While the Don gritted his teeth the hawk humanoid added her thoughts No injuries here but if we must face any more opponents like this
You will not make it to the Pinnacle challengers
Despite their recent victory all of the present individuals twitched even Don Beigon twisted around in his bamboo seat toward the source of the noise Because the voice that spoke was the rumbling tones of the first Guardian There sitting in the shattered remnants of his thick bones the brontosaurus head sat propped up on a stone A thick crack ran through its forehead where the hawk humanoid had driven her pick but small red flames burned in its eyes as it considered them None make it to the Pinnacle no matter how many hopeless souls follow this Path
Stubborn bastard The hawk humanoid hissed and hefted her weapon up again IÆll make sure to end you entirely this time
But as she stepped forward the Don raised a hand and stopped her Suddenly he saw a method to balance some of the equations stalled out in his head Wait You Guardian Let us make a deal If you will assist us in our quest to reach the Pinnacle I shall grant you your freedom from this place
An impossible task The Guardian head snorted its weak and depleted image flickering just from their presences
A pointless risk The humanoid hawk frowned at the Don After fighting this bastard for so long how are we supposed to trust it
I have my methods for making sure those with which I make deals follow through with their end of the bargain And besides Do you see this Don Beigon gestured casually to the far end of the shattered platform Waiting there was a door of black wicker a spinning nebula of darkness that threw off tendrils of Nether that briefly obscured the path forward Proceeding through brute force is possible but I would prefer the gates just swing open
The gates open for the worthy The skull head rumbled but the Don controlled his expression at the tenor of the guardianÆs voice The DonÆs instincts had been honed over hundreds of years He could feel the note of yearning at the base of those words
Now all that remained was the task at which he was the most skilled making a deal
The ancient body of Elhume came first with huge bounding steps Randidly could feel the momentum Solomon produced the force wielded as he arrived before Randidly and planted a foot with his arm raised The note of truth grew louder The ancient monster threw a punch he attempted his original image But
Randidly tilted his head to the side at the clumsy application of that powerful truth You are Elhume no longer Strong you may be but you arenÆt whole enough to stop me
Randidly exploded forward with just as much momentum his whole self concentrating down to Acri and a focused thrust Fist and spearhead met together the two images ramming directly against one another with such force that pieces cracked and fractured off from the main portion Reflexively Randidly reached out to gather all that ambient kinetic force and create his storm but he arrived a hair too late
Already Pine licked up the image pieces and left them standing in an almost inert position
Almost inert because the space between Solomon Rex and Elhume meant that the image force wasnÆt as perfect That and whatever this being possessed It wasnÆt Primordial Nether Juju and the quantity of his Stat wasnÆt nearly as high
From the blow Elhume stumbled backward
RandidlyÆs Nether Core spun faster and faster the movement of the translucent energy almost invisible But a strange gleam came over the inner emerald gem A rumble spread out through RandidlyÆs entire body he felt a transformation coming He felt a thin whistle of more meaning flowing out from the depths of his Nether Core originating in the door to the Sea of Statues
From the place that birthed Momentos of Eternity A dangerous place of power available to those with refined Nether Cores
Randidly followed up on the stumbling Elhume with a hook to the gut his first wreathed in grey flames His knuckles slammed against his target and ElhumeÆs ribs popped RandildyÆs jaw clenched and Elhume looked at him with eyes filled with violet light He could almost see through to the gradual image readjustment happening That first blow had been clumsy but in the future he would wield all that power with a bit more of a bite This would be his main opportunity to inflict easy damage
He unleashed a pulse of Nether ravaging his opponentÆs note of truth as much as he could
But as Randidly knew would happen Fiero stepped forward once he was engaged with the Elhume/Solomon hybrid He raised his thing fingers The Ninth Fist
For a second Randidly felt his mind jolt to a halt The conception of a Ninth Fist didnÆt compute was this what his opponents experienced what he had to struggle against in his fight against Devick A move developed on the fly
Fiero raised an open hand RandidlyÆs eyes widened in recognition No of course Fiero didnÆt just make this up It was never Eight Fists It was Nine Tails pretending to be fists And this whole time the Ninth Fist
Mine Fiero growled reaching out and attempting to take RandidlyÆs body like he had taken ElhumeÆs for so long
RandidlyÆs eyes blazed he had been waiting for this moment His smile spread wide The First Authority Seize
Significance geysered up out of his Nether Core as he finally unleashed the power granted to him by his Authorities The nova of Nether seething around his body was enough to push back PineÆs power for a time
Chapter 2401
The Monarch of Karma tilted his head to the side trying to understand the firmness in the otherÆs tone Are you sure Considering the energy discharge I do not mean to offend but you no longer possess the power to affect the outcome let alone survive in the vicinity Do you still wish to go
Shal nodded as he wrapped the leather of his sandals around his well muscled legs The two still stood at the edge of their small area but the backdrop had changed significantly in the past twenty minutes The crystal Aether mountain had been broken into a billion small pieces The air glittered and swirled a sand sea filling the sky above them with its sinuous dance As the Monarch of Karma watched the particulate flowing he felt oddly at peace Underneath that sky they had talked for a long time
The Monarch of Karma remained calm despite the familiar patterns he could see in the glittering sky as his influence insinuated itself back into existence Because this other man grounded him despite their differences
And now he chose to leave
It was a lesson that I taught him a long time ago I think Shal straightened He too looked up at the gorgeous sky but then shifted down to focus on the ground When you do not know what else to do you advance
You will probably die
I was broken before Which is a kind of death And I will probably break down again But if I have learned anything it is that living under the shadow of fear and envy is the Path I will take no longer
The Monarch of Karma looked at Shal and all the certainty in his imageless frame Nether moved within ShalÆs body due to the shifts in the underlying Nether of the Nexus and due to the actions of Randidly Ghosthound at the peak of the Nexus but the thin and runny Nether within ShalÆs body was not impressive
That anchor could not sustain him through these wild winds
The Monarch felt a stirring in his chest More than for his own sake he looked and Shal and felt a powerful temptation to embrace the swirling self reinforcement image waiting in his gut He wavered for a second You deserve better than what you will find following your former pupil
This life is filled with discoveries and pitfalls that were in my path regardless of what I deserved Shal snorted He raised his spear examining the gleaming point I was cursed from the day I was born because my parents they could not protect me and they wanted so much from me But also I was blessed Because even now even because I have spent two years avoiding looking at myself and my life due to feelings of inadequacy I can still make a choice that will change my life