Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1381: Pressed For Resolve (1)



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Skullius felt something significant churning in his Broader Existence - a great tremor. It was the Andori, [King of Severing Twilight: AfterDark]. Like skills in the body, Andori were also branded to the interior of the Broader Existence, and they circled the Amras well constantly.

The last time the Hybrid Warmoth had experienced such a reaction from his Broader Existence, was when the Doom Knight had blasted him with its green lightning Exotic Parlous Nature and carved through his soul using its great sword. The damage had reached his Broader Existence then, and it had pulsed violently. The sensation Skullius felt right now was similar, only it didn't hurt like hell.

But even then, the damage the Doom Knight had done to his Broader Existence might have killed him if it had been delivered right. The only reason that blow with the sword had not killed Skullius was because it reached his Broader Existence indirectly. (This was how most Divines and above bested each other, since attacks that targeted the Broader Existence directly were extremely rare.) If the blow had been aimed at his Broader Existence, it would have either collapsed in on itself or shattered like glass.

Thankfully though, the Broader Existence had the capacity to heal on its own especially when damage was received as a result of either the body or soul being left vulnerable.

'Ahh...' Skullius moaned, pleased. The feeling was reminiscent of an annoying itch deep in the flesh getting scratched mysteriously, satisfactorily by something unseen, ethereal and active. ['King of Severing Twilight: AfterDark' is being forcibly elevated!]

[.....]

[4.1% of the siphoned matter from using Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz has been used up in the process]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[You have acquired the Third Ascendant Tier Andori, 'Forbidden Monastery of Black's Scion'!]

The Andori was swiftly established in Skullius' Broader Existence and he couldn't help but give a hefty sigh of both pleasure and relief. He felt it pulse and throb with impatience in his body. It was eager, almost exhibiting the traits of a strong-willed Treasure.

'Forbidden Monastery of Black's Scion? That's an odd name, but it just might be fitting...' Skullius thought.

But right then, Expanded Shadow Fiend's Leather reacted viscerally. It coated Skullius with a sleek, dark armour that hissed black in smoky trails around him. The armour looked neither vicious nor saintly, but it gave the impression that it was formidable when it came to protecting its user.

It seemed the Expanded Shadow Fiend's Leather only reacted this way - granting Skullius armour-when he was either in danger, or when it felt a strong connection to something within him.

The latter seemed especially true for this current circumstance, as indeed, Expanded Shadow Fiend's Leather was resonating with [Forbidden Monastery of Black's Scion]. Flashes of a kind of darkness only Skullius could distinguish from the rest ran across his armour, thrumming and throbbing.

'This is...' he had begun when a sharp call interrupted his thoughts.

"ELITA! ELITAAAAAA! HELP!!!"

Skullius recognised the voice at once, as did Elita, of course.

It was Revia, and she was crying for help from a great distance away.

Amidst all the chaos that followed what should have been a simple adventure to exact judgement on a corrupt organisation, Revia's own challenge against the Purity had almost been forgotten.

Elita especially felt ashamed that she had completely lost all thoughts concerning Revia until just now. She was racing towards what had been the Purity headquarters in the next second, followed by Uyuniya and Aurolio.

Skullius frowned, and he followed too. He would have loved to get acquainted with his new Andori, but the larger bit of him saw the look on Elita's face and was immediately reminded that he and her had yet to resolve their 'issues'. He wanted that done sooner rather than later; he wanted to find out if Elita was suitable to keep as an ally for now, or if she needed help. That thought would backfire on the Hybrid Warmoth quite soon, unfortunately.

Sila, Araeyn and Kenno followed after Skullius, curious as to what exactly was going on now.

The great fissures and craters made by the battle made travel on land rather difficult. Well, it would have been much worse if Kenno hadn't transmuted the ground into the sturdy steel beforehand.

As the group continued on, flying through the sky, they passed the cleaved, battered remains of the Second-ranked Paladin Champion, Mercella. Her skeleton looked rather pitiful. The nine had sent her corpse to fight against the Doom Knight, claiming that their new order, all 'sponsored' by Elita, would purge the evil thing, but it had been more than obvious that the corpse wouldn't so much as reach within two meters of the undead Deity, much less contend against it in battle.

Prompted by the look of Mercella, Skullius gave Elita a look.

The impression he had had at first, when Elita brought him here, claiming she wanted to end the Purity, still gnawed at him. Regardless of everything that had followed after, he still felt

betrayed.

The former Paladin Champion felt the sting from his gaze.

"Quit with that judgemental look, Skullius," she said to him, frowning.

"I wish I could. There really was no need for you to go this far," Skullius hissed. Elita scoffed. She seemed surer of herself now. Skullius imagined she felt justified in what she had done through just how much Uyuniya had contributed to the battle against the Doom Knight. And fair enough, because of this Elita had played her part in delivering on the promise to Suzamete to save Aigas.

But Skullius wasn't convinced. He was moreso bothered by the fact that it was Elita who did such a thing, than by the deed itself.

"ELITA!"

The group had arrived at the source of the voice.

The Purity headquarters was no more, but there were a lot of remains - a truly staggering amount. It appeared that the reason much of these remains, stitched together by disease and rot persisted even amidst the shockwaves and fallout of absurd attacks, was a mix of Serenity's Null Life Essence dome and a World rank item that erected a barrier around them.

Skullius had sensed it before, when he and Elita were going down the levels of the Purity headquarters; more precisely, he had sensed the sword Uyuniya had come from - the Incubating Masterpiece - and the artefact which erected the barrier. It appeared the latter could be used more than once, though it couldn't possibly weather through the powers which

had been contending closeby.

However much the amalgamation of flesh had persisted, it were scorched, charred and disintegrated. The nine still thrived, but barely. They spoke in frail voices, like whispers, their eyes honing in on the group with looks of agony and terror.

"A... new order... A new order..." they kept saying.

Other than the masses of diseased flesh, a few torn corpses could be seen... and then there was Elita, bloody, broken, and missing a few limbs. She was hugging Alaris' body. His legs had been burned off by something powerful and the rest of him was charred steak. He was still breathing, however, miraculously.