The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound

“Are you sure you’ve managed to completely heal? I haven’t given you much time to rest,” Vualla said with a grin. Randidly just rolled his eyes and raised his massive left arm. He hadn’t remade his metal limb yet, but Sulfur’s transformation had been supercharged by an enthusiastic thumping by Vualla over the past three days. His left arm wasn’t physically present, which would drastically lower the offensive power of his left arm, but the armor would be able to handle the defensive actions even without physical support.

It was a handicap, but not a large one.

They were standing in the massive ditch in the Southern portion of Randidly’s training area. Considering both of their strength, they needed a space at least this big in order to spar safely. Plus, he had an ulterior motive for sparring with Vualla out in the open; the recruits were busy being put through another sadistic round of training by Helen, but they would hopefully be able to sense his images.

Randidly had detected in the Nether that the recruits had been uneasy, knowing that a powerful figure had attacked their Head Drill Sergeant and eliminated over a dozen other Drill Sergeants in the process. Their hesitance noticeably slowed their rate of improvement, according to Helen’s reports. So Randidly wanted to send a message. Hopefully, feeling his movements would get them back on track.

Vualla shrugged and waved the massive gauntlets that she wore on both bands. Then her azure eyes blazed as she released her image. The details of her person seemed to dim as a thin metal exoskeleton spread to cover her entire body. The dark blue metal seemed to blur the details of her features, aside from her cascade of azure hair and her glowing eyes.

She became a navy shade with azure accents.

Vualla planted her foot into the ground and accelerated forward without even waiting for Randidly to deploy his own image; Vualla was nothing if not direct.

And she was more than willing to punish him for not taking this spar seriously.

Randidly moved his Nether Nebula first, feeling his sense of time slowing down as he savored the possibilities within his own physical form. The vortex of darkness began to churn in his chest. To be honest, he had spent the last few days truly recovering. He had cooked meals with Vualla and walked through the bamboo forest. To his relief, his difficulty in using the Philosopher’s Key had noticeably dropped, although Vualla pointed out to him that repeatedly using the Fatepiece was probably hindering the healing process. But at this rate, he should be healed before he went to the frontlines.

Military High Command appeared to be busy with something, referenced by Lady Iellaya’s most recent report, but Randidly didn’t concern himself with that. His own capabilities were his primary concern. He needed to grow stronger.

Vualla’s presence meant that he hadn’t pushed himself much in regards to his recent discovery of the alternate ways that Nether could flow, but just being aware of this face opened his eyes to several possibilities. As his Nether Nebula began to spin more quickly and his four grey bubbles stirred in the core region, he could alternate between flows through his body to spread out some of the accumulated Nether significance. Some of the suffocating feeling in his Nether was eased, leaving him with only the potency.

Vualla had crossed almost half the distance to Randidly, blurring forward as she somehow continued to accelerate even though she hadn’t touched the ground a second time. Randidly’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. There is something about that metal covering her body… it’s able to reverse the influence of inertia? What a monster…

Of course, Randidly wasn’t going to stop back from a direct physical confrontation.

His three images surged to the forefront of his mind. The Grim Chimera became the physical form, Yggdrasil became the heart and veins, and the Stillborn Phoenix was his left eye and his very real desire to overturn the established order of this world. Sulfur hummed with pleasure as the three images flared to life, adding some passive pressure to the armor.

Randidly’s muscles bulged with force. He thrust Acri forward, all his power focused into the tip of that spear to meet Vualla.

Grit of an Ascendant Bane. Yyrwood Body of Yggdrasil. Cosmic Necessity.

Congratulations! Your Skill Grit of an Ascendant Bane (T) has grown to Level 378!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The ground beneath Randidly’s planted feet shattered and cracked. But Vualla’s glowing eyes widened; when the two of their bodies smashed into each other, she was knocked slightly backward. Still, there wasn’t even the slightest hesitation as her physical power was overmatched by Randidly. She lightly touched the ground with a foot and spun behind him with a graceful pivot.

Randidly followed with just as much poise and with barred deadly intent.

Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes. The Tug of Tragic Silence. The Inscrutable Mien of Yggdrasil.

Randidly spun around and raised Acri on a new line. As the Tug of Tragic Silence came from behind Vualla and pressed her lightly from the back to restrict her movements, Randidly exploded forward with Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes. Due to how close they were to each other, the impact was almost immediate. The holy and purifying light of Yggdrasil spread outward, sizzling against her exoskeleton.

Vualla’s azure eyes narrowed.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Congratulations! Your Skill The Tug of Tragic Silence (A) has grown to Level 238!

A ripple ran through Vualla’s metal form and the force from Randidly’s attack was somehow shunted off to the left. The muddy ground ruptured and blasted upward in a ten-meter area, but somehow Vualla had escaped harm. Fistfuls of heavy mud were thrown back toward where they were standing, but both of them had leapt apart from each other.

The metal exoskeleton on Vualla’s body shifted further, obscuring her features to the point that she was just a dark blue shadow with an azure trail behind her head. Randidly pursed her lips. Heh, Sulfur, looks like you two are slightly similar in your ability to manipulate force… but to think she can also redirect foreign attacks… is there a limit to this ability…?

