Bro, I'm not an Undead!

35 minutes ago...

"We'll switch identities for this one," Skullius said while removing his VergeRider gear which he usually just layered over a simple shirt and pants. He then handed it over to Cast who wasn't sure how to feel about this.

"If we're just exchanging clothing, how does that—"

"I know. This isn't going to be a conventional fight. Like I said, they have a little more than a 100 more men on their side and when we arrive at their hiding spot, they'll undoubtedly attack us with their full force when they see our meagre numbers," Skullius said, cutting off Cast's concerns.

"I see," Bull said while looking into the distance. Right now, they were far away from the bandits' base, hidden under the cover of several trees as they strategized, with a few of the Contract Knights keeping a lookout. "How do you know they won't attack with all their numbers?"

"Because I'm here. That man who escaped, Black, he won't send everyone to die. He knows what I'm capable of. Worst case, the boss will come out with the group, but that's one of the things that I'm counting on. Just not in that sequence."

"As soon as we arrive, I'll have the Simmering Cloud at the ready and use it when they appear," Skullius said as he showed the bottle in his hands. "However many they choose to attack with, they will all be affected negatively with this tool while you guys will get exponential boosts to your powers."

Skullius then turned to Cast who held the VergeRider in his hands.

"Black is a man who didn't fear death as long as his brother was alive. Now, that's different. He'll definitely want revenge though and when he appears, I want you to show yourself to him. While in a state of weakness, he's bound to panic. Land a few hits and steal the grey cube he will have on his person. I'll need it shortly after."

"This... How will you know when they will appear? I mean, if we mess up the timing..."

"I'm very sensitive to energies and I've felt that spatial effect on my skin before. I'll get the timing right. Besides, the range of Simmering Cloud is larger than you think."

Bull, Cast and Oliviana took deep breaths. It was hard to merely go along with this plan. Skullius sounded sure but... they had every reason to doubt.

"You won't even break a sweat with this fight if you swarm them immediately. Besides, even if something goes wrong, I can kill them without a problem. If not, the one I need to be paying attention to is the boss, so I'll expect you to do your part effectively."

***

The present.

Before the boss could recover from the momentary surprise, he and the man with light auburn hair had already vanished from the foot of the mountain and appeared atop a different one.

Thick trees and multiple rocky areas contended against each other, debating on which look was better for the mountain, baldness or a full head of green.

As soon as they appeared, Skullius pulled himself away, separating himself from the boss' clutch.

When he was ten meters away, he took a breath and looked at his shoulder which emitted a low hiss, a dreadful effect having attached itself to his flesh following the gauntlet to the true sapphire armour that had touched it.

His shirt, skin and flesh were... disintegrating or rather fragmenting.

Miniscule spots of Skullius' toned skin and flesh in the form of dust like particles sifted up into the air but this effect died down when Skullius' collarbone had begun to show, his shoulder looking like it had been eaten off by hundreds of little mice that took individual bites.

'Just as you'd expect,' Skullius thought.

He activated [Great Saint's Invigoration] which healed him right up without a problem.

"So, you're the one Black mentioned. Haha, I'll say, you're not what I expected. Asides from a mild sense of intelligence... I would say your best selling point is your terrifying level of precision and timing. Are you a part time Diviner?" the boss said with a small smile.

Skullius gave a laugh.

"That's funny. I wish I was. Instead of precision I just think myself as being able to read predicable, generic moves by socketholes like you and Black easily, Kenno," he shot at his opponent with a mocking glint in his eye.

The boss retracted his smile and wore a poker face.

A moment later he wore a broad smile and laughed as he face palmed.

"It's been a while since I've heard my own name. Not even Black and Brown used it to address me," the boss, no, Kenno, said. "You have information about us. That's unexpected. Were you sent by a local Family or something? You sure as hell aren't from the Capital Service."

As Kenno said this, his pristine white Aura resurged, softly wrapping over his body before...

BOOOOM!

It crackled and blasted out with a shrill noise and fierce zeal, shattering the trees and rocks all around the two without even touching them!

Skullius felt as if he was facing against a hurricane as Kenno before him took a strange stance – both his hands presented before his torso in a cupping gesture.

The Hybrid Luman stored the Forced Displacer in his ring and ripped off the remnants of the eaten shirt off his body as over him, mana burst like a flood with a frightful desire to dominate!

It created a layer of protection that extended a meter and half away from Skullius' skin while refusing to be beaten in a contest of destructiveness!

"I'm not telling," Skullius belatedly replied to Kenno who gave a knowing smile.

"Well, I'll tell you this beforehand. There is no honour among thieves. Whatever I do to you and your corpse... it isn't personal."

...!

By the time Kenno's words reached the Hybrid Luman's ear, a fist forged behind a gauntlet was already storming from his side while causing the air to screech madly!

...!

