Chapter 1899

Chapter 1899

Randidly settled into the dark and murky area of himself where his Nether Core existed. He relaxed for a short time, savoring the comforting hum of its rotation. Around him, he felt the constant flow of Nether, churned outward and running through his veins. The Penance rang with a slightly different note, achieving a delightful harmony with the lower-pitched core.

In a way, he wished he could remain there for longer, simply savoring the reassuring hum of the Nether System that supported his body. It felt like leaning against a massive metaphysical rib cage and hearing the even and sure beat of a powerful heart.

Then Randidly felt that comparison was slightly strange because the heart was his own. Shaking his head, he turned his focus to the three foundations of his images.

Randidly understood intuitively the emotions that would empower his images, but that was putting the cart before the horse. He should not adopt those emotional affects in order to pick up the emotions, but those should be his affects all the time, thereby binding him more tightly to his three images. Making that process subconscious and natural would remove one small impediment from him improving his images.

Considering how far he still had to go, he wanted to get that small distance out of the way as soon as possible.

He first conjured Yggdrasil, having the massive trunk, creaking branches, and rustling leaves wrap around him. The warm and earthy noises of Yggdrasil were very different from the hum and chime of the Nether Core and Penance, but they wove together extremely well into a natural symphony. Randidly instantly felt transported to an imaginary temple deep within the jungle. Above it, the World Tree rose.

Randidly felt, raw and exposed, forcefully opening himself up to sensations so he could examine the whole of his emotional affect with Yggdrasil. He felt awe and fear, for the wild growth around and for the rugged and unpredictable beauty of nature and life. He felt a desire for stability, the warm uplifting feeling that allowed the World Tree to gather and purify so much energy to later distribute to the surrounding landing.

But Randidly also felt a stubbornness in that image. For a few seconds, he groped around, confused. But then he felt the source; although the World Tree continued to consume increasingly large amounts of energy and gather it all together, the tree still felt that its current form was enough. As he was partway through evolving the image and its Skills, that resistance to change was still present.

He allowed the image to fade and nodded to himself. I’ll need to deal with its Skill evaluations before I can pin down the exact emotional state for Yggdrasil. Even if I don’t want to interfere in the chaos of what is coming for Expira, it will be useful to take away some of its ripples and force them into Yggdrasil. Eventually, even this stubborn old tree will bloom like a flower.

He turned his attention to his neck image and the one that still left him feeling the most conflicted: the Grey Creature. He looked at his own face, within the armor and the scales, the two tails, and the familiar eyes of Yystrix.

*****

Zack Krum felt like the incarnation of a war god, ripping through the hastily assembled first line of defense in Zone 7. The guards stood slightly askew on the high wall around the market, the interior of which had been made to look like the facade of the buildings so that the various attendees didn’t realize how trapped they truly were, and were still partially blinded by Todd’s scraps of cloth when the trio had made it to the ledge.

One guard whipped a stun baton around but Zack Krum had already pinched his elbow and folded the joint to bring the weapon to its owner’s chest for a brief kiss. As it released its sizzling charge, Krum sashayed forward to his next few opponents. He hip-checked on guard off the edge and caught another raising his weapon. With a grin on his face, he flipped the man into a tumbling somersault several meters in the air.

The guard began to scream as he got over his dizziness and realized he was falling off the wall.

Zack planted his foot and turned, ready to enjoy more Judo flexing, but the wall around them was clear. A few crumpled forms remained, but none capable of slowing them down. Zeta had boldly smashed three backward and four more folded underneath precise hits from Todd’s Scrawled metal bars he usually kept strapped to his side.

Todd raised an eyebrow over his creepily inert eyeballs, likely noticing Zack’s enthusiasm for more violence. The older teen ducked his head and followed as they leapt over the edge. Something between jealousy and protectiveness warred in his chest. Yes, I know you are more powerful than me, even if you are several years younger. That’s why I don’t get why you are so-

At a certain balcony three levels down from the top, Zeta stopped. The automaton landed on the edge and twitched slightly, as though unsure how to proceed. Zack crashed to the stone ground after hopping off his vehicle and rolled. By the time he was standing, he rather awkwardly realized that the reason Zeta had paused was the woman was on the balcony, pressed up against the far wall and watching the new arrivals with concern.

He tried a rakish smile. The woman was beautiful, with soft lavender hair and pale pink eyes. Her arms were crossed defensively across her chest. “Hello, miss. Don’t worry about us, we are here to rescue you.”

Yet just as soon as he finished speaking, Zack Krum settled into a crouch. The woman in front of him, her eyes glowing that familiar, baleful grey light, raised her hand and conjured a swirling ball of light. Zack’s instincts screamed, warning of the danger that she represented. Then he looked at the woman a second time, past her beauty. He saw the shimmering scales on her temples and the horns that curled out from her forehead.

“She a Chimera,” Todd whispered, perched at the edge of the balcony like a baby bird about to be shoved into freefall by its mother.

The light the woman created grew brighter as she prepared to unleash her Skill. Todd swayed. Zack’s eyes narrowed, that horrible desperation finally finding a target. This time, he wouldn’t flinch. He took a step forward, about to pounce, but then Zeta was there, its powerful brass fingers clamping onto Zack’s wrist. “Wait.”

The automaton looked solemnly at the woman. “I’m sure you’ve analyzed the odds. There is no future for you here. Come with us, leave this place. Those distant possibilities, we can show them to you. With us, statistics won’t matter as much. Even as I say that I feel foolish-”

Zack looked up at the brass man in confusion. “What are you doing? She’s a monster. She can’t really understand you.”

“The System translates language for all intelligent life,” Zeta responded. “And human cultural additions to communication are not so important as you believe. This being understands.”

Zack’s eyes narrowed. “She-”

“The moon whispered I would be saved by earth bones.” The woman’s voice was low and cool, like a stream at night. She closed her hand and the deadly light vanished. She walked up and rapped a knuckle against Zeta. “That is you?”

“I can be considered bones. I am a composite alloy.” Zeta’s voice sounded strangely muffled. Up close, Zack noticed how tall the woman was. She towered over all of them, a few inches even above Zeta. But the brass man and the strange female chimera locked gaze and seemed content to just stare at each other.

Yet Zack couldn’t believe this nonsense. He turned to Todd. “We need-”

“We need to go,” Todd had already drawn a Scrawl on an extra board and tossed it at the woman’s feet. “Zeta, tell your new friend that we need to move now before the guards come back in force. We don’t have long.”

A new voice spoke from above the balcony. “Unfortunately, it is already too late. You are under arrest, for attempting to free a dangerous criminal. Please surrender, otherwise, I cannot guarantee what follows will not be extremely painful.”

All three pivoted and looked up. Standing on a cloud, a man in a sharp Zone 7 military uniform looked down on them with folded arms. He had a slightly curved blade at his waist. Zack even recognized him.

They had been caught by Huang Li, the man who wielded the Sky Slaying Sword.