“With the mission accomplished… I suppose it is our turn to assist such a bright young talent,” The Frost Matriarch announced. She glanced sideways but pondered a few seconds before speaking. “...Winged Serpent?”

The reliable Pinnacle Seeker bowed. Due to the admiration in the serpent’s voice earlier, he was the best choice for assisting. “Me and mine will ensure that the Nether Heralds remain frustrated and wounded.”

“I claim the other fight,” The Dusk Jackal said, taking a step forward and looking down toward the battlefield. He was currently engaged in his rather off-putting habit of drooling prior to a fight. The Frost Matriarch had a headache as she looked at him. The unfortunate side effect of her power was having the final say. Which was an almost empty political power that just guaranteed that someone would be upset with her decision.

And the Dusk Jackal was certainly powerful, but once his bloodlust was ignited...

Ultimately Frost Matriarch shook her head. She could afford his annoyance. “Not unless they pull one of their serious combatants from the assault on the Nether Spire. That group decided to follow the Ghosthound, apparently with good reason. So now let them prove their contributions against the Engraving Guild.”

And if he grew too insistent, she could simply freeze his heart until he had learned some patience. That was the sort of rough justice of the Pinnacle Seekers.

“Cheh,” The Dusk Jackal spat to the side. Meanwhile, the Winged Serpent flicked its wings and it led its people to glide down toward the battlefield. Magical runes filled the air above the serpents, but they weren’t inherently meaningful; they were simply the sophisticated images of the Pinnacle Seeker’s subordinates.

Yet as though symbols smashed against the blasts of Nether that the Nether Heralds began to shoot toward the Ghosthound, the symbols won. The Nether fractured and dissipated as the Winged Serpents flooded downward. While their images weren’t particularly overwhelming, they were extremely steady.

And quite compatible with the images of their fellows.

Meanwhile, the Frost Matriarch's eyes went to the Ghosthound, who continued to stabilize his Nether Ritual with his image. Due to his continued efforts, the space in the surroundings gradually cleared out of visual distortions. Which allowed her gaze to aim toward the actual prize.

In the center of the crater sat a dark mass of shifting hexahedrons, stabilized and locked down due to the two remaining Nether Spires.

*****

Helen put her hand on Randidly’s heaving shoulders as the flow of Nether through his body began to ease. He hadn’t begun swaying yet, but she had followed Randidly Ghosthound for a long time; she was intimately familiar with his habit of pushing himself beyond his limits.

His skin was burning hot to the touch, like a portion of that very same heat that had melted the Nether Spire had been present in his core. She was honestly surprised he could survive this heat; her fingers were almost scaled by touching him.

After breathing out a steaming breath, he nodded to Helen. “Thanks. That… was a lot more than I expected. Woo.”

Seeker Thunder Wing cracked his knuckles. “Don’t worry, we can take it from here. Hahaha! It’s finally time to run wild!”

Seeker Ozaer nodded. She wiggled a finger and a cloud began to condense above her hand The enigmatic Claudette smiled while her constant companion Narthalla scowled and raised her weapons.

Seeing that Randidly had managed to recover a bit from his mental strain, Helen released his shoulder before he set her hand on fire. Somehow, the heat lingered on her fingers as she produced and held her spear. She turned away to join the group heading to stop the Engraving Guild from coming over, but Randidly’s exhausted voice stopped her. “Wait.”

She twisted back around and looked at him. Truly, his state was not ideal. At the moment, the Ghosthound emerald eyes were dark. His lips were pressed together into a thin line. He beckoned Helen closer with a determined intensity. “I need you to do something for me…”

*****

Shal lowered his gaze and nodded. He had no choice in the matter. Per this man’s orders… there would be no detainment for Randidly. Such an insult to the Engraving Guild had to be killed. “I’ll handle this, sir.”

At the very least, Shal would give his student a quick death.

