Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1357  The Wrong In It

Before breaking out of the Undeath energy prison…

"LISTEN TO ME, YOU STUBBORN SOCKETHOLE!" Skullius boomed, his blank eyes glaring at Uyuniya. "This isn't the time to strut your damn pride! In case you haven't noticed, our opponent is a fleshing Deity! The only way to beat it is with a well-constructed plan! If you have a better one, why don't you tell us? We're all ears."

Uyuniya stared daggers at Skullius, and then her eyes narrowed to slits. One would have thought she didn't have anything to retort. Well, in that case, one would be wrong.

"Despite how strong you are, you really are a product of an inferior world aren't you? I thought Void's sister was supposed to be more cunning, a genius, given how she's managed to rope in the interest of all the greater entities in reality," she said with a scoff. "How can you fear Deities, much less Undead ones? In any case, I do have a plan. Unlike you, I can continuously replenish my Voided Death Essence and with my Void Clot, I can injure a Deity if given the right opening. Chances of that shoot up tremendously with Elita's Broodweiler. And as such, no. She will not be surrendering it to you."

Aurolio was silently listening to the back and forth with great interest. It was a miracle that he could hold back his intense desire to butt into the conversation and give his own insights. The battle across the Central Boundary of Aigas had taught him there was value in being quiet sometimes – waiting.

It was also a miracle that anything intelligible could come from Uyuniya's mouth. Honestly, because they hadn't been able to communicate, and Uyuniya would rather fight than listen to reason, Skullius had begun to think she was a bit of an idiot.

Overcoming the language barrier between them had been a simple thing. Connecting to her mind with mana allowed them to communicate, but before, when Uyuniya was dead set on killing him, this wouldn't have worked. She would have prevented Skullius' mana from reaching her.

Everyone was connected to the network of mana now, even though it was only Skullius and Uyuniya who were arguing.

Skullius was seething. He turned to Elita.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked him.

"Don't you have a damn opinion of your own? Does she" – Skullius pointed at Uyuniya – "speak for you even on this?"

"What do you mean, even on this? Are you still assuming I don't understand the path I've chosen? That it was chosen for me by Uyuniya and Void? I'm proud of the fact that I'm not so naïve anymore, Skullius. What I did, I did for both my new belief and to elevate the strength of my ally. And as it turns out right now, having her at the same level as you – something I achieved by sacrificing poisoned men and women hiding behind the Deities – might just save Aigas! Tell me where the wrong is in that!"

Uyuniya seemed proud, but she masked her emotions with her glare against Skullius.

The Hybrid Warmoth was beat. He sighed and his expression softened.

"Tell me where the wrong is in trusting me just for a little while. If I wanted you dead, I would have done so as soon as you confessed how you lied to me. Both of you." Skullius shot Uyuniya a look. "But right now, I don't care for arguing or murdering. Everything living, Void-living and Null-living in reality feels the unnerving creep of Undeath. It's an enemy to us all, and in this case, it is pretty personal."

Elita sighed.

"We owe Suzamete, remember?" Skullius continued. "We said we'd help with the chaos on Aigas right now, and I seem to recall that you were all giddy about meeting her. If you thought Uyuniya could help with achieving that, fine. All I need is a bit of trust for this current problem."

"You keep speaking of trust. Funny," Uyuniya said, chuckling. "I just saw Void try to kill you in the name of injustice, an injustice by your benefactor, it seems. So, noble objectives aside, how is my trust well-invested in you… Skullius?" She seemed to hiss his name.

Aurolio would have loved to have had some popcorn. Kenno too. They didn't know it, but they might have been birds of a feather.

Skullius sighed. Perhaps it was better to change his approach. Uyuniya was very good at frying his patient nerves. He tried to cool himself off. The very look of her made him mad.

"Trust, huh? Well, you seem to be very invested in the idea kin. Fellow Voided Deathforms. That's all that matters to you, right? Who says I am NOT your kin?" Skullius said.

Uyuniya recoiled and scowled.

"What?"

In one of Skullius' hands, strings of his latest Exotic Parlous Nature wound between his fingers.

Elita and Uyuniya tensed.

