Todd eventually left Randidly’s skyisland, his vehicle meandering back and forth through the clouds as he descended toward his dormitory. Randidly pressed his lips together as he watched him go with his eyes half-closed. Only when the boy was out of sight did he fully close his eyes and focused on his Soulspace. He examined each of his three images, each releasing a different aura, in turn.

That sense of premonition… that sudden belief I had that allowing the Calamity to proceed forward in its callous form would hurt him… Randidly burned with that certainty that still persisted in his chest even to this moment, filling him with hesitation. Where did that come from? Is it just a bad feeling… or was it a genuine prophecy?

In particular, Randidly looked toward the recently well-behaved Stillborn Phoenix for its Revelations of the Atramentous Threshold. The image physicalizations he provided from his Fatepiece continued to give it more and more permanence, cutting down on its wild hunger. Randidly believed that the insight given to him by this image’s Skills. Yet the Stillborn Phoenix just looked at Randidly helplessly; it could not answer that question.

The dark event horizon of the Egg of Depression held no answer.

Both Yggdrasil and the transitioning Grim Chimera were also sorrowful and silent under Randidly’s intense gaze. None of his images were able to identify the source of the feeling. Randidly physically raised his fingers and rubbed his temples.

But should I really alter my plans just for one individual…? Or rather, because of knowledge that one particular individual will be affected. Because if I do this, Todd will only be one of many that suffer… thousands will die in the chaos of the Calamity. All of those portals... Probably even more will suffer than I allowed to die due to Theodora Greyman’s idiocy back then…

But Randidly’s worries were pushed aside by a new feeling rising in his chest. The Eidolon Crucible was activating even as he teetered on the cusp of this decision. Huffing out a breath, Randidly leaned back and got comfortable. Then he allowed the Skill to carry his consciousness away, weightlessly tumbling through a blur of colors that reminded Randidly of golden-edged clouds at sunset.

Reality melted and reformed as the Skill activated.

When he settled into the Skill, Randidly was somewhat surprised to find that he was basically in the same position he had been in the physical world; he was lying on his skyisland, wreathed in a powerful silver energy. His three images released intermittent pulses of power, marking the area as his own. But when he walked to the edge of the skyisland, Randidly could see that the sense of realism was distorted below. He was perhaps two or three kilometers up above Kharon, with thousands of small skyislands floating between himself and the wandering city below. Each burned with a different image.

The Eidolon Crucible had brought him quite a few foes this time. The population of Kharon radiated a resolute determination to crush Randidly Ghosthound.

Randidly’s mouth slowly stretched wider and wider as he felt the images below marshaling themselves, preparing for an assault on his position. His previous activation of Reign of the Eidolon Crucible had been extremely difficult. Enduring the constant attacks of Kharon’s population had pushed him close to the edge; for the first time, he had almost succumbed to their images. Even he, Randidly Ghosthound, could barely keep up with the growth of so many people over five years.

However, the Grim Chimera was stirring in Randidly’s chest, rising to fight against Kharon’s assembled images. Its sharp eyes glittered as it looked down. Because this time, Randidly didn’t intend to allow the clash of images to go as Kharon wanted it.

Before Kharon had finished marshaling its forces, Randidly chuckled and stepped off the edge of his skyisland. His image physicalizations immediately snapped into place, stretching his powerful body into the combined form of his three images. His Willpower was almost a physical force, swirling around him as he began to descend. He spread his fingers wide and his tails lashed aggressively back and forth behind him.

For the first time, Randidly took the initiative and attack.

Immediately, the images of Kharon below realized what was happening and reacted; Randidly had to admit that Kharon’s elites were truly quite capable. Randidly could feel the defiant professionalism of his Order Ducis shaping the response, rising up to meet the assault. Randidly raised his heavily armored left arm and then brought it brutally downward. Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes.

Congratulations! Your Skill Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes (L) has grown to Level 318!

BOOOOOM!

He accelerated downward with a discarded sonic boom in his wake, blasting aside some of the weaker images that had the presence of mind to move together to form a hasty blockade. However, Randidly distinctly felt Tatiana’s concise and controlled image reaching outward and rapidly forming an array with the other images. Soon, the skyislands he was rushing toward arranged themselves in a complex pattern that glowed with a unified aura.

But Randidly… simply avoided it. A ripple of image power covered him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 402!

Randidly’s powerful body flickered and simply seemed to phase through the blockade. The crackling array could not find purchase on his insubstantial form. Then he was past it, those image skyislands frantically scrambling to bring themselves after him, as Randidly descended upon the lower tier of skyislands.