Gabriel Swacc smirked at Shal as though he understood the spearman’s thought process. “You had better. Oh, and one more thing. I understand that there is… a personal connection between you and that renegade Nether Core owner. But this isn’t a game, Shal. If they resist strongly… activate your Armament. Don’t waste time. The presence of the Nether King takes precedence.”

Shal nodded again and kept his eyes on the ground. Technically, Gabriel Swacc shouldn’t be able to order him around casually. But Lathis N’Gick, the shadowy figure at the head of the Nether Lattice, had told the manager in charge of Shal’s group to assist Gabriel Swacc now that they had accomplished their mission. And perhaps more importantly, Shal’s group was an independent company under the umbrella of the Swacc Family.

Even if he couldn’t order them now, Gabriel Swacc was a legitimate talent of the family. His words in the right ears could bring a lot of trouble down on Shal. So Shal schooled his feelings and planned to obey. Without another one of the Engraving Guild executives speaking up, there was nothing Shal could do.

As he began to march forward across the slope toward his student, Shal looked down at his hands that held his spear. The metal implement felt so heavy in his grasp. A year ago, I would have struggled to protect him until I was killed for my disobedience. I cannot deny that I’ve changed. But I’ve changed to survive, Randidly. I really hope I don’t need to show you the horror that has affected me…

You’ll need to flee from this place and do so convincingly. Or else...

About thirty individuals moved forward from the Engraving Guild, with orders to ‘secure’ the rogue Nether Core in front of them. Their leader was the manager in charge of Shal’s company, who wielded a massive iron club with brutal efficiency. The manager grunted and waved the club in the air, and as one they all accelerated.

Opposite them, the group gathered around Randidly split apart to meet the representatives of the Engraving Guild. But seeing that Randidly remained at the back and managed whatever working had stabilized the space in the crater, Shal slowed down and allowed his companions to surge past him. All the while, his gaze remained fixed on Randidly.

A shriek blasted outward from the opposition with enough force to briefly slow the assault from the Engraving Guild. Then an enormous Crimson Thunder Eagle manifested in the air in an eye-catching crackle. Immediately, the lines around Shal’s mouth tightened. Seeker Thunder Wing… an up and comer amongst the Pinnacle Seekers. He even fought a Commandant to a draw ten years ago. Why the hell is a man like that defending my pupil…?

Shal’s manager raised his massive club and pulled Nether into the weapon. The iron club began to vibrate. He wasn’t a part of the Nether Lattice per se, but was instead a close confidant of N’Gick; the two had known each other before either had any great achievements. Therefore, he was afforded certain… perks due to their association.

Two destroyed Nether Spires meant that there was an abundant oppression on images from pooling significance, but the horrifying weight that the iron club developed without restraint in that same environment. Shal’s manager roared and leapt forward, meeting a belched bolt of lightning directly with his weapon.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The ground shook, but all the combatants here were at the tier that they wouldn’t balk before a concussive shockwave. The fighters from the Engraving Guild fearlessly charged forward and met the images of the Pinnacle Seekers. Images blasted back and forth. Soon the wave of bodies devolved into a series of small battlefields with overlapping edges. Although the initial clash was mostly even, Shal knew that the Engraving Guild would be able to slowly push back the Pinnacle Seekers.

They just weren’t able to work together as efficiently as a trained unit. Ultimately, their fractal nature would be their undoing.

But Shal had no intention of allowing anyone else to handle Randidly. So when a smaller Crimson Thunder Eagle cried and smashed into one of Shal’s subordinates, he planted his foot and accelerated past the Pinnacle Seeker’s defensive line.

But no sooner had he passed through a small gap in between two cooperating Pinnacle Seeker factions than he reflexively brought his spear up and deflected an attack away.

Clang!

Two spears crossed and Shal came away with a trembling weapon. For a half meter, he skidded backward from the force he received. He blinked at first, but then sneered at his opponent. “Randidly Ghosthound is my student. Do you think my student’s spear attendant has any chance of standing up against me?”

