SWNOVELXO Chapter 68: Kek!
"|GET FLESHED|!"
The command caused a phenomenal change to occur in the surroundings.
Only Skullius appreciated its meaning and the amount of malice that it held as it carried the deep and pent up emotion that he felt!
It didn't matter if it made sense to Dezrael or anyone else because like it or not, someone was going to get FLESHED!
...And [Pseudo Evil Veneration] intended to execute this command in a very literal sense!
The darkness surrounding the two while they were enveloped by the golden red energy, stormed towards Skullius, flooded into his mouth like dark air, and then blasted outward, as though rushing to catch his words!
"What?!" Dezrael was astonished by the development.
He withdrew his hand from Skullius' neck with a cautious expression and prepared to take on whatever this weakling had prepared.
A storm of concentrated darkness gushed to strike Dezrael in the chest with a speed that was way beyond his capability to respond!
It punctured through the armour and invaded his body. It then surged as a noticeable black, inky ooze under his skin at a ridiculous speed, seizing control over his entire body!
"ARRRRGHHHHHHHBLBLBLBLBL!" Dezrael screamed in pain as in the next instance, his flesh began to bubble in a disgusting manner, expanding and contracting as if something blasphemous growing within him was attempting to escape!
Skullius dropped to the ground as he felt all his mana drain from his body!
[Pseudo Evil Veneration] had activated, but it immediately drained him of all the mana he had!
But that wasn't all; it latched onto Skullius' [Basic Mana Manipulation] and rushed to devour the mana that flowed from Dezrael's body as well!
The winged being's body inflated further!
He grew to almost four times his normal size, becoming a mass of disgusting meat and bone that unsteadily changed shape, with the only constant being his head, which held rolled up eyes and an aghast expression frozen in a shuddering scream of agony!
The pain that the Arch-Luminant felt was unreal!
His armour had burst in some portions and fallen off.
Skullius watched in awe. He felt his body grow weak (heavy), his mind spinning incessantly, but he didn't MIND!
All that he thought about now was how [Pseudo Evil Veneration] had worked!
So what if his arm was charred, his face half missing while he was barely clothed!
Dezrael's massive body couldn't exist in this form any longer.
The mana he produced had continued to act as a fuel for [Pseudo Evil Veneration], but there was a limit.
So...
POP!
KSPDHEJESTSJESHHH!
Chunks fell down, raining with thick, disgusting grace.
However, Skullius didn't feel any disgust or repulsion at all. He only felt bliss.
Soon, what he had been waiting for finally showed.
[You have killed the Higher level existence, 'Arch-Luminant, Dezrael'. You have gained experience]
[Calculating...]
[3,804,950 Exp awarded]
[Would you like to appoint Exp to 'Null Lifeform (Boneman) or 'Discount Human'?]
[Your prey emits...]
"Hehehehehehe!" Skullius laughed as he saw the experience reward!
With this, Tier 1 was already in sight!
[You have surpassed the expectations of the Labyrinth with your display of 'honour' and your immense level of cruelty]
[A special situation has occurred]
[You have shown 'Dezrael' honour by removing his binds, allowing him a 'fair' fight and also stripped him of honour by defiling him in an unsightly, perverse way]
[The vestiges of Fulgardt grin with approval]
"I did what? I didn't free him because I wanted to!" Skullius protested.
[You have gained the rewards from two scenarios]
['Evil Darkness' affinity has been promoted to 'C' rank]
[You have gained the soul of 'Arch-Luminant Dezrael]
['Just Light' affinity has been promoted to 'E' rank]
[You may choose a skill from 'Dezrael's' arsenal]
[Compiling list...]
Skullius jumped up and down in joy as he saw the rewards for his 'hard work'.
"Oh, I thought [Just Light] would get the same rank as what [Evil Darkness] had gotten before. Is E lower or higher?! The information packet didn't cover this. Ah, I'll find out later! Let's just check the good stuff!"
However...
[Interruption...]
[The Doom Factor 'Disowned' has caught up]
[You have failed—
"COME ON, BRO! NOT NOW!" Skullius roared as his joy dissipated in the sudden storm that was this annoying Doom Factor.
"Manamanamanamanamanamanamanamana!!"
Looking around, he saw the armour that Dezrael had been wearing and raced towards it at full speed!
He didn't know if what he was attempting would work, but it was the only working idea that he had.
He had thought of possible ways to survive before and the option of donning this armour which had mana that had lasted for thousands of years had crossed his mind.
Skullius reached the armour and saw its pathetic state. It had been rusted, which made it hard to maintain its integrity under the ballooning of its wearer just now.
A chunk of its left side from the chest plate to the pauldron had been blown off, but the armour seemed decently intact.
Skullius wore the large armour set and immediately activated [Basic Mana Manipulation]!
