He turned slightly the numerous remaining lit candles in the room casting layers of shadow across his features He surprised himself with the small tremor of anticipation in his voice Are our guests ready
Indeed sir They are enjoying refreshment none the wiser about their predicament A shadowy servant bowed
The Dons lips twitched This was an unfamiliar face one of the new trainees He did not like that this stranger had been assigned this heavy task But with the rapid need for preparation there was little choice but to rely on untested elements
A risk but one he could not avoid Too many other areas required sure hands Too many ingredients to the grand banquet of the day
The Don turned forward He flexed his fingers and gripped the bamboo frame of his wheelchair A tremor ran through his image spreading out across the whole web of debts he had ever created He felt a deep thrill of pleasure as he felt an almost overwhelming amount of feedback coming back to him Then we begin
When Raymund Ballast deployed his image and liberated his brother all the ambient power bouncing around the interior of the canyon went crazy From the depths of Elhumes stolen body legitimate or not came an upsurge of rage that shook the prison holding it in place The glowing energy form of Fiero staggered backward no longer able to inhabit the other Vulpine After a moment of shock Fiero blazed with light the details of his form becoming unintelligible He reached out with vague fingers but couldnt reach and take the body back Impossible
Opposite him Randidly Ghosthound threw back his head and cackled
Fiero pulled and pulled somehow galvanizing all the energy radiation and turning it into an Aether based acid that ate away at everything Still laughing the Ghosthound twirled a long and clawed finger A storm of kinetic energy whirled into being forcing all the dangerous energy away protecting his own Two storms grappled in the sky one of misty power the other of razor edged wind Again they reached a stalemate
With a howl the energy form shot after Techetadores body and attempted to possess it once more Randidly moved to intervene
Alana Donal had her own problems
This this Shals good humor evaporated as he watched with wide eyes as the two powerful individuals battled overhead and Fiero kept losing This image that Ive created all the time Ive poured into honing my own Skills Observe the truth of this existence Hell Beasts Due
His hydra with its slender and sharpened teeth manifested above Shals head The details sheered through the space around them almost too real to exist She could see the thick ropes of drool dripping out of the various mouths feel the fetid heat of its breath smell all the corpses left to rot between its teeth She felt its sinuous grace and power All those sharpened elements combined into a vicious spear attack aiming for her heart
We fucked em DiOrtho Vant waved his hatchets back and forth as he talked to the Ghosthound Lured them right into the trap And bam Right when they were most distracted you cracked them across the head Heh heh although me being able to hold them at bay for so long despite superior numbers
Dont gloat Vizzert Clamman sniffed A deep wound across his muzzle oozed blood All you really had to do is stand at the back and shout
My leadership Vant wheeled around and jabbed his hatchet toward the wolf
Randidly ignored them and looked over and Raymund Is he
Conscious for a single moment He smiled And it made all these efforts and more worth it The area around the Vulpines eyes were wet with tears
Still Eloise sends word that the problems with the Grand Fates are accelerating One of the Upper Sonara Society representatives piped up while rubbing her hands together Should the pressure continue increasing at this rate many of our weaker members will no longer be able to assist with the Grand Ritual Should that be delayed
We just need a moment to center ourselves then we move Randidly Ghosthound positively crackled the remnant specter of the monster he had been for those brief moments hanging around his limbs His spine straightened almost unwillingly as though just now remembering he was no longer burdened by the heavy weight of Acris blunt form His eyes regained some of their green luster Vant report on the injuries
Randidly paused in his words suddenly paling He leaned forward and blurted out thick globules of vomit and blood spattering the liquid across the crystal ground The ruby liquid glittered even more brightly than the crystal Neveah appeared at his side instantly holding his shoulders Randidly
Heh sorry about that people Randidly straightened his color instantly restored He rolled his shoulders his normal images settling more evenly across his body He burned with his will forcing back the ambient Aether mist back further and further Had to do a little bit of drastic growth during the fights That was just an aftershock I should be good now So Vant about the wounded
A collective sigh of relief went out of the group Although they had felt Randidly Ghosthound ascending and grappling so directly with the projection of Elhume the sudden show of weakness made them worry that such a confrontation had come with a steep cost The focused and confident expression now on Randidlys face the way his image blazed in the middle of the cavern and protected them all made it possible to believe this victory could be replicated
They really were going to do this
But although Alana felt stirrings of those same emotions she also didnt miss the way Neveahs expression didnt change as the Ghosthounds Soulbound companion eased back from the others and watched Randidly with fear swirling in her eyes
All too soon all the reports have been made A few individuals were left to guard the defeated members of the Swacc Family Right before they departed Randidly glanced over at Shal with a pained expression He clearly wanted to speak to his former master no matter the strange transformation that came over him at first invigorating him but leaving him hollow with a quick but weightless image
Alana stepped forward a shook her head slightly There is nothing you can say to him right now
I know that I really do But arent times like these the hardest to remain silent I just hate the feeling of powerlessness Randidly sighed for a brief moment looking human And when he shifted like that Alana could see Neveahs worry the raw wound on Randidlys heart oozed and bled a sad puppy abandoned by his master
Then the hero or monster returned Randidly Ghosthound became more Nether King Hungry Eye than human Alright rebels Our charge has not yet breached the keep The long day drags on We move
Chapter 2375
The Monarch of Karma started playing a game
He sat on a rock drifting through and toward oblivion afraid of his own subconscious He wanted a more normal life but as normal as he could become would be to develop a hobby A safe harmless hobby to pass the time to give him a bit of structure
So he picked up some of the pebbles that drifted toward him and began throwing the rocks seeing how far away he could accurately hit a target
Obviously before each throw he paused and cleared his heart of all desires He didnt want any nonsense to tie itself to these meaningless thrown rocks It was just a small focused physical activity It did not need to be anything more than that
The Monarch of Karma pivoted and threw a rock It sailed cleanly across the vast reaches of space and clacked against a chunk of debris barely visible from his current position Despite his lofty goal of remaining unaffected by the success the Monarch of Karma allowed himself a brief fist pump
He moved over to the strange holy ritual ground that refused to part from him and began to search for additional pebbles As he picked up his next bit of ammunition he could almost taste the stone He dropped the pebble startled
His senses swirled around him previously he had tried to distance himself as much as possible Even awareness became a bridge to far But connecting to his body through the simple actions of pebble throwing brought some of his powerful awareness back into action So suddenly he realized that his fears about this strange stone platform were well founded