Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1209: The One Left Standing (23)



Nitros was not light. It was an imitation of the Divine energy that made the world. Its solid, lustreless white colour was meant to mirror a blank canvas upon which a powerful combatant could paint their own ideal environment.

But now, the vibrant white of Skullius' Nitros was turned into nothing more than ordinary white light; it was a truly bizarre phenomenon.

Skullius was bewildered, but he didn't let shock and fright stop him from diving into the darkness of the Noboboyama and hiding away from Replicus to recover his mettle!

'What the hell was that?!' he thought the instant he was swimming in the black.

But there was no answer.

And it didn't seem like he could hide in here forever.

Thus...

The Hybrid Luman wore a ferocious look that portrayed his immense desire to level everything into nothingness. He wouldn't be humiliated by a damned fake like this! No, he wouldn't!

At once, Replicus charged the Noboboyama with the Seed, Limitless Paradox!

He hadn't used this move just now because it took a little time to charge, when compared to his Territory, but now...

Replicus, who was on the surface, sensed a slight tremor in the great Spirit of Drowning he was standing on.

At once, he knew what was coming and sadly, he couldn't save Beyrmir in time, as the Apostle was tangled around Jiggorrhax sending jets of Clear Fire over his vast body!

Replicus flashed a distance away before the attack came, but as soon as he appeared elsewhere, he saw Jiggorrhax roar furiously, grab Beyrmir's shoulders with flaming, clawed hands, and rip him into two melting swaths of chunky mercury!

...And then Aigas trembled, a wide void of approximately ten kilometers in radius appearing where Jiggorrhax and Skullius were!

'Damn it. I still don't know if I can survive that attack. Best not try if I can just avoid it,' Replicus thought with a frown.

Skullius was using Limitless Paradox, which could repeat a simple action infinitely within a second. He would employ his 'trick' on one of his slashes, and then use the Noboboyama to repeatedly spam the enhanced slash around it over a wide range, which would effectively dice everything in said range, including Rules. Only Skullius and the Noboboyama were immune to the effects, it seemed.

Replicus was sure that Beyrmir hadn't been able to withstand that attack.

Thankfully though, the Apostle existed in three parts. He could not truly die until all three of his bodies were destroyed.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1135).

From the gaping void in Aigas, which had eaten a small part of Edagon as well, the gargantuan form of Jiggorrhax, armoured in an odd shape of darkness and light flew out, its great eyes locked on Replicus. White flame was still bellowing from its mouth, clearly asserting its fury.

The Herald was extremely intimidating.

Replicus was glad Jiggorrhax wasn't the enemy he had had to face months ago.

In fact, unless Actuass made a different plan, there was no way he was going to be able to hunt a dragon of this calibre. It would have been suicide. What's more, even though Replicus hadn't yet seen what Jiggorrhax had in his arsenal other than his immense physical strength and potent flames, he was sure that the dragon could put up a hard fight against even Caxellac, the true Null Devil King.

Skullius gave Replicus a wary look from over Jiggorrhax's head.

'He's rattled. I think I've exhausted his well of tricks now. All that remains that I need to worry about, is his Territory and that ring he's wearing,' Replicus thought. He had noticed that odd ring when he landed that clean punch on Skullius before. It had vanished from Skullius' body, however, probably to be stored in a safe place until he recovered.

A moment passed... and then Skullius and Replicus felt themselves get warped away.

The Creed Skullius had made, which dictated the 'ideal battleground', had finally kicked in after losing track of its targets over the three timelines.

The two suddenly appeared in the well-furnished streets of a great city.

If it weren't for the whipping winds rocking it (because of Jiggorrhax and Beyrmir's clash a moment ago), one would have thought it didn't exist in the same Aigas that was experiencing a battle of a calibre never before seen.

This city was Agmold, the capital of Pelian.

The instant Replicus and Skullius arrived, the latter cursed and activated [Null Life Aura] to combat the sluggishness inspired by Replicus' still-active [Static Limbo].

It seemed his Creed would only teleport him to populated places in the current version of Aigas.

The Stolen Angel warped itself to Skullius a micro-moment later.

Skullius whipped his hands up faster than before, and formed a gesture with his hands again, and Nitros exploded from him to wash over Agmold, but...

CRACK!

His hands and his torso were obliterated by what looked like a whip of Ju`wtte that had crossed the distance between him and Replicus in a fraction of a modest moment!

The Nitros Skullius had expelled instantly vanished as he roared, "GAAH!"

The Hybrid Luman was panicking.

The Angel set to attack Replicus, but he ignored it and simply headed for Skullius who couldn't even perceive his movements anymore.

The Warmoth had grabbed Skullius successfully for the third time when...

...!!!

Something vast sped towards Agmold and forced Replicus to back away.

BOOOOM!

