Randidly casually investigated the situation in his body while Lay’l trembled in front of him. At monts like this, silence was an effective weapon; allowing Lay’l to make up horrible truths about what would happen to him was much more effective than Randidly trying to threaten him directly. And it also helped take the edge off of Randidly’s implacable wrath toward this constant threat to him and his Squad.
From what he understood, Lay’l was constantly plotting against him, endangering his recruits in the process. In Randidly’s mind, that was a deep debt to pay.
Previously, the jump in his Stats, particularly the growth of Dreadful Alacrity and Primordial Nether Juju, was so abrupt and vast that his physical form had difficulty keeping up. His new cells could properly express his power, but his old cells simply weren’t built to the sa specifications. Which required Randidly to thodically rip off his muscles and allow them to heal back.
In his chest, Randidly used his blood to rupture his veins and spread through his body. Once he possessed the freedom, he scraped away at his organs, taking a bit of the inferior biological matter with each pass. The process was uncomfortable, but Randidly manipulated his blood skillfully. Soon, the entirety of his insides was cleansed and regenerated.
And I bet that visual is the reason he’s petrified. Randidly glanced at Lay’l. Then he reached up with his right hand and ripped a hole in his skin right below his diaphragm. All the contained blood and old, weak biological matter flowed out and splattered on the ground. Lay’l looked like he would be ill.
Randidly’s skin was steadily growing back across his bare muscles, but the forr Drill Sergeant’s eyes were wide and blank; he was perhaps constantly reliving the vision of his teammates getting slaughtered as he stared at the chunks of flesh spread across the ground. Randidly favored him with a wicked smile as he raised his leg and stomped down. His foot ruptured and he scraped it against the Nether Pinion to make room for the regenerated flesh.
Honestly, Randidly’s first impulse was to kill Lay’l and be done with it. But in the current situation, he could think of another use for the man. It was a gamble, but being a part of the Swacc Family ant that this individual was rather well inford. Right now, Randidly dearly wished for concrete details concerning the undercurrents within Military High Command.
Snorting, Randidly raised his hands and slapped them against his ears. His eardrums shattered and blood dribbled down his head and neck. As the flesh rapidly healed, there wasn’t much difference in hearing, but the delicate chanisms of his ear were now much more robust. Randidly considered trying to scrape away bits of his brain to let his grey matter improve, but that seed a bit… reckless.
With the increased power in his arms, Randidly went for his joints and tendons next, ripping out long sinews and tossing them to the side. All the while, Lay’l was shaking like a leaf.
When his body was satisfactorily healed and remade, Randidly produced a cloth from his interspatial ring and began to dry himself. Not that he minded, but he thought that looking like so sort of bloody zombie would make communicating with his subordinates slightly awkward. Then he released a bit of the Stillborn Phoenix’s image to motivate Lay’l. His left eye shifted into a black hole. The ominous sound of the black hole devouring air and emotions in the surrounding space finally seed to pierce through the fear and reach the forr Drill Sergeant.
Lay’l paled further so that his skin was as white as a blank sheet of paper. Yet at least he finally realized that Randidly wasn’t going to speak any further. “I- I-...! You… you shouldn’t k-kill too c-c-casually-”
“Why not?” Randidly chuckled. “The Swacc Family has a grudge with anyway, and ssaging is currently restricted by this situation. Isn’t the best option to eliminate all evidence that this encounter happened while I can? And you, Lay’l Tuuellethe, are a very dangerous piece of evidence.”
“I w-won’t-” Lay’l began to stutter, but Randidly silenced him with a look. Lay’l’s expression grew heavy. Both knew that even if Lay’l didn’t want to report the issue of this failed ambush, he would have no choice. As long as he lived, the Swacc Family would seek him for information regarding Evick Swacc’s demise.
Seeing that realization finally co over Lay’l’s face, Randidly smirked. Then he spoke slowly. For now, he could afford to wait on making this decision. “Well, aren’t we in the sa boat? Pursued by the Swacc Family for becoming involved in incidents having nothing to do with us? If you co with now and provide so information, I’ll let you live.”
Lay’l gave Randidly a blank look that said ‘we are definitely not in the sa boat’, but he didn’t dare verbalize those thoughts. Instead, his visage was clouded as he considered the implications of what Randidly was saying. So of his fear went away and Lay’l turned thoughtful.
For Randidly, it was a calculated gamble. Although the Swacc Family wouldn’t have any proof, he doubted that the Swacc Family wouldn’t be able to find out that he was responsible for the death of Evick Swacc. Perhaps Randidly would be able to fra another faction for their deaths, but the Swacc Family would likely still start the investigation with him, the actual target. And besides, to fra soone, Randidly would need more information. Hence his attempt to strong-arm Lay’l.
In addition… Randidly could control the expectations of the Swacc Family if he kept Lay’l alive. After all, the prowess he demonstrated to kill Evick Swacc and his groups was far from his full strength.
“I… this… okay. What information do you need?” Lay’l said uneasily.
