Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The Fuming Singularity died instantly.

When it vanished, Lipptis barely had half a face, but she was still alive.

Baddan would have plopped to the dark depths beneath him if he didn't climb onto Lipptis' large facial remains and push against them to cross a large stretch of distance and reach solid, gold ground.

As soon as he landed, he watched Lipptis' head drop into the darkness. He raised his hand, and the remainder of the beast vanished into dark blue cloud that soon faded.

The Six Wild Exigencies could indeed be killed, with each having its own weakness. The Masked Facade Lipptis, had no such thing on its lower body, which was why Baddan had readily ignored it being eradicated from the neck down.

Thankfully, all six beasts could heal from any damage they took when unsummoned, as long they had not been dealt heavy blows to their weak points.

Baddan gave a sigh.

"Thank you..." he silently thanked the Masked Facade. It was the first beast he had ever summoned into the real world. He could communicate with all six inside his mind, and knew all that they were capable of already, but still... achieving victory with one in actual combat was quite a high.

The long, ritualistic coat he was wearing vanished, replaced by his baggy attire once more, his hair and furs turning white again.

Across the large pit that stood before him, Baddan looked over to Dander.

The Ardent Curse was standing on the ground, still and rigid like a statue.

Baddan sped to the creature and stood before it.

Dander wasn't dead, but he might as well have been with what Lipptis had done to him.

"Magnificent," Baddan complimented Lipptis.

The beast had a fine set of abilities.

Its ability to stop those it pointed at was merely primary.

Its main object of attack was much more mystical and inevitable the moment it was 'aimed' well.

The veil Baddan wore was linked to the talismans Lipptis had on its face, sealing it until it was needed.

The moment its face was revealed, it would draw any who looked at it directly with a sharp degree of mystical guile. Depending on how strong the enemy was, the effect would take as long as needed, and if there was no resistance or disruption – an unhindered, continuous stare – the target would have everything that took in Lipptis face – eyes and brain – taken.

Not destroyed.

Not gouged.

Simply, taken.

Even Baddan didn't quite know what the implications fed into, but the results were spectacular nonetheless.

He looked at Dander's face.

There's wasnt one.

Only a hole remained, bloodless and exceptionally well-carved to leave a fleshy, clay-like rim.

The Sky Watcher sighed.

This ability of Lipptis' was rather powerful, but it could only be used once. Whether it succeeded or failed didn't matter. After use, Lipptis would withdraw back to the realm from whence Baddan had summoned her whether he liked it or not.

This was why the Sky Watcher had been waiting for the perfect moment to use it, though admittedly, he didn't have a one hundred percent assurance that it would work on a beast of Dander's calibre.

Thankfully, it did, which confirmed to Baddan how useful Lipptis was and what manner of opponents he should be comfortable having her face.

Because there was indeed a disparity in power between his beasts, Baddan believed that in future, it would be wise to return Lipptis if the situation was too dangerous and try for another summon instead.

His hand billowed with mana, and shot it out in a projectile towards Dander.

The mana bubbled and disappeared as soon as it reached the Curse.

'There's no way to finish him off for now...' Baddan thought with regret.

How unlucky.

He looked up and saw far, far into the sky, Replicus and crew staring down at him.

"You were right boss. He... he really did it..." Grim said with a weird smile.

"Like I said, it was a gamble. You weren't wrong in trying to intervene," Replicus said, his sockets flashing towards the commotion below.

It seemed they weren't the only ones looking at the result of what had just happened with Dander and Baddan.

In fact, Musing was already making his way towards Baddan, and the Sky Watcher had only just now noticed.

"Araeyn protect them!" Replicus commanded the agitated Apostle who looked at him with a frown, as he whipped out his Empyrean Ribbon from his arm.

The Penetrator then grabbed Pherdanta and turned into a bolt of Levin and charged at ridiculous speed where Musing was screaming hysterically with his wand housing baleful arcs of light.

Several others Ardent Curses raced towards Baddan along with him, sharing his rage at their fallen comrade.

Dander might have still been standing and even breathing, but the hollow in his head said a lot.

