Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1043: Timely Silhouettes

It wasn\'t a flame. It couldn\'t have been.

Whatever spewed from Jerthrax\'s mouth after declaring that he did not want another anomaly on the battlefield, that Replicus\' existence was better served... less than null, was beyond the concept of fire that Replicus knew.

It was like his time and his fate were pulled towards where the burn from the dragon was going to destroy.

The goal, after all, was total destruction, leaving, beyond a shadow of a doubt no traces of Serenity\'s champion.

The Penetrator didn\'t quite understand what was currently going on. The voice of the dragon had mangled his thoughts, his ability to comprehend the situation with nuance, gone.

What was left of him as his bones shattered by the second, was a strong will to try and protect his loyal subordinates. He spread out his arms as the wall of vicious scorch came, slow yet fast and unavoidable.

The Null Life Essence he dispensed continued to funnel out of him without completely flowing out in its entirety. Perhaps the Penetrator hoped to be able to use morsels of it on himself too, but what good would that have done?

None.

Everything became too bright for anyone to gleam anything.

There was only hot and hotter.

Anyone who might have been anywhere near the vicinity, was sure to be erased even without coming into contact with Jerthrax\'s breath.

The dragon did not hold back, after all, he had been taught by the last of the governing Deities about unusual existences bred outside Aigas; creatures born from different flavours of the word \'death\'.

They would not die so easily.

They were not to be underestimated.

They were not to be allowed to mingle wantonly with the precious creations of the Deities. As such...

The torrent of divine heat burned and burned farther; wider.

The clouds seemed to melt completely at this point, and the world on this side - a portion of Aigas split from the whole three days ago - seemed to tilt even more unnaturally while trembling furiously.

--

Within the straight fury of the immense power, Replicus... regained his thoughts.

The first thing to hit him was explosive fright, panic and rage.

Where was he that was so bright?

He could tell the blinding light was all danger given tangible, scalding form, but... Was... was he... alive?

Why was he not being ground down, melted or disintegrated?

Surely, that was the fate that awaited him, killing all his aspirations and dreams, right?

In the face of unceremonious might, all his goals could only be incinerated without a trace, right?

That was the reality on the side of the world, right?

The Penetrator\'s sockets turned to his right.

The fierce, divine conflagration...arched around him.

He looked to his left.

The bright death avoided him.

He was untouched.

\'How...?\' he questioned himself, his thoughts and senses lagging as though they had just gone through a fresh reboot.

His sockets then faced ahead, powering through the fiercest ongoing highlights.

There were three silhouettes before him.

Two of them were rather tall, but the one in their middle was rather short by comparison.

This particular silhouette, so dark it might have been liquid darkness because of the radiant light, was hunched forward, its arms trembling.

The grand fiery highlights bashed against it, but couldn\'t continue past it, towards Replicus.

What?

Someone was pushing against ALL THAT?

Replicus tried to make out who these individuals were.

Muffled voices teased him, forcing him to strain his senses in order to hear what was being

said and:

"Hold it."

"I can\'t!"

"I said hold it! Just for a few more seconds!"

"I can\'t do it anymore! I\'m still fresh at this! You should be petting my head at what I\'ve already mastered so far! Are you seeing this?! Are you seeing what I\'m doing?! You are

supposed to be praising me right now!"

There was a pause and huffs of air, which Replicus wasn\'t sure was available in meaningfully

vital doses within this heat.

\'Who are...?\' he thought.

"I\'m letting go! I can\'t hold it anymore!"

"Hmph! Lazy."

"That I am!"

An instant later, Replicus felt himself get tackled and then...

The world hissed all around him before immediately going silent.

Suddenly, the catastrophic heat and the insensible changes in the surroundings were no more.

There was a light cool now. Well, at least compared to what he had been up against, this might as well have been a trip through winter.

The Penetrator had been transported elsewhere. Somewhere so vey far, that it was free from the tumultuous turbulence brought on by Jerthrax. His body was laid on a strange, pale piece of silk that floated over the ocean and bore his weight, and that of someone else.

His body, which was still broken, twitched and he turned his head.

Even his socket flames needed to adjust themselves after the exposure to the rough light, and thus, when a dark figure leaned into his sight, it took him a few seconds to see who it was.

"Yuyui?"

A girl with long, lime green hair that curled at her shoulders, came into view. She smiled radiantly... and rather stupidly, while blowing into her hands which were smoking and sizzling furiously – and maybe tantalisingly. She had a childish face with full cheeks and lips that expressed an astonishing degree of youth.

Her bangs covered one of her eyes, unusual eye that gleamed through the lime green strands. The other, exposed eye showed immense relief.

This girl then threw herself on Replicus\' red hot armour while crying, "Master!"

Replicus was stunned to say the least.

He silently stared at Yuyui... as she quickly screeched and withdrew from his armour after

being burned by it.

"How...?" he began when he noticed the two figures beside the girl.

"To think this is the same person who bested me back then. I don\'t know whether to feel

ashamed or repulsed."

One of the two spoke with a haughty tone imbedded in an inhuman, sonorous voice.

It was another familiar individual to the Penetrator. Once he saw the helmet that looked like a

large, white cap reaching up to the bridge of the feminine figure\'s nose, tassels attached to the back of it, he instantly remembered this Spirit Guardian whom he had beaten up quite badly back in the Temple of Unlusted Tears.

Bassbion.

To her right was another Spirit Guardian, the less abrasive of the two. She had a slightly

plump body and a motherly air about her.

She simply smiled at him without a word.

"We arrived just in time, right?" Yuyui said while giving a quick appraisal to Replicus\' body.

She tried to hide it, but she was rattled by the state her Master was in.

Replicus would have smiled at her if he could.

He would have patted her shoulder if she wouldn\'t wince at the heat his armour was giving off

too.

He looked around him.

On the silk cloth he was laid on, he saw his subordinates sprawled on there too, some of them

groaning and turning.

A sigh of relief left his mouth, and then he said:

"Yeah. You saved us Yuyui."

The lime-haired girl\'s eyes glistened and the smile she had been wearing turned even more

stupidly wide.

She sniffled.

Replicus groaned, trying to sit up.

"On that note. How in the world did you even get here? What did you do?"

Immediately Yuyui wore a smug look and showed her right palm.

There was an eye in the middle of it.

"I finally awakened my third eye!" she declared proudly.