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Chapter 1216: The One Left Standing (30)
Chapter 1216: The One Left Standing (30)
Chapter 1216: The One Left Standing (30)
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Compared to the sight of his soul suddenly being in the enemy's possession, the fact that Beyrmir was still alive was barely vexing at all.
Skullius couldn't believe it. How was this possible?!
In addition to being wary of the idea that Replicus could have dropped in on him while he was at his most vulnerable over the last few days - in his Penetrator form, that is - he had accounted for the fact that he might have acquired abilities related to the soul, after all, his (Replicus') winning condition lied in making Skullius willingly use [Brisk Storm Avatar] to merge them back together. He couldn't do that effectively without manipulating his soul.
Thus, Skullius, while applying his own advanced knowledge in souls, carried forth from Fulgardt's WILLS, had removed his soul from his body, tethered it to many seals and arrays that made it so he had a 'wireless' connection to it, and cast it outside Aigas.
Factoring in that Replicus had access to Stagnant Space, which was a dark, stable space that covered large bits of Aigas and even bordered it with the great void, Skullius had ensured the soul would be hidden beyond that, drifting in the great void.
Unlike with outsiders, natives of a world had a lot of leeway against Rules that prohibited entry and exit, which was how Skullius had been able to accomplish this feat. Fulgardt's influence and Sila's soul essence qualified him as a native of Aigas.
The Insurgent Magnus had even gone through the trouble of using anti-Divination measures in order to ensure that this action of his couldn't be traced by Diviners. In his mind, without a little tip, there was no way Replicus would guess - at least in a short time upon seeing that his soul was missing - that his soul was in the great void.
...But he had been mistaken.
Replicus' enhanced vision, formed through a Rule, had been catered towards seeing through Skullius' tricks. He had even been able to see the real Skullius among the ghosts. Thus, when he couldn't find any hint of where Skullius' soul was anywhere on Aigas, he had assumed that it could only be somewhere his vision and senses couldn't reach.
Replicus cackled as Beyrmir's great head burst through the Territory.
Finally, his loyal Apostle had delivered!
A broad grin spread on his face. He could only imagine how frustrated Skullius was right now. He was probably questioning how this was possible. He was probably agonising over how it was that the Soul-Burdened Warmoth had seen through his 'well-executed' plan.
And out of burning, brutish glee, Replicus had Null Life Essence gather in his throat and project the vibrations from his vocal cords as vivid words to all:
"YOU MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE, YOU ARROGANT SOCKETHOLE! YOU SHOWED ME THE WAY!" Skullius was alarmed.
But Replicus didn't elaborate. The CREATURES around him where turning their attention to Beyrmir.
Thus...
Replicus used Maximum Catalyst's Progression on his mana and Nitros flooded out of him expanding just as he called in his mind...
'Majestic Territory Expulsion, Purified Cadaver's Impartial Felicity!'
The guidance field sprang forth in his vision.
[You have used your 'Majestic Territory'!]
[+16,220% to DUAL-CONCEPT TRACING IMPACT within the Territory]
[+11,900% to JU'WTTE BLIZZARD MOTION within the Territory]
[+10,000% to EMPOWERED DEVIANT TRIGGER BUILD within the Territory]
[+22,300% to Mana Points and Mana Recovery within the Territory]
[+30,000% to Maximum Catalyst efficiency and power]
[+17,900% to General Skill efficiency within the Territory]
As Replicus qualified as a beast by Aigas' terms, he didn't have any cruel demands for executing his Majestic Territory like the human, Sif and Giant experts. Thus, his Territory sprang forth freely and quickly.
...!!!
But it wasn't only Nitros that exploded from the Warmoth. Maximum Catalyst's [Neutral Maximum] expanded as a vast purple-gold crystal layer mixed in with Null Life Essence, creating a glowing, ovular palette that rushed out, dismantling the darkness of Aphotic Catacomb of the Daemon around it!
The sheer ease with which the dark Territory was broken apart, making room for its superior, was staggering.
The CREATURES close-by as it expanded were suddenly assaulted by tiny, merigold explosions that looked no different and no stronger than little fireworks... and liberated of the darkness completely!
Skullius scowled so deeply that his face nearly twisted.
No!
Unlike the previous time, his slaves were being freed permanently! His Territory was also failing to combat Replicus!!
He couldn't allow this! He was losing ground!
Beside him, the real Stolen Angel appeared from the darkness, and it brought its hands together and yelled in a voice similar to his own:
"Majestic Territory Expulsion, Aphotic Catacomb of the Daemon!"
...!!!
As many Creeds were used with the call, Skullius' dark Territory stopped getting overwhelmed. In fact, it started to emit a more formidable pressure than before; a pressure more than twice as powerful!
Where the two Territories met, tiny explosion of Ju`wtte constantly crackled, very slowly eating away at Aphotic Catacomb of the Daemon.
