The spark felt it when the Grey Creature somehow cut an exit from this place. It paused in its toil and spread out its awareness, aware of the impending ascension. So it saw the final strike, that could rip out through even exhaustion and carve a path of survival.

The Grey Creature had turned almost blurry, except for its hand. It concentrated all of its power into that appendage, searing the spark’s awareness with the concentrated emotional affect. All of its life it poured into this one strike, betting everything on an impossible effort, after failing for hours.

Somehow, the spark knew that even if this particular attack had failed, it would have forced its body into motion, gathering the pieces back up for another attack in the near future. While the spark observed, the Grey Creature sliced. The world groaned and split before its concentrated power.

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 931!

Congratulations! Your Skill The Wrathful Calamity Rends (T) has grown to Level 901!

For a brief moment, a hallway-sized passage in front of the image was entirely cleared of even the slightest hint of grey. The Grey Creature growled in triumph, had enough time to pivot and wink in the spark’s direction, then leap out of this unending torment. Leaving the spark somewhat sourly considering its own job.

Congratulations! Your Skill Twin Lingering Shadows of Misfortune (T) has grown to Level 1000!

The spark pivoted in surprise, the two ghosts continued to float around, swelling and chewing on the grey expanse when they got bored. The spark grimaced. I cannot believe those two are the third Skill to get to Level one thousand… Also… doesn’t this mean I’ve caught up to Don Beigon, in terms of Skill Levels…?

Shaking itself, the spark returned to its work.

*****

Devick crept a little more out of the shattered wall of the farmhouse and noticed a storage bin nearby. She crept sideways and went into the opening on the side and planned to peek over the lip and observe the faceoff. However, she was somewhat taken aback to discover that the interior was already occupied. The three Arakis Beasts that followed Randidly around like puppies turned and looked at her for a split second, their bulky bodies compressed to the limit to keep themselves from being too conspicuous inside of the container. The beast with multiple limbs was particularly cramped, practically sitting on its own hands not to poke out over the edge.

“I’m not a dog,” Devick muttered to herself again, tiptoeing over and joining them in their observation. A powerful wind whipped her hair around her head until she tucked the offending strands behind her ears.

Nether King Hungry Eye’s voice continued to be rough and vicious like he chewed on gravel while speaking. “You are?”

“They call me now by the cloak I drag behind me: the Bleak Sky. And you?” Opposite him, the Nether King Bleak Sky raised his head, letting more of the ragged cloak around him to fall off. Although he appeared at first to have the beak of a hawk, his bald head revealed him as a buzzard. His heavy adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

“Ran…didly. Ghost…hound.” Nether King Hungry Eye forced out a weird phrase that made Devick blink. Is he… making fun of the other Nether King’s weird name with this nonsense phrase?

Again, the thin, whip-like black tongue of Nether King Bleak sky flicked out of its beak to taste the air. “What a strange name. Well, curse your gods, Randid. For now that I have found you, this will be your last day. After I’ve ripped out those offensive images, I’ll grind your bones to dust. It’s been so, so long since I’ve been free to follow my impulses. Do you have any final words?”

With his words, the vulture Nether King lifted his wings. These were just as bald as his head, several feathers visibly wilted and a few wafting downward from the movement. Yet despite the rather pathetic display, the surging wave of Nether pressure that erupted out of this antagonist pressured Devick to the point that she couldn’t even breathe. The sky darkened further, those weeping clouds drifting closer.

The air thickened, flushed with powerful Nether.

Nether King Hungry Eye hissed in annoyance and flared some of his strange images to lighten up the pressure. Next to Devick, the Arakis Beasts began to pant. Simultaneously the tail and spear wrapped around their protector’s waist unwound. The tail simply flicked back and forth behind him, but the spear slithered up and began to emit a series of whines. And, if Devick wasn’t imagining it, the Nether King’s left arm got into the strange discussion as well; it released low resonant hums in the pauses of the weapons noises.

Eventually, Nether King Hungry Eye growled. “No. We fight. The main body… needs pressure to remember what sort of being he is.”

Both of the parts of the Nether King that had been arguing with him seemed to accept that. Meanwhile, Nether King Bleak Sky cackled. The pressure he released continued to shoot upward, to the point the ground around the farm began to quake and shudder. A part of Devick wondered whether she could even blink. “Ha! Did you think you stood a fighting chance?!? I will grind you-”

Nether King Hungry Eye vanished at the same time as Bleak Sky whipped around.

Devick could only take labored, shallow breaths underneath the pressure from the antagonistic Nether King, but she tried to focus on the blurry movements across the field. Nether King Hungry Eye seemed to reform in the air behind the foe… but this was a very different version of Hungry Eye than she had ever seen.

His face was almost completely covered in howling sores in the world, all-consuming abscesses that greedily devoured light and air. These were pinned over his eyes and mouth. His arms hand lengthened somewhat, his fingers, especially on the right hand, had grew impossible long and sharp. From his back, wickedly gnarled tree roots stretched up until they wove themselves into a semblance of wings. The effect almost seemed to mock Bleak Sky and his featherless wings.