"Ohh..."
Mana burst into him with intense vigour, nourishing his body and filling up his core!
'This isn't because of [Basic Mana Manipulation] at all! The armour is readily supplying me with mana!'
Skullius once again felt relieved.
He thought that the armour would reject him but that didn't turn out to be the case.
Though he didn't know it, the power within the armour had been raging for millennia.
Any subconscious reason that it once had for recognising only Dezrael was eroded by time.
All it yearned to do now, was to keep the wearer of the armour safe and nourished!
While Skullius wouldn't know all this, he did notice something strange about this mana sifting through him.
It wasn't like his own.
It had a greater quality to it, though it was not quite like the one he had felt from Benzard and the others.
'Strange,' Replicus thought. 'But welp, doesn't really matter right now!'
He plopped to the ground. He had dodged erasure once again, even though he had paid a price for it... again.
His mind was ringing as extreme exhaustion sat on his body in the form of cruel weight.
He could barely think straight.
He looked at his arm that was a black, charred husk, the skin on his chest left brittle and hard, the ease with which it could be crumpled very apparent... How annoying.
All this barely mattered, however. The Discount Human was still in the game.
[Interruption solved... please wait...]
[List of skills belonging to 'Dezrael' compiled:]
[Radiant Apocalypse - Special]
[Elusive Speed Saint]
[Primal Sun - Special]
[Edifying Light of the Luminant]
[Luminous Healing]
[Edos Summoning - Special]
[Son of Luserus - Special]
"Ooooh... so many."
Looking at the rather sizable list, Skullius couldn't help but emit a satisfied grunt.
Which one to choose though?
He speedily read through the descriptions and his eyes almost popped out of his sockets!
"Ridiculous!" Skullius remarked.
All the skills had absurd levels of offense, defence and damage but...
"THE COST!"
For instance...
~~~
[Radiant Apocalypse (Special) | Lv.1]
Manifest a foreign authority that brings with it a bright, crimson radiance which transforms living creatures below the Incandescent Stage into ravenous beasts with a passive aura that destroys all life.
Mana Requirements: 7,900 (I) Mana Points
Duration: 10 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 days
----
[Primal Sun (Special) | Lv. 1]
Create a miniature sun that steals all the heat as well as mana from an area spanning up to 500 meters, compounds it within itself and then attacks the target.
Mana Requirements: 10,780 (I) Mana Points
Duration: 1 hour
Cooldown: 15 days
~~~
These were ridiculously powerful skills, but they would cost Skullius an arm, a leg... his skull and pelvis.
This wouldn't even be enough.
Furthermore, he couldn't even use most of them even if he had the mana because his core couldn't support these skills.
They were Special.
Skullius would grow to know the difference between normal skills and the rest with time but Special skills required a blue mana core or above to cast.
The colour of a mana core depicted the quality of mana it held (even though mana retained a white hue regardless of the core it was conjured from). The same value of mana in a white core and a blue core, for instance, was different. There was a rough disparity of ten times!
Many of the skills on the list shown in Skullius' eyes were offensive but those that weren't were not bad either.
[Edos Summoning] would call upon an odd creature that would gain its master's abilities and amplify their effects fivefold.
[Elusive Speed Saint] would grant the user a 200% boost in speed for 3 minutes with the sub-effect of creating realistic after-images that ran in different directions to the user!
Skullius wanted these but...
"<Sigh>. I can only pick one. How did Dezrael lose with all these skills and so much mana?!" Skullius yelled at the splattered remains of Dezrael.
It was indeed vexing.
Skullius had already made his choice after reading the descriptions of the skills.
It was only logical to choose this after all that he had experienced.
[You have chosen the skill 'Luminous Healing']
That's right.
Skullius had chosen [Luminous Healing]!
This was because he had considered how low his survivability was. He had been about to die just by being in the presence of Dezrael before, which was tragic, to say the least.
Besides, the costs of the other skills made sure that he wouldn't be able to use them until he was overpowered as flesh.
On top of all this, it had the lowest cost.
~~~
[Luminous Healing | Lv.1]
Conjure a pure energy that runs through the body to heal damage and even cause spontaneous growth of special cells that can regrow lost limbs and cure deadly ailments. This skill can also be used offensively.
-Additional mana insertion after the base requirement can improve effects of the skill-
Mana Requirements: 200 Mana Points
Duration: None
Cooldown: 2 minutes
~~~
Skullius didn't have 200 Mana Points but...
A bright floating soul that was before him promised to solve that issue.
Dezrael's soul was much brighter than Sila's for obvious reasons. Skullius hoped that it would give him better stats.
His hopes were to be granted with a bit of something else as well.
He grabbed the soul, feeling the strange persistent desire to devour this glowing piece again and then...
*Eating sound*