"I don't have any particularly strong feelings towards Emmae, Void or even Serenity. Yet, I've harnessed Undeath, Null Life and at the moment, it looks like I'm partaking of Voided Death, in a way," Skullius said solemnly. He watched as his fingers twiddled. "For me, things aren't so black and white, not because I'm special, but because of circumstances. I don't know how thorough you are about the term 'kin', but for now, whether you like it or not, it seems I'm part of the family. Far from the main branch, but family all the same."

***

Elita was darting as fast as she could towards the Gajjkav. Her Void Clot sprouted from her head to her torso, and thus she couldn't use it to speed up like Uyuniya, who was already upon the Phantasmic Retainer, her body swallowed in darkness – in void.

Skullius had told Elita, Uyuniya and Aurolio that after Kenno's Territory vanished, they were to hit the Gajjkav with their strongest attacks as quickly as possible.

And thus…

"RAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Uyuniya roared and with her Voided Death Essence hand, she smashed into the Gajjkav with everything she had.

A blow from her with mild effort while using Void Clot had been enough to completely obliterate Skullius' body. This time she put everything she had in the punch and the tremor which spawned from the impact was atrocious!

After an astounding crash, the ground sank inwards inconsistently for a thousand kilometres. However, if it hadn't been transmuted by Kenno into a powerful iron capable of increasing its density and integrity by absorbing mana, the damage would have been five times greater and it would have carried over to rest of Feinheath.

The Gajjkav reacted rather… oddly.

It swelled, becoming misshapen and let out a peculiar, high-pitched shriek.

Then Elita was upon it. She couldn't hope to do as much damage as Uyuniya barehanded, but…

A golden-white flash splashed before her, manifesting Broodweiler right into her hand.

…And Elita went crazy.

The Gajjkav might not have been innately Divine, but the Amras charged into it gave it a level of reinforcement that qualified it as one.

Thus, when Elita slashed at it seven thousand times in a blink, it swelled again while shrieking horribly, growing in height to more than 50 meters!

…And then it burst.

Aurolio had yet to do anything. He, along with everyone else was flung away a great distance by the explosion.

'Was that supposed to happen?' he thought just as he steadied his body.

Uyuniya, Kenno, and Elita wondered the same.

Well, it was indeed supposed to happen like that.

The Gajjkav had been imbued with a Seed of the Fruit of World Myths that allowed the Gajjkav to trap a target within its body, and focus any attacks it received from the outside on said target. The damage received was then amplified by an exponential of 20 on the victim. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Indeed, 20!

This was the power of the Seed of the Fruit of World Myths known as Exorbitance!

It was quite a handy Seed. Skullius had discovered quite recently that Fulgardt had been right. The powers of the Insurgent Magnus had every potential to reach the Common Reality Leagues. The Seeds and the Phantasmic Retainers resonated with the strength of their user, even to the Divine. They, in a way, broke the Common Reality Leagues, but perhaps that was the point; they were supposedly a power given by someone who existed outside the Common Reality Leagues.

Skullius came flying out of the aftermath of the explosion.

He was unharmed. He was immune to the effects of his own Seeds, after all.

At the centre of the mess he had left, the Doom Knight was standing, hunched, with smoke rising from its body.

It too was unharmed. Mostly. A very thin, new set of scratches had appeared on its chest.

While Uyuniya, Elita, Aurolio and Kenno looked dismayed at this sight, however, Skullius was grinning.

He had identified the threshold, if only barely and he couldn't help but laugh.

'As I expected, its Immortal Physique is something else too. But it isn't invincible. Shockingly, this guy might just be a lackey,' he thought.

And then his [Legion Eyes] opened.

Instead of the green-gold glow they had exhibited until now, however, they expelled a mix of puce and turquoise. The shade was more vibrant than before, and the eyes started bleeding almost immediately. Great, throbbing veins popped up on Skullius' temples, seeming ready to burst. They could hardly endure it.

But Skullius was determined.

[You are funnelling the Pseudo-Void Exotic Parlous Nature, 'Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz' into the First Sage Tier Andori, 'Legion Eyes']

[…]

[A temporary mutation has been achieved]

[You have created the First Ascendant Tier Andori, Vision of Calamity'!]