Despite his own rather significant capability, Heiffal felt his limbs stiffening. Which, paradoxically, was a good thing. If not for the creeping sense of stiffness, Heiffal might very well have collapsed; the differences between their states was simply too vast.

The two individuals were standing near the central training area of the Head Drill Sergeant. Heiffal dare not let this individual into Randidly’s training area, even though he suspected it was a meaningless effort. In the nearby area, the recruits were currently finishing up their physical training more quickly than they ever had in the past. Part of that fanatical dedication to the task was their recent improvements, but also…

How could they not notice their Overseer was pinned to the ground by the gaze of another?

Commandant Wick pursed his lips. His arms were folded behind his back as he surveyed Heiffal. The small change in his previously mild expression released a blast of pressure that he was forced to endure without complaint. “...he is so busy with training that he cannot even greet his superior? Tell him I bring news.”

With glacial slowness, Heiffal forced himself to bow before the military leader in front of him. Sweat ran down to the tip of his nose and dripped onto the ground. “Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do at the moment. Please, rest assured that his only focus is providing the most capable recruits at the agreed-upon time. But… he is currently busy.”

The Commandant snorted and Heiffal barely prevented himself from vomiting from the impact of that expulsion of breath. “Hah. This sudden elusiveness in the face of a superior is… disconcerting. Concerning. But I suppose training the recruits is what truly matters, in the long run. As long as the results end up being satisfactory… I won’t pursue this… vacation any further.”

The Commandant turned away, but Heiffal didn’t allow himself to relax. He remained in his half-bowed state as the ominous figure gathered his thoughts.

“...truly, the Ghosthound is a fickle man. Doesn’t he know that leaving the Rally Station means Dunn could kill him as easily as swatting a fly…? The hubris of the young certainly boggles the mind.” Then Commandant Wick glanced back over his shoulder at Heiffal. His fury face was twisted into a scowl. “Two days remain until the Xyrt Brigade returns to the frontlines and the Nexus’s counter-offensive begins. I hope your master understands that the longer he remains away, the more the other Drill Sergeants will gossip. Firm leadership is necessary in times like these.”

Heiffal had nothing to say to that. He remained there, sweating, until Commandant Wick snorted again and vanished. It was only then that he allowed himself to straighten and stiffly walk back to his personal chambers.

Despite his significant injuries just from exposure to Commandant Wick, he had enough pride not to display his weakness in front of the recruits. But below the exhaustion was worry; Heiffal, too, had no idea where Randidly was. Their connection remained, although it was screened in some manner.

Heiffal could only trust in his leader and wait. Like the other Overseers and Advisors on the Fifth Cohort Rally Station, he threw himself into the training of the recruits to hide the unease that lurked in his heart.

*****

Shal’s projection might have framed the sacrifice as Randidly losing his ability to rest, but his experience was more similar to constantly carrying around a lit bonfire in his chest. The insides of his own ribs were charred with his enthusiasm and sudden vigor. It was a compulsion that bordered on obsession.

The fire he held wasn’t energy, per se, but it felt a lot like energy. It was a constantly gurgling stream of emotional motivation. When one task ended, he couldn’t help but continue on to the next that was in front of him. He was in a constant manic state during his activities, where finishing was actually a detriment because he had to scramble to find something new to occupy him.

Honestly, if Randidly hadn’t had prior experience with engaging in less mentally draining methods of training, he might well have continued to frantically Engrave Nether until he had burned himself out. That was how irresistible a geas he now bore.

Not that a burn out would have stopped him from continuing, of course. He just would have lost a huge amount of efficiency as he continued to push forward after his mental energy was depleted. Even with the time dilation, he might truly need to spend a decade down here struggling with the problem of Nether Engraving if he allowed himself to fall into that state.

Luckily, that burning motivation in Randidly’s chest was relatively non-discriminatory in its pursuits; as long as Randidly truly pushed himself into a task, it was satisfied.

With such an ambiguous goal, Randidly devised a new way to push himself. Or rather, he created a new method of a very familiar process in this strange environment: testing the limits of his body.

It was exactly the sort of draining but mindless exercise that Randidly needed right now.

Constant work saw Randidly improving his Nether Core Engravings at a visible pace. He had no unbiased method of determining his proficiency, but Randidly was almost positive that, had he not proceeded so deeply into the depths of the Nexus, he would now be able to resist the pull of significance below and escape. As it was, when Randidly combined his rough Yggdrasil Engraving in his Nether Nebula with his insights into the Grim Chimera and the Stillborn Phoenix, he was barely able to strain against the inevitable flow of significance downward.

Basically, he had gained enough independence to experience first hand how tightly he was grasped by the abyss.

It was somewhat akin to a child pushing against a bolder. He developed enough capability to exert his power, even though the weight he struggled against was far beyond him. In a way, his struggles were completely useless. Even if he stayed down here for a hundred years, Randidly somehow doubted that his physical body could ever force itself through the space-warping force of this significance. Even his speed of improvement couldn’t ever catch up with this.

Yet even as Randidly strained and pushed against the current of significance with both his flesh and metal arms, his mind had several minutes of must needed rest.

