Bro, I'm not an Undead!-Chapter 1634: Liches, Gods and Deviants! (5)

Ju`wtte, merigold Ju`wtte in particular, (the kind Skullius fully got access to after evolving from the Colossus Warmoth’s Progeny) had always had the power to change the properties of things it came into contact with.

With it, Skullius (as Replicus) had been able to transmute Festos’ Nitros into simple light before he could expel his Territory. He’d also been able to change Jigghorrax’s powerful scales into great stones, all susceptible to damage.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1208&1211.)

With Enlighted and Benighted Ju`wtte, Skullius could do so much more, however.

Enlighted Ju`wtte, bright and golden, allowed him to transmute matter outside his body into anything he desired. Indeed, this extended even to Immortal Physiques and active Andori, but under normal circumstances he couldn’t do the same to Exotic Parlous Natures. This was only possible for him within the bounds of Deific Usurper.

As one could imagine, using Enlightened Ju`wtte consumed exorbitant amounts of Amras. With only the Amras available to him within the base War Body form (the First Phase) it was impossible to exploit it in this manner.

When it came to Benighted Ju`wtte, however, it was only half as costly per usage as Enlightened Ju`wtte. It could only be used on Skullius and matter closely related to him (the Apostles not included). Changing the nature of his flesh and bones, the density of his body, the characteristics of his attacks, how special effects – attacks or otherwise – interacted with him, were only a few of the things Benighted Ju`wtte allowed him to do.

There was no limit to the degree of changes Skullius made. It only depended on his Amras reserves and whether or not his body, soul, and Broader Existence could take the intensity of the changes.

In this case, with the energy from several Deities, Skullius could be as liberal as he wanted.

Sobbo saw his Undeathly existence flash before his eyes.

A black star sparked between him and Skullius’ fist... and then it was as though an overwhelming, invisible kinetic mass was transferred directly into his bones. The raw force Skullius generated with his punch – which was enough to equal that which an average Deity could generate at their best – was channeled through the black star and recklessly infused directly into the Lich!

That was why Sobbo was instantly vaporized while the Death Knight attached to him remained intact, but lost half of its body, soul and Broader Existence in rapid succession. It perished immediately.

Only then did time seem to move on.

The guidance field released hundreds of prompts including a significant one.

The ashes of Death Knights were whisked away in the winds.

The remaining, incapacitated Doom Knights fell to the ground. They would recover soon, however,

In the meantime, Skullius set his sights on Souran. The bone dragon-serpent around his waist eyed the Arch-Lich as well.

Souran... was impressed.

’Oh, poor Sobbo. If you hadn’t left your phylactery in my care, that would have been it for you,’ she thought, her socket flames condensing into bright orbs. ’Now let’s see about this fellow. If Soizar’s collection has proven anything, it’s the fact that you’d need at least ten Doom Knights to kill him here. Might as well keep mine intact. Ah, look at that. His beast is thriving.’

The Arch-Lich saw Ferex’s shadow whip towards the remaining Death Knights that she’d shielded.

The Apostle had become especially frightening.

He’d taken on the fragments of the souls of hundreds of Death Knights and one Doom Knight and bonded them with his source. Slowly, they were empowering him, and he was using them to change his qualities. Most of that power was going into improving his size, physical attributes and, of course, the glowing claws the Apostle had developed for himself. They might have been as sharp as Pherdanta’s sword.

Twenty Death Knights were maimed by the Apostle in an instant and finished off by Skullius, who immediately streaked towards Souran.

"You want to go, eh?" the Arch-Lich said, and she responded in kind. "It’s been a while since someone has charged directly at me. Even gods don’t dare!"

The Arch-Lich’s Undeath energy hugged the remaining Death Knights and crystalized into hard oval protective shells. At the same time, Souran changed the nature of her feet. They turned into bony turrets and fired searing red beams of Undeath energy that projected her into the sky faster than Skullius was approaching.

The Sovereign had seen it coming, however, even if that was the extent of what he saw.

The Arch-Lich and the Null Lifeform clashed in the skies. Souran didn’t dare meet Skullius’ blackening fist head-on. She evaded his coming punch, instead smashing into his torso with her side. The bone dragon was on her right then, but it didn’t get to touch her with the glinting attack flaring in its mouth.

...!

’Damn it!’ The future was a bitch.

As Skullius cursed, Souran roared in laughter and cried:

"Quasi Immors Soul Art: Form Six!"

Before the words could even make sense to Skullius, he saw (just as he’d seen in the future) a portion of Souran’s bones turn a vibrant green.

...And then he was suddenly ejected violently from the Arch-Lich. The force was astonishing, but Skullius countered it by firing Ju`wtte in the other direction using the bone dragon. By the time he stopped flying off, however, Souran had snaked her way right in front of him.

She would not get the edge just like that, though. In a blink, Skullius was behind her.

"You’re in my domain," he said coolly and accessed the future why pouring Benighted Ju`wtte into his fist and lunging at the enemy.

A gladius came flying right into the back of Souran’s skull. Now it was two-pronged attack on the Arch-Lich... that would ultimately fail.

Skullius was already frowning. The future wasn’t promising.

He saw how Souran’s bones spat out more bones and turned her into some kind of deformed horror of glorified calcium with eight heads and sixteen arms tied to a single, inflated torso!

"Quasi Immors Soul Art: Form Eleven!"

Skullius’ gladius pierced straight into the one of the skulls, obliterating it, but Souran had already turned into a monstrous, impossible creature with eight lives and eight consciousness!

"You’re fighting me on my terms!" she cried joyously and met Skullius’ blow without fear. Four of her heads and arms were obliterated in one move, but the rest clutched Skullius’ arm and pulled him close.

The Sovereign scoffed and tapped into the future once more. Bone daggers laced with Null Life Essence drove into Souran from all directions, shattering her torso despite her heavy Undeath reinforcement.

Yet she continued cackling.

"Quasi Immors Soul Art: Form Nine!"

What were these techniques? Soul Arts?

Skullius didn’t know, but he recognized how lethal they could be.

One of Souran’s hands turned a cool twilight fog hue and made to touch his chest with the bizarre power of whatever it was the Ninth form of the Quasi Immors Soul Art could do.

Skullius could escape easily or block with the Amras from the Deities, however. Yes, indeed he could.

...!!!

’No!’ the Sovereign suddenly cried.

Many of his cards in this battle were suddenly lost.

As it so happened, Kenno had finally reached his limit, though through no fault of his own.

--- 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

[Author’s Note]

Do note that the only ones able to ignore Deific Usurper’s Primary assault (yes, it’s still active), are Listafelle and Quintess. Everyone else is actively avoiding it. I’m not including every instance they do this because, well, it’s just an extra unneeded detail, I feel.