounding area. Some part of him didn’t want to do it, but the image served two purposes. First, this image would heal both his recruits and the other recruits that had already fought, most of whom weren’t affiliated with the NLC at all. Their special forces possessed barely any injured, as Randidly had intervened relatively early in the confrontation, so they barely benefited from the image. Randidly still didn’t like it, but the fact most of them couldn’t benefit from the healing wave made the action easier to swallow.

Randidly threw every ounce of his Willpower behind that image. The tree that blossomed into existence was massive, its thick brown bark covered in the curving script that described the entire world. Golden light pulsed from those runes while the heavy emerald canopy above rustled lightly from an invisible wind.

Specters of songbirds and deer flitted back and forth without producing any noise. But these citizens of Yggdrasil’s environment were rendered in heart-wrenching detail. Randidly had fashioned these beings to lend credence to his powerful image after the shade had expanded its scope in the shaft. Feeling the way his flames of Weight crackled pleasantly around his body, Randidly knew that he had done a good job.

The World Tree was the core. From that core, a wave of rejuvenating energy spread quickly outward. He didn’t hold anything back; this was the sort of sweet and refreshing blast that could heal hidden mental scars and relieve stress. The energy was that pure radiation that earned Yggdrasil its status as a godlike existence.

Even some of the Drill Sergeants were stunned. None could speak. Randidly saw that some suddenly had tears running down their cheeks, without even realizing what was happening to them. The exposure to Randidly’s image was too different, too new, too wondrous for them to process.