Bro, I’m not an Undead!

Tallo’s laughter grew infinitely more annoying with each step the trio took, speeding away from the hallowed grounds with Baddan and several of his fellow riders leading the way.

Skullius almost blocked his ears, and Maxim kept glaring at the Mage murderously.

Even Baddan was looking to be so close to erupting into a flailing fit if Tallo wasn’t shut up very soon. He had made his point. His annoying, shrewdly point.

Every second he continued laughing with so many tears coming from his eyes that he had to dab them away constantly with his robes, the group’s urge to gang up on him, and strangle him was inflated.

But they were decent people.

“I still can’t believe you bought it! ‘One of our friends is at death’s door!’ you said Hahahahahahaaaaaaaha Hahahahaha! That one in particular got me! Whooo!” Tallo panted, using Skullius’ shoulder as support.

“Come on. Lighten up. We’re all alive aren’t we? So what if I tricked you a bit. It was all for our benefit. A bit of cringe worthy theatre featured in the performance I can’t deny, but surely, that can’t sully our perfect teamwork now, can it?”

Tallo suppressed another laugh.

Skullius was gripping Demion’s Dance’s hilt extra hard.

He decided to douse Tallo’s laughter at least by asking a few questions.

“So… From the moment that black liquid fell from the sky, you were already fooling all of us?”

Tallo gave a cheery nod.

“Of course!” he replied, almost skipping in his sprint – they were jogging lightly after all.

The reveal hadn’t been the best thing to happen to Skullius today.

The trio plus Baddan had been dumbfounded when they found out, reluctant to believe even with the evidence, but a slow, and irritating explanation from Tallo had convinced them finally.

From the moment Baddan used the dark tide, Tallo had substituted himself with an illusion.

What he had said about being unable to trick a creature like Baddan for long periods was true, but he had omitted to tell his teammates that he did have one advanced form of illusion, an advanced application of the Deception Patch, that could deceive anyone to a terrifying degree, as long as certain conditions were met.

As long as Tallo was able to completely convince a particular sense of his target – often by having the target interact with the illusion he made at least thrice without having them doubt – Tallo could influence the target’s brain in relation to that particular sense.

The Prime Mage had come to the conclusion that since Baddan was humanoid, his senses were likely connected to his brain, unlike a vast collection of insect-type Cluster beasts. Thus, when Baddan saw Tallo, heard him ask who Appairitoni was, which further convinced him that he was facing the real Mage, and interacted with him through speech, he had already lost.

And indeed, Tallo hadn’t resorted to fooling only one of Baddan’s senses.

The Sky Watcher hadn’t touched Tallo, but the Mage had convinced Baddan that he had interacted with him through the effect of Hefty Rebuke. When Maxim and Skullius were made to float, Tallo had, with a little delay, made his illusion float too – having been caught off guard.

  When the tide had bashed into his illusion, Tallo had created a convincing corresponding effect; making it look like it was being swept away while trying to teleport to safe spots, but with great difficulty.

From there, Tallo had also had a hold over Maxim, Skullius, having ensnared their senses too.

This was why the Deception Patch was a rare and unique Patch. It hardly even had anything to do with mana when the target was influenced to the brain, and thus, even in a Territory, it still continued to work.

Of course, what riled up Skullius and Maxim was the fact that Tallo had made his illusion act like some typical, altruistic hero as it fooled all of them, making them believe that he was giving up his life ‘to do some good’, as he had said.

Skullius scowled.

No wonder he had noticed that something was wrong.

There had been nothing in the sky!

Only Baddan had seen a dense array overhead.

He had then plummeted after believing that he had been struck down by its fierce power, and his brain had caused him to be dazed as a result, sending messages of false pain throughout his body.

Except for what Skullius did to him, he was fine.

As such, Baddan was even more furious than Skullius, who had lost a precious Super potion trying to heal the realistic illusion of Tallo.

He hadn’t heard the explanation as it was given by Tallo, but what he saw after arguing with Skullius about whether or not their win was valid, gave him adequate hints.

One moment Tallo was lying on the ground close to death, and in the next, he was standing behind Skullius with a funny smile.

“Jeez you won! Can you shut up now?!” Skullius snapped and Tallo waved his hands in surrender.

“Alright, alright. I’ve had my bit of fun,” he chuckled.

“So you were holding out on us during that entire fucking battle, huh?” Maxim asked, her scowl receding as it seemed Tallo was dropping his screechy caw of a laugh.

The Mage scratched his chin before answering, looking to be considering his words very carefully, though in reality, he was merely scratching an itch.

“Of course I was. Just as you were,” he replied with his finger pointing to Skullius who stiffened a bit. “I told you before. I know you’re not some Form User or Arma User. There’s no way. You’re hiding a large collection of abilities even now. I think it’s fair to do so. No reason to reveal everything when nearly a fifth of Pelian is watching.”

Skullius had nothing to say to this.

Tallo continued, his focus back on Maxim who had inquired.

“Unlike you who hails from a Family, with many already knowledgeable about your technique, I prefer to hide my wild and last resort cards until I really need them. He’s in the same boat, having joined the Family circle relatively recently.”

