Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Skullius tossed his Demion's Dance to his left then to his right hand as he built up a strategy in his head.

This guy was one of the toughest opponents he could ever fight.

His physical stats weren't going to give him an advantage because of Kurtish's barriers techniques especially without a boost like the one given by [Wing of the Just] and his mana techniques would be nullified by the Genuine Incarnation that had just appeared.

After all, his gravitational abilities hadn't even been formed into a skill, much less a high level one like Maxim's.

The sunset orange coloured giant, Skullius' opponent's Incarnation had the exact same face as Kurtish's fiancé!

It softly wrapped its arms around him with a loving smile, a halo of the neon coloured Aura creating a film around Kurtish that would protect him as well as bolster his technique's offensive effect!

As for what Kurtish was cooking up for offense...

Right in front of him, something dreadful was forming. It looked like long strips with texts written over them tangling madly against each to create a sort of condensed whirlwind of bright red, gold and white that spun in a thrilling rotation, generating a huge amount of potential energy!

This thing was also packed with profound interactions of mana that appealed to the Hybrid Luman from afar, its form being confusing to say the least!

What was this thing?

Come to think of it, what did happen when conflicting barrier formations were smashed into each other like this, as Kurtish had mentioned?

The answer was obvious.

It was destruction.

However, the form of destruction was one that would surprise most.

Skullius saw this terrifying entity and breathed out a sharp breath.

'I thought I was a bit stronger than most of the contenders here but that was not true at all. Even with my Insurgent Magnus powers, I still don't think I would win this...' Skullius thought.

Unless he used the Preeminent Attegoth, his Precept of Light which required an astronomical amount of mana far beyond what he could current produce on his own, his [Evil Darkness] AND [Just Light] powers wouldn't help in this situation.

If they wouldn't work anyway, it was better to keep them under wraps.

All he had now, were the things he was used to plus a few other skills he wasn't going test out in a battle like this.

Skullius took another breath.

'First...Let's time this out,' he thought before fully extending his [Koten Machi] to encompass everything in his range along with having [Greater Mana Crafter] help him sense every single detail around him.

'See it all,' Skullius thought as everything became clear, especially with [Beyond the Hype] passively making him experience everything at twice the norm.

When this was done, Skullius brought Demion's Dance before him with a tight grip.

'I haven't progressed much with my swordsmanship but this blade still has untapped potential with its active skill [Epic Memory].'

~~~

[Skill: Epic Memory]

Regardless of the user's level of power, they are able to partially replicate the raw movements and a portion of the attack power that Demion demonstrated in his battle with Escus.

~~~

The stronger Skullius grew, the more he could access the strength hidden within this skill. His latest use of the sword was a testimony of this as his last strike which had sliced Kenno's hand days ago had cleaved through a ten mile distance.

Now...

If he put his back into it...

His mana flared like a storm, his maximum output exploding out with a serious force that pulled the air away from his body.

Kurtish grinned at the Hybrid Luman who was in serious stance.

"Looks like you still have more tricks up your sleeve!" he yelled with a cackle before setting his amalgamation of incomplete barrier formations loose!

The tangling strips shot out with a mad and unexpected effect on the surroundings!

First, it cordoned off the path to Kurtish, an obscure warping of space that soared high and wide as it then blurred Skullius' positioning of his opponent!

Next, it seemed the distance between Skullius and Kurtish continued to grow continously but forever remaining in the confines of the barriers surrounding the platform somehow!

As if all this wasn't crazy enough, a series of barriers of different kinds started appearing spontaneously in this stretched out space, smashing into each other and exploding in nerve-wracking ways while also causing dangerous distortions!

This....

This was the power of Wardlock!

Kurtish's grinning face was telling of the fact that this wasn't him randomly spinning things together.

This was actually an offensive technique and one of his strongest too!

Skullius felt the threat.

Regardless of how it looked, it was actually approaching him at a tremendous speed.

Yet... on his face, a grin appeared.

'This is it!' he thought as with the hand that wasn't carrying his sword, a phenomenal pull dragged every inch of mana that could be found anywhere within a mile's radius!

The ambient mana.

The bits of mana leaking from the barrier.

The remnants of the mana from the people who died on the platform.

The mana from the activation of techniques and basic usages on the platform in previous matches.

