However his face off against Devick was only one piece of a larger puzzle And it was those ancillary details that posed the largest problems
First his Willpower felt like the corpse of a rose garden after a wildfire ravaged the area leaving only charred remnants and the horrifying recognition of how changed the landscape had become Handling the force of MacDuulÆs image had come with several steep debts He had seen his Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil sky rocketing in Level as his brain choked down the power but for the moment he was weakened
Similarly Yggdrasil itself sluggishly gathered energy to RandidlyÆs body doing its best to help him recover but clearly struggling The core of the image had sustained damage handling that potency For the moment he was down an image
Congratulations Your Skill the World Tree Sips from Every Realm has grown to Level 692
The energy flow was slow but at least it was growing The chain released a ringing clink as it had crossed a quarter of the distance even compared to the speed of RandidlyÆs mind it was fast He watched its approach with half closed eyes If I need to I can use Moirae of Ripples Skillset to substitute as part of the triple image activation
However the obvious answer to halt DevickÆs attack
Behind Randidly Moonlight Blade howled and unleashed a stronger wave of primal force from his muscular body His wolves animated with bloodlust rushed forward at the dueling duo of Claudette and Tyune Tyune used his nearly infinite tentacles and the strange sticky humidity he added to the air to hem Claudette into a small area Clarent sung with destruction and released rippling waves of frost with each sweep and slash but the opponentÆs image wasnÆt made for power but for control
Beyond those fighters a coin sat on the dais waiting for someone to claim it
The obvious answer is to simply Seize her chain with my remnant mental energy and stop it but I donÆt dare Randidly stared intently at DevickÆs blank golden mask He released a surge of Nether that reanimated his firestorm Flames of Nether Weight sprung across the whole of his body emphasizing his efforts in that magical way that Nether possessed Because thatÆs the reason sheÆs chasing me like this isnÆt it Not because she lost when we dueled with my body or because I disrespected her by refusing to answer but because for a brief instant when I activated the First Authority earlier it stilled her
Damnit Even more obnoxious is how she practically tore my psyche in half in response Yet sheÆs the one with a grudge
Yggdrasil was weakened but as Randidly straightened the golden veins in his body glowed with a bold declaration of resistance His other image physicalizations concentrated their power unwilling to be outdone The left side of RandidlyÆs face succumbed to a swirling black hole Along the event horizon light turned milky and sizzled with dangerous electromagnetic discharge
Along RandidlyÆs arms and legs the natural armor of the Grey Creature covered his limbs The sharp lines and glossy chitin thickened and hardened becoming lighter and more powerful as it drank from the significance of this moment
The chain crossed the halfway point between Randidly and Devick Moonlight Blade unleashed his vicious attack The fabric of space rippled with the passage of his image his proclivity for violence on full display
At nearly the same moment a new surge of foreign Nether gushed into RandidlyÆs body He swayed not because he had been attacked but because he hadnÆt expected such a wave of significance to make itself available to him
Congratulations Your Skill Breath of the Cosmos has grown to Level 511
The grey firestorm died in a sigh leaving a curiously silent platform Randidly had gulped his creation down in its entirety Then the frantic action of this last struggle reasserted itself in a surge of noise
Moonlight BladeÆs ripped forward on its new vector a pack of hungry wolves loping in its wake For a brief moment RandidlyÆs scarred Willpower proved insufficient to manage the force he had sucked in from the surroundings he was managing too many things and his wounds from handling MacDuulÆs power still left him shaky But just in time he snapped back into focus His skin ripped open and oozed as he transferred the intense force he had absorbed but he teemed with raw power
Behind him Kyl MacDuul inflated his fist into a massive boulder and threw a haymaker at the small of RandidlyÆs back RandidlyÆs mouth quirked Do you think force will matter against me Right now you are small potatoes
He didnÆt have the control to release that ferocious amount of natural energy in any direction but the targets were close enough that it didnÆt matter He became the epicenter of a wave of pure kinetic energy blasting out in a wall of light heat and power MacDuulÆs heavy fist jolted to a stop and then was tossed back Unfortunately DevickÆs chain cut right through the power barely slowing down at all
The phantom of the Grey Creature superimposed itself over RandidlyÆs body It wore his face a tail flicking side to side at the base of his neck and his waist It watched the chain with serious eyes The spines from the duplicated Sulfur flew out and activated their Domain power to slow the chain
Congratulations Your Skill Resonant Fangs of Extinction has grown to Level 536
Congratulations Your Skill Resonant Fangs of Extinction has grown to Level 607
five spines shattered earning him enough Skill Levels to grow a sixth That whipped forward and was brutally destroyed by DevickÆs attack too The chain had slowed but the horrifying rust colored madness seemed to burn all the brighter for RandidlyÆs resistance It lashed out impacting the projection of the Grey Creature directly
Randidly mobilized his images in a triplicate activation Chimeric Impunity Cosmic Necessity Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge
Randidly used Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge to layer the physical power of the Stillborn Phoenix and the impunity of the Grey Creature to further weaken the attack It worked to an extent
For a brief moment
A slew of Levels in Chimeric Impunity blinded Randidly before the projection shattered The weakened chain cut forward and ripped into RandidlyÆs chest directly and dove into his body Instantly his flesh burned and turned clammy On the other side of the platform the adjusted attack from Moonlight Blade ravaged TyuneÆs image without impacting Claudette at all leaving the attacker somewhat stunned at the ill aimed assault
And as though she had predicted the entire exchange Claudette used RandidlyÆs powerful body to practically appear in front of the hesitating wolfman Before he or his cloak of spectral wolves could react Clarent buried itself up to the hilt in Moonlight BladeÆs chest The horrifying storm of ClaudetteÆs image turned him into an ice statue
She spun away and crossed the last few meters to the dais but someone else was there smiling apologetically down at Claudette
It was always meant to be this way Neshamah said softly But IÆm sorry it had to end like this You really were so close
She reached out for the coin In RandidlyÆs chest DevickÆs chain wept madness and curled toward his heart His powerful flesh slowed the advance but it could not stop it
Chapter 1874
This isnÆt exactly my body just an excellent copy Randidly tried to reassure himself as he felt his muscle systems and Nether flows being invaded by the rampant madness The burning and itching grew stronger even as he watched Neshamah reach out to take the coin What jolted him out of his moment of blank surprise was the two unborn spirits rising within him and beginning to slow the spread of malicious energy through his body
RandidlyÆs gaze sharpened this betrayal was unexpected but not an impossible threat While he began making his last minute preparations he fixated on the invasion of his body She shouldnÆt discover the Alpha Cosmos this way Still better not to die in this body So the most intelligent move might be to allow Neshamah to take the coin
Skill Levels for the unborn rapidly accumulated as those two insubstantial horrors valiantly fought against the spreading madness They managed to keep it away from RandidlyÆs mind even while his body became increasingly tainted by the rust colored energy One hundred Skill Levels two hundred three hundred a ridiculous amount accumulated in only 2 seconds their determined efforts allowing the small beings to catch up to RandidlyÆs highest Skill Levels