Rather than seizing his sword, the man simply grabbed the air with a firm grasping motion. Then the tattooed man pulled his hand sharply downward in an arc.

But despite the fact that the man didn’t actually grab the hilt of his sword, the clear vision of him swinging the massive weapon appeared in Randidly’s eyes. Image intent created a duplicate as he swung his empty hand through the air. Randidly couldn’t detect even the slightest flaw in the motion. His image projection of the massive sword was almost completely perfect.

The image created was sublime. It screamed that it was created to cut and that was exactly what it would do. Some of the other Drill Sergeant’s sensed the ascendant image and slowly turned.

An energy slash that hummed with its powerful image ripped through the intervening space toward Randidly. The other Drill Sergeants seemed finally to realize something was strange and began to move; Randidly watched with narrowed eyes as these unfortunate individuals who were between him and the attack were completely shredded into red mist by the force of the strike.

As promised, the image cut them to nothing. Drill Sergeants began to scream.

With a solemn expression, Randidly considered the attack rushing toward him. The area influenced by the image was small, but that intensity he could sense… Even he found it slightly difficult to breathe.

Randidly clapped his hands together. His Nether Nebula began to rotate at full force. For the first time outside of practice, his three images shifted clearly together. His body rippled as his image physicalizations manifested. He was the partially spectral Grim Chimera, the golden veins of Yggdrasil clearly visible through his translucent body. A massive mahogany heart carved with golden runes appeared in the empty space the Grim Chimera made in his heart. His two tails flicked back and forth. A swirling vortex of darkness appeared in his hollow left eye socket as the Stillborn Phoenix began to hiss its displeasure.

Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe. Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold. Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil.

In his body, three images moved as one and activated three Skills. Nether reinforced his every movement with significance. He didn’t hesitate to reveal all of his cards before that horrifying image.

Before that attack, these Drill Sergeants were worth less than paper.

As purple-black energy flashed around his eyes and a swirling cloak of restricting darkness spiraled around Randidly’s person, a huge wave of empowered roots blasted out of the ground. They impacted the rapidly advancing slash but weren’t able to slow it in the least. Randidly’s pupils dilated.

The slash was simply moving too quickly-

Chimeric Impunity. Cosmic Necessity. Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil.

Bracing himself, Randidly brought his left left arm around with every bit of force he could muster to meet the slash with a left straight. Each of his images flared to life. His image physicalizations seemed to become brighter like someone had turned up the contrast on his body. The effect was multiplicative, meaning that his power-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Congratulations! Your Skill Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 300!

Randidly’s mouth tasted like blood. He was definitely falling. Thoughts rattled against the inside of his skull. His instantly could sense that his Health was low. He had been smashed backward with such force that he had briefly lost his bearings. The ground reminded him again of where he was.

The Head Drill Sergeant skidded back out of the threshold where he had been standing and slammed against the stone wall with enough force to shatter the reinforced stone. Each of his joints screamed in agony.

Groaning, Randidly went to push himself up with his left arm and just collapsed onto his side. He looked down in shock; his image physicalizations had been broken and his metal left arm completely shattered. In addition, there was a deep gash in his side. His heart began to race as Yggdrasil quickly helped to heal his wounds.

Randidly coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood. He blinked rapidly, then tried to focus on his foe. Through the trail of dust and broken ground, with the backdrop of a chorus of screams of those who had been near enough to the attack’s path to be wounded and not just annihilated, Randidly looked over at the still grinning tattooed man.

If anything, the man’s grin had widened as he sensed Randidly’s gaze. “Ha! You survived! Excellent! Lamel, you didn’t lie about his power. Then this is an official introduction! I am Velio Dunn, Mr. Ghosthound. Let’s enjoy this fight to the fullest!”

Randidly felt a chill in his heart as he looked at this monster that had lived since the Second Cohort. Apparently, even staying on the Rally Station didn’t guarantee his safety. And this time when Velio reached upward above his head, he actually grabbed the sword. Randidly really didn’t want to find out how much more powerful an actual attack of his would be than just the empty air that was weaponized by that image.

Fuck. Randidly’s mind was briefly blank for a split second; this was a circumstance that he hadn’t expected at all. Then with all the force of Shal smashing the back of his head with the butt of his spear, Randidly’s training slammed back into place.

As his foe moved to attack, Randidly gritted his teeth and thrust his hand toward Velio Dunn. He needed to buy himself some time. The suppression formation that Randidly had developed to temper his body snapped into place again Velio, restricting his movements. Anyone with a bit of Aether understanding could easily dismantle the array, but perhaps-

“Oh! What an interesting array.” Velio announced. The muscles along his arm bulged; instead of attacking the array, he forcefully pushed forward directly through it. Successfully. Which meant that Velio Dunn also had broken through the physical limitation of the System-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

An explosion even more massive than the first rocked the Rally Station as the small amount of sympathy between Velio Dunn’s body and the entire floating military base saw the military base shuddering and rupturing like it had been cursed with a calamitous earthquake. The stone tunnel around them collapsed, burying Randidly in a veritable sea of boulders.

