Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1082: Loss and Gain

The attack that came barely registered in the eyes of all the experts who had been paying attention.

All said experts, were united by a mutual feeling of terror, as the straight beam did not simply penetrate Jerthrax's skin. Rather, because it was moving far faster than was imaginable, it ripped through the dragon's unguarded body, burning his skin and organs from the friction that occurred upon contact.

Once inside, the straight stream, incapable of being forced to change, carried forward its treacherous force and blew up the dragon's heart and everything remotely close to it in a devastating bang!

And it didn't stop there.

It shot upwards, travelled through the dragon's throat, destroying everything in its path and then fizzled out before it eradicated the brain!

Vohnvolt, who had his hands clapped together, the concentrated glow of closely-knit purple- gold crystal particles shooting from them, felt this rupturing of the Herald's insides.

Because of that peculiar experience he shared with the masked man, the lingering effects of somehow feeling like he knew the man like a friend, albeit one he had never met, had spawned him to act in a way that allowed him to create a timely interception.

He had understood that the masked man aimed to steal the dragon's powers through the effect of Soul Yield initially.

But then what?

Would he just leave the carcass of the dragon as is?

Of course not!

The amalgam had figured that the necromancer was sure to turn the dragon's corpse into his Undead. However, that would probably be a secondary goal he wasn't too focused on executing.

But then, this would only be true, IF the masked man actually managed to reap the Herald's entire soul.

Since the masked man had failed to do so, only extracting roughly 35% of it before he was interrupted, claiming the Herald as an Undead creature became a much more integral affair. Vohnvolt had understood this without needing to see the masked man commanding Eobald- Minobu to hurry on, kill the dragon and use 'Cast Undeath' on its corpse.

This was the secret to his timely interception.

In all honesty, the amalgam hadn't desired to kill Jerthrax at all, but doing so just so happened to become the perfect way to foil the masked man's plans.

To stop the masked man from acquiring the dragon as an Undead, he had to kill it himself and secure it as his Apostle!

His crazy phantoms made countless suggestions about how to go about this until one of them gave him a viable idea.

Maximum Catalyst was composed of Reversion, Progression and Neutral.

[Neutral Maximum] had the highest cost of mana, as far as the amalgam could tell, but he had forgone a little bit of the reasoning behind this. When he first used it, he only considered its utility on himself; protection, but his phantoms had forced him to broaden his understanding.

What about using [Neutral Maximum] for offense?

Wouldn't it work as a projectile?

The only thing better than a reinforced beam of energy capable of moving at fifty times the speed of light, was if said beam was also impossible to disrupt, dilute or dent!

[Neutral Maximum] resisted all forms change!

And when funnelled with enough power, reinforcing it, it could be wielded as an actual attack, albeit one with only one trick; its indestructability.

Thus came the beam the amalgam had used from Eaniss' Nitros.

It had been so fast that by the time the crumbling Territory set to neutralise it, the damage had already been done. And after it was done, the amalgam raced forward.

The masked man was livid.

Benzard clicked his tongue.

Sause gave a heavy sigh and paused the activation of his skull artefact.

The Herald had toppled to the ground by now and the Giant had never seen his Elder look so helpless.

If he wasn't under the influence of the Ordained Reverent Machination, perhaps he could have reinforced his insides with all the Divine energy he had, stopping the attack, but...

Sause extracted something else from his storage, some kind of rejuvenating artefact to give to the dragon, but he stopped when he met the look in the dragon's colossal eye.

There was barely any life in those eyes, at least not the kind that he recognised.

Worse than the Herald's body, was the Herald's soul.

It had been tempered with... permanently. The masked man had scarred it so completely that it was sad to see.

Sause could feel dwindling hostility in the great blue eye he was faced with.

Even if there was a chance to save the Herald, once healed, he would rush to the aid of the masked man before Sause even had a chance to try and heal his soul. That was how his soul had been programmed by Ordained Reverent Machination.

The Giant sorrowfully stared into the Herald's eye.

"Perhaps we should have insisted to fight by your side from the beginning, but you always were stubborn, as a dragon should be," he said in a low voice that could only have reached the dragon, if he was even willing to listen. "But rest assured. Edagon was meant to be protected by the Giants in this modern time and I shall take up that task till my dying breath."

A last hoarse, scorching breath fled from the dragon's mouth and along with it came a mighty burst of light that was received by Sause who carefully held it in his hands, a small smile blooming on his face.

'Ah. So, your will wasn't entirely dead after all...' he thought. 'I will nestle the remnants of your soul among the remains of your ancestors, though, they might be disappointed that you

died so young.'

The masked man did not miss the death of the dragon.

Seeing as Eobald-Minobu had been flung away, and Benzard had been distracted twofold, he streaked past him and headed towards the Herald's corpse.

However, right at that moment...

[You have killed LV(!^@#) Herald Jerthrax, Vision of Misery. Calculating EXP gain...]

[You have levelled up!]

[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 59

seconds]

[You have broken past many hurdles and reached LV80. You are now able to evolve into the Fourth Tier of Power. Do you accept?]

By the time these notifications appeared in the amalgam's sight, he had already reached the corpse of dragon, [Neutral Maximum] outlining him gently.

He caught the eye of the Giant who didn't deign to stop him at all, much to his surprise.

In an instant, the dragon's corpse disappeared, vanishing into his storage.

The necromancer burned with rage.

He had nearly reached it.

He had almost been within range to use Cast Undeath!

Now all he could see was the triumphant amalgam and the Giant who turned to face him as he

stowed away a precious portion of Jerthrax's soul.

So many enemies.

So many variables.

Right then, Deathward Maw, which had already sustained a lot of damage, crumbled and

burst apart.

[Author's Note]

In case you forgot, Skullius/Replicus has to kill a target himself to attain it as an Apostle.

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