The bearman smiled at Randidly with an expression that would have been a smirk had it spread from his mouth to his dark eyes Meanwhile the Xyrt Brigade representative released a bark of laughter Ha YouÆve been hoodwinked kid That fool down there is from the Swacc Family I suspect that no matter how skilled you are he will remain broken and they will come demanding compensation The sort of compensation thatÆs above your paygrade
As Randidly crouched down next to the metallic body his mouth was moving before his brain really thought about the response IÆve dealt with the Swacc Family before IÆm sure it will be fine
A split second later he paused and wondered whether he should have revealed that when he was still attempting to earn this job The silence of the people at the table on the dais became somewhat strange But Randidly decided to ignore the change and just focused on his work He reached out and pressed his hand against the being before him to get an idea of his current status And at that exact moment the Stillborn PhoenixÆs had sucked all of the volatile emotions into itself
There was a churning rumble from RandidlyÆs chest and then the image became to exhale Emotions rampaged outward with all the desperate devastation of a broken dam
Hss Randidly let his breath sneak out between his teeth as Yggdrasil unfolded into the air above him in order to suppress the changed emotions This journey back from the interior of the Stillborn Phoenix saw the emotional intensity increase again by an order of magnitude The emotions practically hummed with infectious and dangerous power
Ah please do be careful Fragments of my image may remain from the earlier interview The bearman said very officiously Randidly had to make a conscious effort not to roll his eyes while Yggdrasil stabilized the seal on the emotions within himself But he was then rather shocked to see that perhaps the military man hadnÆt just made a baseless assumption about RandidlyÆs display of weakness the damage to the metallic manÆs body was quite similar to what had happened with YggdrasilÆs root
The source wasnÆt the same but the result bore a significant resemblance to each other The bearmanÆs image had somehow stripped the shapeÆ of Aether from this metal man and left him with chaos When the metallic man had probably panicked heightening his emotions that overwhelmed what remained of his mental framework and caused his entire self to collapse
Randidly felt a strange sort of horror as he inspected the result
Please
Randidly blinked in surprise Because of the strange angles of his joints and the coloration of his body he didnÆt realize the patient was still conscious These were the sort of injuries that usually pushed someone into a coma But now to his discomfort he realized that even the manÆs neck had been twisted to the point that he was staring up at Randidly His eyes were filled with fear and pain Please
Strangely Randidly remembered the shock and horror that Neveah experienced when she had been struck mentally by Kaan Swacc Something hardened in RandidlyÆs heart and the Grim Chimera raised his head from within his baptism of violent emotions to glance at the bearman and curl his lip upward It is exactly because of people like you that this Nexus is such a hell for those without the strength to defend themselves I WILL surpass you
I will end your casual violence
Then Randidly turned his attention back to the man and released as much of his image as he could Once more the other physicalizations of his images receded his hair became emerald and his veins pulsed with golden light The energy he radiated downward was soft and gentle like rays of sunlight on cool mornings The metallic man gasped and gulped down desperate breaths of air
There WERE in fact remnant bits of the bearmanÆs image continuing to destabilize the metallic manÆs body and agitate his emotions Randidly rapidly used a surge of YggdrasilÆs Inscrutable Mien to blast them away taking great joy in the thought that he was annihilating that small smirk from the bearman as he did so
The image fragments were strong but they were truly just remnants Randidly had no trouble eliminating them
Congratulations Your Skill the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 298
Congratulations Your Skill the Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 257
Very quickly the metallic manÆs image and body initiated the healing process without those lingering elements causing damage and began to greedily absorb the ambient energy that Randidly was producing In fact his body and image were absorbing so much energy that Randidly could feel flaws beginning to emerge in the restructured physical form
Randidly narrowed his eyes and restrained the flow of energy to the man before him The subject groaned again but the strange mutations within his body ceased Although his body was no longer affected it seemed like there was a permanent change to the manÆs emotions they now possessed an intensity that could destabilize his form
Randidly wasnÆt sure whether it was just a side effect of what he had recently experienced that would soon fade or a permanent change he would need to learn to control
But for the moment Randidly focused energy toward his images allowing the framework to return to the manÆs image of himself before letting his body reconstruct the shape As he continued to witness the fits and starts of healing before a sudden emotion demolished a minuteÆs worth of work RandidlyÆs fury continued to mount Even with all the assistance he proved lingering holes remained in both this manÆs image and body
Whatever technique it was that had been used was obscene in the scope of its effects Its power was overwhelming and bizarre It was another bit of evidence that the Nexus was not someplace where he could casually offend others
But no matter how horrendous the damage was it wasnÆt worse than what Nether could do to Aether The combination of the two energies when not aligned not only destroyed but also warped the edges into a useless haze Comparatively these wounds to the image were clean as though someone had somehow used an eraser to simply remove parts
Plus the manÆs emotions gradually stabilized as Randidly eased his pain
While the patient continued to sputter and breathe heavily Randidly carefully did his best to approximate the lost portions of his image All the while he kept a tight lid on the increasingly dense emotions in his own chest The Grim ChimeraÆs aura caused the exhaled emotions of the Stillborn Phoenix to seethe it bared its teeth at this obvious cruelty
Which only agitated the pink and red emotions within Randidly forcing Yggdrasil to work harder to suppress them Plus the emotions he was refining seemed to sense the vulnerable metal man They cautiously tried to escape only to be beaten back by the purifying light from a golden root
Time gradually ticked past The panel sat quietly studying RandidlyÆs image while he worked He did his best to keep all image reverberations for the Stillborn Phoenix and Grim Chimera contained But that was secondary toward helping this man
Blessedly the Stillborn Phoenix finished exhaling and then began to suck away the dangerous emotions Yggdrasil could then concentrate more fully on healing the man The golden energy it released grew thicker almost physical in its warm embrace After a strained few minutes the metallic man released a sigh His joints began to loosen and straighten His basic sense of self had been repaired to a serviceable state His emotions were calm
After his body had unfurled itself he collapsed to the ground But there was intelligence in his eyes as he looked up at Randidly Thank you
Just obeying orders Randidly said His voice must have revealed his dissatisfaction because the bearman harrumphed
Soldier I have a question for you Randidly warily turned to face the bearish man who had earned the wariness of the Grim Chimera His dark eyes continued to drill into Randidly as though he could pry apart his anatomy simply by virtue of his extended attention and understand RandidlyÆs secrets in that manner The man cleared his throat You have my permission to speak freely If I were to give you an order that would obviously endanger the lives of your hypothetical charges would you follow that order