Chapter 1709 (2/2)
Dearest Claudette,
Your face fills my every waking moment. The smallest of your gestures sends reverberations to the core of my being. Every moment without you feels like an eternity. To that end, I implore you to join me at this year's Imperium Ball. Without your beauty, what a hollow event it shall be!
Yours always,
Randidly Ghosthound
Randidly’s eyes bulged. Then he began to laugh and shake his head in disbelief. “That fucking asshole…!”
“I figured you weren’t responsible for this… but we will need to consider how we proceed carefully,” Claudette said. “The Imperium Ball… is the most important non-violent event on Military High Command’s calendar. You might not know this, but it is profoundly irregular to invite someone who is not in the Military to the ball. There are apparently… quite a few secrets at the ball best not observed by outsiders. Essentially, the fact that ‘you’ sent this to me is an affront to both my father and Military High Command.”
“I figured it was something like that…” The Ghosthound barred his teeth, but then his gaze turned back to the planet. The emotions passed and he remained unaffected by this new wrench thrown at him. “However, that problem can wait. For now… I need to prepare.”
Six more weeks until this man… shapes my image… Claudette fell silent, even as she felt the Nether around Randidly begin to move. But very quickly, her eyes widened and she felt a thin thread wrapping around the delicate flesh of her heart. Because the scale at which his Nether began to cover the surroundings could only be rivaled by the horrors that she had seen on the Fifth Cohort, from the Nether King.
That inky black energy he wielded wriggled its way outward, sinking into the atmosphere of the planet below, steadily flowing across the sky. Nether this carefully spun wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but Claudette could feel its movements constantly, dampening the movement of Aether on the planet of Tellus. The effect steadily spread until the entire world was wrapped in a net of Nether.
Randidly paused then, releasing a long breath. Sweat dripped down his face; it was obvious that this was not easy for him. Then he rolled his shoulders and raised his arms. His animated tail began to twist and tug, pulling at the creation that he had made.
Existence shuddered as Randidly’s Ghosthound energy began to tighten in a way she couldn’t quite understand.
Just as Claudette was about to shiver in disgust at the Aether starvation that Randidly might possibly, probably, subject all these people to, there was a more minor ripple in the surroundings. She spun around and discovered that two figures forced their way out through the Nexus Ways and now observed the floating Randidly and Claudette.
At first, she was afraid about the very public display of him utilizing Nether, but very quickly a new fear blasted away that minor threat.
“Well. Well, well,” Velio Dunn favored the two of them with a wide grin even as the Nether Array began to rumble. Tension increased between the planet and Randidly’s body. His tail was blurring into motion. “I woke up this morning and told myself it would be a good day… but who would have guessed that I would have been right?”
Randidly twisted slightly and glanced over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed, but the movements of his hands and tail didn’t falter. That same unflappable determination made his expression unreadable. He continued to activate the Nether Array… or, as Claudette quickly recognized, he didn’t dare stop.
“I’ll send in the report-” The second figure said, but even as he finished speaking, the glowing sword of Velio Dunn sheered the man in half. In the next instant, a wave of burning cobalt fire blasted outward and devoured his flesh and clothing. One second there were two, the next there were four, and the following they were back down to three.
“Tsk, send in a report? What a waste.” Velio Dunn licked his lips. His dark eyes glowed.
Claudette marshaled her frigid image of the true sword sticking out of ice, but Velio looked at her and just laughed. The muscles of his arms bulged as he put his hands back on his hips; she hadn’t even seen him re-sheath his sword. “Relax, relax. I can see Mr. Ghosthound is otherwise engaged… and as an elder, it would be shameful of me to strike at him while he is distracted. So I’ll wait to start our duel… until when he has finished his little experiment.”
Probably exactly when he finishes. Claudette’s heart was pounding. She attempted to send a message to both the Frost Matriarch and her father, but from the way Velio Dunn’s smile widened, she knew that he was skilled enough with the Nether Ways to prevent messages from leaving in a localized area.
“And I know what you are thinking, ya fucking cockroach,” Velio Dunn said with remarkable cheer as he looked at Randidly Ghosthound. Velio looked Randidly up and down, as though admiring a racehorse. “As soon as you can, you will try to withstand an attack and then try and flee. But how about this? If you don’t immediately agree to try your best without retreating for a half-hour against me... I’ll immediately kill this cute girl. I’ve always wanted to find out how sharp the Don’s teeth were, anyway.”
“You-” Claudette gasped. Very few people dared make such flippant threats against her. If Velio Dunn thought that the Swacc Family could insulate him from her father-
She was even more surprised when Randidly spoke up in a rough voice. “Five minutes.”
Velio chuckled. He took his hands off his hips and began to roll his shoulders. “Ten.”
“Deal,” Randidly hissed through bared teeth. Then he turned his glowing emerald eyes and focused on whatever task he was doing with his Nether. The tension increased. The fabric of space in the surroundings shuddered.