Skullius' face hardened as unfortunately, it was far too late to dodge and all he could do was prepare [Great Saint's Invigoration].

The moment the punch connected, the mana around Skullius' body halted the blow for a split second before giving in – letting it sink through to his body – and Skullius' torso was first borne into before his flesh, skin and bone disintegrated in an instant!

Unfortunately, the force of the blow wasn't discounted. Skullius' fragmenting body shot out like a shooting star to the side, knocked hard against a large smooth dwala that blew up instantly, ricocheted against it somehow with a bounce as well as a spin and then hit the hard ground where it causing an enormous explosion!

'Heavy...' Kenno first thought as he watched half of Skullius' torso get eaten away before a second could pass, nothing but dust showing on him as he smacked on the sorry dirt. 'Hmmm. He used his mana to stop himself from getting blown away far with the force of my punch.'

Quick thinking. But what would keeping close to Kenno do?

The only thing the man in the true sapphire armour admired so far about his opponent was his mana, which was heavy. It almost guarded against his hit.

He shot towards his enemy with a quick jab at the ready to obliterate Skullius' head which remained atop a rapidly disappearing spine!

Suddenly, the beaten up Skullius' mana flared amidst the storm of power that surged from this first sequence of events, rapidly surging into the Luman's right hand which wasn't taken out by this strange disintegrating effect!

His figure shot ahead to meet Kenno fearlessly!

The Hybrid Luman formed a fist and with his mana taking away nearly all the weight from his punch, it blurred as it sped ridiculously to Kenno's face before gaining the full 30,000 tonnes right before it touched him!

Kenno saw the mana covered punch coming with all its immensity and guarded with one of his arms and his Aura.

'This is what Black mentioned!' he thought.

However...

The mana around Skullius' fist vanished and only a heavy fist remained, connecting to Kenno's guard!

BOOOOOOM!

An earth-shattering explosion rocked the ground and demolished the half the top of the mountain with crazy turbulence, the figure of Kenno skidding across the crumbling ground as from his armour, a light ringing noise called.

'Impressive. No wonder Black was shaken,' Kenno thought with narrowed eyes. 'It's all about manipulating his weight, huh? With that, it's no surprise why he's so strong despite only being an Advancement Stage expert.'

One thing bothered him though.

Skullius had aimed for his head just now. Was that just Skullius thinking rationally or did he truly know his weakness because of this unexplained knowledge he seemed to have.

On the other hand, Skullius wasn't surprised that his full power attack did nothing to Kenno. He had had a vague idea from Brown's memories. But now, since the armour was right in front of him...

~~~

[SinSky Shatterer]

<Pseudo-Mythical>

An armour forged by a dear friend to an ancient Family that sought a powerful inheritance to be used in trying times. They preferred simple means to erase enemies from existence without complexities, thus the armour with the ability to grant incredible might and wipe out anything to dust.

-Defence-

170,000

-Durability-

123,567/300,000

-Special Effect-

•Breaks down anything unguarded by a similarly ranked treasure or technique.

•+120% mastery of all techniques and unique abilities

•+44,000 to Defence

•+42,400 to Agility with Absolute Conversion

•+32,000 to Strength with Absolute Conversion

--

[Skill: Dust Maker]

An area of effect application of the primary Special Effect of the armour. It breaks down everything within a 450 meter radius with carry over effects that can extend up to twice the distance. No limit to usage.

-

[Skill: Heartless Breakdown]

Multiply the potency of the Special Effect of the armour by focusing it on one target. The result is capable of erasing treasures and techniques with weaker defence compared to the armour. No limit to usage.

~~~

A Pseudo-Mythical treasure.

Mythical was a level above Legendary.

This was the territory of tools and treasures illegal for public use without 'licenses' because of how extremely dangerous anything above Legendary was.

But of course, a bandit would have something like this.

Something ways above Legendary despite not being quite at the Mythical level either.

That was a problem.

Just the mere stat gain by this armour was ridiculous, not to mention the fact that the two absolutely freakish skills the armour had did not have a limit on usage!

Heck, they didn't even rely on the user's mana!

'Damn,' Skullius thought.

Tens of thousands worth of stats with Absolute conversion was definitely enough to outclass him. No wonder his full weight punch didn't do jack. 40,000 in defence was... overkill.

Still, the Hybrid Luman grinned.

He was feeling his <CURSED BLOOD> and <CURSED HEART> excitedly pumping again.

Even as half his body was practically destroyed, he chuckled. Fortunately, it seemed that creating distance from Kenno would neutralise the effect of the disintegration if he wasn't actively using a skill.

[Great Saint's Invigoration] healed him again easily.

"Handy ability you have there," Kenno said. "It won't work next time I land a hit though."

Skullius jerked in laughter.

"I won't have to use it again," he responded as a thin film of [Evil Darkness] began to appear around his body...