Chapter 1121

“WHAT!” Cail Tweocs bellowed. Faster than Yggdrasil believed possible, Cail was sudden right in front of the pod, reaching in and feeling around inside of it. Despite the horrifying speed that Cail displayed, it was somewhat amusing to see him so frantically searching the pod for the main body, as though it was simply hiding in a nook.

After an intense minute, Cail took a step backward. His face was contorted with fury and Yggdrasil could see his worm-like veins wriggling in his forehead. His hands were pale, hairless claws and his fingers wiggled ineffectually like luminescent, pale worms. Luckily, all of that anger was not directed toward Yggdrasil.

“You imbecile.” Cail Tweocs hissed as he rounded on Lord Miln. In a way that made the frost between Lady Iellaya and Lord Miln look like a melting ice cube, the entire tent was plunged into an artic glacier. Yggdrasil barely was able to move while the fury of Cail was on full display. “How could you allow this to happen? My investment-”

“Mr. Tweocs, please.” Lord Miln raised his hands. “This should be impossible. Besides, can we not simply recover his body? How can he escape your esteemed capture? And I hope this doesn’t mean our other deal is off the table…”

“We CANNOT simply capture him once more.” Cail Tweocs eyes were twitching as his high pitched voice wavered wildly. Jabbing his finger toward Lord Miln’s chest, he stalked forward. “The temporary punishment as a heretic divested him of his rights as one who possesses the qualifications for Tier I citizenship, but as soon as he recovered his body those rights-”

Cail Tweocs paused and hissed through his teeth. Then he straightened and adjusted his cloak. Instantly, the fury was gone. He calmly turned and regarded Lady Iellaya, Abiodun, and Yggdrasil. “Leave. Now.”

Lady Iellaya put her hand on Yggdrasil’s shoulder, bowed, and then hurried the trio out of the tent before they heard something that would mean Cail Tweocs was willing to kill them. But Yggdrasil believed that they had heard more than enough already for it to have been worth it to be there.

But it was only when they were out of the small tent that Yggdrasil realized how powerful Cail Tweocs truly was and the knife-edge along which they had walked; after leaving his presence it felt like Yggdrasil could finally breathe again.

“You were right about your body, and likely the other image,” Lady Iellaya said quietly. Chewing on her lip, she studied Yggdrasil. “Apologies for doubting you.”

Yggdrasil shrugged. “I can understand why you didn’t believe me. Because what I was saying didn’t make sense. But that is just who Randidly Ghosthound is. That’s why we are the ones that can give you the Class you are seeking.”

With a rare genuine smile, Lady Iellaya nodded. Then her expression shifted to something more serious. “Now, where is your main body? They seemed angry, but I believe what Mister Tweocs was saying is correct… once a Heretic has recovered his physical body, the punishment portion of the stay on the front lines has been ‘served’. If we begin working on the Class now, do you think you can have it finished before the main force of the Nether King arrives?”

Awkwardly scratching his face, Yggdrasil could only say. “Well…”

The two regarded him with heads tilted to the side as Yggdrasil shifted awkwardly side to side. Then Abiodun released a barking laugh. “...you are saying that you also don’t know where your physical body is? Truly, a troublesome individual we’ve involved herself with.”

“It’s not like I don’t have any ideas where he might be,” Yggdrasil winced. “The main body… but especially the Grim Chimera image… has an extremely bad habit of… running directly toward the most dangerous place. An old habit that we’ve never really been able to shake. So if I had to guess…”

They were walking down a stone path from the headquarters toward the front of the battlefield, but Lady Iellaya stopped abruptly and stared at Yggdrasil. “The most dangerous place? I hope you don’t mean-”

“Yes,” Yggdrasil sighed and raised a branch to point directly forward. “I suspect… that the main body has disguised itself and is now a part of the Nether King’s army.”

“But how?” Lady Iellaya hissed.

Yggdrasil could only use his verdant canopy to shrug.

After a split second of stillness, all three turned and hurried down toward the chaotic battlefield below them.

*****

Vualla roared in fury and raised her hand as the Nether Gatekeeper lashed at her with one of its deadly tails. Her image of destruction condensed into a hard core and smashed into the tail, but Vualla was still knocked several steps backward. Without setting her stance correctly, coping with the Nether Gatekeeper was a struggle.

In that opening, two lesser Nether Beasts about the four-star level ambushed Vualla from behind. With a single backhand, she shattered their bodies and cores, but it gave the Nether Gatekeeper the space to take another few steps forward and followed up with another whip-like strike with two more of its tails.

Groaning, Vualla forced herself to hastily stop and raise her heavy gauntlets. This time, her defense was strong enough that she didn't take a step back. But as she panted and lowered her arms, Vualla was stricken to see that the Nether Gatekeeper had finally pushed Vualla back enough to step through the iron barricades; Nether Beasts began to swarm around it to attack the forces of Aether that had been able to huddle behind them.

When Vualla had originally arrived at the battlefield almost fifteen minutes ago, she had built enough momentum and image with her descent to the location that she had struck the Nether Gatekeeper and smashed him backward out of the rupture in the iron barricades. The Nether Gatekeeper’s body was thrown back and crashed into one of the floating islands caused by the Great Rift’s invasion. Stone and rock rained downward, burying the Nether Gatekeeper completely.

