Chapter 1069: The Logic-Defying Clash Across Null Remnants! (10)
Chapter 1069: The Logic-Defying Clash Across Null Remnants! (10)
The dragon could understand how the masked man had survived. He was rather resourceful, so much so, in fact, that while Jerthrax could summon even more creatures and Mythical grade weapons, he was hesitating because he feared they might be converted, turned into tools that worked against him.
The dragon massaged his neck.
This was evidence of how dangerous the masked man was, and it pained him to admit that the human was a match for him. Because of him, he now had two vulnerable spots that could be used against him.
Unfortunately for the Herald, it took centuries to grow his scales. For a being like him, his scales were a measure of not just durability, but also wisdom and age. The lifetime a dragon had lived was their pride. It embodied a lot of their character.
To have so many of his scales stripped like this, was an insult.
However, even more of a spit in the face was finding an enemy who could take his flames without dodging or, better yet, employing a miracle to survive.
The Null Devil King, whom he had been fighting for four days before, had never taken his dragon breath before, or even shown to be confident that he could. Now, he was simply floating on empty, heated space after having tanked it whole as if it were nothing!
\'WAS HE ALSO RESERVING HIS CARDS, LIKE ME?\' Jerthrax wondered.
While he had been waiting for the masked man to arrive, an eventuality that he deduced with his general Divining abilities - which also weren\'t his forte - he had been saving his trump cards.
After spending days battling the pale enemy, Jerthrax had thought that there was nothing in false king\'s arsenal that could hurt him, and that if he waited for the masked man to arrive, he could go full throttle with his powers and kill both enemies at once.
Unfortunately, that idea became shaky.
As the dragon couldn\'t perceive Null Life Essence, he couldn\'t see the complex application of it around the Null Devil King who proceeded to sneer at him.
Jerthrax growled in fury.
"COCKROACHES. WHEN I FIRST HEARD ABOUT YOU AND YOUR PARTICULAR AFFINITY TOWARDS PERSISTING, I COULD HARDLY BELIEVE IT. EVEN WHEN I TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY, YOU STILL PROVE \'THEM\' RIGHT. YOU TRULY ARE ANOMALIES. BOTH OF YOU," Jerthrax said as his body rose into the air, his wings casting a deep shadow on what was left of the lush greens, bubbly blobs and colourful space behind him.
His eyes then sharply pinned on the masked man.
"YOU STOLE WHAT IS NOT YOURS AND IT REBELS AGAINST YOU, DOES IT NOT? IT\'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU PERISH FOR YOUR GREED, MORTAL."
The necromancer narrowed his eyes.
How sharp.
He hadn\'t thought that Jerthrax would notice.
He had believed that only Replicus and his group were aware of his condition. Taking in Rayn\'s soul wasn\'t without consequences, despite the masked man performing all the steps so perfectly. At the end of the day, his body wasn\'t wired to hold Divine power that went beyond Primus or Nitros.
He had only managed it because he was suppressing his fluctuating, unstable soul by filling his body with all kinds of Undeath essence to balance everything out.
Replicus and his Unlimited had seen what this looked like when they presumed the masked man to be the Paladin Champion and brought him aboard their ship.
\'I can hold on a little longer,\' the masked man thought to himself.
Jerthrax scoffed.
His body once again expelled a vicious amount of Divine energy, and then he opened his mouth:
"I, JERTHRAX, SON OF SEONGSSAX THE IVY, CREATES A RULE!"
...!!!!
The masked man\'s eyes bulged.
No...
No way!
Was this bastard actually...?
Jerthrax stretched out his hands and the black around his body became a lucent white, as though cleansed of evil and filth.
The masked man, no, Actuass, couldn\'t believe it!
It was true that he lacked the knowledge for using Divine energy beyond basic things, and it was even more difficult for him to tame it, but to think... to think it could actually be used in this manner?!
"THIS WORLD, AND ALL WITHIN IT, SHALL BE CAST - FOR ETERNITY - IN BRIMSTONE!" ...And it happened as the dragon said.
A pulse of Divine energy moving at thrice the speed of light rolled outward and turned everything in sight into rough, cracked grey stone!
The masked man was transformed into a statue that fell into the ground.
Aurolio, who barely managed to survive the stream of ebony fire before, left only as a black, charred outline with a vaguely coloured mask, was not exempt either.
This effect the petrification - was a simple Creed.
As explained before, everything that could be achieved with the Stages, could be achieved using Divine energy, and at a higher level.
Thus, to Jerthrax, the Vision of Misery, establishing a Creed, was similar to creating a Rule. The same type of Rules that kept a world stable, like the Rule that kept terrestrials away, the Rule that established death on mortals, the Rule that maintained the natural laws of a world,
among others.
This power was in the hands of the Herald in the same degree of moderation as Creeds were in the hands of normal Incandescent Stagers.
However...
The Null Devil King persisted, much to Jerthrax\'s annoyance.
This time, he hadn\'t just applied a basic, yet complex application of a niche type of Null Life Essence. He was finally using the power of the rare Class deeply ingrained in the body he
resided.
The Forcemancer, the Class of a King.
Right as the Herald and the Null Devil King stared at each other with rising animosity, two
unexpected things happened in rapid succession.
The statue that was the masked man, cracked.
Fierce Divine energy then leaked from these cracks, and a moment later, it exploded, revealing the necromancer\'s thoroughly \'unstoned\' image, livid with inspiration!
Such was shown from his one hazel eye visible through the mask!
A fraction of a moment later, another storm of familiar power erupting in spherical shockwaves flashed from above, travelling thorough everything that was transformed into stone... and restoring its properties back to the way they were!
Even the dark void where Jerthrax had obliterated everything in sight, was restored as though some calamitous incarnation of destruction had not just levelled it all into naught!
...!!!
Jerthrax, the Null Devil King and the masked man all looked up to the resource of such an absurd rejuvenating effect and saw the amalgam, falling towards them all with his Royal Raiment, missing limbs... and a spark of purple-gold particles furiously bubbling from one of
his hands!
He too (the amalgam), like the masked man, showed a face full of inspiration, excitement and
carelessness.
However, the necromancer, deciding that things were spiralling towards the epitome of complexity and unpredictability, decided to act first on his spark of creativity.
Behind him, a portal bred of greenish-black flames was ripped open as he extended his hand
to empty space!
A corpse walked through this portal and brought itself to the masked man\'s palm which rapidly poured Divine energy into it.
The eroded corpse was immediately rejuvenated, its features becoming more pronounced.
Surprisingly, it was the amalgam who looked upon the face of the corpse and recognised it
instantly.
He couldn\'t have known the promise that the masked man had made to this corpse a long time ago, the reason why he summoned it, but he knew enough to recognise its name.
\'Eobald?\'