Chapter 2375
The Monarch of Karma started playing a game.
He sat on a rock, drifting through and toward oblivion, afraid of his own subconscious. He wanted a more normal life, but as normal as he could become would be to develop a hobby. A safe, harmless hobby to pass the time, to give him a bit of structure.
So, he picked up some of the pebbles that drifted toward him and began throwing the rocks, seeing how far away he could accurately hit a target.
Obviously, before each throw, he paused and cleared his heart of all desires. He didnt want any nonsense to tie itself to these meaningless thrown rocks. It was just a small, focused physical activity. It did not need to be anything more than that.
The Monarch of Karma pivoted and threw a rock. It sailed cleanly across the vast reaches of space and clacked against a chunk of debris barely visible from his current position. Despite his lofty goal of remaining unaffected by the success, the Monarch of Karma allowed himself a brief fist pump.
He moved over to the strange, holy ritual ground that refused to part from him and began to search for additional pebbles. As he picked up his next bit of ammunition, he could almost taste the stone. He dropped the pebble, startled.
His senses swirled around him; previously, he had tried to distance himself as much as possible. Even awareness became a bridge to far. But connecting to his body through the simple actions of pebble throwing brought some of his powerful awareness back into action. So suddenly, he realized that his fears about this strange stone platform were well founded.
Maybe he had even underestimated the risk of this place.
A unified but muffled clack brought the Monarch of Karmas head up. He looked at the distant stones; they appeared now to be drifting around his position, orbiting a sun. Another clack sounded and suddenly he released that the previously thrown pebbles had entered their own sort of orbit, bouncing off their targets and then hitting another target. And then another.
Clack.
Clack
Clack.
The Monarch of Karma sat in the middle of a totally accidental orrery and sighed. It always begins like this
*****
Randidly Ghosthound rushed at the head of the group, keeping his speed suppressed so his small army could keep up with him. Ahead, the specter of Devick continued to skip forward, almost mocking their seriousness. He kept an eye above, watching the flow of significance for any dangerous developments. He coolly clocked the shift coming from the Beigon compound, which likely meant the Don hadnt missed the opportunity.
At the very least, Randidly felt confident with such a large debt sitting between them. Don Beigon would not be a problem. Or at least, he was one that he had proved capable of handling in the past.
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If Nether flows through them, a varietal would form. She confirmed. The power would be small, but small expressions might end up being unusually sophisticated. There is no way to know.
Randidlys lips twitched. The walls were pressing even more tightly around their bodies. So, a strange and impossible gamble, with everything at stake. Alright, how close is Enmya to being ready to give his Phaea?
We can expedite the process and begin almost immediately. He will ahem, Enmya has done an admirable job in demonstrating his intent to serve the people of the Alpha Cosmos. He has passable control over patterns and is truly expanding-
How long, Lowanna? Randidly interrupted. As the shade of the Actus Suprem skipped forward, it almost appeared like she turned and glanced back at them before she proceeded forward and around the corner. It could have just been a strange twitch, or the angle, but-
Seeing the specter check on their progress slowed Randidlys steps. His eyes narrowed as he examined the surrounding, the way the walls pressed closer from every side, the way the density of the ambient Aether kept rising, the unnatural stillness he felt in the air. The flavor of their environment had changed and not for the better.
Shit, Randidly sighed, right as the return message came from Lowanna. It only confirmed his old fears, but didnt address the new ones. Likely at least six hours. His attitude the creation of so many Phaea at once will be a strain, even for Enmya.
Randidly didnt bother to reply. He glanced over his shoulder, catching Alanas gaze; she understood his intention immediately and bellowed out an order. Double time!
The few representatives from the Upper Sonara Society looked decidedly out of place as the Vulpis Squad surged forward and left them in the dust. The long hours of physical training paid dividends. They transformed in but a moment into a loping herd of predators, glad to charge into the jaws of this trap and tear their way out.
Randidly allowed his Cloak of a Thousand Lightless Horizons to stretch behind him as he bounded forward. All the restrictions he had placed on his speed for the sake of his followers, he abandoned. All his passive Skills, all the image physicalizations that had affected his body on a fundamental level, all the recent Stat boosts were allowed to manifest to their full potential. He remembered that intoxicating moment of advance as he had attacked Elhume he channeled that stampeding momentum and ripped around the corner.
Devicks phantasm twitched when he suddenly stood only a meter away from her, his eyes blazing and his hand reaching out to grab the projection. Whether it was just a little stray deviancy or a deliberate trap, he would stop this here.
The projection released a soundless screech and flickered as his hand neared. It flitted several meters forward, sensing his intentions and displaying its own second gear in response. Randidly only snorted; such a small distance was still within his reach.
As the claws of the Dread Homunculus sank into the projection and it began to wriggle and flail, the projection began to look horrified that it had been caught. It gazed at him with pleading eyes. It looked forward, then at its captor, then back forward. It broadcast desperation with every gesture. In response, Randidly frowned at this thing he had caught. The rest of the Vulpis Squad caught up to him and stared at the projection in confusion.
Even in the form of a wisp of an echo Randidly said slowly, as he observed projection practically beginning him to go forward a little bit more. The Actus Suprem would never show so much deference. You are not a flicker of madness from her. What the hell are you? Who did this?
The projection just continued to plead with its wide eyes. Even if the form was a lie, it was still Devick he trapped.
Almost unwillingly Randidly looked across the current low-ceilinged chamber to the dark hole opposite them. The Aether density had increased again, so it felt like the ominous hole in front of them breathed Aether out against them, a monstrous beast born of solidified energy.
Feeling that Aether, Randidly realized they could have arrived at only one specific place, for the energy to flow like this.
And he knew of only one specific ally that would have used subterfuge to lure him here. And already, his chest felt like a congested volcano at the thought of being misled at this juncture.