Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1168: Timemould Mirror Box (2)



Replicus felt the floor disappear beneath his feet and before he knew it, he was devoured by a boundless darkness.

He hadn't expected what had followed the ejection of Ju`wtte from his Ju`wtta, and despite knowing that it couldn't be an attack, Replicus had still gotten wary enough to summon both the Fallen Reincarnator's Shadow and the porous wheel of purple-gold that allowed him to use Maximum Catalyst on external targets.

Contrary to his expectations of an unfathomable depth, however, Replicus landed on solid ground only a few seconds later. There was still a broad darkness that refused to be breached by his enhanced vision - which reminded him of the interior of the Sovereign's Peak - and he couldn't see anything.

However...

ВАН!

A great noise echoed and flash of light from above illuminated the room, then another and another...

As far as Replicus could see, lights exploded forth from the very, very high ceiling and lit up the seemingly infinite space ahead of him, which, quite like the two halls he had just visited was made of dull, dark metal.

What was this place?

There was no answer as of yet.

There wasn't anything of note to point to. It was just a vast, empty space.

Replicus had been wondering about this before, but now he found it bizarre.

Usually, when interacting with mysterious entities, the guidance field alerted him in some way, but it was different ever since he began his trips into the Warmoth's estate.

The only time he had gotten a notification about anything was when he had learned new skills from the Second Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher.

It was odd.

Was the VOW unaware of the elements hidden here?

No. That seemed unlikely.

Perhaps it was simply the fact that, as Serenity had said, some treasures could refuse appraisal – which meant rejecting the influence of the guidance field - because of the power wielded by their creator.

Perhaps the Warmoth had VOW's influence here limited. He certainly seemed to be strong enough to do that.

Replicus didn't know how Deities judged their strength above that of others, but if the Warmoth's prowess was to be judged - with reference to Caxellac's as a base - he was likely in a league of his own.

"What's so special about this place? Is there some kind of way to bring out its properties... or do I not qualify to even see what it can do?" Replicus said sulkily.

He paced forth, looking for any detail that could reveal to him the mysteries of this room or even its name.

There were none. None at all.

All there was, was a strange feeling of emptiness and disconnection. As Replicus continued to walk ahead, he felt this strange feeling creep into him and make him feel as though... as though he didn't belong anywhere.

It was an odd sort of sensation - an exaggerated feeling of loss.

'Why does this feel so familiar?' Replicus thought, frowning.

He had had a recent encounter with this feeling. Very recent indeed.

He had felt as though he was disconnected to the wider reality, as though he was drifting without destination in an odd, dark vacuum.

...!

A moment later, a phantom of his made him recall when he had felt this.

"It's when Caxellac destroyed the Rules, Prime! He destroyed space, gravity and time. This was how we felt back then. There doesn't seem to be time here. Or rather... it's sort of... jumbled perhaps?"

"That's right," Replicus said to himself, his hand scratching his face.

Right.

So time was compromised in this place?

But... what for?

Replicus suddenly stopped and looked at the floor.

"Everything in these places seems to have traces of Ju`wtte. Ju`wtte seems to answer most of the questions here. Perhaps..." he said and sent a string of Ju`wtte into the floor.

As soon as the yellowish-red strip touched the cold, metallic floor, the room seemed to groan with life.

A portion of the ground flipped and before he knew it, Replicus was looking at a pair of simple sets of silver armour.

"The flesh?"

He looked at them with a great bit of suspicion.

"What are these for?" Replicus said.

He couldn't feel any kind of super complex power wafting from the armour sets like those in the hall, but there was something... something ominous about them. It seemed as though these two sets of armour were moments away from lunging at him with the intent to kill.

After a few minutes of scrutinising and contemplation, Replicus shrugged and sent Ju`wtte flowing into one of the armour sets.

"Since it's how everything seems to work here..." Replicus began when...

...!!!

The armour set suddenly grew as tall as he was, sprouted four arms and obtained a smooth ceramic texture that was tinged with yellowish-red Ju`wtte within!

A terrifying presence sprang out of the armour... which now looked exactly like an uninjured

Replicus!

At once, the earlier feeling the armour had given him prompted Replicus to prepare for battle, but the armour set - now having donned his appearance - remained still.

"What in the world is this?" Replicus said after realising he was safe still. "Is this some kind

of... training room?"

Replicus walked up to the replica and analysed it closely.

"Do you communicate instructions using Ju`wtte in all these spaces?"

That seemed to be the case.

The Empyrean Hatcher was pretty much the same.

"But how do you give concise instructions?" Replicus said.

With squinted eyes, he sent another string of Ju`wtte into the replica after - as he thought he

had – infusing his will.

The instant the Ju`wtte met the morphed armour set, a voice no different from Replicus'

sprang from its mouth.

"I accept the challenge, sockethole!"

...!!!

Before Replicus could gasp and ask, "Who are you calling a sockethole?" a stream of Ju`wtte thin as wire smashed into his chest and sent him streaking into the far distance! Replicus groaned as he flew, but he felt Ju`wtte streak behind him along with the figure of the replica of him and it created a staff of Ju`wtte that it used to ruthlessly slam into his back,

sending him flying up into the high ceiling!

The Warmoth's Progeny was in disbelief.

He was getting his vague ass handed to him by... him?!

'This has to stop!' he thought.

With his free hand, he sent a string of Ju`wtte flying into ceiling with his intent - despite not knowing if this would work - and the lights within the massive space flickered for a split

second.

At once, the enemy Replicus returned to being a casual, simple silver armour set and fell gracefully to the floor where it stood on its feet and became still.

Replicus sighed.

"It worked," he said as he landed. "As long as I infuse what I want with Ju`wtte and send it into the room, it will cooperate. That's handy."

Replicus gave a cautious look to the set of armour that had just attacked him. It really wasn't

moving anymore.

Good.

"Now, what's with the time here? How does it work?" he asked as he sent another burst of

Ju`wtte flowing into the room.

Without a moment wasted, Ju`wtte sprang forth from the walls and formed, in front of the Warmoth's Progeny, strings of writing in a complex language.

Thankfully, this wasn't anything like the writing on the doors leading into the Treasury and thus, like most communication models Null-related, Replicus didn't have a problem

comprehending it.

It read:

Current Adjustment -

None

Available adjustments and repercussions -

1 day : 2 day

No repercussions

-

1 day : 1 week

In exchange, user(s) will be detained in the Timemould Mirror Box for 25 hours.

-

1 day : 1 month

In exchange, user(s) will be detained in the Timemould Mirror Box for 50 hours.

-

1 day : 1 year

In exchange, user(s) will be detained in the Timemould Mirror Box for 100 hours.

...

...!!!