Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 990 Rise of the Wretched! (1)

When the sword was forged anew, its shattered bits drawn together by attractive swirls of energy that gathered at the very center of their orbit, it almost seemed as though nothing about the weapon would change.

The shards of steel arranged themselves neatly, forming a thick, lime green blade of approximately 1.7 meters. A hilt was swiftly formed with a cylindrical shape layered in gold, a pretty image of a woman embossed on it cleanly. It was her long hair that had much detail, visibly spinning around the hilt to reach its guard, while the woman's face remained vague, but dignified.

As the new Mythical grade weapon fit in Skullius' grip, its full likeness brought into perspective, one couldn't help but be torn on whether Demion's Dance was a katana or a falchion. Some would argue that it was both.

The Hybrid Luman himself didn't care what it looked like. Rather, he was preoccupied with how it felt when its fullness finally attached and bonded to him formally.

The whispers he had been hearing never turned into clear speech, but he began to understand them. They were constant cries for mercy, but also joyous declarations. They were spoken in a feminine voice, one Skullius remembered quite well, after all, he had heard it quite recently.

Irisa.

During the course of the final act of the Premium Age Royale, Skullius had been killed by Rias, and on his way out of Aigas, straight into Somanda's pocket, he had seen Irisa. She had told him that he was not yet to die, and surely it had come to pass.

It seemed whatever consciousness Demion's Dance had, was all tied to the woman who bought this sword for her husband, the infamous Demion who, after inheriting the Hidden Class, Appetent Guzzler, became a conqueror who almost brought Pelian to its knees.

'How poetic. So, all those moments of jealousy were nothing but the fragments of a woman's soul growing restless, a soul trapped in this sword?' Skullius laughed.

It was poetic indeed, and a little ironic.

The Hybrid Luman shifted his thoughts, his eyes burning with the darkness of Crude Vision which allowed him to see in black, white and grey. With this, he would be able to use his guidance field to appraise, and thus he did. Skullius looked at the new Demion's Dance.

~~~

[Demion's Dance]

-Mythical-

A beautifully crafted sword given to Demion on his birthday by his lover, Irisa, to commemorate his legendary battle with Escus.

-Damage-

500,170-789,900

-Durability-

467,795/467,795

-Special Effects-

95% Increase in movement speed

70% increase in reaction speed

---

[Skill: Full Memory]

The user is able to assume the full mastery and attack power that Demion displayed in his battle against Escus.

---

[Skill: True Impermanence]

Death is the destination of all things. As the user of a shard of death, you are allowed three instances a day where you can create an expanding field that KILLs any mana borne phenomena of your choice, as well as its source. A minimum of 1,000,000 (I) Mana Points is required, and may increase depending on the scale of the feat.

---

[Skill: Courting Death]

A field of malevolence born from mass producing, and refining Mortal Ruin is erected around the user. The density and the range can be expanded as the user sees fit, taking their sword mastery and mana into account

~~~

A grin appeared on Skullius' face. How delightful.

There was a great upgrade indeed, as he had imagined.

The Hybrid Luman didn't sit still to mull every change on Demion's Dance however. He was a bit too excited, especially because of the last skill and its upgrade; [Courting Death].

He had been lamenting how he didn't have a super powerful wide range attack that could kill a decent quantity of the summoned creatures that continued to persist, pestering his Attegoth.

That problem had been solved. Well, partly.

A vicious grin appeared on Skullius' face.

Fully awakening Demion's Dance was only one step. Swordsmanship was one of his favored ways of combat, but having good swords was only one part of it. While he had been studying the Attegoth with Ashema's exposition as background noise, his true intent was to figure out if something else was possible.

WHOOOSH!!

The great Graceful Monolith was suddenly engulfed in a furious torrent of Aura that caught Ashema off guard!

He had almost thought he was on fire when both he and Skullius had been devoured by the blackish red haze that towered seemingly infinitely over their heads.

"Whoa! What is this?!" the Carven exclaimed half in suspicious concern and half in interest.

Skullius scoffed.

"You'll see. In the meantime, watch this," he said as he ran a finger over the green blade and swept the hand that held it, out.

It just so happened that now just appeared to be the optimal chance for the Hybrid Luman to act, as something he didn't want was about to happen between the Ode and the Queen.

And thus...

"[Courting Death]"

As soon as Skullius spoke, a chilling cry exploded out of Demion's Dance's blade!

Ashema recoiled in surprise.

As soon as he heard the cry, he couldn't be sure but… he thought the world turned blood red for just a moment; a moment he couldn't have possibly managed to dissect and process wholly.

Even though he wasn't certain, he was right.

What unfolded before him, told him that he was right.

The tens of millions of summoned seahorse-like creatures that had been battling against the Beads of Malevolence the Preeminent Attegoth had materialized to protect itself, were suddenly broken down into precise bits; all of them without exception.

Whatever had cut them was either super quick, super sharp or better yet, both.

The insanity didn't stop with just that, however.

The swarms further past Ashema's direct line of sight had been minced into even portions as well; past as far as his eye could see.

Around the strange bundle of flowers the Carven had seen rise up from the ground, the summoned menaces had also been diced and reduced to green and blue pieces of collateral, falling to ground with as much grace as bloody snowfall.

Several Auroras in the way between the Attegoth and Deathly Ruse had also been liberated, and of course, that included where the Ode, the hag and the Queen.

[Courting Death] was a skill that mass produced Mortal Ruin – the dark red substance Skullius had been able to produce ever since he acquired his new body from the Luminant Seed, the same responsible for the dark red armor he was currently wearing below his robe. The Mortal Ruin was refined, given a terribly sharp edge and weaved all around Skullius into a zone where enemies couldn't move without getting cut into ribbons.

Back when he first used it during the Premium Age Royale, [Courting Death] was powerful, but still limited. Now, Skullius had more mana to funnel into it, even if his mastery of the sword remained the same. For now.

Skullius had only erected [Courting Death] for a fraction of a moment for the sake of the flying seedified Sif. In that small pocket of time, he had ensured that his attack wouldn't so much as lick any of the seeds, the Deathly Ruse and the Queen.

As for the Ode and the hag, he had concentrated a decent portion of it towards them, sending two strokes of large, refined Mortal Ruin their way.

That had amounted to nothing.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Skullius said disappointed, yet highly enthused.

Ashema blinked a couple of times at him in confusion. He would have asked what the Hybrid Luman meant, but he had feeling he was missing too much to ask that alone.

"Now, let's bump up that sword mastery, shall we?" Skullius said.

It had been a while since he used this method which he was taught months before at the Reacher Academy.

He also felt that he had a bit too many skills, many of which he only used occasionally.

Wouldn't it be better to merge them all and create something truly monstrous?

Yes, it would be.

Thus, the Hybrid Luman gathered the Full Body Aura generated by the Preeminent Attegoth, and…