743 Courting Death
Skullius hadn’t realised that wielding Demion’s Dance, brandishing it the proper way, while this new suit of blackish crimson armour sat on him, fiercely amplifying the aspects of his unique body – the great physical attunement left in the wake of Sila’s prior body-napping, his unique mana core, abnormally large mana channels and all – would make him feel so… invincible.
For a brief moment, even if he knew it wasn’t true, the Hybrid Luman allowed himself to sink into this divine ecstacy as he brought Demion’s Dance down, an action that seemed so mundane, yet… inevitably catastrophic.
….
It was only Skullius who felt it.
Regardless of what the circumstances may have looked like, it was undoubtedly vivacious around here, with the fighting and clash of powers bursting about.
Yet, when Demion’s Dance stopped after the straight swing, the Hybrid Luman felt as if he had split open a thick, dominant force that had been engulfing them all in its clutch.
A force called liveliness.
Where Skullius cut, a dark, sombre, and withering sensation ate away at the fierce hope, at the prospect of thriving ideas like righteous anger, or furious determination trying to cement themselves.
All that left, was a brooding weight of cessation that made all living things around slump.
It took Skullius a few moments to understand it himself.
The effect of what he did didn’t start to show until… the pillars standing around began to crumble away, as if eaten by a sickening rot.
The ground turned dark under Skullius’ feet, turning dead, and unhealthy, incapable of cultivating anything rich.
‘I see…’ Skullius thought with a simple smile.
The dark flames formed by his blood were still burning over his body, outlining it beautifully, and with each leap and bounce, Skullius felt empowered.
Upon seeing the destruction to more of the pillars in this hallowed ground, the Baddan clones turned livid, and zoomed towards Skullius, ignoring his intimidating presence which had kept them away before.
In Skullius,’ perception, the Baddan’s were still shooting blurs that he could hardly pinpoint, but under the thin, sturdy armour, his muscles tensed as the enemies approached.
Demion’s Dance empowered him some more, and Skullius held out the green hanger.
A line of weak, scattered blackish crimson flames created a vague shape that was neither a circle, nor a psychopathic polygon. They extended roughly a meter from Skullius, and as they appeared, the image of the Hybrid Luman from a distance looked to be marred by a vicious mirage that constantly warped his figure, and made the flames outlining the top of his head look like a crown… or a cluster of horns.
His face looked to be grinning viciously in one instance, and in the next, it would look deadly serious in the most threatening of ways.
What was this fiendish power?
Was it deliberately making his enemies confused over which he was?
A saint, or a devil?
Upright, or evil?
The extremely brief lull was broken by a clone of Baddan that whipped through the air, reaching the Hybrid Luman first. He stepped into the encirclement of flame with his wrathful face, drawing so close to Skullius that one would think he wanted to ram his head against the Hybrid Luman’s!
Indeed, Skullius could hardly perceive this speed.
The average Master, or a combatant of Skullius’ level would have been killed if they were also being blitzed by such speed alone.
However, Skullius was an exception.
Before everyone’s eyes, the Baddan clone seemed to… dissipate, and once again turning into a clump of clouds that hardly stained the Hybrid Luman’s figure.
…
Baddan’s face stiffened as he clutched his spears.
What was that?
What had happened to his clone?
The corner of his lips twitched, and he groaned.
Was… was his technique forcibly cancelled?
No. No that wasn’t it.
If that was the case, all of his clones would have disappeared too.
But… how could this young man beat a clone of his made through a Super Skill?!
The clones which had been hurtling at Skullius stopped, and flew back after witnessing what happened to one of their own.
As they gave the Hybrid Luman space, Skullius scoffed, hunched over and spread his legs very wide. He sheathed Demion’s Dance, and hung his head low – so low that his face couldn’t be seen. With his legs dropping his height, one would think he was about to fall over, and suddenly burst into a sprint, but the Hybrid Luman kept still.
Then…
The weak flames over his body burned more viciously, towering over twice his height and flaring like arrow tips into the sky as if to lick the clouds above!
The image of Skullius became even more warped within the small encirclement of flames which widened to an average of three meters away from his body. The Hybrid Luman raised his right hand to his chest, atop it flames keenly rising, while his left clutched the mouth of Demion’s Dance’s sheath.
