Chapter 1217: The One Left Standing (31)

Chapter 1217: The One Left Standing (31)



Upon identifying the target of the attack, Replicus, bolstered by his Territory physically, successfully whipped it out of the way of the attack, however much surprise he got from the fact that he was being pushed on the defensive while in his own Territory!

'Is he trying to get the cage away from me or is he...?' Replicus thought, but then he had to dodge another slash then and another and another.

What was this madman trying to do?!

Replicus leaped off the great stone portrait.

Skullius gave the smooth stone a disgusted look, having recognised who it was sculpted after, and he continued his relentless assault.

The Soul-Burdened Warmoth made a gesture with his hands, and the great portrait bellowed with power; its second Primary assault function was unleashed.

A great ball of blackish-grey energy spawned right next to Skullius.

...!

The Hybrid Luman didn't need to look at it to recognise what it was.

He immediately slipped into the darkness just before it detonated with enough oomph to level Pelian, turning it to ash!Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

The two Territories shook at the ensuing explosion, but they held.

Skullius had been successfully repelled.

He looked at the Warmoth with boiling hatred from a distance.

There was a short pause.

Replicus found himself dumbfounded.

Skullius' series of sword slashes just now...

The real target of those slashes...

Was Replicus perhaps mistaken?

The Hybrid Luman had clearly put in a lot of work to keep his soul safe from Replicus' clutches.

The Warmoth had also put in a lot of work to find it. Well, Beyrmir did.

As Replicus had said before, it was, in the end, Skullius who helped him get to the soul and simultaneously revealed how he had hidden it outside Aigas in the first place.

Earlier, Skullius had used the Noboboyama wrapped around Jiggorrhax, and Limitless Paradox to slash apart the world in an effort to kill both Replicus and Beyrmir. Replicus had escaped but one of Beyrmir's bodies had been completely destroyed. A black patch where the Rules of the world had been disintegrated remained as evidence of the power of the attack. This... was the key. This black patch was a mix of Stagnant Space and the great void outside Aigas. If navigated through correctly, it could lead outside Aigas!

Right after his body was destroyed, Replicus had given Beyrmir a telepathic order to take the chance and use his second body to travel outside Aigas and search for Skullius' soul. As Jiggorrhax and Skullius were convinced he was gone, it was the perfect strategy.

It had taken a while for Beyrmir to find the soul and return. The great void was... an odd, dangerous place. He had to be careful. However, in the end, he had done it.

No doubt, it took a lot of work.

So then... why?

Replicus scowled.

Null Life Essence ran through his throat and he projected his words.

"Why are you trying to destroy your own soul?!" he barked at the Hybrid Luman.

Skullius narrowed his eyes as he floated through the darkness back towards the giant, crooked hand in the middle of his Territory.

It was true. The body learned from the soul and the soul learned from the body. After some time in a being's life, the soul and the body became equals. This was the first trait imposed by Divinity. This was why, even though Fulgardt died, he hadn't ceased to exist. His body still existed in the Labyrinth, active, and his consciousness resided in the legacy he had created.

But Skullius wasn't Fulgardt and he wasn't Divine... yet.

While indeed his body was already very strong, destroying his soul now was a risk. To mitigate this risk, he had added something else to stabilise his existence if he should destroy

his soul.

The Stolen Angel.

At first, its sole purpose was to be a firm counter against Territories, but later on, the Hybrid Luman gave it greater, glorious purpose.

The Stolen Angel was Skullius. There was no difference between the two except in physical features. The Hybrid Luman hoped it could serve as his soul's replacement!

Thus, he boldly set to attack.

He wasn't going for unleashing his Secondary attack function anymore. He was going beyond,

pulling all the stops!

Replicus clicked his tongue.

He turned to the hundreds of people he had saved so far. Some of them were getting nervous.

Among them, he couldn't sense Theurien or Silrat.

This fact made him even more hesitant to ditch the enticing thought of not giving an undead's ass about everyone else and simply doing what he had to do.

Thus, using one of his External Primary functions, he began teleporting the many, saved victims outside the Territories, and far, far away from their vicinity!

'I'll have to save them all now. No way I'm letting Theurien die before he sees his daughter

again. And Silrat... well, I can't betray a friend to death. There won't be another Allora if I can help it. And definitely not by own hands!' he thought determinedly.

With two of his hands, Replicus once again held the Fallen Reincarnator's Shadow and drew

the string on it.

Skullius, on the opposite end, exhaled another steaming breath and called:

"Daemon's Stygian Mimic."

Right then, the great, twisted arm reaching from the abyssal darkness below, rose, making

way for the rest of the body which it was connected to.

Replicus shuddered.

What emerged was a truly hideous being.

Like its arm, it was plagued by small, bony limbs that protruded from every inch of it,

warping its overall appearance. But despite that, it being a humongous skeletal figure with an unnaturally wide ribcage, was more than evident. Its skull had nine horns growing off the top, each plagued by nine, smaller, golden-white figures that seemed to be hanging onto them for dear life. Whenever these figures moved, there was a clang no different to that of a bell.

Nine sockets also assailed the face of the skull, but an even deeper darkness was vividly brimming within them. The skeleton crouched on the blank darkness as though it were a firm platform, and gazed upon Replicus' Purified Cadaver's Impartial Felicity.

Skullius extended his right hand forward, and his middle finger, where the white ring was

slung, pointed ahead.

"The one left standing..." he said into the darkness, "...will be me."