CHAPTER 1606: FREEDOM INCARNATE! (1)

Sila and the Death Knight were immediately locked in combat high in the skies. One was Divine, and the other wasn’t, but you could hardly tell.

Sila sent a double-handed palm strike into the Death Knight’s armour, shot stepped forward to close the distance, landed a barrage of jab punches into its chest with [Tamed Knuckle; Charged Frenzy] in an attempt to shatter its sternum, and then tackled it when it attempted to grapple him. The two fell... only for the Death Knight to cackle and release a pulse of Undeath energy that pushed Sila off its body.

Once the distance was established between the two, the Death Knight conjured more Mirrors around it in a remarkably short time, grabbed one, and flung it at Sila. Serenity’s Free Marauder couldn’t react in time. He was slightly slower than the Death Knight on the whole. The Mirror slammed into him. While this didn’t harm him, the Death Knight’s next move did.

The creature crossed the distance between the two in a fiercely short time and packed an aggressive straight punch through the Mirror and into Sila!

...!!!

It was a freshly developed Form Using technique that took advantage of the Mirrors to drastically increase the armour-piercing power of the Death Knight’s punches. As a result, Sila’s defenses were breached, and the Death Knight’s fist fed into him.

"Can you come back from this?" the creature said... before causing the Undeath energy building in its fist to detonate.

’CURSES!’ Sila thought before his body was dyed red from the inside. He mustered every bit of Null Life Essence he could deep within his body to smother the explosion of Undeath energy.

As he did so, however, the Death Knight’s sockets flared with excitement. It withdrew its hand from him, summoned a Mirror close to it, and kneaded it into a bloodthirsty glaive.

"Lukewarm!" the Death Knight mocked Sila as it raised its weapon and struck him down with all its might.

Sila was utterly defenceless against the blow. It hit him harder than he’d expected. The Death Knight was perfecting Aigas’ Arma Using too. Its strikes with weapons were monstrous... so monstrous in fact, that Sila was perfectly cleaved in two.

But Serenity’s Free Marauder had an impressive healing factor. His bones rushed to mend themselves and get him back in the battle. The Death Knight noticed and wouldn’t allow it. A great Rune of Undeath was branded, searing, on the blade of its glaive. The Death Knight gave the weapon a spin for flair before delivering what was most definitely meant to be the final blow.

...!

Sila shuddered. His attention remained on the Undeath energy threatening to blow him up from the inside, but he still managed to watch as the Death Knight’s glaive swung from his right flank. Its blade was suddenly accompanied by seven ghostly duplicates that mirrored its movements. When it made contact with Sila, not only did his bones start decaying, but sparks of a dark flame sputtered. The extra blades slashed through him with ease, cutting him to pieces that were blasted West!

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHH!" Serenity’s Free Marauder roared in agony.

This... This might have been a complete loss.

The Death Knight found the prospect immensely pleasing.

"It would be a waste to incinerate your remains!" it cried as Sila flew and pointed at him.

Thousands of Mirrors emerged from around the Death Knight and dashed after Sila. As soon as they caught up, kicking, screaming and wrestling against each, they began feeding on his severed bits – bones and all – hungrily.

Even though he was bone, Sila felt it. Being gnawed on no matter the form, was a dreadful experience, not to mention deeply humiliating.

Was this how it was between the Existential Parallels?

Did battles between Voided Death, Undeath and Null Life have to end with such... humiliation?

It seemed so.

The Death Knight had led by example – a warranted one. It was a powerful existence indeed, and flaunting its might against Parallels was only natural.

But...

"Didn’t I tell you not to underestimate me, you damned skeleton? Who do you think I am?" Sila shouted.

Null EXP poured out of him, every last drop of what remained in his reserves. He had possessed 12,000 units of it before, and now 8,900 was left. It was enough to play one last trump card before he needed a refill.

The Death Knight’s sockets blazed furiously. It couldn’t help but respond to its opponent’s question. Surely, it was courteous for a Knight to give its foe that much when they neared extinction.

"And who exactly are you, Null Life creature?"

Right then, Sila finally stifled the Undeath energy bubbling inside him.

Finally.

He wrenched free his only unsevered arm from several Mirrors and struck tens more away from his face. He glared at the Death Knight, even with the dozens of kilometers between them now.

He had to shout his retort even louder to be heard.

"I AM FREEDOM INCARNATE!"

...!

Sila immediately used up all the Null EXP he had summoned.

For what, one may ask?

Well, the name Serenity’s Free Marauder was not just a cool moniker.

Sila’s body, a product of Null Life powers from a Bearer of Null Life, and a powerful Insurgent Magnus (a shill of the Wanderer Who Seeds) was capable of tapping into the traits of any species in the Null Verse given enough Null EXP to expend in exchange!

Curiously enough, this wasn’t a new concept. Skullius had been able to do this as well with Serenity’s guidance; it was something he had called Implicit Evolution. During his battle against his possessed self, he had sacrificed EXP to become a greater evolution of the Warmoth’s Progeny, but only temporarily.

(A/N: Refer to 1206.)

Sila, on the other hand, could access each evolution for as long as he wanted after paying a sufficient price in EXP. Better yet, upon transforming into any species he desired, he didn’t have to abide by the Flaws that accompanied said species!

Indeed, he truly was free!

This was how Sila had managed to transform himself into the Six-Legged Flash Dipper earlier, a species of Null Lifeform with speed so fearsome it could cross Null dimensions. That transformation had only cost Sila about 800 Null EXP, though.

What Sila aimed for in this moment, was much greater. Like Araeyn, he passively got information on things related to his powers, if only to a severely constrained degree. While Araeyn passively obtained insights on Null Remnants in the Null Verse, Sila got passive knowledge on species in Null Verse.

He took his pick at once.

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[A high risk follows transforming into a creature of this calibre in a lesser plane of existence]

[Will you still expend 8,900 Null EXP to take on the qualities of the infamous species, ’Careless Junior Adamantine ’Prodigy’ Beetle’?]

Sila disregarded the guidance field’s warning.

He knew how dangerous this was already.

’Do it. I’ll kill all the others later!’ he said, grinning on the inside.