Chapter 2205

Chapter 2205

Randidly walked out across the rough edged hills to the shadowy figure standing and watching the training area with a few ideas in his mind for who could be waiting for him. The air felt hot and still, suddenly heavy without the animating force of his dome enlivening the area. The one that made him the most expectant was a young version of the being who would become the last remaining Nether King, who Randidly would eventually free.

Perhaps its consciousness had managed to follow the subtle and not-so-subtle changes to the timeline and had something to say. Obviously, the Nether King did not feel the need to help Randidly without getting some benefit in return, but he might nudge him in the right direction if developments were proceeding dangerously.

As far as Randidly could tell, they both had their sights set on Elhume. A common enemy aligned them.

Another part of Randidly resigned himself to a second confrontation with Nether King Bleak Sky. That twisted Nether King seemed to possess enough spite to linger and wait for Randidly, despite the spreading reach of the war between Aether and Nether. By this point, any injuries he had suffered had probably recovered.

Superficial ones, at least.

Yet as Randidly settled five meters away from the figure, his brow furrowed in confusion; the Nether King waiting for his presence was neither of those two. An unfamiliar figure with the leering head of a horse and a bulging hunchback twisted and spat to the side. Its voice came out as a croak. “You are the one that is called Nether King Hungry Eye?”

“Yes. Can I help you with something?” Randidly’s senses tingled. Ripples of separate, cascading consequences congregated in the limbs of the figure. The Dread Homunculus gathered and categorized the information without overheating his brain, but the awareness was too new to understand the connections. He couldn’t quite recognize the patterns playing out in front of him yet.

“That depends.” The Nether King rumbled. When it next opened its mouth to speak, it instead began to cough. It took a few seconds of hacking before it released another quivering wad of phlegm and continued. Its eyes were red and bloodshot. “They call me Plague Rider. I am a Nether King of honor and you made a deal with our forces. So long as you concern yourself solely with small matters within this area, we have no business together. However, should you ever feel the need to break your word and intervene in the war...”

Plague Rider’s eyes narrowed even further. The consequences squirmed into the Nether King’s limbs, influencing every aspect of his body language. “You owe me a debt, Nether King Hungry Eye. On his first mission to earn achievement, my great nephew didn’t return. After speaking the Nether Kings who came out to punish Malloon... I learned he died by your hand.”

Randidly straightened slightly. Within Sulfur’s new form, in the depths of the Domain he had inherited from Helen, the pure aspect of rot he had absorbed gave a small quiver of recognition. He sucked in a breath and then released it.

For a few seconds, the silence stretched between them. The Plague Rider’s smirk widened, showing wide, flat teeth. “You aren’t going to deny the allegations?”

“I suspect it won’t make much difference to you. I can see in your eyes the resolve to die.” Randidly felt his left hand twitch with another feeling, directly in the palm. The lingering mark of his exhaustion, still present in his life. He had fought and won, over and over again, finding himself very high up along his Path. But that meant that every choice he made now had consequences.

He walked forward but created counter-currents with every step.

“Keh. I appreciate you, Nether King Hungry Eye. No, I envy you, how you so boldly harken back to the old days, before we all bent the knee to the Arbiter.” The Plague Rider spat again to the side. The longer Randidly stood in front of the being, the more he could smell decay and filth lingering about his body. More than the feeble, rotten garment, that pulsing aura of degeneration covered him. “Yet the Nether have grown to our dominance through rigorous adherence to the system that governs us. That has saved us from ourselves, from the whims of Nether Warlords and the silences of Nether Priestesses. You cannot be allowed to exist, to weaken all we have created.”

The Plague Rider shrugged. Across its bulky stomach, its skin ripped. An indeterminate black liquid dribbled out onto the stone ground. “Perhaps. But now we will never know. Now, we must content ourselves with pondering endings and epilogues.”

Congratulations! Your Skill Homunculus’s Monstrous Tenacity (P) has grown to Level 845!

The two faced each other in silence for several seconds. Moss formed on the ground around the Plague Rider’s feet, creeping outward from his quivering legs. A few seconds later, the moss turned wizened and twisted, like puckered skin.

Congratulations! Your Skill Homunculus’s Monstrous Tenacity (P) has grown to Level 846!

...

Congratulations! Your Skill Homunculus’s Monstrous Tenacity (P) has grown to Level 860!

“So,” Randidly spoke slowly. The pain in his chest due to the Nether Core remained constant, but new aches sprung up across his limbs. But meanwhile, from the depths of a Cloak of Utter Night, ten thousand phantasms snickered and chuckled. “Shall we fight?”

“Oh, child. The fight has already begun. And you have lost,” The Plague Rider shook his head, almost sadly. “But you... I can feel the density of your Nether. And feel that you stand on the cusp of a new plateau with your significance. Hah... had the era been different... I would have been proud to call one such as yourself Warlord. But now... you are a Nether King, nothing more, and you need to be removed.”

Randidly tried not to lose his temper at how little the Nether King in front of him understood the current situation. “It does not need to be like this. Your story-”

“Just as I always have, I will determine the completion of my own story,” The Plague Rider’s face creased in fury. His mouth opened, wider and wider, those flat teeth that had been acting as a gate on his fetid breath allowing the noxious fumes to seep out. The smell grew more nauseating. “Raise your weapon, boy. No matter how weakened you have become... You need not die without a fight.”

With great care, Randidly flicked his arm. Acri, in its new, smaller form slithered and straightened to form a spear. His body continued to complain, but a mass of darkness smothered that sensation.

Congratulations! Your Skill Homunculus’s Monstrous Tenacity (P) has grown to Level 861!

The homunculus had been built; it feared not disease or time.

“Fine then,” Randidly glowered, but already his face became a shadowy disc, housing two emerald lanterns. An impenetrable cloak of darkness settled around his body. As he expanded his image, his emotional sea stirred. “We fight.”

His new image leered forward, eyes gleeful as it continued how to use this fool’s death to advance.