Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1658: Authority, Honour, Judgement (1)

(A/N: Just a reminder. A Consternal is equal to 12 hours.)

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An irrational burst of fury suddenly rose inside of Fulgardt, smothering the cold and carefully calculating state of his mind right then. The last wise decision he remembered making was dodging Quintess’ Flyer. But after that, his attention immediately fell on Skullius and Skullius alone.

Before now, he’d decided to leave the brat for later, mainly because he feared that killing him would destroy the Bosom or force them all out. Even the mysterious Apostle the Sovereign had summoned hadn’t bothered him because it had not made any hostile intentions known. It might have been Divine, but what did that count for on a battlefield like this?

’That brat...’ Fulgardt said, seething. He was affected by the burst of Conste just now more than his Deific counterparts. His thoughts about using Fatal Embrace immediately, as he’d intended earlier, lagged.

Boron and Quintess were stewing in irrational fury as well. The former felt all his loathing for the latter and Fulgardt pooling towards the figure below – the hateful figure wielding an absurdly infuriating spear. Boron squeezed his own polearm, trembling.

<Who...Who do you think you are, pest? Like Rorsetta, you don’t belong here!> he cried, and without intending for it, his Amras condensed to Zu’sse. He was the first to act on his impulse, snaking towards Skullius’ location in a blink, and with the same weight and grace as an asteroid. The Hatcher rumbled.

The fully awakened Sovereign of Refined Anarchy did not budge.

’That’s right...’ he thought, a small, cold smile appearing on his face.

He couldn’t help but recklessly relish in the powers of the War Body – its full powers. He had obtained a significant boost to his overall physical qualities just now. He was sturdier – stronger.

The single unit of Focused Null Life Ota in his body allowed him to resist the pressure of Zu’sse from a distance, but as Boron drew close, his body started to fold from the inside, his bones – even though they had grown stronger – cracking. It felt so much worse than it should have because Skullius could sense everything inside and outside his body with an unrealistic metric of detail.

[The enemy will make contact in 0.000000000000007 of a Consternal and make their move]

[Two especially detrimental weaknesses have been discovered. Would you like to view them?]

Indeed, the Miniature Wartime Guidance System was on Skullius’ side. It not only told him specifics about when an enemy would strike him, but it also scanned them in staggering fractions of time to determine weaknesses Skullius could exploit.

This was why Skullius was suddenly overwhelmed with confidence, or rather, why he and his phantoms were.

"Take a back seat now, Prime. We’ll handle this."

"Yeah. We agreed – though you didn’t consent – that the War Body is ours to drive."

"Let’s leave the talking to Prime, though. I for one have too many things to say."

"Fair enough."

And indeed, the Second Phase of the War Body was governed by the phantoms. The original Skullius took a more passive role. His phantoms – manifestations of his Intelligence – were faster and smarter. It showed in the next instant.

Boron arrived, face creased like elephant skin. The sheer momentum carrying over around him would have crushed a Skullius from two seconds ago, but the current one was only forced back by twenty meters. Even as he bled from the eyes, nose, and ears, he maintained his smile.

That infuriated Boron even more. Screeching to a halt so as to aim properly at Skullius’ smaller figure, he brandished his halberd and swung across. The polearm’s blade was coated perfectly with Zu’sse. It would cut Skullius before it even touched him!

...But Skullius had already prepared for it, having known when the Deity would strike. Storm Baker, wielded by all four of his hands, streaked to parry, Ju`wtte lacing it!

There was a crack when halberd and spear met. The Zu’sse around the latter didn’t affect the former at all. They touched bodies with full hostility – a Void rank weapon and an enigma forged with fourth-dimensional material. This fact might have been the reason Storm Baker survived the encounter.

BOOOM!

[The enemy will strike 0.000000000000000056 of a Consternal from now]

The notification had come before Skullius even responded to Boron’s first blow. Storm Baker perfectly parried it, but the thunderous force from the Deity made two of Skullius’ arms explode from the inside out. That didn’t stop him from swinging with his remaining limbs, though, grinning all the while.

Boron was swinging his halberd from above this time, his Zu’sse growing stronger.

[The enemy’s halberd has a web of cracks along the haft. Its integrity is less than 60% of its original]

The notification came when Skullius allowed the Miniature Wartime Guidance System to reveal Boron’s weaknesses. This was one of them.

Skullius didn’t know how Boron’s halberd had suffered such damage, but he made use of it.

Storm Baker’s point aimed for it at once. Skullius’ precision wasn’t perfect, but with the halberd being more than twenty times as large as he was, he couldn’t have missed. His spear sparked with Ju`wtte when it met with the Void rank weapon and...

...!

CRACK! PWAAAA!

Large bits of the halberd went flying, much to Boron’s surprise.

<What?!> he cried, ashen.

Skullius didn’t waste that instant when the Deity was frozen, either.

"Storm Baker..." he said softly.

BZZZZZZZZT!

The clouds high above everyone in the Second Layer of the Hatcher thrummed.

...And then a concentrated jet of both Enlightened and Benighted Ju`wtte, thicker than Boron’s halberd, fell down in less than a picosecond, smiting Boron’s back.

The blast was so loud that Boron’s wail couldn’t be heard, the flash of light that emerged so bright that for a moment, even Skullius couldn’t see. The Hatcher shuddered violently, debris from its ceiling and roof falling from above.

[Two more enemies are approaching]

[The first will arrive in 0.0000000000000002 of a Consternal and strike]

[The second will arrive in 0.0000000000003 of a Consternal and strike]

[Three especially detrimental weaknesses have been discovered from both enemies. Would you like to view them?]

Skullius disregarded Boron’s figure, which went spinning below, billowing in thickets of smoke. Even so, the bastard was far from dead or even incapacitated, he knew.

...But Quintess was upon him. He’d taken a moment to recover from the injuries he’d received from Boron and then attacked. Unlike his counterpart, he was far more experienced with Zu’sse. The instant he appeared, Skullius felt his body getting pulled apart. The Deity was pooling all his hatred for Fulgardt and Boron towards him, after all. Oddly, Skullius felt a pang of pity for him.

...But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t retaliate.

Again, Skullius was already responding to the Deity’s approach before it happened.

He didn’t attempt to parry with Storm Baker, however. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Something appeared in his hand – something that lit the irrational fury within Quintess even more.