“Done your research,” Skullius said without turning to the Mage.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

“Everyone who had a sensible mind the day you fought that barrier-making coward would have recognised the mystery surrounding your powers and done some inquiries about you.”

Skullius couldn’t help but see it now.

His Preliminary Round match against Kurtish had been quite the spectacle, and if not for the fact that Kurtish had an advantage when it came to long, drawn out fights, Skullius would have won with the single most effective blow he had landed on the man.

There was a bit of silence following the back and forth, and the one to break it was Baddan, astride his striped Retriever.

“It seems the makings of the outside world… are more complex than I imagined,” he said.

“They sure are,” Maxim heaved his words to fashion another topic which would hopefully kill off the awkward silence. “But what you have here is also rather unorthodox. Besides… Well, whatever you call this trip of ours, is there another way to reach that mountain quickly?”

Baddan wore a cross look as he turned to the pink-haired woman, but it dissipated as soon as he saw the ignorance in her eyes.

“It is not a mountain. It is the All-Guiding Appairitoni, our god. His presence…. keeps the order here, and reaching him cannot be done by casual means, especially…. by you clueless invaders.”

As he explained, Baddan felt some of his pride leave his flesh.

The powerlessness he felt in his mana core, which felt like a heavy lump in his abdomen, as if he had swallowed a boulder at supper, crippled his earlier regal, sagely attitude.

His fellow clansmen riding at his sides were likely to be losing respect each time he interacted with the foreigners, but he had been convinced adequately that he hardly had any choice.

Several minutes ago, a few arguments had been made for him to finally relent and commit to what he had promised.

Baddan had promised that if Maxim, Skullius and Tallo emerged victorious in the game, he would grant them anything they wished, but if the opposite occurred, they would be viable for slaughter, though, he was aiming to kill them as they played the game still.

In his mind, that was a better alternative to all his clansmen with him in tow attacking the trio all at once.

Said trio had indeed emerged victorious, but he had argued against the victory…. until it was revealed that Skullius could, as Tallo had introduced without the Hybrid Luman’s confirmation, fix his mana core for him IF he agreed to what he stated before.

This had convinced Baddan quite a bit. In the state he was in, he would he useless as Sky Watcher, and picturing himself getting replaced and sent into the folds of the All-Guiding Appairitoni to be buried along with the other dead ones, and with a sullied reputation as his only mortal reward…. It wouldn’t do.

The nail on the coffin had been Tallo mentioning that Rias was here, and he was at the foot of the mountain. Essentially, Baddan was delivering them to a ‘highly probable death so he needn’t worry’, as the Mage so gracefully stated, earning Maxim and Skullius’ glares.

Baddan hadn’t bought it at first, but if it was true, that was all the more reason for him to accept the first proposal, and get his powers back.

And thus, here they were.

The obvious choice for the trio, which they unilaterally agreed on, was to have Baddan lead them to the mountain, something the Sky Watcher had hinted was possible with his abilities.

He lorded over the clouds above after all, as he had boasted before.

The Sky Watcher would have argued against this too, but it was evident that the glowing object above the All-Guiding Appairitoni was foreign, and it was what the group was after. If it truly led them out of this world, it was probably worth it to help them.

And now, the trio plus several riders were rapidly speeding in the direction of the mountain without the slowing effect clamping down their speed.

Baddan, after the long thought, relented to Maxim’s question.

What was the use in withholding this information anyway. He chose to answer.

“The best way to approach the mountain, if you are not led by a Beckoned Sky Watcher, or the illustrious Beckoned Height Keeper, is…. to follow the Pioneers. They scurry about everywhere – except perhaps in wet areas, they rarely wander there – and make up to two-forths of the population within this world. I am sure that young one, your kin, spared those little absent-minded saints because…. they do not serve as threats to anyone, though they are rather difficult to kill.”

Skullius nodded.

He had been on the right track it seemed, before he was taken by the Draw Bubble.

“These Pioneers. Why are they always rushing towards the mountain?” he asked Baddan.

“So you’ve seen them? Well… they are pure. They have no ambition and external motive outside of instinct. They are models…. and reminders for my kin made by Appairitoni, as to how we should live. As constant seekers of his height, and to always approach his divine being every year after meditation.”

Tallo seemed especially curious about this subject. He mulled over the content and nodded.

“Well good thing you were here to act as our substitute for that,” he said before turning to his partners. “Now that we have settled our route to the mountain, we still have a problem with Units. It would be great to get a few thousand right now.”

Skullius waved Tallo away. He knew what he was insinuating.

Maxim had roughly 2,000 Glass Units, and Tallo had close to 4,000. Skullius on the other hand, had more than 5,000, with several hundred having been taken away by the lethal hits from Baddan.

“You really want to start the discussion on killing each other after all that?” Skullius asked.

“It’s only logical,” Tallo said with a bright smile.

Maxim yawned and rushed off to the side.

“I’m going to go take a piss and change into some new clothes. This armour is killing me.”

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“How open,” he said. “I guess that’s a no to killing each other then.”

“Pretty much,” Skullius said without taking his focus off the riders ahead.

“Fine, fine. We’re all best friends now, with me being the lovable martyr. Now, as you promised. Answer my questions.”