With a vicious squawk, Bleak Sky swept his its arm sideways and produced several dense spikes of air that almost resembled humming feathers. Hungry Eye twitched with preternatural quickness, avoiding the attack and somehow ending up on the ground next to the other Nether King. He threw a powerful haymaker with his left arm, but Bleak Sky caught the strike. The ground beneath them cracked.

Next to Devick, blood spurted out of the eyes and ears of one of the Arakis Beasts as it collapsed. She didn’t bother to look away from the fight in front of her.

“You…” Bleak Sky whispered, but Hungry Eye already spun away.

Or at least, that’s what Devick thought happened; the two were moving so fast she had to add a bit of her own narrative flair to make sense of the flailings. And she could feel her Competitor’s Attention Skill rapidly increasing in proficiency, the longer she watched.

Hungry Eye lashed out with a heel kick as he moved past Bleak Sky, but the vulture warrior conjured a panel of solidified wind to deflect it away. Nether began to surge and seethe around the two, crackling black lightning and spectral flames flickering in and out of existence. Bleak Sky beat its wings to stir up energy around them, pulling the weeping clouds down out of the sky.

This time, it was Bleak Sky that seemed an impossible blur in motion as it pounced after the other Nether King. Rain began to fall, so quickly and with such violence that the first few drops made Devick twitch.

Her fear deepened when she realized it wasn’t rain she witnessed slicing down in waves by the hundred, but more tightened spikes of air.

Nether King Hungry Eye paused in his motions to look up and growl softly. But that was the only response he had. Then he threw himself at the other Nether King, engaging in a tight and rumbling melee that demolished the carrot patch as they fought each other.

Hungry Eye used his unnaturally long limbs to whip vicious elbows at Bleak Sky’s forehead, then spin away before the slightly more sluggish vulture could catch up with him. Still, the foreign Nether King’s defense were solid. He deflected and endured each strike without any visible damage, despite the fact that each attack release an impact enough to make the already breathy Devick positively lightheaded.

When the rain of air spikes started covering the battlefield, Hungry Eye was forced to jitter back and forth to avoid the worst of it. Steadily, his heavy blows became more infrequent. The vulture had more opportunities to conjure javelins of compressed air and whipped them forward. Hungry Eye could still dodge these, allowing the projectile to howl past and demolish an unfortunate hill behind him, but it meant a few bits of the offensive rain crashed against his body. Which slowed him down just enough for Bleak Sky to make up a step.

And the nearer the two came to each other, the worst the Nether density in the air become. At this point, Devick really couldn’t breathe, even across the demolished field from them, while the farmhouse trembled and swayed while being buffeted by the storm of their conflict. She would have gulped, had she been able to. If the pressure is this high over here… I can only imagine what it is between them…

Next to her, another one of the Arakis Beasts collapsed. The weeping clouds drifted closer, causing the rain of air spikes to become even denser. By this point, Hungry Eye had to spend small fractions of time lashing out with his long arms, blasting away the nuisances so he could focus on his opponent.

With a shriek of triumph, Nether King Bleak sky pounced forward and grabbed Hungry Eye on both of his biceps. Spectral flames surged up in a circle, forming around the duo. His thin black tongue flicked outward. “Got you-”

An appendage that had thus far been relatively invisible now peaked up above Hungry Eye’s back. It was his tail, empowered and armored with image physicalization. However, what made Devick’s eyes widen was the fact the tail wasn’t alone: that talking spear had woven itself through the armored tail.

A deadly-looking spearhead now sat at the end of the tail, resembling a scorpion’s stinger. Without much suspense, it stepped forward and gored its way into Nether King Bleak Sky’s body.

Devick felt a flash of hope in her body, that this would the beginning of Nether King Hungry Eye’s comeback. The strike would contain the power of his Nether Core and infect the opponent. His follow-up would force an opening and then he would knock back the opponent.

None of those things happened. Even through the circles of darkness taking bites out of his face, it was obvious Nether King Hungry Eye’s expression became increasingly grave.

Bleak Sky’s grey eyes flashed. Its beak opened. “Enough playing around. Your ability to manipulate Nether is nifty… but you are young. Let’s end this. Bow before my Authority: Woeful Tempest.”

Before Devick could even see the result, she noticed the front of the container in front of her became oddly crimson. As she looked down, her legs folded up underneath her. She recognized the color as her own blood from her ruptured sinuses just as she collapsed into unconsciousness.

Even from this distance… that ability…

The Nether pressure picked apart her thoughts until they were just impressions. Yet as her eyelids fluttered, the sight in front of her triggered her stubbornness. Because right in front of her lay a similarly collapsed Arakis Beast.

“I’m not…” Devick spat out a mouthful of blood. “Some pet. To order… around.”

She didn’t attempt to get up. But she did wait for the Arakais Beast to visibly go unconscious before she relaxed and allowed herself to do the same.