With her hair done up in a traditional combat braid of Tellus, Helen raised her spear and manifested her image. Thick, branching black veins of energy orbited one meter away from her body, twitching and jumping forward in spurts as they moved. Despite the oppression of the space, this woman’s image tore through the obstructions and manifested clearly. The aura of dread she released wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

Shal was proud his planet had produced such a talent. But of course, this relatively well-behaved image wasn’t nearly enough to stop him.

Her were heavy as she looked at Shal. “You know… when we left Tellus last time, I would have believed the same thing. Wholeheartedly. But now…”

Helen smiled rather sweetly and tilted her head to the side as she Shal. Meanwhile, her image accelerated and began releasing a palpable scent of death. “Now, doesn’t it seem like even I could do something like overcoming the Second Calamity?”

Shal snorted and shot forward, unwilling to indulge this farce any further. She was related to his precious student, but this was a world that devoured the weak; if she insisted on making such dangerous choices, he might as well put her out of her misery now.

Especially when he planned to do the same to Randidly himself.

Inhaling during that second of advancing, Shal readied himself to finish this quickly. For her, he only activated his Valiant Wraith Phantom image. His spear slithered through the air in confusing patterns as they stepped into each other’s range. A twitch of the wrist snapped the weapon’s perceived flexibility into straightness and then Shal thrust his spear forward in a brutal Viper Strike.

The movement was clean and flawless. It was a movement he had practiced millions of times. Even when his faith in his own image had been broken, he had never ceased the tireless accumulation through training. This was the most primitive and also most well-honed blade he currently could wield.

Clang!

Helen’s image deflected Shal’s attack without her even moving. For a split second, he froze in confusion to see her so effortlessly neutralize his strike; her image could overpower him directly, without her assistance. Even worse, Helen truly hadn’t been still while her image dealt with him, but was instead bringing her spear forward in a brutally quick counter-attack that had Shal scrambling to keep up.

Yet even as he brought his spear across in a sweep, those branching black lines of her image split out and attempted to hem in his defenses. Shal’s eyes flashed; everything in front of him seemed to move in slow motion. His spear held horizontally at his waist, Helen’s attack piercing toward his heart, her black wicker image swimming between the two weapons in lazy loops…

Unfortunately for her, this was exactly the sort of situation where the Wraith Phantom thrived.

Shal’s spear blurred and twisted, spinning up to deflect away Helen’s attack. Her wicker image strained itself downward to interfere, but he was too quick. The tip of his spear slapped the shaft of her weapon. And once the line of her attack vector was shifted away from his body, Shal whipped his spear around-

He let out a harsh breath of surprise, unsure of what happened. Everything simply stopped.

His heartbeat thudded painfully in his chest, feeling like it was about to pop. Shal looked down and saw that the wicker lines of Helen’s image had turned upward after Shal’s spear had avoided them and simply punched through his armor and into the soft flesh of his chest. Even in offense, her image overwhelmed him.

Shal’s attack rapidly lost its steam, but he then exploded into an entirely different motion. He twisted away, pulling out before Helen’s strange image could deal more damage to him. The black wicker lines pursued him, but Shal didn’t underestimate the image this time. He activated his Valiant Aura Skill and pushed as wrung as much heroism as he could out of the depths of his heart. His spear was suffused with golden light as it rushed forward.

Yet even as he struck, Shal felt a chill down his spine. The golden light of his strike flickered and Helen’s image smashed his to pieces.

With two flickering steps, Shal escaped the attack and created some distance. Then he regarded Helen with a grim expression. Shal hadn’t given his all in the fight; he had taken Helen quite likely at first. But in the face of his lightness, she had unilaterally crushed him. With shaking hands, Shal reached into his interspatial ring. “Fine then. You may be proud to have forced me to use this. But now-”

“Proud?” Helen’s expression twisted in disgust. “Look at yourself, once-proud-Shal. In what world could I experience pride when this is the best you can manage?”