Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1674: Stone Hub of Taboos (2)
Whatever Souran screamed, Kenno didn’t care, and neither did Ferex.
They’d immediately embroiled themselves in combat with the Arch-Lich, exhibiting a level of carelessness that baffled Araeyn and Red Rage.
At the moment, no one among Skullius’ subordinates had something more to prove than they did.
Kenno wanted to capitalize on all the power Skullius left budding inside him by putting it to good use and elevating his strength so that he could be more consistently useful. On top of that, he needed to capitalize on Skullius’ trust in him. Before, he’d thought that Skullius only relied on people like Kintar and Pherdanta with the truly important things.
He’d been wrong. What better way was there to fulfil Skullius’ trust than to reach Kintar and Pherdanta’s level? Kenno wasn’t the Commander of the Stark Troops or the Deputy of the Stark-Soul Order, but he wanted to stand on the same level as those two women still. Hadn’t Skullius named him an equal after he completed the Impossible Task?
He would push his budding powers higher!
And as for Ferex, he wasn’t satisfied with just helping the Stark Troops. He had played some significant role in Skullius’ battle against Fulgardt, but nowhere near enough to satisfy the feeling of guilt that was itching at him from the inside; he’d allowed himself to become the Full Deck BoneTender and bring forth the Null Devil King Caxellac on Aigas back then and would not forgive himself for it. So many things could have gone wrong because of his Flaw.
The least he could do was sharpen himself into a bane against his master’s true enemies!
...And thus, he and Kenno did.
The statues falling from the sky like stars, spontaneously warping and twisting to better aim for Souran and the Doom Knight, acted as a stage for the battle. They kept exploding, chunks of them erupting and pelting the ground below as little flaming freckles of light and heat. Ferex, Kenno, and Souran’s exchange riddled them full of chasms every microsecond. They kept growing faster and faster, until Araeyn was forced to pour more of his focus on the Doom Knight instead.
BOOM! BOOM!
The air shuddered as the three kept using it as a foothold. While moving at light speed, it became an easy feat.
Kenno used Granted Warp nearly a thousand times in a span of a microsecond, appearing and disappearing all around Souran in order to distract him from Ferex’s approach. The Apostle carefully weaved between the dancing after-images Kenno left behind and lunged at Souran at the perfect moment.
"You’re not the one I want right now, mutt!" Souran screamed, and with the activation of her Quasi Immors Soul Art, Form 6, her bones turned green. She rushed to meet Ferex, forcing them crash into each other.
That didn’t end well for Ferex. He was repelled, rather, rejected by the glow of the Lich’s bones and sent sinking kilometers deep into the surface of the Stone Hub of Taboos. By the time the Apostle hit the ground, Souran had already turned, having anticipated that Kenno would be upon her, ready to use Impel!
She streaked behind him before he could attack, but he, in turn, used Granted Warp to escape her proximity.
"Show me something new!" cried the Arch-Lich.
"Nope. Aggrante!"
Kenno’s answer was an Aggrante that Souran casually dodged. But then he warped in twelve different places at once and cast yet another Triplefold regular Aggrante twelve times, aiming at the Lich. Again, Souran evaded, pushing off the air and streaking to the ground.
...Where she met Kenno, already waiting for her.
She couldn’t have been more elated by the sight of him.
...Even when he pointed three fingers in her face and cried, "Ko Aggrante!"
The blast was outrageous. The concentrated Null Life Essence and mana galloped forth with all the grace of a million charging white stallions to meet the Arch-Lich, warping the falling statues and stealing all the air from the surrounding space.
...But Souran had seen the attack before. To defend against it, all it took was a focused mind and an equal counter with Undeath energy. Her essence met the fired Aggrante, and all hell broke loose. Kenno was sent flying backwards by the recoil of the Aggrante, but the burden was significantly less on him because of his new powers. He warped behind Souran and readied Impel, but her torso split eight ways: Eight bodies ruthlessly met Kenno in retaliation.
...But none of them could do a thing!
One of them attempted to slice off Kenno’s arm off, another to bite into his flesh and soul, another to press him down with raw Undeath energy. Everything made contact, but nothing worked. The damage didn’t reach Kenno.
It was yet another one of his powers: Fallout Lag. He would receive damage dealt to him... eventually, but never in the now!
Souran’s sockets flared in excitement... and then they dimmed. Suddenly, something broke the gravel beneath her, grabbed her foot with glowing claws, and yanked her down into the dirt. When Souran looked below...
"Ko Aggrante!"
The Arch-Lich didn’t manage to avoid the blow perfectly. She flew along with the giant throng of power straight into a falling statue, her eight bodies damaged horribly but not broken.
...Yet she was still cheerful.
"You aren’t the only one who can fire mean projectiles."
Quasi Immors Soul Art, Form 13!
She pointed all eighty of her fingers at Kenno and Ferex and fired her phalanxes in unending volleys at them. Each one was laced with concentrated dollops of Undeath energy that were rigged to explode and eviscerate all nearby targets.
The rain of projectiles was devastating, but Kenno and Ferex were not bested. Kenno found that no matter how much he used the Starmations, his armour would not run out of Null Life Essence, and Ferex had the durability of a Divine being now, honing from his soul. While Kenno dodged the fingers with Granted Warp, Ferex merely stood and took all the attacks and explosions with less damage than expected. Undeath was quickly becoming ineffective against him. It didn’t rip him apart, much to Souran’s surprise.
She was even more surprised when...
SHHHHHINNG!
A set of glowing claws had ripped through three of the bodies sprouting from her, shattering the bones and stifling the flow of Undeath energy!
Ferex had suddenly appeared in front of her, attacked, and streaked past in a show of speed that baffled her.
’Oh...’ Souran’s socket flames blazed. ’It wasn’t speed. It was space.’
Kenno, with what might have been the most impeccable timing, had used Impel to launch Ferex at the Lich when she least expected it.
...And he was only getting started.
Swiping away the blood oozing from him, he used Granted Restoration – to no avail – on himself over and over again, and grinned.
’Now, I hope this works. I can’t wait to see the look on Kintar’s face when I perfect it..."
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[Author’s Note]
I know. I know. I couldn’t meet the deadline I set, but that wasn’t because the Chapters weren’t ready. The holidays... took me places. I should have scheduled the Chapters to release beforehand. I’m really sorry.
Onward.
