CHAPTER 1602: THE DEATH KNIGHT AND THE MARAUDER (1)

Rias was mindful of Kintar’s approach. Him becoming an Undeath Bearer didn’t grant him an increase in physical attributes, but he didn’t need them.

At optimal conditions, he could see the Realm Source Mage’s movements vibrantly, at least enough to where he could rush forth and grab the armour over Kintar’s wrist before she could do anything about it. That was all the masked man needed.

Kintar thought nothing of this and set to attack, but Rias’ focus was divided. Just as he grabbed her wrist, he sent the crow he’d just summoned from Aimon towards Pherdanta who was only fractions of fractional time behind Kintar in her own offensive move.

The crow was so absurdly fast that it struck Pherdanta’s shoulder before she could react. Had she been at full strength, she would have been able to avoid it, but that hardly mattered now.

She and Kintar... were in trouble.

The latter was suddenly paralysed. Her attempt at striking the masked man’s face with a fist empowered by ample Genuine Divine energy failed.

....!!!!

’What the...!’ Kintar realised the problem at once. It was her Granted Star Armament.

For some reason, it had frozen up on her, and was restricting both her physical movements and all the energies in her body! Terrifyingly enough, it was the Null Life Essence coursing through the armour that triggered this bizarre behaviour!

An instant later, the Granted Star Armament began folding in on itself, wringing through Kintar’s flesh with continent-warping force. Kintar hissed, a look of shock on her face, as did Pherdanta who suffered the exact same predicament.

’My armour...?!’ Pherdanta thought as her torso threatened to do a twirl in a complete arc while her waist remained rigid. The Null Life Essence in her armour reinforced its sturdiness, turning it into an opponent the Unlimited Star couldn’t strip from her body.

While Maxim, Uyuniya and Vali shuddered at the sight, Rias chortled.

"I knew it," he said. "Even if Undeath is inferior to both Voided Death and Null Life on the whole, when it comes to the manipulation of souls... it is overwhelming superior."

Languidly, the masked man pulled away from the twisting Kintar who was staggered by how even her Genuine Divine energy was being seized by the Null Life in her armour. He gazed at Pherdanta coyly, and then at the sword still firmly in her grip.

"You’re a terrifying swordmaster. No. You’re probably beyond all that given what I saw from you earlier." Rias smirked under the mask. "Inorganic souls are simple, but also very fascinating. Tell me. Have you really subdued the soul budding in your sword?"

No answer was needed from Pherdanta’s lips. As a matter of fact, Rias provided it.

....!!!

Dance of the Necrotic Butcher shuddered within Pherdanta’s grip, and then as though, possessed... it released a single invisible slash at its master, severing her face in two!

***

Upon successfully driving away the Death Knight from Rias, Sila did not make any rash movements.

He allowed the distance between himself and the creature to persist while trying to analyse its powers.

Unfortunately for him, the guidance field didn’t tell him much, and his study of the Knight’s movements didn’t yield any particularly profound results.

Being separated from its master didn’t seem to bother the creature. It merely looked up at the dark boundary of Pherdanta’s Territory, studying its construction. Sila didn’t know it, but the only thing that really unnerved the Knight was how it could no longer sense any presence other than the Null Lifeform in its direct path.

’It’s no longer trying to wrestle away my will to fight against it like before. Can it think on its own?’ Serenity’s Free Marauder thought.

He couldn’t make heads or tails of what his enemy even was. All he knew was that Uyuniya had been fighting a similar opponent to the one he had been clashing with earlier. But unlike the one Sila destroyed, the one Uyuniya fought seemed to evolve into... this.

Why was that?

’Is the masked man’s ability, that Imagining Technique, capable of continuously improving things that have already been manufactured by the stupid deer head?’ Sila wondered.

Perhaps. But if that was case then...

"A mirror of Undeath. You are just that, aren’t you?"

...!

Sila was dumbfounded.

The Death Knight was looking straight at him... and talking.

"What?" the former Tower General said.

"You are in opposition to what I stand for." The Death Knight’s voice and its words weren’t in a familiar language. Sila could just... feel them. It was bizarre.

The creature’s bones crackled and spat sparks of Undeath under its Corinthian armour.

"Curious. My creator is rather... unusual, yet he already knows the formula for making us. I can feel his Broader Existence throbbing inside me...somewhere."

Sila didn’t like what he heard... or felt.

Formula?

Broader Existence?

What was this thing talking about?

Once more, the creature’s focus turned back to him.

"No matter. I have but one objective, moreso reinforced by what you are. Shall we strike at each other somewhere more... basic?"

Without waiting for an answer, the Death Knight raised its hand, its palm facing the darkness around them. Sila only saw a blinding flash of red light spilling from the Death Knight’s hand before suddenly...

The roiling and roaring of the Eternal Drakkens was pouring. The seas were twisting and whirling. The winds were furiously gusting, eager to tear the world.

Sila and the Death Knight were outside Pherdanta’s Territory.

’How...?’ the former thought, stumped.

His opponent was nonchalant. The Death Knight spied the seven enemies in the air, slowly descending towards Cogent Stark Order, and two more foes with a presence that it detested.

This was a lively world... and that was good.

There was a reason Death Knights were prime forces for crushing worlds. They were not simple minions without overpowered qualities. It took a lot of creativity for common Liches to make them. Naturally, subduing the Broader Existences of fallen enemies to implant them into these walking devastations was no small feat.

Arch Liches had even less difficulty making them, but for High Liches, it was as simple as splitting their own Broader Existence and feeding bits of it into bodies primed for Death Knighthood. In the field of Undeath, such a practise could be replicated nigh infinitely, which was why High Liches were such terrifying beings.

The masked man had taken his first step towards this kind of power, especially when paired with Aimon.

This reality clicked to Sila right then.

He had no room for failure. They had all severely underestimated the masked man.

’So much for my promise. If that masked kid is able to produce more of these things...’ He shuddered at the thought but mobilised his Null EXP all the same.

The full powers of Null Life, of Serenity’s Free Marauder, were going be on full display.