But if you think this is all I can manage… Randidly’s competitiveness once more manifested against the implacable tide. He floated in the shaft with his arms raised above his head. I’ll rip this entire Nexus to pieces one day. Do you think some shitty significance is enough to stop me…?

As he continued to press upward in the darkness of the shaft, the veins along his right arm and neck began to swell. The vibration from his heartbeat steadily grew more pronounced through his body, even though he could no longer perceive the ‘sound’. His image physicalizations sizzled with power as Randidly pushed himself toward the limits of his physical body.

It was obviously a much smaller phenomenon than this shaft, but it wasn’t like Randidly lacked the ability to rip space to pieces.

He clenched his jaw until it began to ache. His muscles were trembling all across his body. When there still wasn’t even the slightest bit of give from the current of significance, Randidly’s face spread into a wide smile. His fingers flexed outward, his knuckles cracking from the power they endured. In Randidly’s chest, his three images began to swirl together into one complete whole. His metallic arm released waves of Mana as the Engravings across it activated and hosted the image physicalizations. The heavy upper body and left arm of the Grim Chimera covered Randidly.

The fingers of his right hand grew longer and clawed. His revealed veins across his body began to glow with an inner, golden light. The new, more unrestrained Stillborn Phoenix condensed its event horizon down to a flat black disc the size of a large coin that floated in the place of Randidly’s left eye. Energies in the surrounding area warped and melted, turning runny as they encountered the edge of that flat black coin.

Randidly couldn’t see it of course, but his hair began to rustle and wave as it was buffeted by a gentle wind. Gradually, each hair shifted toward a deep emerald.

Those changes manifested quickly, then spiraled back in Randidly’s chest to connect with one another. With the external changes completely, the images began to mesh with each other. A powerful reverberation spread outward from his core and the physical force Randidly unleashed almost instantly doubled. He activated his Yyrwood Body of Yggdrasil, Grit of the Ascendant Bane, and Cosmic Necessity Skills to mobilize as much physical power as he could manage.

He reached his peak. And when he ascended to that point, he stretched that moment for as long as he could.

Partially, Randidly wanted to push himself to the limits of his abilities. All the muscles across his body flexed and strained, unable to shift the current tugging at him even the smallest bit. He could feel minute tears forming in his flesh, just from the immense pressure that he endured. But also, it was a good chance to observe the completed arm under extreme strain. This force could not rival a strike from Velio Dunn, but Randidly was happy to discover that there was no warping in either metal or Engraving on his arm.

Just as Randidly was about to ease up his mobilized body and images, he realized that the surrounding space was a bit too monochrome to his sensitive Grim Intuition. All the emotional color had been sucked away. When he cast he senses about, there wasn’t the slightest hint of a foreign emotion floating upward toward him. The space was also devoid of Nether Beasts-

BOOOOOOOOOM!

After so long experiencing the silence of his own existence, the echoing impact shocked Randidly even more than the brutalizing impact did.

The attack came without warning, smashing into Randidly’s side and sending him spinning. The next second, he slammed against the wall and rebounded, tumbling out into the middle of the space. Randidly quickly righted himself and flared his triple images to the peak of their power. He was shocked, but not truly damaged by that strikes; there were some perks to reinforcing your body as much as Randidly did.

A few seconds of tingling soreness was already fading as he righted himself. The details of the image physicalizations grew sharper as he prepared-

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

This time, the invisible strike didn’t come from the side, but directly above him. Shuddering from the blow to his shoulder, Randidly could only retreat and buy time to locate the culprit. But also, the damage had increased; this time the force was enough that Randidly could only helplessly allow his emotional tether to be jarred out of his grip as he was smashed down. With a vicious scowl on his face, Randidly mobilized his combined images to comb the area above him.

Yet no matter how he scanned, the image waves he released were casually unwound without being able to locate the foe. Had his image not unraveled right in front of his eyes, Randidly would believe that the area above him was completely empty.

The effect, combined to the ominous silence around him, was eerie. A small seed of doubt emerged in his heart. Had the abyss… felt his struggles and lashed out against him…?

Without his emotional tether, he began to sink down to the waiting significance below. Randidly’s expression turned increasingly grave as he scanned his surroundings. Luckily, that sense of emptiness around him gave him a different theory and allayed his sudden fears. This… this is the thing that keeps the Nether Beasts in check?

Randidly flicked his hand outward and released a dense blast of Nether. Although the amount of Nether in the surrounding air was high, Randidly’s senses could see his own pure Nether spreading out with all the subtlety of a bucket of ink being dumped into a fish tank.

His plan was to at least glimpse the shape of his foe, but as soon as the Nether spread out, something began to devour it easily. With an uneasy heart, Randidly stared upward at the empty space above him and wracked his brain to think of another method. But even with his mental acuity at its peak with so many distractions removed, Randidly could think of no way to escape.

Once more, he hovered above the abyss with a hostile foe prowling toward him.

Randidly’s eyes narrowed. A fight, then. Fine; let’s draw you out a bit.