He suddenly saw it the reason her emotions felt so complex and random not bothering to seek the resonance of emotional affect that he had spent months refining
Her Domain and individual Skills held different emotions surging through them They felt fickle and capricious riding the highs and lows of her small victories and scowling disappointments She loved fighting but also hated and feared it And all of those emotions swirled through each strike But the reason that Helen possessed so much power
The different emotions communed with each other as a Skill ran its course through the Domain In a weird way there was a dialogue between her simultaneous yet conflicting emotional states And from those meetings the fractious rubbings a strange power emerged
So emotion could be used like this as well RandidlyÆs eyes glowed as he avoided a thrust but couldnÆt avoid being cracked in the shoulder by the butt of her weapon When he regained his footing he began to mimic
Congratulations Your Skill Soulful Vigor has grown to Level 240
Spears danced and blurred slamming and rebounding into one another without either of the fighters possessing an advantage Randidly felt his method of fighting shift as he gradually captured his emotional force Although his three images all manifested in different ways those emotions wove themselves together into a firm base from which to strike
Randidly accelerated learning to fight with this new method His body was in constant motion Helen continued to harry him seeming to predict some of his responses He wondered whether she was relying on her experience fighting him while alive or whether he was just imagining it
He felt more and more flashes of joy from Helen as they clashed but these were tinged with a grey pity
Ultimately he had to set those concerns aside as he simply fought His emotions became a constant heat in his body empowering each movement
The emotional notes werenÆt perfect but they were organic and true And from that they drew immense power RandidlyÆs eyes were brilliant emeralds as he tightened his grip on the dream Acri and started to let loose He began to feel the wholistic surge of his strikes relying on the wide foundation of emotion
Within ten minutes HelenÆs armor had shattered She sat on the ground the only remnant of her steely visage was half of her shattered helmet RandidlyÆs chest rose and fell his emotions still sizzling within his body The dark red mist seemed to settle against the ground making it seem like she reclined in a throne of bloody mist as she looked up at him
Her eyes were bright as she looked at him Her emotions had waned during the end of their fight until now he couldnÆt sense them at all She just seemed like a puppet bearing her face and shape It broke his heart Congratulations challenger You bested me Shit itÆs honestly pretty surprising you could especially considering this version of me possesses a very generous portrayal of my fighting power
I know of no one else who possesses your single minded passion Randidly said quietly When he opened his mouth to ask the projection another question he realized that she was crying And that she was keeping her emotions from leaking out
Because although Randidly couldnÆt sense them in the air the ghost of a Nether connection lingering between them resonated with the force of her sorrow and grief
This version of myself The designed one The body that had the same amount of Stats as Randidly Ghosthound His Bloody Knight through and through HelenÆs projection trembled as tears slid across her cheek This was supposed to be the version that could defeat him I thought at least this way
The projection shook her head bringing her hand up to wipe away her tears But her fingers began to flake away into charcoal Do you know why I adored him Because he would never go easy to spare my feelings No matter how meaningless or the spar and do you know why I resented him Because he would make up all these dumbass rules restrictions he placed on himself to make the fight more advantageous to me And even with all that help I couldnÆt catch up to him Ever
She looked directly at him as she said that last word and Randidly instantly knew that a flicker of her consciousness remained He spoke rapidly Helen donÆt you dare claim that you never defeated me
But the image fractured into scattered motes of ash and Randidly was left with a sour taste in his mouth and a notification
Congratulations You have earned high honors facing Helen in single combat and emerging victorious You walk out of the valley soaked in her bloody currents feeling empowered by the vestiges of this proud woman Dreadful Alacrity +100 The stirrings of HelenÆs powerful images are settling within your Soulspace
A special reward You feel the powerful currents of the GhosthoundÆs Knight taking up residence in your body You can feel her breath on the back of your neck Synchronicity detected
Congratulations Your Skill (Domain) Resonant Fangs of Extinction has evolved into (Domain) Mournful Sea HelenÆs Pernicious Riptide Skill Level will be maintained
Chapter 1933
The previous dream of heady violence had released Randidly and dropped him back into his body with a perfunctory clatter HelenÆs haunting attempted to do the same but he reached out with his Authority and clawed at it desperate to hold onto her consciousness for a few more seconds
He ripped through the notification in front of her briefly overcome with desperation to reach her
Yet despite or perhaps even because of his powerful First Authority Seize the dream scattered even more quickly as he acted The force he brought to grip onto those moments obliterated them and left them crumbling He squeezed sand and watched helplessly as it drained through his fingers
Something ugly and stubborn rose in Randidly’s chest as he felt the Path completion recede like a mirage something prideful that urged him to bring the full force of his Nether Core and images to bear to keep her locked in place Yet a softer portion of himself interceded prying open his hands and allowing the ashes to be scattered by the wind
Drizzle fell across the island ignorant of how close Randidly had been to throwing his full force behind a foolÆs errand Within the vegetal mass a mother monkey collected a palm full of rain and brought it back to her young
On top of the volcano RandidlyÆs shoulders slumped and a long sigh escaped his lips He looked broodingly down at his arms and blinked at what he saw The long scratched that Helen had inflicted on his arms within the Path completed remained They curled jagged and ugly across his forearms Yet with the addition of his Domain to his Soulspace Randidly could feel the way that the scars on his right arm were the complement to the talons still jutting out from his left
Even in the fight you were thinking of me werenÆt you Of my reward Randidly whispered to his arms He kept his awareness away from the Domain which still hummed with her touch For now receiving it still felt bitter in his throat The Rarity had risen and the uses had probably changed but he wasnÆt ready to look at it
Perhaps it was foolish to rush forward with such a scattered and complex heart but Randidly went back to his Path Menu to distract himself His eyes scanned through the list available to him willing to take any Path to move past this moment
Mantle of the Patron 0/500 Aether Convergence II Puppet Master 0/100 Pain Immunity I 0/250 Cleaver of the World Tree Weakness of the World Tree 0/500 Guilty Conscience I 0/100 Ashes of Illym the Above Average Child 0/5000 The Sigh as the Sky Closes 0/15 000 Joy the Blooming Sun 0/15 000 Creature’s Toil II 0/ Violent Heat I 0/ Deathwish X 0/5 Weakness of the Grim Chimera 0/500 The CreatureÆs Apotheosis 0/25000 Architecture of Yggdrasil I 0/ Piece of the Ideal 0/ The Throne of Nether Homage I 0/500 Stat Evolution VII 0/100000 Spark of the Origin Beast 0/ The Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter 0/10 000 Determined VI 0/600 Excavator of the Two Failed Dreams 0/12 000 The Ash that Reigns Above the Open and Closed Sky 0/ The Living Soul of the Alpha Cosmos 0/ Herald of the Eternal March 0/10 000 The Crown of Four Authorities 0/100000 Peerlessness Through Woven Truth 0/ Bubbling Emotional Accumulation I 0/10000