Not that Randidly had much time to inspect the various aches and Nether clogs throughout his body after Tellus finally spurted all the way into the Alpha Cosmos. He couldn’t even address the gurgling whine from his stomach. No sooner had the planet vanished than he looked up to find Velio Dunn barreling down toward him.

“Ten minutes starts…. Now…!” Velio cackled as he loomed a few meters above Randidly. This time Velio repeated the same attack that he had used against him during the first inspection of the Elite Squad. The one that had nearly collapsed the entire underground area. Velio mentally reached up and seized upon that massive bastard sword and each detail of the motion was so perfectly polished that it was almost impossible to visually distinguish between the two arms hanging at Velio’s side and the one reaching up for the sword.

Randidly watched it all happen without moving. At the moment, his muscles were only now starting to ease from their horrible, extended tension. His stomach bubbled uneasily as Tellus sank deeper within the Alpha Cosmos. His Nether Core was spinning wildly but barely producing any energy; he had drained it almost completely to steady the Nether Ritual earlier.

Not exactly ideal circumstances for this meeting… Randidly’s lips twisted. But strangely, he felt happy as he observed the imagined blow of Velio Dunn whipping through the intervening space, sheath still intact over his Engraved sword.

For so long, since he had been ambushed and driven deeper into the shaft beyond his ability to survive, Randidly had feared finding himself in exactly this situation. So many of the long bouts of training he had gritted his teeth and endured had been to prepare for exactly this. And now that he was in this moment, with Velio’s attack heading toward him…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 404!

This strike knocked the wind out of Randidly and made him realize that for all Velio’s flaws, he had gone ease with his cheap shot by using solely his physical body with the first blow. Compared to that, the potency of this image was overwhelming.

Even worse, Velio pursued the tumbling Randidly immediately. Randidly immediately scowled. You two-bit villain, where the hell is your monologue?!?

His bones aching from the first strike, Randidly raised his arms and kept them tight against his sides in a defensive posture. The image of the sword within the sheath smashed left, right, down, left, down: upon Randidly’s waiting form more and more abuse was heaped. Each moment Velio produced another concrete image that crashed into Randidly and set it teeth on edge.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

“What a pleasant experience!” Velio boomed with a gleeful smile on his face. But his expression quickly turned sharp as he effortlessly barraged Randidly with the image strikes. “You… you’ve certainly toughened up a bit since I saw you last, eh? Look at you, enduring when a single one of these pushed you to the brink of death the first time that we met! How am I supposed to feel, seeing you like this?”

BOOOOM! BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOM!

Randidly’s forearm fractured. Metal was scraped off his left arm from the force of Velio’s blows. But each second that passed allowed his heartbeat to quicken and his Nether Core to release waves of energy that reinforced his physical body. The strikes ‘massaged’ away the knots within Randidly’s muscles. His Uncommon Metabolism was able to barely keep abreast with the damage Velio unleashed. Every second allowed him to stabilize the positively stuffed sensation of his Alpha Cosmos and return to his peak state.

Influence +10!

Influence +10!

...

Just… endure it… block… block… Randidly’s eyes narrowed to slits. Already he had accumulated over 40,000 Influence, and it was still rising. At the same time, all three of Randidly’s images were swirling together, steadily physicalizing across his body as his mental energy returned. And in the depths of the Grim Chimera-

BOOOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Velio moved quickly behind Randidly and slammed one of his image slashes against his back. Randidly catapulted forward and Velio materialized in front of him. He barely had time to reinforce his guard before another imagined strike smashed directly through his trembling arms and partially caved in his chest cavity. He felt a rib puncture his left lung

Congratulations! Your Skill the Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 394!

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 405!

“But you know…” Gradually, the smile was slipping off of Velio’s face. He rolled his shoulders and flapped his arms as Randidly stabilized himself in space, watching him with narrowed eyes. “Somehow… the fact that you have improved so much, so quickly… really pisses me off, you know? Someone like you… someone who foolishly reinforces your body… should just die.”

Influence +10!

The pressure within Randidly’s chest was easing finally down toward manageable levels just as his recovery popped his ribs back into place and patched over his lung. His muscles were still a bit stiff from the aftereffects of the process, but his freedom of movement was steadily increasing.

Still, Randidly felt a thrill of fear as Velio Dunn reached up and physically gripped the hilt of his sword. Even in the chill absence of space, the sound of Velio’s fingers tightening around the leather grip was thunderous.

