The shadeÆs eyes narrowed dangerously as he approached No matter how quick you can dodge unless you can suddenly overcome true power your parlor trick will earn you no accolades
Randidly didnÆt answer The shade stepped forward and slashed with her purple saber The weapon whistled through the position that Randidly had just been standing a split second too late to land But although he remained fine his patterns were aggressively trimmed by the attack The left portion of the patterns Randidly had maintained immediately began to warp and fade as they were forcibly detached from the others
Congratulations Your Skill Motif of the Hungry Deep has grown to Level 323
With a single touch the shadeÆs patterns popped and ruptured
Randidly already torqued his upper body his left arm whipping around with a palm strike armed with a grey core and a storm of energy It landed on the shadeÆs midsection directly and ripped a hole in her side
For the first time something bright and hard twisted the shadeÆs expression from its playfulness teasing as she tumbled backward Satisfied with his performance Randidly didnÆt follow up and allowed the shade to crash to the ground
He clenched his hands into fists His hands still tingled ThatÆs the capability IÆve been looking for Her power might be rigid but you canÆt escape the ripples As long as I can influence those base units of energy in all its forms
The shadeÆs side rapidly healed Her eyes were blazing as she hopped back up to her feet his shoulders heaving satisfied Because I can see that you are bleary eyed and waning And I am not If you expected me to surrender after you bested me a single time you are a fool I can wear you down You will never return to the Summit
RandidlyÆs expression shifted to something tired and sad Although it was disappointing that her playful liveliness faded Randidly intuited from the desire he sensed from her that this was perhaps the true version of the shade right before she died Playful and amused on the surface but hiding a deep emptiness in her heart And that last line
Randidly showed a crooked smile to the shade IÆve never been to the summit remember ItÆs you thatÆs been there before I wonder what you found there you now keep yourself from remembering
You have no idea what you are talking about The shade snarled The rotation of her wind whip accelerated
Randidly kept speaking I thought the barrier around the ladder looked familiar You are the one who created it You have stayed here and kept anyone else from ascending consumed with grief Considering IÆve already met other versions of you as I climbed is there a version of yourself up there that you donÆt want to face Has the possibility I can unravel that barrier finally stripped away the last of your pretenses
You are exhausted and rambling Let me put you out of your misery The shade charged forward her saber slashing back and forth
With that same sad expression on his face Randidly shook his head slowly Yes IÆm tired But you know what has been the most exhausting part of our fight Holding back If I donÆt have to do that any longer
Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko stirred Steadily his Moirae of Ripples Skillset and assorted supports combined together Breath of the Cosmos to sense energy ripples The World Tree Sips from Every Realm to pull energy into his body The Maelstrom Entity Approaches to churn all the forces running through his body out into the surrounding space Now Motif of the Hungry Deep to consolidate his understanding and aid him in manipulating all the complicated forces
All told the reach of the GhosthoundÆs fury was long and his power crushing
After a long period of hibernation RandidlyÆs Nether Core roared to life Thick tendrils of Nether swam outward paving the way for the muscular arms of the energy storm that followed In only a second RandidlyÆs swirling maelstrom dominated the surrounding portion of the platform and forced the shade to a skidding halt
You what the hell
Ready for round two Randidly took a step forward This time he was the force that caused all the ripples to tremble
Chapter 1834
Number Four was surprised to run into Number One walking slowly through the interior of the mountain but he inwardly felt a flash of joy If you are pacing around like this heh you must be more rattled than you let on And the more your mental state is unstable the less focused you become The less rational you will be when the unexpected greets you
If I would have known this all would have started from someone wasting a Path to send someone you invited on a Path of Blood I would have done it myself years ago
Number Four schooled his expression into a thoughtful frown The sort of expression one would wear if they were too distracted by their inner world to notice the surroundings Then as if it were a coincidence and the beat of the cane didnÆt reveal him Number Four walked around the corner and came face to face with Number One
Both stop short Number Four took the opportunity to bow and speak Number One Oh I thought it was Number Two again Ha Imagine seeing that messy figure so many times in a week Anyways I really must be going
Wait Number One growled His eyes were bright and desperate Number Two You saw him earlier Out of his cave
Yes but only for a moment Number Four said casually Although now that his invitee is gone I wasnÆt sure
Damnit That bastard is plotting against me Could he Number One grimaced Then he whipped around and began to hobble away at his top speed heading for the Path of Spirit the domicile of the Master With a smirk on his face Number Four followed
The true test of an expert Number Four mused with suppressing his anticipation Is how well they can seize the opportunities the world makes for them In the end Number One I was simply quicker on the uptake
In this world that is a failure punishable by death
In their previous clashes his Dragon QueenÆs Sinister Tongue had been able to (barely) fend off the wind whip and knock the shade back when it landed Now fueled by the additional forces of Nether ambient natural energy humming image physicalizations and the dangerous electromagnetic and light radiations she didnÆt stand a chance His palm bulldozed forward without much tension
Congratulations Your Skill Dragon QueenÆs Sinister Tongue has grown to Level 515
The first strike sent the shade reeling The second strike obliterated a portion of her whip and made her scramble back desperation clear in her eyes Thereafter she relied on the purple saber to meet his blows Unfortunately that endeavor was also doomed
Around him the storm churned She could cut out chunks but the whole was too large to slow down
Five strikes later as Randidly had expended energy and pulled it back into himself in a freight train of momentum he could directly blast the purple saber backward simply overwhelming the cutting power it possessed The storm grew to cover the entire platform lashing and restricting the shade’s movements She struggled and screamed her purple saber flailing but it was useless
With insight and power he was nearly unstoppable
This was just a form he hadnÆt yet encountered
When he neared the ladder he realized that the barrier had returned around it stronger than ever He glanced over his shoulder the various shades all watched him The final shade kept her eyes lowered seemingly distracted To his surprise some color seemed to be seeping into her person Her hair was a dark red color or had been in life
Randidly turned forward and pressed his hand against the barrier It was definitely stronger than it had been previously but it soon became unstable and collapsed Randidly reached out and gripped another rung
He had prepared himself for pain but he wasnÆt ready for the pure jagged sensation of his skin touching the golden ladder Something pure and agonizing howled within the physicalized form of the rung skittering up through the contact and tearing its way through his nerve endings
So despite his preparations Randidly once more tore his hand away He stumbled back his breath raw and sour out of his throat When his vision stopped spinning he could see that he had ascended to an even higher place along the ladder However the summit continued to loom above him He had to climb higher to reach that place