Randidly ignored the rather harmless debris, using Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil to seize Heiffal, Helen, and the recruits and then carry them out of the underground. They would probably be fine, but they were his subordinates, even the recruits. He wanted to get them as far away from this monster as possible.

Then Randidly pulled out his Philosopher’s Key and opened a portal to the sky above the Rally Station, even as he felt a second overwhelming attack eating through the stone to annihilate him. With the addition of the sword, his images seemed to freeze and shrivel in a way that severely limited his mobility. Randidly had to resist the effect directly with his powerful body.

He stepped through the portal and into the air above the Rally Station just in time, but not before he felt something glance off of the fabric of his Fatepiece.

For a brief moment, the flash of soul-rending pain had Randidly hunched over and clutching his head. He began to tumble down through the air toward the crack riddled surface of the Rally Station. But with gritted teeth and his image’s assistance, Randidly forced his head up and opened his eyes. He couldn’t afford to lose focus, even for a second.

He sent a quick message to Edraine and raised his Philosopher’s Key. Immediately, his heart sank. His ability to sense locations and opened portals was slightly off, as though his senses were fuzzier than they had been in the past-

Velio Dunn burst out of the ground. He looked up at Randidly and wagged his finger at him. “Running away, Mr. Ghosthound? How disappointing. Where is your sense of challenge? I asked you for a fight!”

Randidly barred his teeth at the self-righteous individual in front of him. Even now, the most horrifying thing was that Randidly couldn’t even sense any pressure from him when he wasn’t attacking. His image was perfectly contained. “Velio Dunn, you’ve been alive for thousands of years, right? I’ve experienced the System for less than a decade. Give me five more years, and I promise I’ll give you the fight you are hoping for.”

A change came over Velio Dunn’s face. His features began to stiffen. “Fate brought us together, now, Mr. Ghosthound. Who are we to argue with the arrangements of Fate? Either you were destined to survive this encounter… or you will die.”

Randidly’s heart turned to ice. Yet suddenly, there was a flicker of movement.

“No one further will die today, Velio.” A new voice said. Randidly released an explosive sigh. The cavalry had arrived. The speaker was a giant praying mantis standing to Velio Dunn’s right. To Velio’s left there was a humanoid with a completely featureless face. Both were wearing uniforms that indicated they were Commandants. Military High Command had come out in force.

Velio Dunn’s smile shrank as he glanced back and forth. “What, two individuals can’t even have a fight anymore? What is the Nexus coming to…”

“You’ve destroyed military property, Velio. And slaughtered almost a dozen of our Drill Sergeants” The praying mantis said evenly. It waved one of its scythe arms at the broken ground. “I’m sure you are aware that the Nexus Council has you on administrative suspension. This is grounds for you to be brought in and imprisoned for your deferred sentence of 100 years.”

Velio Dunn chuckled, some of his earlier cheer creeping back into his expression. “Do you really think you have the votes to do that?”

And to Randidly’s shock, the praying mantis fell silent. But neither of the Commandants moved from their positions. Their images billowed outward from their bodies and formed a cage around Velio, protecting Randidly.

Ultimately, Velio Dunn released an aggrieved sigh. For the slightest moment, a horribly destructive image spread outward, so much so that Randidly gritted his teeth, despite the protection of the two Commandant’s “Bah, fine, fine. Another day that officious control-freaks stomp out the last bit of fun in the Nexus.” Then Velio looked toward Randidly. “Is this really how you want to live, Mr. Ghosthound? Babysat for your entire life?”

...you fucking asshole. Randidly cursed internally. All three of his images glared hatefully over at Velio Dunn. You have the fucking nerve to ridicule me for not walking forward and allowing you to slaughter me? Just you fucking wait… I won’t even need the five years. I’ll bury you in two.

Seeing that his words had no effect, Velio Dunn snorted and turned around. “Hey, Lamel… wait, where did Lamel go? Bah… what a hassle…”

The featureless humanoid vibrated out his speech through his skin. “I’ll gladly escort you back to your home, Mr. Dunn.”

After those two had left, the praying mantis looked over at Randidly. Its faintly golden eyes swiveled independently of one another, both landing on Randidly. “...hmmm. You survived a casual greeting from Velio. No wonder Wick has given you his support.”

Then the Commandant chittered and turned away. “I will be staying on the Rally Station in the future, as a precautionary measure to prevent Velio from returning. You may call me Commandant Keckle. Such a talented seedling… cannot be left for the elements to uproot.”