Randidly simply smiled in response and turned away. The questions could wait until later, and he wanted to keep Lay’l off balance. He hopped down off the blood and gore spattered Nether Pinion and walked to one of the crystalline wall of the fractured space. Lay’l blinked and hurried after him. “Did I say sothing-”
“Quite for now,” Randidly said sharply. His senses flowed outward through the strange Aether barrier, following the flows of energy. As he examined the surroundings, Randidly had to admit that what Commandant Wick had done was rather impressive. Whether the Nether King had wanted to contribute or not, its powers had been inadvertently incorporated into this strange stasis. Nether beca the bridges between the isolated spaces. As long as those inside the space understood enough about Aether and Nether, it was possible to travel between the separated zones.
Releasing a breath, Randidly closed his eyes and let his senses wander outward.
Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 245!
Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 404!
Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to Level 247!
However… Randidly quickly frowned as he opened his eyes. Even with his significant capabilities in this area, the way the energies of the barriers were layered made it extrely difficult to see the way the spaces connected to each other. The changes in information through the two alternating energies ant Randidly only had a vague sense of the spaces adjacent to him, and further that was completely shrouded.
He also had an impression of the direction he needed to travel to reach the core of this maze of fractured space, but the journey would undoubtedly be complex. And from the way the spaces were clustered so that the deeper he went, the more enemies might be present. The only saving grace was that if it was this difficult for him, others would have an even more difficult ti.
Randidly’s eyes flashed and he glanced over his shoulder at Lay’l. “Co here.”
Even if he couldn’t find the core area, he had found his first destination in the surrounded islands of space. Seeing Randidly’s serious gaze, Lay’l’s expression fell. Apparently Randidly’s voice was rougher than he had intended, because the man began to panic. “I… please… please don’t kill … I can tell you about the different factions in the Swacc Family, their secret bases-”
“And you’d probably watch gladly while I go there and clash with the hidden monsters of the Swacc Family,” Randidly snorted. “But anyway, that’s that and this is this. Just get the here over here.”
As Randidly narrowed his eyes, he realized that the familiar wiggling lines extended from his outstretched hand toward Lay’l. Seeing that Lay’l still hesitated, Randidly pressed his lips together and focused on the flowing natural lines. So, Ripple of Anonuhoko can also be used like this, huh…?
Now that his Control had evolved into Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae, Randidly could almost gently caress the leylines that spread out from his touch. At his gesture, a wind around and spun above them before sweeping down and pressing into Lay’l’s back. Taken by surprise, he could only stumble forward and allow Randidly’s tal hand to clamp onto his shoulder.
Even while Lay’l was twitching with fear, Randidly turned away from him and pressed his hand up against the edge of the fractured space. He connected with those bridging energies. A split second later, there was a wrenching sensation and they appeared in a new area, which was an entirely empty stretch of plains.
Randidly didn’t stay here long, reaching once again and teleporting them through to their first destination. When they arrived, Randidly finally let go of Lay’l and hopped across the low hills of this area. At the top of one of the hills, a camp was being erected. Randidly smiled with pride to look at his Vulpis Squad working so quickly. Yea, that’s right, learn and grow.
Randidly didn’t bother to hide his aura as he approached, so the Lancers that were with the group imdiately noticed him. A few seconds later, he felt a light resonance with the three inheritors of his image. So by the ti that he walked up to the camp, the leaders of the groups were waiting for him.
They saluted Randidly as he scrutinized them. In response, he smiled. “Good; it seems you weren’t too close to Commander Shilling when space destabilized. That will make things easier. Movent through the shattered space is possible, but its best for most of you to remain here. Raymund and DiOrtho… co with .”
The two nodded and walked over to his side. After one more long glance to inspect the solidified and strengthened images of his recruits, Randidly turned away. His gaze went to his Lancers and turned thoughtful. The way his Skill had evolved altered his relationship with the Lancers; it was for the best that he address that now-
“Wait!”
Randidly paused and turned around. Charlotte Wick strode forward, looking at him with an intense gaze. At her back was Jieu Ronault and Vizzeret Clamman. Looking at them, it was easy to anticipate their thoughts.
Charlotte opened her mouth to continue speaking but Randidly raised a hand to stop here. “I can see your intent. You want to accompany as well, correct? After experiencing the way your three images can work together… you understand your capability. Which I won’t deny is significant. But you don’t understand the threat of what we might encounter where we are heading.
“Still…” Randidly hesitated. Then he shrugged. “Well, I’m not omniscient; perhaps you have improved more than I expected. If you want to co… you just have to best Raymund. You can even fight three against one. And to make sure that your leader doesn’t throw this opportunity…”
Randidly gave Raymund a deep look. “If you lose to them, you won’t accompany deeper into this place.”
Raymund’s face twisted into a deep frown. He understood the implication; if Raymund did not overco these three, he would not have the chance to locate his brother.
Seeing the understanding in his subordinate’s eyes, Randidly turned away. “Alright, take care of it. We don’t have much ti, so fight imdiately. I need to address my Lancers, so I’ll be waiting over there. Co find when you have a winner.”
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