In her heart Neveah spoke with a different voice
Help him the man who lived and struggled to reinvent you to open all the doors in existence to you He needs it He needs you
He will never ask for it which is exactly why he deserves it
Help him
The ritual area exploded in brilliant golden light
Devick stumbled across the edge of the chaotic melee and wiped blood from her cheek Behind her the forward forces of CeruleanÆs outer army began to buckle underneath the unending tide of Nether bodies HomewellÆs soldiers were forming up and streaming out of the city but they probably would arrive too late
Fatal Predation Cerulean snarled A raptor phantasm sprung from the ether and lashed out at Deganawidah but like everything else the dense cloak of Nether he carried invalidated the damage With a similar snarl Fatia Cerulean hopped backward to open up some distance All it took were a few quick steps from Deganawidah to delete that small space that had been made
Slow that bastard down The Golden armored Turtleline bellowed Devick could see energy spinning together above Homewell some external manifestation of its power being brought to bear
However it clearly wouldnÆt make it in time She took another three steps cutting the distance down to four meters
Even now you refuse to act Cerulean said ruefully As far as Devick could tell he spoke to himself Would you truly allow me to die
Deganwidah raised his hand
Devick Malice and her Grand Fate moving in perfect concert threw herself forward over the last couple of meters As she did so alarm bells began ringing frantically she had felt her skin sizzling as she approached but not it felt like she began to melt turning into runny wax underneath the horrifying power that circled his body
Too late to back down now Devick showed her teeth and lashed out with bitter claws of grim aggression Even underneath the assault of the energy around Deganawidah the attack didnÆt dissipate Because right now that attack had the whole of DevickÆs resolve thrown into it Her emotions and image had been pressured into a dense material that at least for now could survive this environment
But for all that the strike was probably futile had only the smallest possibility of posing a threat to this being She lashed out anyway Because although Devick didnÆt want to admit it she couldnÆt stand the distance between herself and Hungry Eye If this could bridge that gap she would endanger her life to take that step
Some more reasonable part of herself pointed out that this action for all that it would narrow the gap between them would also leave her dead Yet she couldnÆt find any regret Even with her every cell beginning to scream out in agony unable to exist under the crushing weight of his Nether
To her very great surprise Deganawidah paused He looked over his shoulder the weight of his attention lancing through her organs and shredding them to pieces Her claws slashed against the cloth across his back and began to disintegrate
Just as she had hoped she had touched him Then miraculously she was rewarded for her efforts
This oneÆs mine Deganawidah A confident voice cut through the waves of Nether blasting out from Deganawidah A hand touched DevickÆs shoulder spreading blessed coolness through her body She gasped suddenly able to breathe once more Back the fuck off
Shaking Devick pivoted and saw him Nether King Hungry Eye a wraith with wings of pale leafless branches and a scorpionÆs tail with a massive spearhead at the end He barred his teeth the reckless aggression with which he glared at Deganawidah making Devick fall the rest of the way in love with him
You saved me Again Devick whispered She cleared her throat You know if you do this too often it will teach me bad habits
Then she collapsed her strained psyche giving out on her
Which at least had the added benefit of allowing her to fantasize about his snappy one liner response
Chapter 2292
Randidly didnÆt want to admit how much effort it took to create a small eye in the raging Nether storm of Deganawidah But seeing the pure joy in DevickÆs flash of recognition it felt worth it
He shifted the flow of his Nether sensing that already DeganawidahÆs brutal pattern made minute adjustments to overwhelm him Randidly had to grit his teeth when he noticed that the shift almost immediately made him lose more ground The bubble of safety tightened around him
Congratulations Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle has grown to Level 999
Luckily after saying her piece Devick collapsed backward Randidly burning with both his images and his concern for her as DeganawidahÆs power overwhelmed his own did a strange sort of dance first his left hand shot out to support her back but then he wondered if the Stillborn Phoenix might negatively influence her considering her relative weakness So he paused and then twisted all at the limits of his speed so he could reach around with his right hand and press it into the small of her back to support her
She flopped over sideways with all the structural integrity of a rotten eel corpse Despite the circumstances despite a wounded Cerulean cowering on the ground a few meters away and DeganawidahÆs harsh countenance turning to brood in RandidlyÆs direction he beamed and barked out a laugh
You are such a fool Randidly whispered having to snake his arm entirely around her waist to keep Devick from rolling over and face planting into the ground where the encroaching Nether would have flayed the skin from her bones But there was quite a bit of fondness in his voice more than he had expected
Perhaps it was just because she didnÆt regard him with the surly silence she had before she ran off a week ago to join the war effort Perhaps it was hard not to respect the depth of her trust in him that his presence had unraveled her tenacity so completely
The shock of amusement boosted his mentality just a little more in the same way his frank conversation with Lowanna had helped him The jolt of energy flowed through him sharpening his perception just a degree back toward his peak It wasnÆt much but it would have to be enough He began to churn his Nether in a different direction hoping to force back the implacable tide washing away his defenses
Congratulations Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath has grown to Level 990
Randidly slipped Devick into the Alpha Cosmos and turned to regard his own dangerous circumstances The tips of his toes began to burn as Nether continued to wear his defenses down
Even the few seconds of arriving in the area and conjuring this dense monstrous version of his image physicalizations had given him plenty of chances to gather up the surrounding kinetic forces and conjure a wicked storm With DeityÆs Ruthless Cerebral Scope the edges of the storm became barbed so as it churned forward it ripped its way through all the images and dense waves of Nether that stood in its path to get here
Until it met against DeganawidahÆs sea of Nether which smothered it like a rainforest drowned a lawnmower
The heavy silence of its heartbeat rippled out through Randidly smashing itself against DeganawidahÆs Nether The Nether didnÆt even pause for a second It simply pushed its way forward and washed up against his condensed Aether RandidlyÆs skin tingled in anticipation But despite the opening created the attack didnÆt come
I have a purpose one I discovered a long time ago in the depths of my body Deganawidah spoke in a confiding tone that almost unnerved Randidly in its candor The Nether monster flexed its fingers Every time I almost died the many betrayals that I have suffered I felt it there It refused to allow my candle to be extinguished I could not collapse even if I wanted to There was a higher calling waiting for me And you
Perhaps I find a similar goal at my core Randidly settled down into a lowered stance
The Nether roared in his ears DeganawidahÆs wide mouth turned down at the edges his strange mood shifting back toward the usual impenetrable emotional fortress RandidlyÆs own Nether Core whirred as much as its limits would allow yet it could only coat his skin in a thin layer of energy DeganawidahÆs voice now contained hostile notes You sculpt a false idol and call it purpose That is why you are a fool There are shapes and moments The rest is fleeting Your confusion in this regard I could forgive Yet your flailings hack at larger purposes You endanger us all