Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The ashfall mingled with the billions of creatures flying at relativistic speeds, looking for a place among them. Or was it the other way around?

The monsters, Fiends, like ice blue ghosts without a tangible, fixed shape, poured from somewhere unseen with the base eye. As soon as they extricated themselves from that space, they darted towards the gloomy sun, furious. Great swathes of them attacked anything nearby or in their way in the thousands. They had physical might to spare for that.

…But the Monosphere's demesnes were all thoroughly defended. Citadels, strongholds and suites were all shielded by powerful barriers that even muted the impacts from the blows of the Fiends. Not a single one of the creatures made any lasting damage to the defenses.

As it happened, most of the Fiends didn't last too long after appearing. Thousands of flying vessels manned by the combat units in the Monosphere were whipping about tactfully, weaving around the swarms and firing blasts of some queer energy specifically designed to target and kill the Fiends in one shot. Muffled booms resounded, and great swathes of the creatures turned to something finer than dust.

While the coordinated units of flying vessels were already chipping away good numbers of the Fiends at a time, Generals could also be seen flying around, devastating the hordes with single, precise uses of Andori, Treasures, or dreadful Parlous Natures. They were taking down ten times as many Fiends as the vessels in the same stretch of time.

'The way they use the Common Reality Leagues here is… efficient. The Warlords are already powerful but the precision in every offensive gesture that the Generals make is uncanny. Neither Boron nor Quintess demonstrated this level of finesse and power,' thought Skullius, watching the armoured figures closely.

They wielded their Andori and Parlous Natures as well as he did Null Life Essence.

Just then, Skullius sensed Fortus appear behind him with a handful of the attendants he had seen earlier. At the same time, Uyuniya sidled to his side.

"What do you think about what Yuyui saw?" she asked.

Several of the Stars, including Elita, were visibly curious about Skullius' response.

"Later," said the Hybrid promptly, and he turned to the steward instead. "What's going on here?"

"Vacuum Fiends," said Fortus. "They are especially tricky to deal with. You see, they inhabit the space between the fourth and third dimensions, a space that's, as it were, non-existent except for them."

"Hm." Skullius hummed. "Is that space similar to Broader Existences?"

"Quite."

"I see." It was especially interesting to Skullius. Fiends were equipped with the most bizarre abilities. "Why are they trying to attack the sun? Better yet, why now?"

"You passed by the Triosphere and Duosphere on your way here, I trust? You must have seen the Abyssal Fiend or its proxies. High-level Fiends such as these love any trace of Litte, and they use it to proliferate at an alarming rate. In the Vacuum Fiends' case, the only way for us to cull their numbers efficiently is to lure them out of their hiding holes."

Skullius nodded. "Acceleration. That's what they want?"

"Yes, my lord. Litte accelerates all other aspects of the law, and there are traces of it in suns within Breaking Chasms."

"So, the dimming sun agitates the Vacuum Fiends… but how exactly do you cause that?" Skullius said, and he looked up. "The ash?"

"As you say," said Fortus, a small smile creeping below his downward curling moustache. "Grand General Navvexr oversees that process for the Monosphere and Quadrosphere every set number of Consternals."

"…I see."

It made sense now.

There were Fiends with enormous potential for growth within this Breaking Chasm – some innately formed within it and some that migrated from other places to get here. As there were suns within each sphere, it stood to reason that even the Quadrosphere could be overtaken by Fiends as well, hence why Navvexr would also blast it with the cold ash, and perhaps even more intensely than she did the Monosphere, which was even more well-guarded.

But what was this cold ash? How could it smother the glow of a powerful sun?

Earlier, Skullius had not been able to come to a conclusion as to what the ash was, but the answer came to him after Fortus' explanation – a product of reason alone.

'She uses an aspect of the law. Immors…'

That had to be it. Skullius came to this realization through a process of elimination. It was the only aspect of the law that made sense, and if it were any product of the Common Reality Leagues, he would have been able to tell before.

'And she's capable of using Immors across millions of light-years,' thought Skullius, chuckling to himself.

Again, he was reminded. Monsters.

And again, Skullius re-evaluated the strength of the high-brass here in Breaking Chasm #59.

"How long does it usually take to clear all the Vacuum Fiends?" he asked Fortus.

"About an hour. The Grand General keeps the sun dampened for half a Consternal after each purge, however," said the steward, staring into the Hybrid's eyes. He'd sensed him tense up for some reason just now.

"Good. For those of us used to day and night, this works in our favour," said Skullius casually, smiling.

…But that was a façade – a distraction. In the time it took him to say, day, he formed IN AND MU outside the spherical barrier around the Sanguine Suite, expelled them in opposite directions, and then had them revolve around a supermassive radius. Within that range – almost a light year – Skullius exercised absolute dominance over darkness.

By the time he said, night, IN and MU successfully injected 67,986,555 Vacuum Fiends with microscopic needles of darkness… and disappeared.

"That does sound convenient," said Fortus, who could not even fathom what Skullius had done.

The Hybrid Warmoth chortled. "By the way, would you mind lowering the barrier for a bit?"

"My lord?" said Fortus, puzzled. "The Fiends will pour in."

"I know. I just need a second. I find Fiends interesting."

Fortus considered Skullius for a little while, and then he did as he was bid. With a simple gesture made in his authority as the overseer of Sanguine Suite, the protective shield around it fell.

Sure enough, the Vacuum Fiends noticed at once and turned, attacking fiercely. Fortus raised his guard, ready to defend those who needed protecting if a need arose. At the same time…

"If your intention is to grab one of them to study, then I must warn you, my lord – even the Warlords cannot do so with ea—"

The Steward cut himself off, baffled.

The [Avant Atelier] flared from Skullius, spouted two dark, misty limbs, snatched one of the Vacuum Fiends and swatted the rest into nothingness with ease. The Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz coursing through the Andori kept the captured Vacuum Fiend frozen in place.

Fortus quickly activated the barrier again, barring the other Fiends, but he, just like the attendants, gaped in shock. He meant to ask how Skullius had accomplished this so easily, but he never got the chance.

'It's not going to be easy extracting aspects of the |Greater Cosmic Law| just anywhere, huh?' thought the Hybrid. The Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz interacting with the Vacuum Fiend didn't readily extract traces of it within the creature. He had an inkling as to why, but that wasn't his immediate concern.

Skullius grinned at the Fiend. 'You're gonna be an unwilling opponent of mine for a good five minutes.'

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