It landed with an intense shockwave where he had been, and cast a vast shadow on the city!

Replicus scowled.

What stood between him and Skullius was a giant green dragon scale!

ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!

Agmold was suddenly assailed by a devilish heat and a deep-cutting gale.

Above, the insurmountable figure of the dragon Jiggorrhax suddenly appeared. Its head reared and its purple pupil locked onto none other than Replicus!

'Seriously? He's here?! I thought he wouldn't bother with me as soon as I was in a different time! Isn't he supposed to be repairing the broken Rules?' the Soul-Burdened Warmoth

thought.

Was Jiggorrhax perhaps, petty? Was he still mad about being slammed by that earlier attack? Replicus was beginning to think so.

Agmold was immediately cast in huge flames and the wails of its citizens, who had hidden themselves in their homes since tragedy struck across the world, could be heard. The Knights within the city had been in the middle of mobilizing against Skullius and Replicus, but at the sight of the dragon, they simply turned limp.

Sixteen Incandescent Stagers and seven Arch-Mages sworn to the Capital Service lost the will to fight as soon as they were dyed in the shadow of the Herald.

Yet, in the centre of the city, where the royal mansion could be seen, a small bird flew out

from the window of the fifth floor and wrestled against the raging winds to get a clear view of

what was happening.

Asthon had been sneakily spectating the battle between Replicus and Skullius, but a few

minutes ago, he had lost all visual.

Now, the battle had come to his doorstep.

Unbelievable!

Asthon was pleased.

He heard King Royan calling him back from within the mansion, crying in fright, but he didn't

care.

A dragon.

An echo of Fulgardt.

An anomaly.

Goodness...

'Thank the Deities I'm alive to see it!' Asthon cried inwardly, joyful.

...

Jerthrax's eyes shifted momentarily to look at the burning city, and his rage was quelled

temporarily.

Replicus was surprised. The intensity he felt from the dragon lessened somewhat.

The dragon then expelled what looked like a giant rune of fire from his open mouth and it fell

on the city, encrusting itself on the buildings and the ground!

Agmold was encased in a brilliant light, and then...

...!!!

The dying people, demolished houses and raging winds were gone. The dead were resurrected

and everything was restored to its normal state!

What?!

Replicus was dumbfounded, as was Skullius.

The latter quickly tore himself out of his stupor, however, and barked at the Stolen Angel:

"Give me those!"

The Angel surrendered the two swords to its master.

The Soul-Burdened Warmoth would have worried about this, but in the next micro-moment, Jiggorrhax's fury returned, and he glared at Replicus again.

The Nullmancer immediately clapped his bottom hands together and arched his back such that his upper torso was facing upward. The essence of Maximum Catalyst then flooded into his hands, and less than a moment later, [Neutral Acumen] surged forth, hurtling towards

Jiggorrhax's underbelly at fifty times the speed of light!

The attack was too fast.

It bashed against the Noboboyama, pierced through it and crashed into Jiggorrhax's body!

The dragon groaned and he was pushed several meters up into the sky!

...But he was unharmed.

Since taking the [Wanton Royal's Void-Biting Serpent] to the face, he had resolved to keep his

entire body reinforced by a potent layer of genuine Divine energy.

Replicus cursed.

But his attention was stolen a split-moment later.

The Stolen Angel made a complex gesture with its hands and Nitros was expelled from its

body.

'It can use a Territory too?!' Replicus thought, but then he noticed something else.

Skullius had disappeared.

It didn't take Replicus long for him to find the bastard though, because of his enhanced vision tailored towards picking off Skullius' tricks.

The Hybrid Luman had retreated to somewhere a few hundred meters away.

He was transforming.

His hair grew long, his robes of darkness were cast away, and what looked like a second face

emerged over the one Replicus knew.

'Right. He has that card too,' Replicus thought as his hands rapidly moved to react to each of

his predicaments.

But...

"NOT HERE, YOU FOOLS..." Jiggorrhax spoke. "NOT AMONG THE INNOCENTS."

What?

What could the dragon have meant?

But there was no need to speculate.

Sixty giant runes of flame burst from Jiggorrhax's mouth and were branded over the city once

again, though they did it no harm.

The runes flashed white and Skullius, the Stolen Angel and Replicus found themselves in a

different, unfamiliar space with Jiggorrhax above them!

It was... a world.

A rocky world.

There were only rocks and nothing else.

Rocks floated in the air like clouds.

Rocks made the land below, where Replicus and Skullius were standing.

Yet, it was indeed a world. Jiggorrhax the Abiding Madness... had created a full-blown world using the secret art of RULE

RUNES!

[Author's Note]

Holy crap this is getting really complex to write!

And I know, this fight is REAAAAAAAALLY long, but bear with me. It's almost over. The ending will make up for how long it is. I promise. I half promise. I quarter promise. I... please

bear with me.