Thrill screamed for the third time, "Kill them all! They have to pay!" but there was doubt in whether he truly felt as much about Dander's defeat as the rest of the Ardent Curses. After all, he still had on two maniacal grins and continued to attack the Factions with sullen forces behind him.

Baddan frowned as he noticed Musing leaking saliva in both his mouths as he flew in with killing intent.

He was vulnerable right now.

There was a ten minute cooldown after every use of his technique, not to mention that every minute a beast remained summoned guzzled a massive portion of his mana.

He had also had a large portion of his mana wasted after his attempt at a Territory failed miserably.

Thankfully, he wasn't alone.

The Penetrator and Pherdanta appeared before him on a cloud, and the former extended his hand forward, and uttered:

"Static Limbo."

At once, Musing, who was Replicus' target, turned a shade of blue and paused in place!

His sudden stop prompted his forces to turn wary and fly in arcs around him confusedly.

The guidance field appeared before Replicus right then.

[You have activated the skill 'Static Limbo'. Your target has been affected by Serenity. Due to level and Tier difference, effect will last for four seconds]

Four seconds.

Perfect!

Any enemy that Replicus was able to appraise with the guidance field was normally one he had a chance to defeat, even if they had a higher Tier.

Such opponents were viable targets for [Static Limbo]!

"Master..." Pherdanta called, a little anxious.

"Kill the rest," Replicus said simply.

The gears in Pherdanta's mind spun, and in a split moment she found herself holding the hilt to the merged blade she had forged before – the combination of the white scimitar Grim gave her, and her large, red sword.

She felt her confidence in Replicus' command lead her on to the solution.

Her eyes turned sharp and murderous and she hunched as she drew the merged sword... but didn't swing it.

A master Swordswoman, or at least one aiming to become one wouldn't swing, lest they gave the enemy an attack they could see and dodge.

Instead, right as a neon glow suffused from her, drowning her figure within the glowing green look alike of the individual she adored the most, starry armour and all – a more majestic figure of Replicus – an unseen malice with insurmountable edge flashed from her!

It was unbelievably greedy.

The living type Incarnation Pherdanta had summoned bolstered her offensive power by over 600% of her normal peak, and this, plus the special effects of her merged sword – increased critical damage, and the power to ignore defences – flipped off the uncanny protection of the Ardent Curses!

Each of them was severed into more than twenty bits that left blood spraying everywhere!

Even the stunned Musing wasn't left unscathed, despite his more impressive durability!

He had deep gashes all over his body that bled profusely!

"Nicely done!" Replicus said with his sockets flashing, an odd twitch of his head representing how he didn't approve of Pherdanta's Genuine Incarnation. It was a bit much.

Still, it seemed the combination Pherdanta used had actually managed to cut through. If it was only her skill as an advanced Swordswoman at play, it likely wouldn't have been enough!

Just then, Musing was relieved from [Static Limbo] and screeched horribly.

Replicus dropped off Pherdanta beside Baddan and as a bright force of Levin, he hurtled towards Musing who seemed to have turned mad.

The Curse shot jets of light at the Levin, but Replicus merely darted around and away.

Musing followed after him.

His attacks couldn't be avoided, and thus Replicus kept going, trying to outspeed and outlast them as he did before, when Dander had been the one chasing him.

He burst to where the ravine had been and dived down with Musing on his tail. He then began to wonder:

'Concepts... concepts...' he thought. 'That's what works best on these creatures. I wonder if I have anything of my own that... Well, I guess I can always unleash Araeyn, as I intended to before...'

As he reached down to where the remaining bits of the diamond river were dripping from the degraded golden land, Replicus shot up, but Musing still followed.

The Penetrator scoffed.

He was about to make a sharp turn when a single notification threw him off.

[Rule level concept detected. 'Integral Time'. To learn the lesser fundamentals, an investment of 5,812,000 Null Life Essence Points is required]

...!

---

[Author's Note]

[Static Limbo]

Suspend a target at the corridor of life and death. The duration is dependent on the level and overall strength difference between the user and the target(s).

Mana Requirements: 50 Mana Points

Duration: Dependent on level difference

Cooldown: 5 minutes

~~~