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Waves of heat rolled off his body as the rain of fists continued to fall down toward Randidly Opposite him Fieros eyes narrowed as the energy Randidly released shifted You what are you trying to do

Im trying a different Path Randidly took another step forward the ground shaking and shivering in his Soulspace the distortions were even more prominent His chest cavity felt aflame Nether and Aether circled faster and faster two concentric rings rotating in opposite directions waves of powerful force spreading out through him

The friction threw off sparks powerful enough to burn holes through most images

Yggdrasil hummed in pleasure as it spread out its roots and dipped into the liquid flows of energy now running through his body As Randidly accepted the concept of a vessel the possibility for what his body could be multiplied The connection between tree and energy was immediate and fulfilling In a very real way the World Tree seeded itself inside of him The roots flexed and grew The bonds deepened It sank deeper pushing into him It drank more from the well of endless energy dawning within him

Those sparks from energy circulation landed upon Yggdrasils branches glittering like primordial gems

Randidlys power surged and seethed Image and vessel were both enriched by the connection

Synchronicity detected your Skillset Yggdrasil the Universe that Was First a Tree is reacting

Detecting influences

Incorporating foreign elements

Balancing the Nether infusion

Setting up parameters of Nether integration

Randidly raised his spear his eyes flashing as he sensed the approach of the image evolution of his oldest and most reliable Skillset He offered Fiero a hunters smile You will regret holding back to this point

Fiero seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time He shifted his stance as quickly as he could His balance remained slightly off but no longer did he just populate the sky with Timeless fists he had stockpiled He threw a punch

The Eighth Fist Truth

Chapter 2395

Alana Donal led the charge toward the central defensive position within the barren sea bed the entire Vulpis Squad practically ghosting across the ground due to the lingering effects of her Second Parable A Determined Witch Alana still felt drained both because of the amount of powerful individuals she affected with her Parable and also with the effort of creating the Parable

As she charged headlong directly into the powerful temporal distortions she reflected on what she could have done differently

She had some thoughts about how she could perfect the story her image could use some honing in its execution However a door had opened in her heart She didnÆt just need to follow Randidly Ghosthound She could observe all of the Legend he had created

There were so many stories from his crusade that were worth telling but had been sidelined as he dominated the discourse But through the budding Nether Core in her chest she knew the other stories were just as important to what the Alpha Cosmos would become in the future She could spread these other more modest tales so that when the people of the Alpha Cosmos thought about the long shadow cast by Randidly Ghosthound they didnÆt miss the thousands of individuals enabling him to take swings at the Pinnacle

People like me AlanaÆs heart fluttered It was too vulnerable to say out loud but it animated her entire existence It was a painful pleasure an acknowledgment she had denied herself for too long People like me matter He couldnÆt have done this without us

Not that she had ever believed she was worthless but she definitely hadnÆt felt like enough Her Parables finally nudged her obsessive discipline to the side and offered her some grace

An echoing bark came from the front of the group Vizzeret Clamman had spotted the first line of defenders The shade of the witch hovering over all of their shoulders hissed and spat out her animosity The opportunity had arrived and all their movements sharpened The formation tightened as Vulpine husks ripped their way up out of the ground and glared at the approaching offensive In the sky above them the density of temporal distortions had reached the point a vortex spun in the air

Those temporal waves tugged at them but the presence of Nether in their chests kept the group safely anchored in place

Vulpis Squad Raymund Ballast bellowed out in his clipped tone But then he loosed a low growl Even Alana felt herself shivering in response to the raw noise Their collected leader had lost his temper with the determined witch riding him Cut them down We do not slow

The Squad roared back its approval Alana felt her steps quickening She became a blur bounding through the formation until she stood at the head of the column Her body was so so tired But she felt the warm presence of her Nether Core grounding her She pulled from its strength

The First Parable A Hopeless Soldier

She felt HeiffalÆs frustrations his fear his acknowledgment of his approaching death And then she felt him push those feelings aside for now and use his body to advance his cause his soul alight with the belief that he did the right thing

She burned with the belief that her actions here mattered And if she just pushed a little harder she could matter a little more

Three husks hissed at her and took steps forward Their remnant and jagged images slashed through the air to shred her Alana Donal released a breath She was a human fighting at the edge of a strange world She was a hundred stories tied together in a single body

Alana sidestepped the first blow leaned sideways and deflected the second then channeled all her Nether and belief into her spear to shatter the third The witch dug her claws more deeply into her torso urging her forward

She felt a muscle in her shoulder tear but she broke through and her spear ripped out the throats of these three defenders When they collapsed the Vulpis Squad swept her up with their momentum and carried her further deeper into the central perimeter Their uniform steps were almost contagious so soon she was back to loping in the middle of the group A ringing alarm began to blare the familiar whirring of the porcelain dolls filled the air as their light bodies floated up into the sky The temporal distortion crackled

The next line of defense please allow me

Alana glanced sideways at Charlotte Wick who had come to gallop beside her with her long legs The ghost of the witch over WickÆs shoulder possessed a particularly vivid lavender color The WitchÆs long fingers had sunk into CharlotteÆs back And the light in the bear womanÆs eyes

Alana nodded slowly and ceded her core position Ballast noticed but made no comment as the Squad surged forward Parables functioned differently than her Revelations On the one hand they took a great deal more energy and lasted longer And while they were currently weaker than the Revelations that would soon change with time But the real advantage was in how they functioned

She thought about all her images in terms of light Revelations were Alana acting as a medium catching the radiance thrown off by Randidly Ghosthound A blank canvas to a projector screen Powerful and direct they had provided her with potent force as she had honed her image But with Revelations the flow of light was the same but Alana now styled herself as a prism The pure power refracted through her different versions reaching different audiences

Alana kept her eyes on CharlotteÆs back the haze of lavender determination hovering around her Perhaps today we will get to see what it means to be the Knight of the Ghosthound

With a screech the porcelain dolls descended toward the group their torsos whirring

Charlotte Wick roared and gestured The dead ground beneath their feet came alive in answer

Randidly continued to glide forward in his attack his rapid evolution making his own movements feel slow by comparison The clash between the changing Yggdrasil and FieroÆs Truth moved toward their confrontation Nether flowed rapidly upward through the World Tree and congregated in the canopy rapidly darkening one particular section into a cage of shadow and thorn