Chapter 1798

Chapter 1798

With a surprisingly delicate tinkling, the second barrier shattered. Another blast of primordial air puffed out to fill the central area. In its wake, the undulating, plant body of the Patron of Blooms rolled forward, generating in Edraine the sharp desire to stumble backward out of the way. She immediately suppressed that desire, studying this second Patron carefully and standing her ground.

Especially now. These concentrated, unyielding targets were excellent practice for her image.

The Patron of Blooms took a deep breath and stretched her creaking limbs. “Oh my. Oh, oh, the restrictions of the Sanctum make it difficult to see everything around us, but I can sense some things. The Nexus has certainly fallen to pieces while I’ve been away, haven’t they?”

Velio Dunn’s expression darkened. “Elhume continues to make a mockery of the original goal-”

“Shush, child, I’m busy thinking,” The Patron of Blooms waved her hand, and blessedly, Velio didn’t continue through one of his anti-Elhume rants. The thorny, vine creature seemed to be considering. Small strands of plant matter twitched and tightened, keeping her person in a state of constant motion. “Now... my children... eh? This- my home planet is- Oh, but I sense several strong... wait, why can’t I...? Has everything truly been lost?”

As her muttering became softer, Edraine could feel the Patron’s image shifting erratically. The powerful, chaotic impulses wracking her mind were so intense that they leaked beyond the bounds of her body and spread out through the air. Edraine pursed her lips. If nothing else, releasing these powerful individuals, ones who seem to be slightly tainted by the edge of madness from their incarceration, should distract Elhume for a fair amount of time.

But it would be foolish to believe that there won’t be unintended consequences now that they are at liberty.

Velio looked at the Patron for several seconds while she continued to whisper quietly to herself. Then he turned to look at Edraine. “Let’s take a short break to recuperate and then we can proceed to the next Patron. Based on the reaction, I believe the Patron of Blades should be-”

“Yes, yes, I’ll leave this place to you too. I have some small matters to take care of,” The Patron of Blooms interrupted, suddenly done with her whisper monologue. She waved her fingers at Edraine and Velio and then strode for the door, thick vines slapping against the stone ground and pulling her forward. Edraine glanced at Velio and raised her eyebrows.

She believed her thoughts were pretty clear. Did we really liberate all these Patrons to simply allow them to wander off on their own?

“Wait!” Velio said. Some of his previous intensity, worn away by his childlike sense of wonder at having made it to the Sanctum, returned as he walked up to the Patron of Blooms. His eyes were sharp. “I understand that you probably have many personal matters to address after being locked up in here for thousands of years, but now is not the time to be swayed by emotion. Without a full understanding of the situation in the Nexus-”

“Almost a dozen people are attempting to reach the Pinnacle right now,” The Patron of Blooms said. Then she shrugged. “I might be vain, but I think it’s pretty clear that I’m small potatoes to Elhume. There is no better time than now to accomplish a task covertly.”

*****

Randidly’s brows knitted together as he felt the chaotic waves of images turn into a mass of oppressive energy that radiated to fill almost the entirety of the Nexus. In the starry nebula above the former home base of the Frost Matriarch, several new light sources began to pulse with a sickly green light. The illumination started small, but gradually the color was leached out of the surroundings.

All across the Nexus, lights dimmed and were blended away until everything was pale and ghastly. Detail only remained in the contrast as color seemed to drain away in the face of this monumental occurrence.

Yet what transfixed Randidly were the images! Yggdrasil, the Grey Creature, and the Stillborn Phoenix all condensed across his body, seeking to memorize the varied and extreme image examples that reached for the Pinnacle. Randidly felt a vast and wide-open sky, the damp and dripping bowels of planets that birthed monsters, and also a sharp tang of ozone as a thunderstorm crashed upon the ground. Each of these was warped by distance, but most notably they were all being widely stretched by the tide of emotions that each individual brought to this attempt.

Randidly could feel their hope, their desperation, their long-suppressed fear and craving. They wanted power. Now their grasping hands stained the entire Nexus.

Claudette’s gaze toward Randidly changed as she heard his words and begun to hesitate. They were working together to resist the plans of Don Beigon, but Randidly had never stated his own private mission so directly. But looking up at these massively powerful players clashing, he saw no point in hiding it.

Even if she didn’t join him, Randidly doubted that she would use this information against him. The image refinement had created a certain understanding between them.

Claudette released a slow breath. “If that is truly what you intend, then you will never stop fighting. Even if- even if you somehow manage to catch up to Elhume, others will not give you peace. Watching Elhume now, do you think he achieved what he wanted, even with all the power he has? If he had, why would he struggle so hard against those now trying to reach the Pinnacle? There is no peace at the end of the Path you are suggesting.”

As if on cue, Elhume reached the group of three Pinnacle Seekers. It was a distant, invisible struggle. These lasted a bit longer than the solo individual, but one, two, three seconds passed and then had been annihilated just the same. Their destruction echoed out through the Nether layer, slapping Randidly like an unexpected splash of cold water.

The amount of force Elhume utilized must have been horrifying for him to feel it so clearly. Then, without pause, the most powerful figure in the Nexus turned and aimed for a new target: Seeker Thunder Wing.

“There is no peace,” Randidly’s eyes glittered as he thought about the generous explanation that Seeker Thunder Wing had offered for the Hierarchies. “For me at the end of the Path, yes. But this was never about me.”

Not since I became the Alpha Cosmos.

Perhaps it was because of his meeting with Seeker Thunder Wing, but Randidly could practically feel the heavy footfalls of Elhume as he devoured distance and approached his next challenger. The soundless impacts blasted out through Nether, setting Randidly’s tail to flicking fitfully every time they reached him.

Meanwhile each of the doors, at different paces, were cracking open-

RUMMMMBBBLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE!

An oppressive cry of fury boomed outward; Seeker Thunder Wing’s Path to the Pinnacle door was one fo the first to open. The chaotic energy interference around his image finally ceased. In the next instant, Seeker Thunder Wing’s image vanished and the door closed, leaving Elhume seeping in fury. But the most powerful individual in the Nexus didn’t pause. He turned and made a beeline for another nearby individual, whose door had not yet opened.

As more proceeded to this special venue, the greenish light that soaked the Nexus began to fade.

I wonder then if the difficulty in opening the door to the Path to the Pinnacle is related to how powerful your image is, Randidly speculated. Which is why there are so many individuals attempting it; you don’t need to be at the Speculum Tier.

Of course, if it was so easy you could manage it without reaching the Speculum Tier- unless they were inspired by the actions of the Nether King, and intend to simply remain there until they can reasonably make their own attempt?

All in all, Elhume reached and crushed two more individuals before all of those who opened the Path to the Pinnacle had escaped. So of the sixteen individuals how had attempted it, only ten had made it.

Randidly remained fascinated that the entire time, the first individual to start the chain reaction hadn’t been targeted, although Nether informed him that person was the closest to Elhume. It made him wonder if Elhume hadn’t encouraged one particular individual to do it, to draw out all the others.

Which probably meant that those who intended to wait and train at the base of the Path to the Pinnacle would not easily find peace.