A commanding voice then came from beyond his lips.
“What you see, is Courting Death, Baddan. I dare you come close.”
…..
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What was even more deathly, was the air, which seemed to turn stale, and stuffy. The colour seemed to be fleeing from where Skullius stood, as did all liveliness.
Maxim stood, stunned.
Tallo watched closely.
He was sure this wasn’t what Skullius expected to happen. He had simply wanted his sword back to defend himself until he was ready, but now…
Baddan narrowed his eyes.
“Impressive…” he voiced, before pointing at the Hybrid Luman.
His clones, which were very self conscious, dashed towards Skullius once again. Some attacked physically, while some began making gestures with their hands, readying techniques.
Those that approached Skullius directly did so with caution, being mindful of the zone he had drawn.
On setting foot into it, two clones… turned into fragmented bits that immediately exploded into clumps of clouds a moment later!
Once again!
They had so suddenly…!
The next few came, a large burst of mana around them to guard against whatever treachery was killing them, and…
They met the same fate. It made no difference whether they had mana covering them, or not. Whatever culled them, did not seem to care, mirroring Skullius’ unmoving figure at the centre of this zone he had erected.
The remaining clones didn’t waste themselves.
If they couldn’t attack directly…
A large bear made of shrieking winds that had cocked up dust, and dirt bellowed and took heavy, ground-breaking steps towards the odd encirclement of weak flame, its unclear face not showing even bits of rationality!
It rose when it got near, and then made an effort to pounce, rushing through the three meter distance to Skullius!
This effort did not bear fruit.
The bear… couldn’t pass through the marked area!
Its transparent body was blocked, as if some form of invisible barrier kept it out, and nomatter how loudly the creature roared, it was not allowed to get in.
Baddan frowned deeper.
‘So he can’t… fight the wind with the sword. Then he’s not as terrifying as I imagined?’ the Sky Watcher thought, just a little bit amused. If that was the case…
The clouds overheard rumbled, something within the dark blue mass swimming eagerly before diving down with an especially phenomenal combination of elements that gave it a regal, majestic appearance.
The Kiiyataka had fallen, the lightning, flakes of flame and gusts of wind that streaked around and within it eagerly waiting to unleash yet another controlled session of devastation!
As if this wasn’t enough, several wind bears, and several more Kiiyatakas were beginning to fall from the sky, nearly drowning the world in cloud, element and mana!
Baddan’s face turned a little more calm as he watched this.
The sight looked barbaric to him.
This place wasn’t supposed to be a battleground, and he had done all he could to hold back, but against an opponent like this… whatever he was doing to his lesser abilities, he couldn’t pull his punches. Or at least most of them.
The first Kiiyataka to descend fell directly over Skullius, who still stood firmly in his stance.
Baddan felt uneasy somehow.
How could this distant kin keep his cool when his death was near?
Unless of course…
….
A sudden, blinding glow sprang from nowhere, as if in response to the opposing effort.
It looked like how watching a balloon pop after filling it with too much air, felt.
Its emergence came with a wild flush of mana that sprinted outward through the air at a perverse speed, knocking everyone who felt it push them back, into more than a simple state of surprise!
Before anyone had any time to appreciate this glow, and what it meant, a roar, mixed in with a determined hiss screeched out deafeningly from where Skullius stood, and with the indescribable noise, came an absurd force that nearly forced everything alive to believe that hope, strength, worth, and happiness… were all lies.
Suddenly, Maxim had forgotten all about the multiple Kiiyatakas falling from the sky, and why they were terribly bad.
Tallo had forgotten to protect himself against the potential effect of the incoming destruction.
Baddan… Baddan had almost forgotten why he was here, wrestling outsiders as he had been commanded by Rias.
It was surreal.
But…
Maxim, Tallo, and Baddan seemed to have their senses restored a moment later, and they all started panting heavily as they were withdrawn from the state they had been dragged into.
What… what was that?
What was that fierce, sombre gush of power that came with a stale smell?
These was a good question.
But the better question was…
Where had the Kiiyatakas, the winds, the music, Baddan’s clones…. and the heavy clouds gone?