Replicus scoffed.
'Damn. I didn't know you could do that. He's superimposing one Territory on top of another, making it twice as powerful,' he thought.
But this didn't concern him.
His Territory quickly established itself and Beyrmir flew down to take refuge within its atmosphere. He then handed Replicus the cage with the soul within it.
Purified Cadaver's Impartial Felicity was an extremely powerful Territory with a gorgeous, Imaginary GeoScape. It looked like the opposite of Skullius'.
Having been made with a combination of Nitros, the essence of [Neutral Maximum], and Null Life Essence, every aspect of it was purple-gold and white. Tall blades of grass in a pretty purple-gold made its solid platform and among them, many great, tall white trees could be seen with numerous long, spindly arms replacing their branches. Large, smooth boulders of purple-gold with smiling faces carved onto them could also be spotted, littered about.
The hundreds of victims who had been saved from Skullius' Territory just now might have been frightened by these things, but somehow, they felt at ease. The picture ahead of them also gave them piece of mind.
The purple-gold field with statues and trees almost appeared to be some kind of prelude to the real thing. Beyond it was an odd gap with a dark greyish tone above the purple-gold palette. It looked out of place. The only thing within it was a large stone portrait of a young girl huddled around herself, thrumming with great powers.
Replicus was standing on it, looking ahead.
His grin never waned.
He had known that his Territory was superior to Skullius'. It was, after all, also a double
Territory of sorts. The problem was, he had yet to nip a single problem with using it in the bud: Its outrageous cost. At present, Replicus could only keep active for no more than three minutes, and that was without using any of its effects, and with all thirteen his cores - twelve for mana, one for Null Life Essence - to power it.
The great, expertly carved stone portrait he was standing on was another Territory within the purple-gold expanse, one that expelled effects outside the boundary of his first's GeoScape rather than in. And of course, the purple-gold expanse was the ordinary Territory.
'Let's do this!'
At once, the stone Replicus was standing on surged with immense power.
He activated one of its Primary effects right as he cocked back one of his arms. '[Neutral Impact]!' Replicus called and he threw a fist into the greyish void around the stone
portrait.
...!!!
Aphotic Catacomb of the Daemon trembled, and within its dark interior, hundreds of figures were suddenly engulfed in a purple-gold, crystal-like entrapment!
The many CREATURES Skullius had at his disposal suddenly turned limp and floated upward
with the coloured crystal around them!
"Bastard!" Skullius growled.
Replicus was intent on stealing one of the advantages he had!
He had incapacitated his CREATURES, and he (Skullius) felt his connection to them get
severed. Reestablishing it wasn't going to be easy, it seemed.
And indeed, it wasn't. Replicus called the effects of the great stone Territory as External functions.
One of his External Primary functions allowed him to project his powers outside Purified Cadaver's Impartial Felicity with greater efficiency and on multiple targets. Depending on the skill he was using, the range could be expanded to over a hundred thousand targets! Right now, Replicus had used a skill known as [Neutral Impact]. It, quite like [Maximum Constant], was a skill he had learned from the Second Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher, and it allowed him to halt the bodily functions of his target and keep them in that state after a
successful hit.
On powerful opponents, it was unlikely to work for long, but with the empowerment of his
Territory, it was on magical steroids!
Replicus spammed this skill several times in an instant, and many of Skullius' CREATURES
were incapacitated one after the other!
'[Maximum Reach]!'
Replicus called and hundreds of arms forged out of Maximum Catalyst's essence sprang forth
at fifty times the speed of light to grab the incapacitated victims and drag them into the purple-gold Territory. Once they were inside, miniature explosions of Ju`wtte bombarded them, freeing them from Skullius' grip!
This feature - the miniature explosions - was a Primary function of Replicus' more standard, purple-gold Territory. Everyone dragged within it would be assaulted by the Ju`wtte, but depending on whether they were friend or foe, its reaction to them was different. It would cut off any malign influences over them or endless drown them in shock and Crush damage!
"Enough!" Skullius cried and he grabbed Demion's Dance.
He then bolted forth through the darkness and reached as close to Replicus' Territory as possible. On the way, he unleashed a torrent of slashes that ripped the [Maximum Reach] hands to bits and hid the CREATURES that had been struck by [Neutral Impact] further within
the darkness of his own Territory.
He came to a stop when he was only a few meters from the boundary between his and
Replicus' Territories and...
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
The Hybrid Luman applied [Infinite Sword God: Primordial Sword], mixed the Absolute
Severance, Unmotivated Bender and Beyond-Scale Critical Divine Sword Arts and slashed
with every fibre of his being!
...!!!
Replicus shook.
A small yet terrifying sword slash was coming for him... no, not for him, but the cage he had in
his possession!
The slash refused to be limited by Replicus' Territories, and in less than a blink, it had reached
the Warmoth!