Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1200: The One Left Standing (14)



Replicus flew down with about as much grace as a feather, only, his emergence hadn't been serene and barely noticeable; he wasn't light after all, and neither was he fragile. He was quite the opposite.

'Skullius is playing a very dangerous game here,' he thought, his now blue eyes fixed on the Hybrid Luman and the chaos happening between the enthralled Arch-Mages and their lucid counterparts.

He had figured it out!

He had figured out Skullius' 'trick' with the Rule had applied to his eyes!

The CREATURE and his ghosts, come disappearing and appearing, was glaring at him, ready to attack. He was gathering [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] rapidly in an attempt forge the Noboboyama and use it to attack simultaneously, just like he had done before.

The great PHANTASMIC RETAINER had formed, Limitless Paradox applied to unleash another torrent of hellish slashes through [Infinite Sword God] that would rip through Aigas Rules, but...

POW!

The tall monstrosity instantly dispersed with a heavy shockwave as the unseen Beyrmir managed to obliterate it in time!

Skullius scowled, but his face behind CREATURE's mask turned even nastier when the Reacher Academy for Higher Magical Virtues was suddenly engulfed in a radiant light, a loud, pseudo- mechanical groan exploding from it at the same time. T

Then it was gone.

All that was left behind were Skullius' Masterpieces who had rejected the powerful warping magic – as they had been in its range as targets - and the Soul Spawn.

The Mages of the Academy had used Skullius' distraction to immediately escape!

'There's nowhere they go that I can't follow... eventually,' the Hybrid Luman thought but his eyes remained on Replicus. He couldn't have taken away even a fragment of his focus now that the Warmoth's Progeny had returned from the spatial pit from before while wielding new immense powers.

He was wary.

Replicus was glad he was.

Right after he had gotten an affinity with Integral Time, the option to acquire an affinity with Genesis Compound - the concept the female Mage employed to manifest the crack in space with the great ball of fire in the midst - had also appeared, and his phantoms had wasted no time making sure it too was added to his arsenal.

While Replicus was being dragged into the crack, he managed to avoid getting swallowed by the star-like ball of heat. During that short period when he took a break and gazed at the scorching flame - which he had to protect himself against with Null Life Essence - his phantoms immediately brought to his attention the idea he had postponed for over two months.

"Now is the time, Prime!"

"Yes. Unlike that place, there is a lot of mana in Aigas. Rather than recreating our mana cores as they were before, we can make them better now."

"The application we used to link the Maximum Catalyst to THAT type of mana core... we can finally achieve it on a wide scale!"

And indeed, Replicus could now do it.

The type of mana core referenced to by the third phantom, was of course, the Nature-Bound Malleable Form Core!

Replicus had acquired this core after using [Unbound] on his mana stat. The core naturally resonated with all concepts and essences in the world, and Replicus had once tied its Refinery - where the nature of a mana core was decided - to his Maximum Catalyst, which allowed him to dramatically reduce the cost of using the Rule-level concept.

The core had been destroyed a few minutes ago, along with all of Replicus' other mana cores by Skullius, but thankfully, during the two months the Progeny spent in the Timemould Mirror Box, he had mastered the formula for the creation of the Nature-Bound Malleable Form Core with the help of [Sorcery of Essence]!

After learning the secret, he had intended to make all his mana cores the same, but unfortunately, there was no mana in the Warmoth's Treasury or the Timemould Mirror Box, and thus, he hadn't been able to put his new knowledge to good use... until now.

Aigas was dragged towards Replicus the instant he used [Sorcery of Essence] to drag all the mana he could towards himself.

At once, two shining lights stabbed from the Progeny's abdomen as he swiftly began the creation of two mana cores at once. Normally, living beings could only connect one mana core to their souls manually, but Replicus was so proficient in mana control (and quite the absurd anomaly composition-wise) that he rejected that restriction.

Mana was rapidly condensed with each microsecond that passed and soon, the Centres of his mana cores were forged successfully, the construction of their Refineries following right after.

It was here that the true essence of the madness Replicus invoked shone. The key to creating a Malleable Form Core lied with the Refinery mainly. Rather than one, a core like this required multiple Refineries and a loose Shell.

Normally, a core couldn't have more than one Refinery, as that would render it unstable, but if it could happen stably, there would be more diversity to the core in casting more niche

abilities.

A Malleable Form Core didn't simply allow its user to be diverse, however. It pushed them beyond that. This was why it had to have at least seven Refineries, all with elements that linked them together in order to thoroughly deconstruct and manage a nigh unlimited combination of elements.

The loose Shell (as opposed to a normal mana core's hard, sealed one) would allow the core to interact with the environment outside the user's body and interpret the world on its own, a feat that could only be achieved with a godly level of understanding where mana was concerned.

And Replicus had reached it.

This was why it didn't even take a second for the Refineries of the two cores to be established,

and then their Shells.

Once this was done, Replicus activated [Mana Centurion], quadrupling the cores.

Then, he tweaked them, connecting them to concepts he had affinities for.

Right then, Replicus' blue eyes caught the flashing of many slashes heading his way.

They were meant to once again cut his cores apart, ridding him of his progress!

But he was aware.

"[Static Limbo]!" he called and he, just like Caxellac, cast the skill on the entirety of

Feinheath!

At once, it was as though a great, invisible blob of thick, viscous slop was sitting on the world, turning every single movement - whether performed by living or inanimate things - on the continent, sluggish at best!

...!!!

Skullius was stunned, but only for a moment.

He didn't need to move in order to attack, after all.

Yet, that momentary slackening in his fierceness, followed by his and Replicus' relocation to yet another populated town where the inhabitants were bound by a broad substance they couldn't quite see or touch, allowed Replicus to finish his work.

Maximum Catalyst was imbued and linked to one core.

Absolute Frost was inserted and bonded to another.

Then came Integral Time, Genesis Pull, Lambent Phosphor, Coordinated Disruption, Spatial Lightning, Distorted Gravity, Stagnant Space, Grand Fire, and Crafty Wool.

Replicus' soul had indeed felt churned when he lost his cores to Skullius' master slash, but

now it nearly screamed when the might of the new cores both poured into it and demanded sustenance at the same time!

Skullius was shocked, but he was bewildered when Replicus showed a terrifying feat of adaptation when the two stumps on the right side of torso, where he (Skullius) had slashed off the Progeny's arms, suddenly flashed gold and manifested two new arms, the upper one with

a Ju`wtta!

...!!!

Indeed, Replicus had just applied Integral Time, winding it back a bit!

But that wasn't the worst of it. Well, not for Replicus.

A familiar blow blasted into Skullius' face from out of nowhere, a dark grey sheen evident

within it! Replicus hadn't moved to attack at all, but the Hybrid Luman roared in agony as the first punch Replicus had landed on him with Inverted Mana before travelled through time to kiss his face once more... and then once more... once more and...