“So,” Velio pulled the length of his bastard sword out of the leather sheath. Mesmerizing patterns of burning cobalt covered the length of the weapon. Every time the weapon moved, those symbols spun and danced. Randidly would have dearly loved to study the profound patterns that gleamed there, but he dared not let his attention waver. His heart pounded in his chest. He flexed his aching and stiff hands and produced Acri and Sulfur from his interspatial ring.

Sorry you missed the fun earlier, buddy, Randidly sent the apologetic thought to his armor as it shifted into pace. He twisted slightly to grip Acri, quick but not quick enough. He needed a little more time-

“Just,” Velio raised his other hand and gripped the hilt. So he held the sword aloft straight above his head and offered it to the star-filled heavens like a prayer. And with both hands on the blade, a pillar of blue fire erupted upward. The reverberations of that blade’s activation were so powerful that Randidly sensed Claudette above them hiss and retreat from the edge of the battlefield.

Randidly’s three images bubbled in his chest. The rest of his image physicalizations snapped into place. Even while his body wasn’t quite recovered, he used those physicalized images to force the issue. Cosmic Necessity. The Implacable Price of Exodus. Man Is Proud, But the Chimera Takes.

“Die-” Velio bellowed and slashed. But Randidly was already raising Acri and accelerating. Space warped and rippled around him. Perhaps more than the Skill Levels, the understanding of Aether and Nether, and the refinement of his three images, the real change to Randidly was the physical one. His Stats had been each pushed beyond one thousand… and his Agility had been evolved into Dreadful Alacrity.

CLAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGG!

Congratulations! Your Skill Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes (L) has grown to Level 325!

...

Congratulations! Your Skill Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes (L) has grown to Level 335!

Ten meters beyond Velio Dunn, his momentum finally dissipating, Randidly paused and turned around. His right eye was a bonfire of emerald flame, his left a swirling maelstrom of darkness. Velio wore an expression of shock as he held his bastard sword horizontally across his body in a defensive posture; he had forcefully adjusted to block Randidly’s attack on instinct. A black line of Randidly’s image sizzled against the sword’s cobalt runes but was quickly overwhelmed by the power of Velio’s image.

Velio turned and gave Randidly a searching look. Then he grinned. “You… oh, I definitely cannot let someone like you continue to exist.”

Randidly adjusted his grip on Acri. Each beat of his heart sent gushing flows of Nether through his body, nourishing him after the agonizing Nether Ritual. His body was a river valley after a long drought and now finally the rains had come. The last of the stiffness was forced out of his body; setting aside a bit of mental exhaustion, Randidly had returned to his peak state.

A growl escaped his lips as he looked at Velio Dunn. I’ve been waiting for this for too long.

“Now do you want to do this the easy way, or-” Velio’s pompous attitude had returned, but Randidly just reactivated the same three Skills and ripped through the space between them. And without any remaining hint of stiffness, his speed had taken another step forward. His thrust with Acri was biting. Velio was barely able to adjust his weapon and block Randidly’s attack.

CLAAAAANG!

“You!” Velio’s expression twisted, but Randidly already moving once more. Heat and Nether spun together through his limbs; Randidly felt like he was gliding through space.

He emerged on Velio’s left and cut sharply toward the man’s muscled neck. Velio adjusted quickly and unleashed a wave of cobalt flames, but Randidly was already gone, floating behind Velio and activating three new Skills. The Chimera Weeps as Man Mourns. Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil. Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe.

Congratulations! Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil (T) has grown to Level 361!

Randidly unleashed a dozen strikes with Acri in a short fraction of a moment, even as Reapers Mantle of Catastrophe stretched forward and briefly seized upon Velio’s body and slowed his reactions. Each of the thrusts he unleashed gleamed with emerald and gold light. Each was superimposed with the concrete image of a massive and vital root that smashed against Velio’s undefended back. Spear and root became one singular weapon.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 304!

Randidly’s attacks slammed into Velio’s back, but blue light rose from the man’s skin and diffused most of the force. Velio whipped his bastard sword around with blazing eyes, but Randidly was already gone. Truly, Randidly had never unleashed the fullness of his physical potential before and now he was drunk on the sensation. He flickered down and thrust Acri toward Velio’s side, his muscles pounding with the potency of Primordial Nether Juju. A halo of darkness emerged at the tip of Acri, adding an extra penetrative element to the strike.

Crack!

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 290!

The blue light of Velio’s image defenses shattered before all 1485 of Randidly’s Mythic Primordial Nether Juju. And within the depths of the Grim Chimera, those spots of light began to drift toward each other.