A collision was afoot, and it wasn't with a box-shaped metallic locomotive – which would have been a much better companion in the imminent crash in this case. The undead Incandescent Stager was likely to use the chance to wreck the great vessel with furious glee.
Pherdanta wouldn't allow it.
With palpable strain, she forced the ship to come to a less than smooth halt just in time, the passenger aboard with her jerking a little at the sudden stop!
The undead old man whizzed up past the end of the ship's bowsprit where Araeyn was seated peacefully, and soared further into the height, nearly the reaching the clouds!
Pherdanta urged the ship forward, intent on not giving the dreadful foe a chance to target them. The ship resumed its motion in the air with a vehement bellow, the bright glints at its end firing off a baleful scorch that beat against the cool winds!
Replicus looked up. As did Baddan and Allora.
'Just our luck...' he thought as he watched the undead Incandescent Stager lose the momentum that dragged him up.
At once, the man's brown eyes flashed towards their ship. They turned hazel as his furious ebony Aura grew to cover him like a thick, wide blanket, then leave a beautiful trail in the sky as the man kicked off the air, and hurtled at an atrocious speed towards Replicus' ship!
A great shattering noise range out as the undead combatant broke the umbrella-shaped shield over the ship's deck with ease!
His speed when shooting through his previous destination to where he was right now had truly been beyond what Masters, and even a Tier 14 beast – Baddan – could follow!
The man cocked back his fist and sent it tearing through the deck with a horrendous force that threatened to make the whole ship implode, a tragedy that began with a violent heat that drew everything around it!
Everyone aboard felt the greedy pull while their vision was yet to properly register what was happening!
The worst was coming!
However...
In the same instance when the undead Incandescent Stager caused a gaping hole through the deck to manifest, something appeared right beside his fist.
It was small orb, barely the size of an eyeball, with a faded greyish black hue.
Oddly, this orb vanished as soon as it appeared, but...
"Ngghh!"
The undead Incandescent Stager suddenly felt his skin, flesh and bones get yanked in a direction far from the ship! His body was skewed as he flashed in the same direction as the vessel had been going at a speed comparable to that which he had used to reach the ship from the sky!
The old man travelled seven hundred meters in less than a quarter of a breath, and when he felt his body relax, his velocity dampening, another orb appeared right above his forward... and vanished again!
The undead man was appalled.
His body sped straight down towards the raging sea at an unfathomable speed, and slammed into the head of the ship he had attacked moments ago!
The great vessel forced the surrounding waters to groan as its frontmost half sank deep into the ocean!
Replicus looked down and chuckled mockingly.
'That's definitely Eaniss' ship. She'll probably want payback later...' he thought while watching the vessel below groan and push forward again, the undead Incandescent Stager attached to its shattered head.
He turned away his focus.
His crew were all still a bit stunned at what had just happened, Pherdanta immediately retrieved her wits and forced the ship to surge faster forward!
While she was at it, she had the ship manifest another barrier over the deck – a feature she was very grateful for, as without it, she now felt naked.
Looking at the gaping hole in the deck, Replicus sighed.
'I was a bit late, but I still managed it...'
"A bit?!" one of Replicus' thought phantoms cried in front of his face.
"Yeah! We did all the work, sockethole!" another said scathingly.
Replicus sighed.
Well, they weren't wrong.
Incandescent Stagers, Form Users in particular, had terrifying physical attributes. It only got worse when they used their Aura or Nitros.
Because of this, Replicus had been a little late in responding to the old man's assault even with his thought phantoms' assistance. Thankfully, his counter had activated just in time.
The affinity that was previously exclusive to the Hybrid Luman's body was now accessible to Replicus' in his Penetrator body as well.
Distorted Gravity.
Since he had been learning more and more about it while using the Kindling Heath to draw on its essence – the mana which manifested its effect – and the Vehement Bone Nullmancer exclusive skill, [Epiphany], he had mastered it to a significant extent.
~~~
[ Epiphany | Lv.7 ]
The very core of a Vehement Bone Nullmancer. The user gains boosts to his current capabilities and channels to learn concepts with ease.
<Passive>
•+150% to all skill proficiency and power
•Constantly analyses concepts around the user with a chance of generating lesser fundamental knowledge on said concepts.
<Active>
Allows the user to learn the fundamentals of any mana-related concept using specified quantities of Null Life Essence.
Mana Requirements: None
Duration: None
Cooldown: ---
~~~
Unlike before, his understanding of the concept was more advanced and his affinity with it had grown to B.
This allowed him to learn how to create centres of gravity - the orbs - which could pull and push with extremely intricate application of force.
The only drawback for Replicus, was that unlike with his Hybrid Luman form, which had a mana core developed specifically for adopting Distorted Gravity, his Penetrator form could only marginally achieve better results by using his second mana core, the Malleable form core.
This was a mana core he had gotten after using [Unbound] on his mana stat.
The mana core was in tune with basic elements, and could produce them on a whim, but it was still white, which limited this specific trait it had. Thankfully, it allowed Replicus to use Distorted Gravity a bit better, especially when influenced by [Epiphany]'s boost to all skills!
"This is my Creed..."
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm ...!
Replicus shook as he heard this and turned his attention below the ship.
The undead man standing on the head of Eaniss' ship bellowed with a voice that everyone could hear amid the storms.
'Another attack...' Replicus thought.
However, another voice spoke over that of the old Incandescent Stager.
"This is MY Creed. Fuck off!"
...
The first thing Replicus saw as he gaped behind his helmet, was the old undead man shooting off Eaniss' ship and disappearing into the far distance while hunching back, as though something had knocked into him ruthlessly.
An unnatural calm then suddenly imposed itself for thousands of meters, forcing the chaotic waves to relax and turn back into the glossy sheen of steady waters under the great ship.
The storms were forced away.
The wind steadied.
Everything turned peaceful.
...
Replicus shook his head.
'Well... Way to show them,' he thought while continuing to stare at Eaniss' ship.
He didn't know how many Creeds were used just for this 'fuck off', or if it even worked as a command for a Creed. Who knew?
Replicus didn't want to think about it too much.
In fact, there was something even more pressing and shocking than Eaniss' impressive showing.
It seemed the clash between the masked man and the Paladin Champion had concluded.
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