Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1034: Dying Star

Aurolio clashed with the Apostle Araeyn.

Admittedly, battling the Astute Duke, wasn't as simple as he had though. He hadn't seen much of the Empyrean Ribbon before, and thus didn't know that it could attack in tandem with Araeyn as well, making complex movements that were nearly difficult for him to evade.

In a mere fifty seconds, the two contrasting combatants exchanged raw blows over the searing surface of the star.

Araeyn landed a vicious punch to Aurolio's chest and the pale man did the same to the Apostle.

A tumultuous explosion of force that caused a great portion of the star to cave in ensued, its great mass trembling.

'Crazy...' Aurolio thought with a vicious grin.

Both he and Araeyn floated above the inferno pit below, both unmoving, both unharmed. One was coated in a thick film of Null Life Essence, another in Voided Death Essence.

In Araeyn's hollow sockets was pure hatred focused on the man with long white hair.

Something about him agitated the Apostle.

Of course, Aurolio felt this hate, and he knew exactly why it burned like so.

He split off from the Apostle when its red ribbon cut through the air in an attempt to pierce through him.

Landing on a still-intact portion of the star, he scoffed.

'It usually takes one serious blow with my essence to end most opponents. Heck, it wasn't difficult to kill those entities in Genhuis City months ago. But this one, as I thought... this one is different....' Aurolio thought, his mind scrolling to the image of Replicus.

Now that he thought about it, why did he assume that Festos was limited to the flesh form he had seen back then. The version of that Null Lifeform on this side of the world, masquerading as Bright Storm, seemed different. Perhaps behind that starry armour was something... sinister.

Aurolio could assume such an appearance. So perhaps those of Null Life could do it too.

'Should have thought about it sooner,' the pale man thought, his eyes honing in on Araeyn who stood on his floating ribbon. 'This thing must be unique in some way. Different from the other stuff Festos summoned for me. I suppose Null Life must have a larger variety.'

All that said...

"Hey, ugly," Aurolio said to Araeyn. "You have been deeply, deeply, disappointing. Is reinforcing yourself with Null Life Essence the only thing you can do?"

This, from Aurolio, was genuine.

He indeed desired to kill as many hard-to-kill enemies and absorb a lot of experience. Such enemies, could no longer be found so easily among the natural residents of Aigas because of his technique.

He needed to fight opponents from Existential Parallels.

Strong ones.

He truly wished that the opponent before him could be the first of very few to make use anything beyond his technique, basic Voided Death Essence reinforcement and his Veneration art.

...And well, he was right.

Araeyn grew more agitated at the pale man's taunt.

GRRRRRRK.

The Apostle's wrath was manifested near instantly.

Something truly huge fell on Aurolio's head.

Something bright.

Something... close to death.

The pale man was elated.

He looked up and let out a primal roar.

"Oh yes my dear ugly! Keep it up and this just might get interesting!]"

***

It suddenly occurred to Replicus that there was a more-obvious-than-the-obvious reason why this region of the Null Verse was called the Boring Mine Nova Star Course.

'Mine' and 'Nova' seemed to be significant in this title.

Evidence to this, was the fact that the giant, far hotter star dropping on his head, was not ordinary. There was a blinking, web-like orange light menacingly glowing with different intensities deep within it, past the bluish white exterior!

This thing...

This dwarf star...

It was going to explode!

Replicus cursed.

The star had an immense amount of force behind its motion, which, frighteningly, did not really show. The mass seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, when in actuality, it was dragged from afar by the Astute Duke.

While the power behind its movement did not act upon this star, however, the dwarf star did seem to come to a halt.

Something pushed it back.

Something unseen.

As significant of a feat that was for whoever did this, it didn't seem to matter.

The ominous tinge of red on the star grew intense, and spread wider.

'Now's my cue!' Replicus thought, and he turned into a bolt of lightning that sped away from the star.

Unlucky for him, though, it seemed the Faction Leader who had him in a vice still managed to grip the tail end of his boltly form!

The Penetrator cursed.

He saw the Bishop, Eaniss and their subordinates follow after him through the dense space and cursed even more.

...

When the luminance of the stars they had left behind was starting to fade, it finally happened.

Silently, the dwarf star erupted like a bomb.

For a few minutes, no one saw anything.

The only sensation to be felt, especially for Replicus and everyone around him, was a horrible propulsion from behind them, which sent them barrelling through space with speeds they could only dream of traversing at when or if they reached Divinity!

Replicus didn't know who to thank for experiencing this phenomenon while in his Levin form.

It was so much more bearable.

The same wasn't true for the Faction Leader who had somehow held onto him.

Replicus felt his coat of Nitros being peeled away faster than he could recover it. Soon, the man screamed so loudly, and hoarsely, that it sounded like his throat got torn in the process. Without the protection of his Nitros, whatever manner of friction he had experienced with his body shredded every inch of his being.

Soon, he was left behind in the depth of the Null space, shrivelled and hunched.

'If that's the fate he had to endure, what happened to everyone we left on the star?' Replicus

thought.

If even he, who was affiliated with phenomenon related to Null Life Essence wasn't sure he could have survived that, what about everyone else?

Was Eaniss still alive?

Was Thrill?

While it was the Penetrator's plan to reduce the number of competitors and deplete the

resources of those he couldn't get rid of... wasn't it working a bit too well?

Experience flooded in through his guidance field, making him relax a bit.

Thank goodness Em-Sul wasn't anywhere close to here.

If he was, he and the Harmonic Ember might have been erased from existence.

Speaking of that...

'How are the others faring? I need to get back to them. I had Araeyn split them and us apart to give those four breathing room. I'm going to need to find them soon.'

Five minutes later, when the group decelerated enough to see the dotted black space clearly

again, Replicus assumed his Penetrator form once more.

Behind him, the Bishop and her burly men, as well as Warding Pride and what remained of her subordinates could be seen.

Unlike the Faction Leader who died just now, they were just fine, though Warding Pride

looked a little pale.

She must expended a lot of energy.

Replicus' sockets flashed.

The Bishop, on the other hand, looked freshly mad.

"Enough running!" she cried.

Replicus chuckled.

"I'm not anymore."

The old hag grinned. "Good!"

She then clapped her hands.

Suddenly, Replicus felt his feet hit something solid. The boundless expanse of Null space was

suddenly shut away, replaced instead, by an odd field of sacredness.

The Penetrator had been brought into a place of worship.

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