Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1653: Beyonders (3)

It was a lethal move.

"Fatal Embrace…" Fulgardt said as Listafelle was obliterated. A flood of AKH Units flowed into him, increasing his Ascension Status, but he hardly cared for them. "There goes my hope for bolstering Rias…"

His initial intent had been for Rias to be the one to reap the AKH units from the Deities' deaths before they left Aigas. Yet as it stood, he was going to have to take the spoils for killing the Deities for himself. With his new power, it was easy. However…

Blood suddenly flooded from behind his Bare Guise, and the Majestic Territory, Demesne of Maximum Fatalities, shattered around him and the others.

…!!!

This was almost as shocking to Skullius, Quintess, and Boron as Listafelle's sudden death. They all had their opinions. Quintess' was rather obvious. His Zu'sse spiked even further than before as he watched the lingering remains of Listafelle (barely any that could be seen with the naked eye) …and then turned sharply to Fulgardt.

Just like that, the person he knew longest was killed. No number of suns could compare to the flaring of his rage. Not once had Quintess believed that Listafelle would die, not when he was beside her. But that hardly mattered, it seemed. Not when there were anomalies about. They broke certainties apart.

Skullius' reaction was more subdued. He was less concerned about Listafelle and more about the mechanics of Fulgardt's Territory.

'I knew it! Such an absurd ability can't be used indefinitely! He can only use it on one target at a time, and even then, the Territory exerts too much pressure on him. He's forced to dispel it after a single use. Can he use it again?' Beads of cold sweat were falling from his brow.

He was right on the money with his assumptions. He was, after all, the only one who understood how Fulgardt was able to pull off a one-shot kill on a Deity like that.

The main reason behind it all was Fulgardt's Mastered Voided Death Aspect, Reach. Skullius had gleaned about it from Fulgardt's memories earlier. It allowed the bastard to interpret the void as Reach in whatever meaning of the word.

Reach, as in grabbing for some distant object or concept.

Reach, as in arriving at a destination or an absurd conclusion and calling it the truth.

Reach, as in the extent of an influence.

Fulgardt was using the Aspect a series of different ways at once.

His attack on Listafelle, Fatal Embrace, allowed him to reach for her body and soul and then her Broader Existence in an instant. It wasn't that it allowed him to reach an enemy's Broader Existence; it simply forced a sequence of destruction from body to Broader Existence to happen before the target could even consider reinforcement or healing.

Skullius' face turned ugly.

'And we're still in the Second Layer. He can learn to go beyond even that…' he dreaded.

<HAHAHAHAHAHA! Nicely done, anomaly!> bellowed Boron joyfully. <I couldn't have done it better myself if at least making her suffer just a tad bit !> Something truly odd was happening with him. He turned to the seething Quintess. <Mourning with grace, are we? Won't you even roar for her death, Parrhaya?!>

Quintess didn't say anything. Perhaps he did mean to roar right then, but something happened first.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Swift wads of darkness blasted into Quintess, Boron, and Skullius in an instant, sending them spiralling down. It was Fulgardt using a combination of Reach and Exorbitance. He had grown so strong that even Quintess' basic Zu'sse couldn't shield him from the full brunt of the blow. None of the combatants were left with any meaningful damage, though. Skullius was reinforced by Focused Null Life Ota and Boron…

"I just told you: Let's enjoy this before you all die!" cried Fulgardt, and he soared upwards towards the gleaming scrolls overhead.

…!

Boron rushed up after him, barking with laughter.

<You think this is a playground to do with as you please?!> Quintess finally roared. <You think you get to consider death as a trifle?! Zu'sse Perelinn!>

Once again, an absurdly forceful pull drew Fulgardt, Boron, and Skullius towards the Deity for a damaging blow. They would be piled in one place and receive a single blow capable of obliterating them all.

…But it didn't work this time.

Fulgardt was the first to resist with a few simple words.

The darkness hides.

Darkness smothered him like a blanket and temporarily made him invisible and intangible to all phenomena, including Zu'sse.

Boron was second.

<Finally…> he thought, brimming with excitement.

His Broader Existence was growing rapidly. In a single minute (since he made his Fundamental Barter earlier), it had grown by almost seven times!

As it stood, judged by Ascension Status alone, Boron was a stronger Deity than Quintess. He exposed the weight of his Broader Existence and Quintess' Zu'sse failed to pull him in. It was too heavy to do it all at once. Quintess could hardly fathom how this was possible. It seemed that to deal damage to Boron, he needed to approach him.

…And then there was Skullius.

The Nullinity's Herald had not been prepared for Quintess' attack at all. How he was defended from the blow not only surprised him, but it also infuriated him.

'The hell…!'

Tycha was responsible – the Six-Handled Chariot of Probable Royalty.

The Apostle, Skullius realized, was anchoring him in place through some means he wasn't familiar with. It wouldn't let him move away for some reason. While this spared him from Quintess' Zu'sse, it made sure that he was left behind as the others raced towards the scrolls!

"Let me go, dammit!" Even as he commanded the Apostle, Skullius knew it wouldn't work. There was something else about Tycha other than the fact that it wasn't under his control at all.

The Six-Handled Chariot of Probable Royalty was Divine.

'This is how it rebels against me?!' Skullius thought, furious.

Fulgardt, Boron, and a disgruntled Quintess surged to greater heights. Soon, they were upon the scrolls – the Warmoth's deepest secrets. It was likely that each possessed fragments of the |Greater Cosmic Law|. If Skullius was left behind, he would be the next to die, like Listafelle.

"SUSU`K!" he cried. "Bring me that damned armour!"

Susu'k understood what Skullius meant immediately.

To tame the stubborn Apostle, Skullius had hoped to use either of two means: the Second Phase of the War Body or the suit of armor stowed away within the Warmoth's Treasury. Both had such overwhelming intensities, he judged, that they would surely be able to quell the will of a powerful Apostle. He'd thought of this based on what Elita had told him about how she was able to wield the World rank Treasure, Broodweiler, despite being a mortal. (Void had tamed the will inside it for Elita with her presence alone.) Apostles were more akin to weapons, after all, since they didn't have souls.

Right now, Skullius' only hope was the armor. However…

"Master, you took it with you," said Susu'k.

For an instant, Skullius was lost to the meaning behind this, but then he realized.

'That bastard!'

Future Skullius had taken it!