Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 137!

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 138!

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 139!

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 140!

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 141!

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 142-

Warning! Error!

Warn-

…..

“You fool!” The Creature howled with her fingers locked into a tight knot as the very fabric of space around them was cut by her own corrosive karma, but Randidly ignored her voice. Again, this next face of the plan needed to happen immediately, or there would be consequences.

Once more, Randidly dangled a Path in front of the karma. After everything… after suffering underneath the System… it’s one thing to hurt it. But wouldn’t it be quite another… to take everything from it…?

It was a stretch. This karma between the Creature and the System had never truly thought about such a possibility. It had been bitter, but never envious. Although it did want to hurt the System, it was driven by wild desperation, not by sinister machinations.

And very quickly it became obvious that it needed to happen. For reasons that Randidly didn’t quite explain, in the split seconds after the overlay System was cut away, the air began to tremble. Randidly could see the way that the actual System was impacting the physical world without the intermediary of the overlay. Strange ripples ran across Randidly’s vision.

But it was only the first variance that was difficult. Randidly had given the karma a shape that fit with the spirit of what it wanted, even though it had been in a shape it didn’t understand. To guide it now to flow into this even more convoluted Path took a nudge, but the karma that had just feasted so deeply on its bloodlust for the System was game to try anything he suggested.

Azriel? Randidly asked mentally.

Although she still grimaced, Azriel looked up toward the strange visual distortions in the air caused by the lack of overlay System and nodded. Randidly had created the opening, but Azriel needed to be the one to fit into the hole that had opened in the Soulskill. The karma of the Creature had been awakened to the possibility, but the whole point was Randidly wasn’t going to be the one who controlled the change. That was why it would bring stability to the Soulskill.

What was within, without. What was without, within. Balance.

Randidly was an individual who became an entire world. And Azriel would be an individual who became his System. Two extended bonds, crossing each other and supporting one another to form the foundation of the Alpha Cosmos.

The distortions flashed and pulled the terrible sense of wrongness even more widely. The ripples through the air intensified. With his Aether Detection, Randidly could suddenly see the points where the overlay System had made the underlying System reliant on it for feedback. It had slowly, parasitically, inserted itself into the normal operations of the System. Which meant that the longer the overlay was gone, the worse the distortions would become.

And at some point, it would cross a line that would be noticed by the System itself.

Yet even as Randidly felt his nervousness spike upward, Azriel raised her hands. The questing threads of karma finally shivered and began to move. Their meandering paths started slowly, but they quickly accelerated outward. They filled the sky, doing an admirable job of imitating what Randidly was capable of with Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil. More and more and more threads of karma shot out from this small platform to cover his Alpha Cosmos.

Those countless threads of karma, all leading back to a bitter memory of regret focused on the System, began to rapidly brush the System with a questing touch.

It was like watching an extremely awkward first date. The distortion flares in the air slowed and stuttered, unable to understand exactly what was happening. With an almost tender hesitance, the threads of karma danced across the bare surface of the System. Every now and then, one touch would linger and the distortions in a certain area would disappear entirely. Then, with a flick, the karma would hurry forward. Both sides truly didn’t understand what was occurring.

“...how…?” The Creature said blankly. Then her expression rapidly hardened. “If you think I will simply let you accomplish whatever you wish with my power…!”

Those delicate tendrils of karma suddenly flinched. With his strange intimacy with the Alpha Cosmos, Randidly could feel the Creature reach out with wicked claws and attempt to take back what she had earlier donated to the Nether Ritual. Or even if she wasn’t trying to steal it, what she did was agitate the negative impulses. It shook the delicate trick that Randidly had pulled to convince the karma that this Path was a good one.

Randidly’s hands tightened into fists, but he couldn’t move. That was part of the considered construction of this balance. As soon as this became a facet of him, it would no longer be the balance his Soulskill. He was… helpless at this point.

