Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1641: The Acceleration Incident (2)

"My Liege, now is the time to employ your Focused Null Life Ota."

Skullius was spraying blood from his ears and eyes, drool slipping from his lips as though he were some stunned simpleton. He couldn’t stand on his own two feet. Zu’sse was folding him, and he was battling an Undeathly disease etched onto his body; he was barely keeping from spreading with Null Life Essence.

"Shut up! That’s not gonna work here!" he hissed a reply to Weaver’s suggestion.

The two were a distance apart, yet the oppression of Zu’sse was equally cruel on them.

Skullius snapped in Weaver’s direction. He had to give the Nulliergrapher plenty of credit if he survived this whole ordeal. The Apostle had managed to save himself, Kenno, Araeyn, Ferex and Red Rage in a flash; or rather, was it that he had delayed their extermination?

The Apostles and the Unlimited Star were frozen solid, wrapped in thick sheets of white ice oozing bits of Null Life Essence. The formation of ice around each of them was stable, working from the inside out, suspending their consciousness and keeping as much of their physical bodies intact as possible. It was impressive work, especially when factoring in the idea that Weaver himself was able to isolate his own consciousness so that he could stay in contact with Skullius.

...But skilled as Weaver was, Zu’sse was still dealing death sentences. In less than a minute, they would all die if nothing changed.

’Damn it!’

Just as Skullius cursed from within, a pillar of Undeath poured upwards into the sky. It rose from SoSei, burning away the childish innocence of Camilla’s appearance and teasing at Somanda’s.

Just now, when Skullius’ attention had fallen on Weaver, he hadn’t managed to keep it away from the modified treasure, thus triggering its functions.

"Such a wild development! What do you make of this, Skullius? Hahahahaha!" Somanda cried jubilantly. SoSei twisted and cracked. Zu’sse befell it too, and as it so happened, the remote nature of Somanda’s connection did not keep him safe. Despite his remark, he could feel the pressure threatening to squeeze his real body into a ball despite it being leagues upon leagues away.

Skullius cursed again.

Things weren’t going well.

No. That was an understatement.

Things had spiraled beyond the scope of his original plan.

Initially, he had hoped to buy himself some time in order to learn Focused Null Life Ota, which was a key component in creating his next Apostle. He had hoped to gain an advantage against Fulgardt with Deific Usurper, obtain a dramatic power-up with the new Apostle’s power, and then seamlessly dominate the battle after the five-minute timer limiting his access to the Second Phase of the War Body elapsed. With that power, he thought he could even handle Boron, Fulgardt, Quintess and Listafelle comfortably... without Deific Usurper.

But as it turned out, he was way too naïve.

He hadn’t accounted for the Arch-Liches Somanda would call here.

He hadn’t accounted for the fact that Kenno would fall sooner than he’d hoped, putting an end to the makeshift activation of his Imperial Territory.

He hadn’t accounted for this brutal power called Zu’sse.

And worst of all, he might have underestimated Fulgardt. Skullius didn’t think it was possible for him to fall into that kind of trap, but he did. It turned out he didn’t know Fulgardt even half as well as he’d imagined.

Looking up and seeing the Immoral assuming a Bare Guise convinced Skullius of his folly.

He’d known Fulgardt had somehow become a Voided Deathform, but he hadn’t thought the bastard would already have access to Mastered Void Gate.

With that power, even Aurolio was a formidable combatant capable of fighting Divines, as was Elita.

What would Fulgardt do with it?

The thought chilled Skullius’ spine, but not as much as seeing the Immoral take on that form – that dreadful form he (Skullius) had twice been forced into before he understood the trap of his Hidden Class.

Seramoro, Oblivion’s Edge.

At once, Skullius knew that something bad was about to happen.

He revised his earlier plan immediately. He had no shortage of ideas – especially risky ones.

’It’s a trade-off! I’ll gamble everything on it!’ he told himself.

...And then he deactivated [Instant Embodiment of Perfection].

Suddenly, Nullinity’s Herald, the Sovereign of Refined Anarchy, was gone. All the perks of the First Phase of the War Body were gone.

...And the five-minute timer to the Second Phase was reset!

Indeed, it was an exceedingly bold choice.

As his coin grey skin was restored, a robe of clouds wrapped around Skullius gracefully, contrasting his honey-colored hair. The Hybrid’s default prowess welcomed him. He was in a different body, one devoid of the accumulating pressure from Quintess’ Zu’sse, and the gnawing Undeath plague inflicted by Souran.

[Entropy’s Harmonizing Nimbus greedily absorbs new iterations forged through ’Bringer of All’]

[Processing...]

[’Entropy’s Suppressing Fog’ has been acquired!] 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

[’Entropy’s Acclimating Haze’ has been acquired!]

[’Entropy’s Null Life Subjector’ has been acquired!]

[’Entropy’s Acclimating Haze’ has been acquired!]

[’Entropy’s Berserk Smoke’ has been acquired!]

Indeed, Skullius had been impatient since using [Bringer of All] earlier, but his [Entropy’s Harmonizing Nimbus] had emulated all the powers it had acquired when he had been bonded to Eternity’s Weaver. They were now part of his default strength.

...!!!

But still, the Hybrid was smitten down by Quintess’ Zu’sse and he grunted in agony, yet...

’Lend me Null Life Essence, Weaver!’ he commanded. It was done expeditiously.

Null Life Essence gushed through Skullius at once. He hissed, mobilizing it expertly throughout his entire body. After his merger with Weaver (when they became Weaver of the Right Festos Dawn), Skullius had come out the other side with better skill in Null Life Essence manipulation. As a result, one of the things he’d mastered beyond that was...

’[Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz]!’

A turquoise and puce essence burst from the Hybrid Warmoth right then, blazing like a bonfire and completely engulfing him. Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz was potent indeed. Skullius could tell the profound effects at once. He used it to firmly reinforce his body.

Before, attempting this would have caused a conflict with his Null Life nature, causing him to explode from within, but because Skullius now knew how to force a balance between the inherent Voided Death traits of Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz and his Null Life body, he could use the Parlous Nature better.

’I can withstand it!’ he thought as he rose to his feet.

Quintess’ Zu’sse was suddenly only a little more than 60% effective on him!

...But he wasn’t done. "[Entropy’s Berserk Smoke]."

The [Entropy’s Harmonizing Nimbus] throbbed with excitement. It produced the newly assimilated trait, releasing a colourful trail of smoke that Skullius inhaled like the sweet scent of stew.

BOOOM!

The ground beneath Skullius shuddered, streaks of merigold Ju`wtte melting it. It was as though Skullius had warped. The berserk smoke increased his physical prowess a hundredfold in a limited span, allowing him to both resist Zu’sse even more and travel astonishingly quickly. But there were also the enhancements from Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz and Ju`wtte playing a role.

All these powers combined allowed Skullius to flash over to Fulgardt’s flank in less than an instant, stunning the Immoral.

The Wanderer’s Champion had been riding a high when the Null Lifeform appeared. He turned belatedly, when Skullius was already making an offensive move.

But it wasn’t a physical blow meant to do him any harm. Not at all.

’You fleshed yourself over the moment you inherited Existential Parallel power...’ Skullius thought, his hand whipping towards Fulgardt.

The Immoral was quick. His guard made it in time.

...But when he made contact with Skullius, he didn’t expect the Hybrid’s hand to suddenly turn into dirty bone drenched in Undeath energy.

What followed was a trick even Fulgardt had never seen before.