But the bowl that contained all those emotions remained vast and hollow inside his consciousness He had already intuited the way his body physically became more due to the presence of the Alpha Cosmos but this was different He Randidly Ghosthound notoriously poor at handling his feelings could now contain an emotional multitudes
That too could be a weapon He raised the bowl and its hollow ghost
Randidly released a breath His Nether Core spun faster and faster pulling significance into a whirlpool around his body He executed a thrust his whole existence becoming part of the movement The frame of his emotional sea became the weight behind the blow blending seamlessly with his muscle and Nether
Acri cracked open Fieros stolen Seventh Fist and buried its head deep in the ancient Vulpines chest
Fiero snarled down at the wound You insolent wretch
A wave of Fieros image a grasping hand scrabbled against Randidlys attack The ancient monster of the Nexus sought purchase to pry away the image that had been wielded against him
The Dread Homunculus cackled
Because Randidly hadnt wielded an image against this old bastard He had simply relied on the vessel he had become And Fieros grip wasnt enough to hold him He wretched Acri sideways twisting the spearhead and deepening the wound He left Fiero groaning as he pulled out his weapon and twisted his left arm backward A pulse of pure glee came from his Nether Core From within the depths of the mist a gem began to sparkle
Randidly threw a left hook with all of his accumulation in the System behind it When he felt the jaw of Fiero crack he grinned wolfishly The ancient monsters body bounced its way through a collapsed tower
He fucking savored the moment of impact No matter what else could be said of him Randidly Ghosthound made good on his promises
Just as Randidly was about to pounce and followed up with more blows channeling this existence as a vessel into every movement Fiero waved his hand The sky above them suddenly bristled as Timeless fists phased into existence through the temporal barriers Not just a machine guns worth but millions a horrible invasion of fists
They werent even homing in on Randidlys position They descended in a wave smashing and obliterating the collapsed stone buildings that littered the ground Like a cement roller they ground closer
Randidly looked up at the sky and flexed his hands his exhaustion became armor allowing him to adjust without feeling His pupils dilated as he estimated the new threat His Nether Core continued to accelerate its spin the misty barrier steadily dissipating He felt immense So so drained but that just added to his sense of weight
He heard the roar of blood in his ears He raised his spear He sent a pulse through his left arm Ready you two
Name doesnt even make sense though Obviously it wasnt the first universe DiOrtho muttered but his commentary earned a sharp look from Raymund and a growl from Vizzeret The demon humanoid raised his hands and clenched his fists
While the two animals snapped at each other Alana continued walking forward Charlotte watched the easy fluidity of her movements It was difficult to believe how much of a burnt out husk Alana had seen only ten hours ago her image pushed too far for too long Even with her Primal Force assisting in the healing process Charlotte had believed a full recovery would have been impossible
But the Nether they accumulated acting as the overflow for Randidlys transformation synergized and behaved in ways that Charlotte still couldnt quite follow Although Alanas image had been completely broken down by overuse Nether had lined her inner world and protected it from scars Now that blemish free zone became a fertile bed to allow Alanas image which was proceeding through its own transition to rebuild itself from the ground up in a new shape
Alana spun on her heel and looked at them all We knew theoretically of the burden of supporting Randidly Ghosthound as he sought to dismantle the horrors of the Nexus We chose to follow him anyway And now the load is firmly upon our shoulders We bear wounds inflicted as those hooks and chains are removed from our bodies We bury those who paid for the freedom of their descendants with their lives For a moment lets bow our heads and pay our respects
The soldiers all bowed their heads for a moment standing next to the thirty four evenly made graves They said thank you
They said goodbye
Charlotte Wick felt the pulse of their Nether shivering as one The bonds between the squad members deepened Just as her senses tried to pick apart what exactly had shifted Alana raised her head and began to speak again It might feel unbearable now but do not lose hope I knew a woman whose people were a forged tool Her entire race was a reflection made to shatter or temper a real people In the end they did not matter They were dominated and manipulated by a tyrant pulled sideways by an obsession that had festered into madness
Yet this woman had a singular advantage Against all odds she had been born a Witch
Again the Nether of the group pulsed Charlotte released a slow breath feeling some of her tension bleed out of her All of the soldiers focused on the soldier as one of Alanas new Skills took effect
To be a Witch is to possess profane flesh To be an existence that transgresses That warps and taints the world Yet she was just a single witch and the whole world had been set on a collision course The reflection and the originals could only clash and grind each other to dust On some days she could not think of any method of adjusting this situation without being caught up between the two forces All that she held dear and this intriguing other version of her people were doomed She struggled but could only accomplish small feats Her small power of transgression was just within her blood and flesh And she could feel the fate of the entire world running out
She suffered Her people suffered Death crouched low over her world and breathed deeply savoring their pain
Edgar the soldier who had taken it upon himself to fashion a backpack that contained Heiffals still functioning torso let out a loud sniff Every from here Charlotte Wick could see how hard DiOrtho Vant clenched his teeth
She wondered what sort of expression she was making She suppressed the urge to reach up and feel her furry cheeks to find out
No hero arrived on this world at least not yet But the Witch had suffered in silence for long enough Because her power was so tied to the flesh she began experimenting on her own body pushing her limits in order to find some way to escape this constant hell of struggle and violence Her power proved to be just just insufficient to overturn the controls placed upon her The bindings stopped her just short of being able to escape the whims of the tyrant So she found the closest replacement for the hero who had not arrived a talented young warrior from the opposite people One who provided her with a spark of inspiration She altered her body composition to make procreation possible
When the two had a son she named him Shal Because through him she swore to herself the world shall end One way or the other And when that promised time came and everything that restrictive monster had built came crashing down it was fucking karma that tore the edifice to pieces Karma and one woman who endured through the hopeless days to the first stirrings of an opportunity Alana luminous eyes swept around the area She paused on each and every soldier met their eyes fed into the fire housed within them
When her mouth opened her smile bristled with fangs This Nexus lets go end it shall we
The volume of Nether pumping through him just kept increasing
Randidly Ghosthound felt energy burning its way through his veins The feeling was almost nostalgic few experiences these days were able to make his body feel so woefully insufficient as a container Yet when the dense translucent Nether swirled through his core tempering his veins and then Aether flooded through compressed down to a liquid trickle