But that didn’t mean he had no effect. As a halo of bitter hatred emerged from around Azriel to seize the karma, an answer came. The figure of the Earth Golem Emperor, with his Hammer of the Dawn raised high above his head, appeared above Azriel. Then, as both Randidly and the creature watched the internal struggle that danced across Azriel’s face, the Emperor lowered his hammer.

“What do we care about more... The satisfaction of our emotions? Or seeking our true goal?” As the Earth Golem Emperor spoke, the crown he wore shattered and fell away. With a heavy hand, he reached up and pressed a finger to the woven hatred.

His aura smashed against the halo of hatred, creating a thin crack in it. Just as the hatred seemed to be gathering itself to heal, Zeke and the Spriggit Thief were there. With their fingers stuffed into that crack, the two heaved and leveraged it slowly open.

The King of Monsters bared his teeth. “Just because something has always been a certain way does not mean that will always be the case…! It is difficult, but trust to the future you helped build!”

The Spriggit Thief was much less gentle in her complaints. “Don’t you dare try to steal this fucking future from me!”

Of course, it was Alta, still in her child form with her hair and arms limp and broken, that struck the final blow. With exaggerated slowness, her specter appeared and raised her eyes to look at the vulnerability that the other three had opened in the hatred.

“You’ve already failed once. Have you no shame?”

Crack.

The halo became nothing but fragments of cracked glass, some remaining as dark clouds around Azriel but most drifting away. And at that moment. Azriel raised her head and roared.

All at once, the threads of karma worked up their nerve and stabbed downward into the System. An electric shock shook the air, causing even Randidly to wince. Across the whole of the Alpha Cosmos, the new overlay System began to hum to life. It brought with it a string of notifications that left Randidly rather bemused.

“This is impossible!” The Creature shrieked. Shaking his head, Randidly flicked his will and then she was gone. Randidly had wanted her here to make sure the karma didn’t react strangely to her absence, but now that things were settled… the projection’s presence no longer mattered.

Initializing… New System successfully installed. I don’t believe there are any abnormalities.

Ahem. Let’s work together and create a peaceful world. The Alpha Cosmos will grow fruitfully with our combined efforts.

Congratulations! Your Agility has increased by 100!

“Azriel,” Randidly rolled his eyes. And then he shook his head as her answer came in the form of another notification.

Excuse me, I was simply testing it. Your Agility has decreased by 100!

The storm of Nether around them slowly settled. Randidly walked over to Azriel and considered her, taking in her skin and eyes that had been dyed black by the Nether. His expression was worried. “Can you not speak in anything but notifications any longer…?”

“I can speak normally, but I just wished to familiarize myself with this sensation.” Azriel cracked her neck and then hopped lightly to her feet. “There is… a vast part of myself that I suppose is the ultimate product of the Nether Ritual. It controls the System. I can feel it… is it myself, but it is also so much more-”

One day, this Alpha Cosmos will spell the end of the Nexus. Let’s follow this Path to our grave.

Randidly’s mouth twisted as he recognized a line that the Creature had spoken earlier. Azriel coughed into her hand. “And… it’s clear that the Creature’s touch isn’t completely removed… but I believe I will be able to restrain its worst impulses. Especially with the assistance of your Soulskill’s spirits.”

Test.

Again, Randidly gave Azriel a frank look. And this time, she had the common decency to seem embarrassed.

“That… wasn’t me either…” Azriel whispered. Which triggered a flood of notifications that echoed out across the whole of the Alpha Cosmos.

So, now I bear the mantle of the Progenitor… For one who was Emperor, I suppose this is the natural next step.

Congratulations! All those with the Monster Race will now receive +1 free stat points per Level!

Hey, Zeke. No favorites. We are like gods now. Have some dignity.

...sorry. All those with the Monster Race will now receive -1 free stat points per Level…

Azriel coughed lightly into her hand. Then she folded those hands behind her back. “There are… a few kinks to work out, obviously. However, I believe that I will be up to the task of managing this.”