Bro, I'm not an Undead!

'I need to re-evaluate this place…'

Skullius' guard rose as fourteen figures approached. A part of him was glad he'd told the Stars, Troops and Void users to stay on Amanas until he said otherwise. In order to fully understand the scope of things here, he would gladly exercise his full strength as the Hybrid Warmoth. He wouldn't need to restrain himself if he didn't have to look after his subordinates. As far he'd seen, they wouldn't even be able to compete against the harsh environmental conditions in the Quadrosphere.

The fourteen giants marched towards him. Indeed, compared to Skullius, they were giants, each about six meters taller than him and many times bulkier. That might have been an exaggeration caused by their armour, though. It made the fourteen enemies look like they were clad in a series of silvery-blue, inflated modelling balloons. Their helms were simplistic, spherical, plain, and with a red line cutting across them; a visor perhaps.

The slow march of the enemies was ominous, as was their silence. Even more unsettling was their captain, or so Skullius surmised. His armour was much like the others, except it sported red wings on either side of the helm. Also…

'…What is that?' Skullius found the thing hanging from this particular enemy's waist curious, but he could hardly gawk at it for long.

The enemies stopped their approach twenty meters short of his position.

'Hmm.'

The [Avant Atelier]'s surface danced wildly. Forms eerily similar to eyes appeared all over it, rich with a midnight blue hue, and the essence of Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz. The Hybrid Warmoth's new trick.

Instead of using the [Legion Eyes] as usual, he infused them with Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz and copied the essence of their function – to enhance his vision – into the [Avant Atelier] (which was also flush with Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz). The Parlous Nature was capable of connecting Andori temporarily, not just enhancing them, it appeared.

And indeed, all seventeen of the eyes that appeared on the [Avant Atelier] could see in 64 states perfectly.

'It doesn't look like they'll give me a chance to stand down…' thought Skullius when the enemies didn't move or say anything. 'Are they waiting for someone?'

He didn't like that. 'Well, might as well make the first move.'

The Hybrid had already come to terms with the possibility of beginning his infiltration in a hostile fashion. What was killing fourteen more enemies when he'd just summoned a Retucent on the Aspire to Divine's doorstep?

Slowly, Skullius picked up a rock from the ground and laced it with Null Life Essence. A moment later, he sent it flying towards one of the enemies, and it bounced off their helm.

…But Skullius didn't miss the way the sudden contact caused some kind of shiny ripple across the surface of the armour. Was that…?

'Kinetic energy?'

A fist flew in abruptly. Skullius dodged, turning his head to the side.

The enemy he'd targeted with the stone had countered almost immediately. The retaliation seemed practiced, though, like…

'A rehearsed response? Does the armour grant auto-reflexive properties?' Skullius thought as he drew back.

He would have used the guidance field for appraisal, but…

"Let's fight on equal terms, socketholes," he said, and Ju`wtte flushed through him.

Many of Skullius' powers had been redistributed and reinvented following his ascension to Divinity. All the unique quirks that his old weapon, the Warmoth's Spine, gave him access to were spread across his bodies, mainly to avert any chances of the Warmoth's Progeny Flaw from ever happening.

One of those quirks… was freely changing size.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1104.)

Skullius grew just enough for him to match the enemies. He was a giant too now, standing at more than six meters tall.

The enemies were undaunted by this, but they did begin moving. Swiftly, and with practiced organization, all of them except their captain flashed around Skullius and formed two rings around him.

…But the Hybrid wouldn't give them a moment more to establish their dominance.

Nothing about these enemies was special.

Their armour was, based on Skullius' estimations, perhaps Void rank.

They were likely all Deities with strength comparable to Fulgardt's.

They had probably rehearsed encounters with foreign enemies countless times.

…But none of that mattered.

The Null Devil King's demonstration broke their tempo at once.

[True Severance] was activated again, and one of the sheep was split from the flock before he could resist. By the time he thought to fight back, he was already standing in front of Skullius, stripped from the formation.

Contrary to what he must have expected, however, Skullius didn't attack with blatant hostility. No punch. No kick. No Andori. What the Null Devil King threw was a finger that lightly tapped the enemy's helm.

…And that was enough to obliterate the armored enemy completely!

…!

A tap, then a flash of light, then ashes, much like the ones falling from the sky. Nothing remained, not even the high-grade armour!

Finally, the enemies were daunted. The two rings they'd made around the Hybrid expanded as they created distance. But Skullius was too busy frowning at his lethal finger.

'That was way more inefficient than I thought it would be. How did it take nearly fifteen units of Focused Null Life Ota to kill just one of these socketholes?'

And he'd been so excited to try it out too.

Unlike the Ota that Apexis used, the original formula could only accomplish two things, however outrageously inflated: basic defense and basic offense.

While the basic defense granted didn't consume any Ota at all, it also didn't increase no matter how much more Ota you generated. One unit of Ota… One thousand… It made no difference. The ceiling of defense it gave was worth this weird quirk, though.

On the other hand, the raw offensive power granted by Ota did deplete with use based on the target's strength. As it happened, there was no limit to how much damage you could deal, as long as you could pay the price, of course.

'No wonder the Authorities couldn't give a damn about this,' Skullius thought.

…And then, he pivoted.

The enemies began conjuring all manner of dangerous weapons, most of them Treasures.

He did the same.

His War Body's First Phase had a signature arsenal, as did his Second, but he had never had one for his Default Body… until now.

Fulgardt was a gift that kept giving, indeed.

Skullius had inherited his powers, his goal, and finally, his Mantle.

---

[Author's Note]

The Warmoth's Progeny's Flaw (the one referred to in this chapter) was that it must keep the Warmoth's Spine in its grasp at all times otherwise, it will die. For reference, visit chapter 1101.

Consequently, that means the armoured figures are eight meters tall, and Skullius matched their size.

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