Number One felt the acknowledgment of the Path as he stood above the paling Master The old man coughed out a thick mouthful of blood You cannot
I can of course Number One felt the connection establishing itself Power filled his body he now controlled two Paths in this isolated Zone the Path of Bone and the Path of Spirit That gave him a majority control
Shaking his bed Randidly didnÆt bother to hide his amusement You really misunderstand I do intend to get rid of you But I suppose itÆs more accurate to say that IÆm here to collect a very old debt
A debt The Master spat out a mouthful of blood Some of his former arrogance returned to his features as he leveraged himself up into a sitting position Let me assure you I own nothing to the outside world I made this isolated space to escape from other entanglements This is my sanctuary And despite how you think this interaction will go the place from which I will finally escape when IÆm ready
Randidly didnÆt bother to answer Instead he gestured and the Unborn finally crept out from his shadow Their bodies remained sluglike but their malevolence twisted their features into something even more horrifying than he had been expecting Their eyes deepened to empty graves as they examined their prey
Immediately the Master became alarmed You What You are connected with that woman Please she acted independently Ahh
The Unborn pounced forward biting off thick chunks of his flesh Unlike with the items they actually devoured the substance of the Master Randidly pressed his eyes closed disturbed by the wet sounds of teeth mashing and bone crunching It was perhaps better to say that they werenÆt eating the Master himself but his consciousness this isolated world was his body
Influence +191 077
Congratulations Your Skill Cursed Fates of the Unborn has grown to Level 385
Holy shit RandidlyÆs expression flickered as significance flowed through the Cursed Fates of the Unborn and entered into his body A shudder ran through him His Nether Core rapidly absorbed the newly added significance and churned out thick waves of Nether At this point Randidly had gathered so much potency that his Nether seemed alive like oily tentacles from an undersea monster The more the Unborn feasted the more Influence flowed into him
Influence +75 221
Eventually the MasterÆs screams tapered off leaving Randidly with only the sounds of the UnbornÆs mouths working He turned away and opened his eyes surprised to find that the three shades of Devick stood there watching
You know what I hate about this Master and his damned Mountain most of all The short haired Devick asked with a shake of her head
The long haired Devick gave Randidly a lopsided grin Next to her the first imprinted shade was already beginning to disintegrate and fade They always have a justification for the proper method I can feel these vague platitudes everywhere True power in the world is related to reacting or preparation or creation or violence etc
The long haired Devick began to fade as well until only the Devick who was completely obscured by her hair was left She crouched in front of the twitching body of the Master while the Unborn finished their meal Only when the Master had been completely consumed and the Unborn crawled fat and full back to Randidly that she raised her head
Listen well Randidly Ghosthound From within her crimson hair Randidly saw two eyes filled with madness His personality had the foundation of his Nether Core but even he felt alarmed at the strange sort of temptation to see the seething mass of emotions this woman contained She was the worst sort of siren who would happily lead you to your own doom But it was also undeniable that she possessed immense power There is only one true method to power ItÆs actually quite simple win So long as you keep winning you will never lose
Chapter 1842
So long as you keep winning you will never lose
The words hung in the air bitter and deeply worn as though she repeated that one phrase to herself over and over again Randidly observed the wild haired Devick with a tight frown on his face He could practically feel the heat of her determination what had transpired had warped her to become absolutely obsessed with success
His gaze then went to the location where the MasterÆs body had been nestled in the cracked ground Blood still stained the stone in a rough approximation of his splayed body To be honest the Master couldnÆt really be blamed for what had happened to her He didnÆt encourage her to try and imprint on him The only action he took was turning away when DevickÆs independent actions blew up in her face His fate yes he acted cruelly but he likely didnÆt deserve this
I let him die for no true crimes And I benefitted greatly from it Damnit
Randidly looked at his Nether Core Stats with a complex expression
Weight 591 (+61) (+70) (+52) (+49) (+80) (+63)
Connections 1 911 242 177
Influence 1 113 002/
Devouring the Master had pushed his Influence over one million in a huge leap where he had previously been worried about accumulating five hundred thousand By absorbing the significance the Master had gathered through his long life he had pushed RandidlyÆs Nether toward a qualitative change and gained a huge boon for his evolution to the Legendary Rarity Nether Core It was to the point that he was now tempted to wait even longer to evolve it to gain more Weight in the transformation
Randidly pressed his eyes closed and shook his head It wasnÆt a good idea to make those decisions now He had just pushed his mind to the limit studying the Grand Pattern and then helping Number One against the Grand Master He needed some rest Decisions could wait until after his headache subsided
In front of him in the destroyed stone cave DevickÆs shade finally stirred She raised a hand and beckoned As agreed for helping me deal with the Master you are cursed no longer You can retain the PP you earned but the Skill shall become inert
However Randidly felt something stirring in his chest immediately as Devick acted The Stillborn Phoenix snarled its event horizon shaking from the naked avarice it felt Crackling lightning bolts and unpredictable bursts of light formed a shield around Randidly trapping the Unborn against his body Its howls became audible even through the image restriction of the mountain it did not wish for the spirits to leave The kinship it had found with them was a precious thing
Randidly shook his head sadly I know how lonely you are I know how you see yourself in them But that doesnÆt mean you can keep them here If you do they will just resent you Maybe even try to devour you someday
The Stillborn PhoenixÆs burst of power faltered slightly He could feel its indecision It timidly suggested that perhaps they didnÆt actually want to leave and this shade was forcing them to depart But even after only a few seconds of the image barrier being erected the Unborn swarmed out and slammed themselves against the impediment While the Stillborn Phoenix hesitated some of the more malicious Unborn began to gnaw on the lightning and open small holes
The trumpeters allowed their clarion song to echo across the grand staging ground behind the Military High Command building Flags flapped in the wind the only movement in the massive space Lady Iellaya stayed rigidly at attention unwilling to allow even the slightest flaw in her salute Next to her stood Commandant Wick who might be even more rigid than she
Around them the rest of the Commandants also stood at attention Behind them the various remnant soldiers of Military High Command stood with an equal mixture of anxiety and duty in their expressions
Preesent The orator called The various soldiers marched sharply to either side revealing a long and thin path between them They pivoted and saluted toward the path For several long seconds the dusty path remained unoccupied The wind continued to blow sending the flags wagging