Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1614: Reflection (1)

Pherdanta rapidly healed while within the enclosure of her Territory. Her neck stitched together, as did her limbs, allowing her to flex her muscles. Unfortunately, despite the immense power filling her bones, threatening to shatter them, her stamina wasn’t restored. She still felt exhausted – so tired she could keel over and die.

But she had a role.

She gripped Dance of the Necrotic Butcher tight and eyed Nigerra with the limit of her blazing bloodlust. She drew her sword at once.

’I’ll end it with [Great Vein]!’ she thought and made to unleash a series of impossible slashes straight through Godspeed Highway and its master.

’It’s coming!’ Nigerra’s intuition warned her of danger.

Between Kintar coming at her from behind and Pherdanta far into the distance, she knew she had to deal with the Commander of the Stark Troops first. Thus, she mobilised both her Eyes of Moving and the Primary assault function of her Territory to retaliate.

But could it be done? Indeed, it could!

There were two types of Territory clashes permissible within Aigas’ power system as the Quintess, Listafelle and Suzamete designed it.

When Territories of comparable power were expelled at the same time, their Primary functions were matched against each other. The one with a greater affinity for physical damage overwhelmed the other instantly, deciding the victor of the clash.

When Territories of roughly comparable strength clashed with each other one after another was already erected, however, the second would need to have enough power to establish itself within the already occupied space dominated by the first Territory. Once that occurred, the masters of both Territories had to clash themselves, but they weren’t permitted to invade each other’s Territories to do so. In essence, the combatant with the better ranged attacks would win.

Between Nigerra and Pherdanta, the latter was poised to win this contest easily. Pherdanta substituted [Great Sempiternal Vein] – which she couldn’t use because it could potentially kill her in her current state – with [Great Vein]. A volley of such slashes, while far weaker, would still kill Nigerra despite her Aspiring Immortal Shadow.

It was a technique at the Divine level after all. Perhaps a couple dozen wouldn’t do the trick, but a couple hundred [Great Veins] would.

...And that was why Pherdanta swung Dance of the Necrotic Butcher with such violence. With a single swipe, she could unleash a spray of cutting death more lethal than anything Nigerra had tasted so far.

However...

...!!!

Dance of Necrotic Butcher rebelled once again.

Pherdanta’s eyes turned sharp. She glared at the blade. Its soul was squeezed hard, suppressed. Her activation of [Great Vein] just now... was dampened.

’Damn you...’

She knew the source at once.

The masked man. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Rias, even while embroiled in a battle against high-level opponents overhead, was keeping an eye on that sword, imposing his control over its soul. He would not allow Pherdanta to freely unleash her attacks.

His intent just now had been darker than it ultimately appeared. He had commanded Dance of the Necrotic Butcher to cut up Pherdanta again, but it refused, hence why he committed to a weaker alternative – sealing its powers.

The Commander of the Stark Troops noticed.

’I’ll forgive you one more time,’ she said to her lethal weapon. ’But there won’t be another chance.’

Her immediate opponent, Nigerra, grinned when she realised Pherdanta’s attack was no longer coming.

Trigger Racers flashing across the runways leaped off suddenly, as though they realised they had free will. Several of them caught Kintar, who had been surging towards Nigerra, intent on using Infinitesimal Division on her from behind.

The rest, hundreds of thousands strong, flew like comets towards Pherdanta’s Cogent Stark Order... along with black, winding arrows that shot from Nigerra’s palms like serpents.

They were the pinnacle of her innovation with the Eye of Moving, kinetic energy so potent, it had a physical form. All two hundred of them blasting towards Pherdanta had enough power to maim a juvenile Divine being!

Pherdanta readied to receive the attacks with her basic prowess as the Infinite Sword God. She didn’t allow her sword to remain docile, though. She wouldn’t be bested thrice.

Nigerra turned from her. She didn’t underestimate Pherdanta, but she could afford to.

She blinked away, faster than any mortal could see before Kintar could grab her. The vindictive Mage had escaped the grasp of the Trigger Racers with half of her Genuine Divine energy to spare and lunged at her again, her face a mess – eyes bulged, teeth gritted in desperation, nose flared.

"Pathetic," Nigerra said. She had Kintar by the neck a moment later. "I didn’t think I’d see you fall apart after all that bravado earlier."

The anguish in Kintar’s eyes was all but palpable. Nigerra was tempted to relish in it for a moment later.

...Thus, she indulged herself.

In a blink, Kintar found herself in a different place, far less ethereal and otherworldly when compared to Godspeed Highway. She shuddered.

She and Nigerra were standing right in the middle of a wide world, half hot, half cold.

A forest expanse stood before Kintar, burning endlessly with writhing, raging red flames. It was a miracle that everything buried in the fire had not been devoured to ash yet. Behind the Mage was a mountain range frozen in thickets of white ice and hissing cold vapours. Great cubical blocks were interspersed between the mountains, all stowing within them familiar figures replicated infinitely within each. There were two distinct figures.

Allora, face placid, stood within the ice, staring endlessly into the raging flames leagues away.

Skullius, face unmoving, stood proud, all of him scattered across the mountain range watching Kintar. He followed every movement, every twitch, but there was no judgment in his gaze.

Kintar could feel him.

She immediately realised where she was, especially when she felt Nigerra’s grip around her throat tighten.

She was in her Reflection of the Soul. Hers was this mess of fire and ice, riddled with images of the only two people she cared about.

"I thought yours would be more sophisticated than Yuyui’s. You’re more one-dimensional than I thought," Nigerra said with disgust.

Kintar struggled. "No..." The words barely slipped out of her lips.

Nigerra snorted. "Die."

Her free hand swung down at Kintar’s head. She was so strong now that crushing the Mage was as simple as shattering glass to shards.

...But she didn’t.

Kintar was swiped from her grip in a blink, faster than she could react.

Nigerra wasn’t too surprised.

She saw Kintar appear half a kilometer away from her, along with her saviour from just now.

"I must agree with that bitch," the saviour said in a rotten, cocky voice. "You really are pathetic, Kintarrrr."

Kintar, drawing a sharp breath, took a gander at the source of the voice.

There was nothing more demeaning than being rebuked by a smaller, cockier version of yourself.

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[Author’s Note]

Hey guys. This isn’t the mass release I promise. That would be coming up soon. This is just the worst part of the story for me to mass release.