Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1321: Most Wanted (1)



"Be careful, Skullius," Serenity warned. "I didn't imagine either of these two were skilled enough to use such a technique."

Instantly, Skullius' instincts grew taut. He was suddenly reminded of when the Null Devil King Caxellac was about to use Serene Grace. The warning Serenity had given back then had been as cold as this one.

Skullius could only have drawn his full attention to the two women as they called upon the powers of this technique Serenity mentioned: Void Clot. It sounded ominous.

There wasn't an immediate assault, as Skullius had initially thought. In fact, both Uyuniya and Elita drew back from him and his clone, which continued to expend its Amras on [Elusive Meta Carvers] around itself. Skullius understood what purpose this served. He did the same. Hopefully, it would work.

Elita suddenly bulked up. Her armour creaked and adjusted to her sudden growth; she had grown to almost twice her previous size and her dark, curly hair grew wildly outward like a tangle of grasses, its colour morphing to a straw-like hue. It seemed to sing with sparks and heat.

'She's assuming her true form!' Skullius thought. He had seen Aurolio transform too, though the means he - and Elita - used to retain a human appearance seemed too different from Skullius' own. Aurolio had been human first, after all.

Uyuniya's transformation seemed to be the inverse of Elita's. She grew slimmer and smaller. She now matched the size of a typical common woman on Aigas. Her viral dress shrank to match her new stature, but she didn't appear any less dangerous (even with a leg made entirely out of Voided Death Essence). In fact, she appeared even more lethal when Voided Death Essence exploded from her and gathered into her hand. Still, Skullius wondered just why hers was stronger than Elita's and Aurolio's. The former Paladin Champion replicated her gesture. She gathered and condensed voided Death Essence until it sent unnerving ripples through the fabric of Aigas.

'This is goi—' Skullius began in his thoughts when her felt it. It was clearer this time!

It was an uncanny power that sprang forth from Uyuniya seeking to strip him of his connection to his Broader Existence!

It didn't catch Skullius off guard this time. The [Elusive Meta Carvers] - invisible slashes meant to attack immaterial and conceptual targets - met the vague reverberations of this power, and began ripping at them without end. But it was only the real Skullius who was targeted. The clone was free, and it attacked the Voided duo.

Skullius felt his slashes chip away at the intangible application of Voided Death Essence. It worked only partially. The effect still reached him, and he was once again drowned in darkness, but only for a fraction of a microsecond. His senses returned to the image of Elita's bright form defending impeccably against his clone's slashes.

The Hybrid Warmoth narrowed his eyes.

'I see now,' Skullius thought as he gathered himself. 'It's just like Aurolio's powers. When Void users don their masks, they awaken unique abilities - I presume ones related to the void in some fashion. Elita's is pretty straightforward. Whenever she is doing something valiant, brave or something she considers fitting of a nature as a Paladin Champion, she gets access to power beyond what she's normally capable of - power to contend against Divines, in this case.'

'That's how she saved me from Boron, catching him off-guard with that freakish speed. That's how she reacted so quickly against Fulgardt, and how she's been defending Uyuniya so easily against me.'

And this was indeed the case.

Elita's interpretation of the void was selflessness. Whenever she discarded a sense of self in order to save others, she obtained power capable of contending against Divines for the instant she performed the selfless deed.

Skullius watched as his clone was guarded against nomatter what attack it used. Elita flashed about, defending Uyuniya with Broodweiler. Both Void users were still gathering Voided Death Essence, but Elita had to stall because of her response to Skullius' clone. She prioritized buying time for her companion.

Skullius frowned. The sight of it made him feel sick. He couldn't shake off the feeling of being betrayed.

He also couldn't shake off the gnawing thought that was something different about Uyuniya and Elita's Void abilities when compared to Aurolio's. Aurolio's seemed more versatile and expansive. But at the same time, Skullius couldn't say that necessarily made the pale man a better combatant than these two.

'As for Uyuniya's ability-'Skullius had begun when once again, a sense of wooziness reached him. Uyuniya had attacked him again!

Skullius cursed, but his words, even in his own head were drowned in the darkness of unfeeling. Because of his constant use of [Elusive Meta Carver] though, the effect of Uyuniya's Master Void Gate ability didn't last as long as it should have. He was back to his senses almost immediately after being hit by it.

But...

...!!!

Skullius suddenly recalled the potent thrumming of the attack his possessed self had used hours ago. That ray of destructive [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] had sounded like the end of the world, and had the power to back it up.

What he felt approach right now was no beam of malign power, but it was damn near close. Uyuniya moved faster than Skullius could have hoped to perceive. Aigas unravelled around her, shattering like hard clay to reveal darkness that could only have belonged to the great void. Uyuniya was moving within this darkness, and not in Aigas. She was upon the Hybrid Warmoth less than an instant later, her fist shattering Aigas, and meeting his chest while livid with the void!

And indeed, this was Void Clot!

Skullius' [Entropy's Harmonising Nimbus] couldn't respond. It didn't recognize the nature of the attack enough to stop it with Melding Stitches or its Parlous Natures.

Even Skullius' Immortal Physique and stats didn't help. The impact on his chest was unlike anything he had ever felt before. When he decided to guard with Null Life Essence, it was already too late. There was a vicious, unstoppable piercing charge against his chest and...

All Skullius remembered was a flash of pain and a loud, grating ringing in his head that blared so loud he almost his sanity. There was a loud crash on the outside as well. He only recognized what it was when he came to. The Purity headquarters was gone. Fragments of it flew far and high. Mountains were riding the sky and clouds on their way to plummeting somewhere outside the bounds of Pelian.

...And Skullius himself was brutally ripped in two. His torso was lost, leaving only his arms, head and legs, all of which were still flying away. The pain that assaulted the Hybrid Warmoth right then was ungodly, but it wasn't new. He had tasted worse when he fought against

himself.

Skullius still had the time to gasp, gape and wonder what sort of attack that had been...until his consciousness was once again drowned, his senses stripped from him and his connection to his Broader Existence severed.