Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1435 : Nullmancy 101 (3)

Seeing the confused look in Skullius' eyes, which ultimately prompted him to look at Serenity, Unnio Lak elaborated. At this point, it was quite clear to him that the nuances of his Class weren't the only thing that Skullius was ignorant about.

"Null Life is about continuing to exist in a state of cool, and calm. In a way, it's immortality, but that part can only be achieved by those who dwell in the Null Verse. After their mortal vessels, souls, and Inverted Prevalences are destroyed, they are drawn by the foundations of the Null Verse itself to continue existing all around us, along its boundaries – wherever those are," he said.

Skullius hummed.

"Inverted Prevalence? Is that your name for the Broader Existence? The invisible space between the body and the soul?" he asked.

"Broader Existence, huh? What a way to lessen the weight of something so profound," scoffed Unnio Lak.

Skullius didn't necessarily disagree. Since Susu'k had been surprised by the name Broader Existence, he had only mildly wondered what the Null Lifeforms would call it.

"Anyway, as you can imagine, not all Null Lifeforms are pleased with the prospect of becoming one with the Null Verse. That tends to make Null Life users chaotic, arrogant, and unruly. The Four Authorities must ensure that in the end, all who enter the Cycle will enter without having to be harassed by those who wish to resist. Oddly enough, the endless variety of Null Lifeforms with different abilities and Flaws contradict the very idea behind Null Life itself sometimes."

"I always say, we as the experts who live in this Cluster – the Spellwelt – monitoring the Universal Purge Banner and striving to cultivate good relationships with bounty hunters, can only barely manage to introduce even a measly 5% to the total grade of order in the entire Null Verse."

The paper cut-out was suddenly sullen again.

"Gurron-Lavaan was all too happy to enter the Cycle. Ultimately, he refused to take his Apostles along even though they wanted to join him. I believe he wanted to watch what they would do after he passed - their exploits and the development of their ideals," he said before giving Skullius a dark look. "In your case, I have a feeling it's not that simple with your Apostles."

Skullius sighed.

"It's not."

And indeed, it wasn't.

Skullius knew for sure that he could die, and if he did, he wouldn't be passed into the Cycle.

Doom Factor 2 made sure of that.

His death would deliver his soul to Somanda immediately. However, there was a grey area to this.

When Skullius nearly died in Rayn's Majestic Territory, Sila sacrificed his soul to mend his. This not only saved Skullius' life, but it tethered him to Aigas. Since Sila was born in Aigas, his soul was programmed to be cast into the Yormuness after his death. Now that Skullius had his soul blended with his (Sila's), his soul was likely to be delivered to the Yormuness too.

...But Skullius wasn't sure a High Lich with a freakish mastery over souls would let that slide. No, somehow, some way, Somanda would have him. The only way he could think to escape was perhaps having his soul destroyed.

"So, my Apostles are doomed to die if I die, huh?"

"It would appear so."

"It's most definitely so," Serenity confirmed.

Araeyn cursed loudly. Unnio Lak laughed. He found it hilarious, especially since he seemed to know the difficulty that came with making the Authority of Dimensions, a high-tier race among all Null Lifeforms, submit to a Nullmancer.

Skullius fixed Araeyn with a glare. The Apostle didn't care for it. He had hoped to live longer.

Cursing at the Apostle, Skullius turned to Serenity.

"So, I'm assuming this whole Cycle thing has to do with the mechanism you placed around the Cosmic Treasure you used to create the Null Verse? Is it part of some stringent set of conditions you have to abide by?" he asked.

"Yes, but it's not some condition I have to meet. Deities in the wider reality create an afterlife for their creations. I was inspired by that idea," she said. Unnio Lak was listening closely too. "Null Life is indeed an energy that perpetuates a kind of serene life. But unfortunately, it's not a true counter against extinction. None of the Parallels are. Null Life can indeed make you prolong your life, and even perhaps live an eternal natural life, but along the way, there is a possibility that some Treasure or some expert will kill your Broader Existence or rather, Inverted Prevalence. Nothing will stop death then. But I refuse to give death that victory in the end."

The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.

"I managed to swindle death before, and I intend to keep swindling it. All the Null Lifeforms that form in this world are never truly dead. Sometime in the future, they will be reborn. They will be different in terms of identity, but their energies will be the same. They will thrive here in the Null Verse again for a thousand or even a million years. That is the immortality I give my spawn."

There was a meaningful pitch in Serenity's voice.

She didn't seem to mind sounding passionate. Everyone looked at her with an assortment of expressions.

"Well, I guess I should have known. The Parallels really don't shield you from all kinds of extinction," Skullius said with a small, meaningless chuckle. He then built a mana connection feeding into Serenity's mind. Unnio Lak didn't miss it, but he couldn't have intruded. "Do you think the Warmoth copied that design from the Null Verse too? That if he were ever to die in the Empyrean Bosom, one day he will come back?"

"…Perhaps," Serenity said.

To Skullius, this meant, "Probably."

He didn't know how he felt about that, honestly.

If it were true… when would the Colossus Warmoth be reborn?

Casting away the thought for later, Skullius turned back to Unnio Lak and asked:

"What about that thing you were saying about Gurron-Lavaan exchanging Apostles with me?"

"It's not an exchange, really,'" he said. As Skullius had thought, the paper cut-out's tea had turned into a liquid after it cooled and he (Unnio Lak) lost interest in it. "Since I already explained that Nullmancy has to do with sharing your essence with an Apostle, it should be clear that it's possible to relieve your authority over an Apostle by extracting your essence from it and allowing another Nullmancer to take control of that Apostle. I must say though, it's not easy. You have to be very powerful to be able to gain control of another's Apostle using that method. There are even Nullmancers who steal other Nullmancer's Apostles here. It's not exactly rare here."

Given the operation of Nullmancy in the Null Verse, Skullius wasn't too surprised that this would be the case.

Nullmancy was nastier than he thought. Just imagining Red Rage or Beyrmir being stolen from him…

That would truly be a blow. Honestly, Ferex's disappearance after he became the Full Deck BoneTender had been grueling, and he wasn't even an Apostle Skullius favored all that much.

Right then, Skullius remembered what Kintar said. It didn't just apply to his human allies, it seemed.

"How is leading us into certain death any different from what I have chosen to do for the greater good - for your good?"