With [Koten Machi], Skullius had felt it all.

And he pulled it all with his utmost level of control of [Greater Mana Crafter]!

With as much speed as he could conjure, Skullius then dragged all this mana into his core.

Into his Centre.

This wasn't pure mana but he had to pass it all into core so that he could pull off the necessary stunt with gravity he had planned!

It didn't take a millisecond for all this mana which weighed on his body like a miniaturised world to be expelled out of the Shell of his core as more or less the same as his mana, structured for gravity!

Skullius' pinned himself on the ground and lowered his centre of gravity.

His sockets glowed immensely as the mana he was carrying was all packed into his mana channels, its purpose being to keep him rooted to platform no matter what!

Demion's Dance was pulled back, as if to be drawn at a moment's notice from a non-existent sheath in a quick draw.

The Luman was ready.

Soon, the spinning atrocity reached Skullius and with its hundreds of colliding barriers, it eviscerated, incinerated and melted his flesh when it was a meter and a half away!

Parts of Skullius' body were shattered instantly, some turning into dust within a fraction of a millisecond before the main show bashed into him!

But Skullius didn't lose his focus.

The profound tangling of mana within the amalgamation of barrier formations became clear to him and for a moment, he appreciated it.

It was beautiful.

If he had [Epiphany] right now, it would have registered this as something he could potentially learn but alas...

But he didn't.

All he had was his [Greater Mana Crafter], his mana, Demion's Dance... and Null Life Essence!

....!

At this point, it seemed like everyone was silent, holding their breaths!

What seemed to happen in a matter of minutes had only taken place in the span of three seconds from the launch of the terror that contended with space to now, when Skullius pulled on the utmost peak of strength he could muster with the cleanest slash of the sword he could perform...

When in that exact moment, as a screaming flare of blackish-red energy from [Swindling Death's Dance] erupted like a singularity, as if giving Skullius the full strength of Demion himself...

When in that same moment, Skullius, with the gravity keeping him on the platform, layered the edge of Demion's Dance with a fine slew of Null Life Essence, which he was still an amateur at controlling...

A darkness tore through everything happening around him for a fraction of time, friend light being cast away for but a moment as a dark, thin line split cleanly the taboo of barrier formations and caused the festering of a blackish-red hue on the platform all the way to Kurtish who was already assuming victory!

When a hard to articulate amount of time passed, a deafening explosion ensued!

It roared from Skullius' position, from the spinning tangle of formations interrupted by the cleave from a green blade!

A Unique grade blade!

The witnesses drew back on reflex, as it genuinely seemed like this eruption of power was about to escape the protective layer around the platform.

But these worries were for nothing.

The flashy turbulence remained in the enclosure of the barrier.

A second later the cataclysm was dispelled by the platform and all that was left where the explosion occurred was an empty spot on the far side of this stage whose entirety was painted with a blackish-red hue!

"Dear Suzamete...."

"What... what happened...? I didn't see anything..."

"Is the winner decided?"

The silence that had been plaguing the atmosphere during the tense moment vanished as the witnesses turned to Kurtish on the opposite end of the empty stage and found him kneeling on one knee with his head hung low.

The Incarnation above him fragmented before vanishing but there was no discernible damage to Kurtish himself, which confused the audience.

Kurtish gnashed his teeth and...

"Ha..ha...haha....ARRRRRRRRGGHHHHHHH!" he screeched in agonising pain, tears spilling from eyes.

His right hand that was protected by armour popped off, blood flooding from the joint!

His right ear also fell off from the side of his head and the poor middle aged man wriggled like a worm on the ground!

"Master?" Yuyui stood from the crowd, looking for Skullius with concern.

Where was Skullius?!

Silrat was concerned too.

No.

Everyone watching seemed to be concerned now.

Did this other participant land a critical blow on Kurtish and... die?

"Look! Look up there!" one of the witnesses called while pointing high up into the barrier.

There, where Guissepo was sitting on his glass pane, his relaxed eyes looked behind him...

There... was the figure of someone who was literally on fire.

Flames covered his entire body along with a thick, pitch black smoke.

"You're not supposed to be here, you know?" Guissepo said with calm smile.

Skullius ignored him.

His only concern was laying on the ground a long way below, screaming in pain.

"Tsk. I can't believe I missed after all that," he said in annoyance.