"Charged Stroke!"

It wasn’t working, but he kept trying.

Soizar had gotten back in touch with his grace. It showed in how he adjusted his glasses every time Savast successfully landed a magically curated stroke into his mental faculties. It didn’t bother him anymore. In fact, the Arch-Lich took the mental blows leisurely in order to spite Savast.

He effortlessly dodged the former Cluster General’s physical blows as well. Not once had he given Savast the chance to land his Neuron Biting Fist technique. It wasn’t because he feared it, of course. It was because...

BANG!

Savast was dead before he knew it.

...And then he was back again, cursing at how he’d exhausted yet another life.

He had lost eighteen of them in the one minute and twenty-three seconds he’d had to fight Soizar along with Baddan. It wasn’t a product of his Granted Star Armament. No. It was his Health stat, transformed by [Unbound]. But he no longer had fifty lives.

BANG! He died again.

BANG! He died again.

A single fist from Soizar was enough to force him to renew his life subscription. The Arch-Lich was spiting him in more ways than one. He must have realized the fun fact about Savast’s lives. The Cluster General imagined that the Lich could use each micro-contact between them to taste his soul and extract information, just as he could with the minds of others.

Soizar wanted Savast panicking when he was down to his last few lives. It must have been his way of getting revenge for the humiliation earlier. That and...

"I never considered reinforcing my mind with the Immors Soul Arts. The mind is every bit a part of the soul as my limbs, but I never cared to guard it. I must be so used to the hierarchy back home. Our minds are open to our superiors, no matter what we do, you see," said the Arch-Lich casually after killing Savast for the twenty-first time. "It took a few seconds, but I got the hang of it. Wasn’t too hard at all. Haha. Try something new, will you? Charged Stroke and Mimic just won’t do anymore."

...!

Savast’s face fell.

For the first time, he understood Soizar’s speech. He could read the Lich’s intent before by reaching into his thoughts while using Mimic, but now...

Had the Lich learned Aigas’ Common Tongue?

Savast couldn’t have known, but Death Knights were experts at extracting the information from a world once they were exposed to it. They were able to relay this information to their master. Information about Aigas’ language had been available to Soizar ever since he landed, but he hadn’t cared to tap into it until now.

The fact that Soizar knew the names of his abilities was chilling to Savast. But so were the Lich’s next words.

"I’ve seen worlds with monsters rallying together to fight ’an evil’ before," Soizar said, and he caught Baddan, who’d snuck behind him, slammed him on his back into the ground, and crushed his head with a foot.

The Sky Watcher had already used Granted Restoration. He pulled away upon being revived.

"Your master is undoubtedly human, and by the logic and mechanisms of this world – they were all too easy to extract – you should be enemies to humans, no matter where they come from," said Soizar, taking a pause. "So why would you ally yourself with the anomaly. At his core, I’m sure you know he’s human. What did you say or do to make you join him? You even bear bits of his powers. Oh. Was that it? The allure of Existential Parallel power? Ah. I can relate. I never could stomach being ordinary and living. Better to be thriving in fashionable death and powerful."

Baddan scowled and grabbed a rock from the ground.

Lipptis – who kept a healthy distance from the center of the conflict – was still under the effects of Complication, meaning its manipulation of Null Life Essence was on par with that of the average Apostle.

Null Life Essence surged around the rock Baddan had picked up and immediately thrown at Soizar. It created rings behind the object, which fired miniature jets against the air, increasing its speed exponentially. The rock vanished from mortal sight midway towards Soizar.

...But the Arch-Lich was unbothered. He dodged, laughing. He’d already known it was a distraction. Baddan followed up the rock throw by brandishing the little dagger in his hand at the Arch-Lich. It was the only weapon between Savast and Baddan that Soizar was wary of. He zoomed out of the way, appearing behind the two Unlimited Stars. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Null Life. Alluring indeed," he said.

"That’s not why we follow him!" Baddan hissed.

"Oh," Soizar said, surprised that he got a response.

But Baddan spoke no further. He eyed Savast.

They had different reasons for following Skullius. His was straightforward, but Savast’s was—

...

...

...!!!!

Greenish-black flames suddenly flared above, in the broken skies.

They caught everyone by surprise – the Faction Leaders, the Mages, the Herald, the Deities, the Unlimited Stars, and even the Arch-Liches.

It was a unique flavor of Undeath barreling down on everyone. It was hostile, but not brashly so.

Eaniss nearly collapsed when the surging Chaos energy inside her tripled. More chaos had been introduced to the battlefield. It seemed equally as cantankerous, but doubly focused.

A massive shape, round and heavy, hung in the air, but its top half had collapsed inward. Something must have broken through it from the outside. It was because of this breach that the conflict inside was revealed. At first, it couldn’t be seen, but then the great shape started tipping over, showing off its contents.

There was a world inside, like a desert with dozens of giant cacti modelled after ugly humanoid beings riddling it.

There were several parties inside it, some dead, some alive. Among those who could still move their limbs, a fiery exchange was accelerating its pace, distorting the likeness of the interior of the giant shape.

A man – unmasked at last – was holding back an alliance of furious combatants, his teeth gritted. But his assailants also had their teeth gnashed. It was no easy fight, even if they outnumbered the enemy.

Savast and Baddan were elated.

Yuyui, Grim, and a creature that resembled a giant beetle were pushing back against the necromancer.

...But no. Something wasn’t right about this.

Suzamete was the first to note everything wrong with the scene.

The great shape above her – above them all – had suddenly warped here, travelling through space. No. It hadn’t only crossed space. There was a strange signature around it.

Time.

Rias’ Egg of the Future Dawn had crossed not just space, but also time to get here!