Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1619: The Masked Man’s Pace (2)

Ashema and the other Generals were seething. They gave the masked man terrifying glares as they whipped about in the sky.

Two of their brethren had been defeated by Rias and turned into Undead minions; one had already been sacrificed to spare the masked man from Pherdanta’s attack – a Cavern shield.

What an insult.

Ashema was grinding his teeth so hard they spilled sparks. To keep up with the others, he was riding on the back of one of his fellow Generals, and in order to exploit his powers in the battle, he was lent him blood so he could use it to attack and defend as necessary. So far, this and the full efforts of the other Generals had yet to yield any kind of result against the Bearer of Undeath.

How shameful.

’He’s so like him,’ Ashema thought, and the image of Skullius, no, Festos floated through his mind.

...

A distance away, Aurolio was heaving in deep breaths while floating in the air. Void Clot, once mastered enough could allow for short-term flight capabilities. Indeed, Aurolio’s capacity to learn was impressive.

The two blows he had taken were tracing throbbing pain through him. Rias hadn’t hit him as hard as he’d done with Uyuniya, but still, a lesser combatant would have died instantly.

But Aurolio’s Aspect, bolstered by Fundamental Barter, was showing its fruits. He interpreted the Void as STRENGTH, and resistance was one form of strength. Unfortunately for the Void user, his Fundamental Barter only allowed him to use individual interpretations of strength – as he defined them – like speed, strength and numbers once a day in exchange for boosting their power to beyond basic Divine levels.

Indeed, this meant that the cloning aspect he’d used earlier to stop the Doom Knight’s Fated Reef from fully flourishing, and the defence aspect he’d used to block Somanda’s blast, were yet to recover for further use.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1364 and Ch.1443.)

"Haaaa..."

As he gave a deep sigh, Elita flashed to Aurolio’s side, her eyes pinned on the masked man who had just climbed up his large deer head. The bastard was wary of Pherdanta.

"This is bad. He’s somehow ignoring our Aspects and now he’s found a way to get through our Void Clot. Does that ability of his allow him to do anything?" Elita said with a click of her tongue.

"Probably," replied Aurolio. "And he’s immune to mana, Aura, Nitros. Troublesome bastard. Are our allies going to be that much help here?" He turned to Pherdanta in the distance.

Elita did the same. "Definitely. They’ve saved Uyuniya, for one thing."

And indeed, Uyuniya had been saved.

Kintar was pulling her towards the rest of the group – the Stark Troops, House Heads and Pherdanta. After the blow she’d taken from Rias, Kintar had hurried to restore her blown out abdomen rapidly. The task was... impossible, it seemed. Kintar was frowning even now. She only managed to reinforce Uyuniya’s body and stop her bleeding.

As it turned out, when Void Users were transformed all the way using their Mastered Void Gate, it took more than what Kintar was currently capable of to heal them. She wasn’t anatomically aware enough of Uyuniya’s body to do anything. Luckily, Uyuniya seemed capable of recovering on her own, however slowly.

"You’re not going to die on us, are you?" Kintar said to the Void user through a thread of refined mana connecting their brains, one brow raised.

"I’ll be fine," said the terrestrial royal. Her Void Clot flickered.

Kintar rolled her eyes and turned to Pherdanta. "Are you deliberately pulling your punches or are you so exhausted you can’t keep up an assault?"

Only Kintar was bold enough to ask, but everyone around was curious about this as well.

Just now, Pherdanta could have kept up on her heavy attack against the masked man, but she didn’t.

The Commander of the Stark Troops took her time answering.

"You saw what this man is capable of just now, right? I’m not very familiar with the powers of Void users, but what he just did is probably the equivalent of bypassing master’s Null Life defences. I’m guessing he’s responding to all the means of attack and defense we have. That means, we have to attack responsibly. Efficiently. I’m going to have to employ something more than my slashing techniques to kill him." She looked at everyone around. "Everyone has a role and a purpose."

At the last sentence, she glanced at Kintar who frowned.

"I know," said the former Mage. She glared at the Troops, Gerriey in particular. "But most of you are useless as you are. Your bodies can barely keep up with the physical prowess of someone like the masked man." She paused, taking a deep, frustrated breath. "Let me help with that."

Kintar lifted a finger.

...!!!

All of a sudden, the Stark Troops and the House Heads started burning from the inside. Raging flames flared from deep within their very blood cells and then into their bloodstreams and then their flesh and bones.

Only the House Heads roared in agony. It was an excruciating experience. It was like being plagued by an intense fever and a flood of adrenaline at the same time.

It felt like being stuck at the borders of death and thrill.

Kintar was no longer a mere practitioner of magic. She was magic herself. She was mana. She was her three forms of Absolute Magic: Infinitesimal Division; Fiction’s Summit; Elemental Overdose.

She didn’t need to expend any energy to produce and control any magical skill she’d had previously honed (before reforging herself).

That was how she casually empowered everyone around using Elemental Overdose like she’d done to herself earlier. Flames with the damage potency enough to qualify for the Divine surged within her allies and temporarily strengthened them. Naturally, Kintar had to take care to not kill them. Most of them couldn’t take it.

She was taking responsibility for every one of their lives.

’The souls of the weak can be... beautiful,’ she thought to herself... and cringed.

"I’ll admit, out of everyone here, you just might be our best chance at ending this, Pherdanta," Kintar said. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Pherdanta was rather... surprised.

"What?" she said, frowning.

"You heard me. Preserve your strength. I have a plan. Everyone has a role."

Indeed, Kintar had a plan. With a thought, she transmitted her plan into everyone’s brains with condensed wisps of mana.

But right as everyone gaped, grasping at the fullness of the idea... the masked man made his move.

"Are you all that afraid of getting close now? Too bad."

Rias’ great deer head opened its great maw and faster than a flash, it expelled what looked like a massive soap bubble which rapidly grew and encompassed everyone within half a kilometre’s range before they could react.

Rias himself jumped into the bubble right after it was forged... and landed on solid, dry ground.

Everyone else was on solid ground as well, gaping.

A harsh, red sun was above, pummelling them with hard, hot rays that almost seemed to have tangible pressure. Heat and gravity were doing a waltz.

An expansive desert with golden brown sands and ravaging winds was the new battlefield, but it was worse than it appeared.

Power systems were null and void here, as were low-level energies and even high-level quirks from Existential Parallels.

And thus, Void Clot, mana and the entire Aigas power system was rendered meaningless.