Using that opportunity, the forces of Aether rallied and rapidly slaughtered all of the Nether Beasts that had made it through the gap before Vualla had arrived and plugged it up. But she knew that it was only a temporary thing. Her blow hadn’t been enough to deal serious damage to the Nether Gatekeeper, only surprise it.

And after the floating pillar of rock collapsed to the ground, it only took a few seconds for the Nether Gatekeeper to rip apart the surrounding ground and stand back up. Its eyes tight with fury, it began to stride purposefully forward toward Vualla. Lashing the surrounding ground with its tails, it made its intent extremely obvious.

Vualla had tried her best since then. Every tip she had learned from Cail Tweocs over the past six months came to her, strengthening her immensely from her power before. Her image was uniform and strong. It could stand against a Nether Gatekeeper’s corrosive and dense Nether, barely. And with every blow she endured from the terrible foe, she could feel her image being refined into something even more capable. Right around the corner, an epiphany was tantalizing her. She was so close to being powerful enough-

But when she had to handle the ambushes from the lesser Nether Beasts as well-

When she had to give up ground in order to not take a wound serious enough to diminish her current combat capabilities-

After fifteen minutes, Vualla was exhausted and the levies against the Nether Beasts were overwhelmed. Once again, the terrifying mass of numbers the Nether forces possessed surged forward to overwhelm them.

Even if she was very close to becoming strong enough to make a difference, she wouldn’t make it in time. Those same soldiers that had rallied when she saved them now began to die as more and more Nether Beasts slashed their way forward. With every Aether soldier who died, the hole got bigger and Nether seized more of a foothold on this side of the barricades. Very soon, they would be overrun.

And with the Nether Gatekeeper and its lackeys pinning her down, she could not help them.

You aren’t enough, That poisonous voice that was born by her father completely ignoring her as a child whispered. You will never be enough. Everything you want to protect will die.

And strangely, Vualla could feel it in the air. All around her, she could feel the small exodus of lives around her and the small burst of energy that was released when a soul was extinguished permanently. The small gasp as a whole slew of images ceased to be. But Vualla gritted her teeth and concentrated her Willpower. She ignored the strange flood of information that was coming to her.

“No, I will… I have the freedom to choose my fate. And I choose to save them all-”

The Nether Gatekeeper gathered its six tails into a single focused blade and thrust it forward at blinding speed toward Vualla. Relying on her instincts, all of Vualla power of destruction went into her left hand and she unleashed a brutal left hook toward the Nether Gatekeeper’s core. The two blows crossed between them in a flash and then both landed heavily.

“Fuck,” Vualla said as the thrust from the tail pierced completely through the center of her right gauntlet and continued to rip forward. Luckily the quick defense was enough to divert the blow slightly and the tail just bored a huge hole in her shoulder rather than skewering a lung. Still, this is what she had tried so hard to avoid; now, her right arm would be out of commission for quite a while.

Yet Vualla’s blow had also landed. And this time she felt the Nether Gatekeeper’s body shuddering beneath the assault. But before she could follow up, the lesser Nether Beasts smashed into her and knocked her backward.

It’s you fucks that are the problem, Vualla thought furiously. If you all just gave me the chance to strike…!

Tumbling through the air, Vualla quickly flew backward and crashed into a medical tent that had been hastily set up near the frontlines. Most everyone who could walk had already been evacuated, so those that remained in the dim tent were afflicted with deadly wounds. Her chest heaving, Vualla looked around at the dying soldiers around her and then looked back at the Nether forces.

At least it seemed that fucker was just as hurt as I was, Vualla thought bitterly as she looked as the several Nether Beasts that were hovering around it worriedly. Then her eyes refocused on the Nether Beast that was walking slowly forward to face her.

It possessed a tall and relatively graceful form for Nether Beasts, possessing two huge hands lined with long talons. And with five-star strength, it was nothing to sneeze at. The air around it crackled with particularly dense Nether energy. Even if this one wasn’t six star yet, it wasn’t far from it. Certainly, it would be enough to buy time for the Nether Gatekeeper to recover. Hell, considering Vualla’s current injuries, it might be enough to kill her itself.

I cannot die here. Vualla’s eyes narrowed. I cannot… I cannot afford… and even if I need to-

The five star Nether Beast leaned forward and rushed quickly forward. Despite its size, it seemed to move with uncanny grace. Vualla’s instincts were screaming she needed to lash out against it, but her thoughts kept following that strange sensation of death around. If she could only just find-

A realization struck her. Suddenly she looked around at the surrounding bodies with a baleful light in her azure eyes. That energy that is released when they die… when the images cease to exist… isn’t that the purest energy of destruction? If I take that power and make it my own-

Even if its not mine… they would think it worth it if I take it from them, right? They will die anyway. So if I just-

“Vualla.”

Vualla’s entire world froze at that single word spoken in a voice that was so impossibly familiar to her. “Eh…?”

The Nether Beast in front of her rippled. The black fire around its body dimmed and fell away. The long talons became normal fingers. There was black hair, a striking face, strong and wiry limbs, and of course, piercing emerald eyes.

“Randidly Ghosthound…? But you are-!”

“In the flesh, finally,” Randidly said with obvious relish. Then he gave her another look, one that was laced with a deep sadness. Shaking his head, he turned around and looked back toward the forces of Nether that were surging forward. To her surprise, Vualla felt so strangely reassured, having him standing next to her against the coming horde.“...for now, let’s not waste time with small talk. Shall we? We have a miracle to make from scratch.”