Because the true reason that Randidly had been so exhausted was that Kharon’s strategy was to feed mental energy from about 80% of the population to fuel the determined and talented 20% of the population in their tireless attacks. When Randidly simply sat and endured this ploy, it was difficult for him to cope with the vigor of the constant assaults.

However, this time Randidly avoided the 20% completely. Before he returned to the shaft, he planned on sending a message to those who were content to support Kharon’s elites from the back.

Randidly clenched his long fingers into fists. Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart, which manipulated gravity, and Tide of the Void, which absorbed emotional energy and significance, both whirled within Randidly’s chest in time to the rotation of his Nether Core, before exploding outward and soaking through the totality of those waiting image skyislands.

Randidly’s eyes burned, one forest green and one emerald. Living in Kharon means you must be prepared to pull your weight.

Then Randidly triple activated Skills twice in a row, flaring his three images for maximum effect. Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart. Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe. Inscrutable Mien of Genesis.

A pulse of gravity, horrifying ash, and overwhelming life energy spiraled outward and soaked all those already gripped by his two earlier Skills.

Tide of the Void. Cursed Appetite of a Wraith. The Implacable Price of Exodus.

Then, once all of the supporting images were bathed in his energy, all that potency was raked backward with the second triple Skill activation.

He felt their pain as thousands of individuals were ejected from the Eidolon Crucible. Their mental energy was shredded; likely they would wake up with a headache tomorrow morning. The surrounding space was ominously empty, while the skyislands of the earlier blockade drifted around with a shocked aimlessness.

Then Randidly raised his head and grinned at the remainder. The second lesson. You cannot protect the weak from everything.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 312!

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 313!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 351!

Randidly clicked his tongue as he came back to his body and rolled his shoulders. Seems like the Skill improves faster when my victory is quick… but well, usually I wouldn’t want to teach them such a harsh lesson…

Just as Randidly’s mind was turning back to his decision regarding the Calamity, Tatiana sent him a message, asking when he would be leaving. Randidly could only shake her head at the woman’s insight and replied that he would be leaving tonight.

Good luck, Randidly. We are rooting for you.

Randidly stared at that message for a long time. Eventually, an explosive sigh that transformed into a smile. Shaking his head, he gently mocked himself. You cannot control everything. Even if you are stronger… you aren’t strong enough to protect everyone. Just like the Order Ducis alone won’t be enough. And that’s okay.

He then sent a message to Lucretia to proceed as planned with the Calamity. Next, he sent messages to all his subordinates on Expira, to contact him if they wanted to go back to the Alpha Cosmos. He was heading back to the Shaft. His Philosopher’s Key opened a portal from within his body back to floating in that dark space above the meditating Nether Gatekeepers.

Randidly looked down at his hands after he put away his Fatepiece. Then he clenched his fists. Something inside of him hardened. I can’t waste too much time here. Somehow… I don’t want to just be sitting in the darkness while Expira goes through the Calamity. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep myself from just observing how it goes and obsessing over the results.

And also… I need to provide that planet for the Nemesai, to use as a base for the Calamity…

So Randidly threw himself back into his frantic training schedule. The lion’s share of his time went to weaving Nether, learning to create a grand Nether Array that would tie together this new addition to his Alpha Cosmos. With some communication with Neveah about the principles behind the process, he improved by leaps and bounds, rapidly expanding the scope of the Nether Array’s he could make.

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 290!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 311

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 292!

Influence +33!

As his Nether Core continued its constant rotation, feeding off his determined efforts to improve, Randidly interspersed his days with other varieties of training. He activated his Hierarchy of Burden, improving until the Fatepiece reached Level 15 and the activation produced crimson serpents of lightning that lashed and bit at Randidly to shake his concentration. Even with his powerful body, he was starting to have difficulties handling the dangerous electromagnetic radiation.

He continued to experiment with immersing himself in his own images, improving the concrete potency of Yggdrasil and the Stillborn Phoenix by polishing up the details. His capabilities continued to climb.

Randidly pulled out Acri and Sulfur and utilized Ripple of Amenonuhoko in the shaft, sensing the way the pull of significance below constantly skewed the ripples. In addition, Randidly took quite a lot of time to study the profound ripples that sometimes resulted from his energy impacting the spine of the shaft. Randidly truly began to believe that this enormous skeleton belonged to a Universe Devouring Beast, which still possessed a hint of that miraculous energy to create life.

In the darkness, Randidly advanced. He pushed himself until he was exhausted. And then he pushed himself further, doing anything to exhaust himself past the point of thinking about the Calamity hanging over Expira.

Improving was all he allowed himself. Improving enough to protect Expira was the only way he could justify to himself that he would allow a Calamity to ravage his home planet, on his own order.