Both fighters shot forward at the same time; Randidly couldn’t wait to figure out the limits of Vualla’s defenses. Portions of the Vualla’s metal gauntlets pulsed and began to expand. Destructive forces concentrated in her palms. It seemed that she was done fighting him with the kid gloves; something began to stir in her wake.

The barest hint of the true shape of Vualla’s image began to reveal itself, like her current form was just an obstruction to true perfection. She was the moon passing in front of the sun, becoming a blinding eclipse. Randidly’s heart began to pound as he couldn’t control his surging excitement.

Yea… this is what I need! Randidly grinned widely as both Acri and Sulfur joined him in his joyous physical revelry of a well-matched battle.

Vualla’s foot looked like it lightly tapped the ground mid-dash, but a wave of mud exploded outward. Randidly’s vision was completely blocked by the explosion of soil, but he only grinned. Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil cut through the wave of mud like swiss cheese, ripping through to strike at the interior space. Thick thorned roots whipped and coiled like the edges of a buzzsaw through the middle. But of course, Vualla had vanished.

Randidly looked up and activated Chimeric Impunity with full force as she smashed into the ground in front of him, unleashing a devastating wave of force… that just passed harmlessly through his ethereal body. She must have jumped up, hit one of the drifting rocks in the loose atmosphere about them, and immediately shot back downward.

Not just inertia, then. She must be able to affect friction, for her to do such violent movements and not release and signals… Randidly’s right hand snaked outward at Vualla’s crouched form, even as his fingers began to glow cherry red. Unfortunately, Chimeric Impunity also meant that Randidly lost his grip on his weapon.

But his Skill had earned him a chance for a sudden strike, and Randidly was going to take it.

Congratulations! Your Skill Pernicious Fang of the Shade (L) has grown to Level 299!

Vualla twisted and avoided the blow. With her exoskeleton sliding through the air, she swept her leg around to knock Randidly’s feet out from under him. He slammed his left arm down in front of the kick and blocked it directly, sending Vualla’s leg rebounding harmlessly. Sulfur cooed in pleasure as it absorbed the brutalizing force. Randidly released a breath that was pure steam as his body began to heat up.

Instead of retreating again, Vualla hopped to her feet and stepped forward in wide sliding steps. Her fists cut high, low, and then high again as she unleashed a potent punch combination. Randidly ducked under the first one but had to grunt as the second slammed against his stomach. He used Hallucinations of the Bloodless Heart to blast the finishing straight to the side with a burst of gravity.

His hair was blasted away from his face just by the force of her punch’s passage.

Meanwhile, Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold energy began to congregate in his swirling abyss of a left eye. His vision began turning strange as he used that Skills power to peer beyond the veil of the physical. Everything was flattened, allowing Randidly to observe the subtle movements of energy and image in the surroundings.

To his surprise, he almost had to squint as he looked at Vualla. Her image was near blinding. Heh, looks like she’s only getting started. Well then…!

Congratulations! Your Skill Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 347!

Randidly’s upper tail snaked out and lashed against Vualla’s neck, earning only sparks as it encountered her tough exoskeleton. From the shape of her image moving in response, Randidly unleashed a laugh of pure joy; Vualla’s image was more complicated than he had thought. Not only was the armor across her body serving as a protection, but it was also constraining her image somewhat.

Beneath that exterior, something was building.

A ripple of that image spread out with enough force that it dispersed Randidly’s momentum completely. A split second later, he used Chimeric Impunity to cut through the space behind him and distance himself about ten meters away from Vualla. In the next second, her coiled image finally cracked through her metal exoskeleton.

CRACCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

The mud around her was annihilated. Suddenly Vualla was standing on a thin pillar of stone above a hole; a sphere around her had been completely blasted to oblivion. Her image faded, allowing Randidly to see her grimacing over at him. “You always were too sharp for your own good. But, this is enough of a warm-up, I think.”

Randidly barred his teeth, but there was no joy in the expression. Revelation energy continued to let him witness her image. Similar to Sulfur, Vualla appeared to be able to absorb the kinetic energy directed at her. But she seemed then capable fo discharging it into her surroundings with devastating force. When combined with her ability to accelerate rather freely and somehow alter the trajectory of physical attacks…

It’s unfortunate to admit it, but why the hell does it seem like Vualla has spent the last few months speccing herself to crush me…? Randidly grumbled inwardly. His Skill Levels had continued to improve, but a lot of his growth had see him pouring his gains into his powerful body. There was likely a limit to how much force Vualla could actually absorb and manage, but that would be facing her image directly.

In comparison, Randidly was irritated to think that Vualla might be an easy opponent for someone like Kaan Swacc, who could counter her image with his metal pyramids.

Still, that didn’t mean that Randidly was completely without any recourse. Earlier, his Inscrutable Mien of Yggdrasil had inflicted some light damage on Vualla. Direct images would be more effective at hurting her than his strikes had been.

As Vualla began to accelerate, the enormous phantom of the World Tree manifested in the surrounding space. Its branches and leaves covered the entire sky. And deep within the shadows of that canopy, a hateful shadow began to stir.

Today, Exodus would exact its price.

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