Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1343: All's Fair In Women and War (8)



Yuyui had remembered it clearly. After all, her master had mentioned it just hours ago, after he had ascended and before everyone left for their respective missions.

"My possessed self was a tough, ruthless bastard. I learned a few things from him that I probably would never have realised," Skullius said to the Stark Troops. "For instance, with the right number of Creeds, you can enhance an already active Territory. You just call its name again, pay the cost, and it becomes much stronger. Or, you could do it again, again, and again as you see fit. Luckily for the Incandescent Stagers, the Impossible Task earned you all a lot more Creeds than you could ever use at once, so go crazy."

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1216.)

And indeed. In addition to levelling through Tasks and Trials, Creeds could be earned by performing god-like feats. (In fact, this was the fastest and most efficient way to earn them.) The Impossible Task registered very well as a supreme feat, especially for the Unlimited Stars. They earned hundreds or even thousands of Creeds for it.

But as exciting as this had been for the Stark Troops, what Skullius had said minutes later, was much more valuable to the Unlimited Stars.

Yuyui remembered it vividly.

"Majestic Territories were never meant for humans, Sif and Giants. In fact, their introduction into the powers of humanoids like us, hindered us from reaching Divinity. Only oddballs like Fulgardt powered through regardless," Skullius had said. "The original system allowed experts an easier time. A few of the pieces to this truth were fitted for me by Sause, a living Giant I met, but the last ones, I gathered on my own."

"The Incandescent Stage prepares your soul for Divinity, and the Transcendent Stage begins the process of altering the state of your soul. Originally, Nitros wasn't meant for creating Territories - at least for us. It was meant to edify the soul, to make it stronger and self- sustaining. At the Beyond the Veil Stage, the soul achieves a certain threshold. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I'm sure it helps fulfil one of the conditions to reaching Divinity..."

...

...

On her twentieth death, Yuyui had thought deeply on these words. She thought about the soul, and about the Eye of the Prince.

How exactly did it determine a defensive reaction from its target? It forced the target not to respond to attacks, but it didn't paralyse them. It allowed actions outside rebellion, but how did it judge?

The answer, as Yuyui interpreted it, was that the Eye of the Prince searched an individual's intent, and this intent was likely recognised from both the body and the soul, meaning there was no way to cheat, especially if the user of the dark eye was well versed in souls - an Incandescent Stager and above.

But Yuyui didn't intend to cheat.

In fact, she convinced herself that she didn't even need to fight the constant death.

Perhaps, all she needed... was 'enlightenment'.

Thus, after her twenty-second death, she declared:

"This is my Creed. Quadruplicate my mana reserves."

And it was done. The mana gushing through her was fierce, but she didn't use it to counter. She couldn't.

Instead, she condensed it into Nitros and sought 'enlightenment' - the original intent of Quintess, Listafelle and Suzamete. She poured all that Nitros inward, into her soul!

Doing so was a tragic feat. Even though her master had said this was what Nitros was meant to do from the start, she didn't think it would be so painful. Her soul drank the Nitros greedily, and Yuyui sensed immediately positive changes in her soul, but it was too much change all at

once.

Her soul throbbed and stung, but she felt it tremble in excitement. Half of it was pain, and half was ecstasy. This, Yuyui could handle, but her body reacted violently. It gave warnings. It was afraid of what she was doing. The ripping, pulsating, grinding stress from her brain became too much for Yuyui only a few seconds into the process she had begun.

Thus, with extreme effort, Yuyui pointed at her temples with two fingers, her resolve solid as a rock.

"Aggrante!"

The top of her head was blown off... but she didn't die. Her eager soul refused. It was thriving. It was changing. It was growing.

And Yuyui herself felt the ecstasy within it much clearer now that her body was out of the way. Her soul's joy was growing leagues stronger than its pains.

The Stark Constellation could be seen on her forehead. It spat out branches of Ju`wtte, joining in her excitement.

Her body was crushed by the Territories, but she did not die. Her soul remained, thrumming, throbbing. Over nine hundred Creeds, pretty, colourful gems, could be seen swimming within

it.

Yuyui smiled. She didn't know a soul alone could be this free - this unburdened. The Territories were pressing on even her soul form which was drunk with Nitros and beaming like a star. But they couldn't have crushed it.

Even with this 'enlightenment', there was no way Yuyui could complete something that was supposed to be a gradual process drawn over months or even years, in a matter of seconds. And thus, her soul subconsciously expelled more than half of the Nitros that had been fed into it outward!

It was not Yuyui's intent, but this much Nitros was still more than double her total Nitros capacity, and as such, with its expulsion, it crashed with incredible potency against the wall of two hundred Territories, pushing them several hundreds of meters away!

But this was insignificant. They began to draw back again, faster and fiercer.

Yet...

Only Nigerra realised it at first.

Her face didn't betray it, but a hint of terror struck her right then. Her finger twitched as she bit into it, ponderous.

Even though Yuyui's soul was still weaker than her own - unrefined - it did something that only hers could do, if only subconsciously.

It was a celebratory gesture that even Yuyui's soul didn't quite understand. It wasn't

intentional.

Something fiercer than Nitros shuddered out in a blurry, rustic pulse, traversing at speeds even Skullius would marvel at.

Whatever it was shattered the Territories of the summoned beasts by way of a strange vibration, and squeezed the life out of each one of them without touching their flesh. It was violent, yet modest and serene. It caused Sovereign Beasts' Crystallice to crack ever so slightly, the darkness it had become dwindling to once again reveal the blueish-green

crystals.

But Franceesta was in too much awe to mind. She forgot to breath.

Yuyui belatedly realised that she was free. The same was true for her foes.

"This is my Creed, restore my flesh," she said, calm and unbothered. Her flesh returned to her and she donned it with grace. Her armour was missing, but it was not her concern. Not right

then.

Her eyes settled on Franceesta. The beast of a woman dropped to her knees. Yuyui recognised the glaze in her eyes. The Eye of the Prince desperately pulsed, hoping to stop Yuyui, but its

user was entranced, lost.

She had discarded all will to fight.

But that didn't stop Yuyui from snatching the beetle in Franceesta's head in an infinitesimally

minute morsel of time.

...And Sovereign Beasts' Crystallice shattered for the very last time, and its user fell with a

bloody smile on her face.

[Author's Note]

The Warmoth's keys are very unique. If it was some other space outside Aigas, the Creed system, which belongs only to Aigas, would have stopped working for the Stark Troops. This mechanic extends to the levelling, cumulative mana experience system, as well as the Tasks and Trials. But, since Skullius has opened the Empyrean Bosom from within Aigas multiple times, the Warmoth's Treasury, where the Timemould Mirror Box is located, altered its nature. It created a connection to Aigas in order for the Stark Troops and Skullius himself to keep benefitting from Aigas' system.