Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Perhaps it was because the Incandescent Stager had showed up and effectively posed as a threat for all the Factions, which caused the majority of the voyaging combatants to not notice the sudden disappearance of the raging blows far away.

No.

Maybe, the old undead man had caused the racket with the storm he prompted with his unknown Form Using technique so that he could provide an impeccable cover for his master right when he needed it; at the end of his battle.

That could be it.

All the undead did the masked man’s bidding, right, regardless of which type they were?

In any case, Replicus had not noticed until everything calmed down.

He had been busy with the Incandescent Stage expert’s assault just now, but Eaniss, and probably a few other Incandescent Stage Faction leaders had probably noticed as soon as the terrible battle concluded.

That was probably why the Head Faction leader had cleared the view.

The group of vessels trailing behind surged forth, dealing with the remaining undead as they went.

Tens of Faction members had been lost at a casual glance, likely from the old Incandescent Stager’s attack earlier, and perhaps from the several abnormal undead that had been sprinkled among the regular undead.

Speaking of these abnormal undead…

‘I could have sworn there were more of them,’ Replicus thought suspiciously.

The thousands of mindless undead, even the stronger Cluster beast variants, had been wiped out, but the sentient enemies, like the one Grim had fought, had suddenly disappeared. They could have just been killed off like the rest, but Replicus doubted it.

‘Maybe there weren’t that many strong ones sent out in this wave?’

He too had assumed that this was likely a first wave of many, and was made of weaker Undead meant to stall for a few minutes.

Had it been worth it though?

Had the masked man won?

Had the battle truly concluded?

Replicus didn’t know.

Looking below at the casualties on this side, which were supposed to be in the tens, he felt and saw several of the corpses be brought to life.

The Severed Union had a steady supply of all types of potions, even Supreme ones. Other high grade restoratives were manufactured too.

As such, dying or being brought close to it, wasn’t that terrifying for Faction members, especially if they had enticing potential to their leader.

‘He probably knows that too…’ Replicus thought.

Indeed.

The masked man probably accounted for such an obvious hack among his enemies, meaning he wouldn’t send his best minions right away.

The Factions’ ships charged forward.

Soon, all the threats had been eliminated, but the tension was far from being alleviated. Everyone was still on edge. A subtle sense of confidence was inspired by having Eaniss lead the fleet, but even then…

The anticipation of what became of the two powers that had been clashing, and the imminent ‘true’ beginning of the dangerous voyage, tugged at everyone’s nerves. The Faction Head’s presence would only work as a hygiene factor at best.

Replicus leaned against the edge of the deck.

‘So that man – Aurolio, if I recall his name correctly – is with Eaniss, huh? If he has a Veneration art, I guess it would make sense for Eaniss to bring him along…’ Replicus thought.

He had met Aurolio at Eaniss’ residence, seemingly as a newcomer to the Severed Union invited by Gabel, a prominent member of the Head Faction.

‘I guess it makes too much sense…’ Replicus sighed, becoming more convinced.

Eaniss had an appreciation of Veneration art abilities. She had Gabel, whom Replicus had heard had strange time-related abilities.

The woman’s fascination in Veneration type abilities was likely bolstered by Replicus himself. While trying to earn the right to form his Faction back then, he had shown Eaniss his own Veneration art, the one in his eye… rather, socket, in order to make himself a lot more enticing.

Eaniss had recognised how unique it was immediately.

Veneration type abilities had a strange feel to them upon activation. That was why both Skullius and Replicus reacted to them with odd expressions of recognition. Eaniss could as well, as her sensory skill as an Incandescent Stager was just that good.

If Aurolio showed that he had one… well, the rest was easy to figure out.

What was vexing to Replicus, however, was if Aurolio had been forced to come by Eaniss, or if he had insisted on being brought along. Replicus assumed it was the former, but…

“BRIGHT STORM!”

The Penetrator was torn from his thoughts by a loud, jovial voice that came from behind his ship!

He immediately sighed exasperatedly, and looked back only for courtesy’s sake.

He recognised the voice.

A great vessel painted by a pale golden glow was softly following after him and his crew in the air.

The glow seemed to be what was keeping it afloat, but to a less rate of efficiency when it came to speeding up the vessel’s flight capability, compared to Replicus’ vessel.

The umbrella-shaped shield over the trailing ship’s deck vanished to reveal a smiling ancient woman in priestly robes and what looked like a very tall sparkly crown over her perm.

She waved both of her hands at Replicus childishly and then made a funny boxing gesture with her fists, her eyes beaming with zeal.

“Nope. I’m not ready for this just yet,” Replicus said with a heavy tone. “Everyone hold on,” he told his group.

The Bishop was almost within range for their terms to come into effect. If she reached within fifty meters of Replicus’ ship, they would have to fight, and he didn’t want that right now.

‘Read the room you hag,’ Replicus thought before pointing his finger towards the deck.

A streak of greyish lightning smote the ship and in the next moment, the great vessel appeared in a boundless, tranquil dark void.

Pherdanta and Allora had seen this before, and were used to it, but Baddan was stunned. As was Araeyn. The Apostle looked with mild surprise at the vast black, a bit of fascination showing from his sockets.

This didn’t last long, however.

A moment later, the great ship was on the ocean surface, wobbling lightly as the waters welcomed it with a splash. It then straightened, and pushed forward with Pherdanta’s direction.

Replicus and company were a few tens of meters behind Eaniss’ ship, sandwiched by two others.

The Bishop, left behind with her circle of handsome guards, buckled pitifully. She looked like a child who had her favourite toy taken away.

Replicus didn’t feel sorry for her at all, however.

Pherdanta, on the other hand, did. In fact, she was unsettled.

“Master…”

“I already told you. It’s fine,” Replicus gave her a reply before she could ask.

Antagonising two Incandescent Stagers, however lightly, was daring indeed, but for now it had been worth it.

Between using the Distorted Gravity and the warping just now – which sucked a significant amount of mana – Replicus considered his resources well spent.

Using Spatial Lightning to transport things was easy for Replicus, but if he wanted a precise destination – one of his choosing – from the spatial movement, he often had to use the trans-positioning lightning in conjunction with Stagnant Space.

Stagnant space was another concept Replicus had learned through [Epiphany] and the Kindling Heath.

Basically, it was blanket of space between the material existence of Aigas. A realm of nothingness, so to speak.

The main benefit of having access to this hidden, plain space, was that one would be able to exploit its biggest, and arguably greatest trait; stability.

Stagnant Space enforced stability to anything that managed to form or appear within it.

Replicus had discovered belatedly that the Arcane Teleportation scroll he had used in the Tremur Forest, applied this concept, as well.

He also had the sneaking suspicion that Stagnant Space was related to Clusters, but his theories were yet to be proven right.

The brief moment of levity Replicus had found in evading the Mad Bishop was quickly eaten up as the tension swarming around the great ships around and behind him caught up with him.

It only grew worse when he and the others finally saw semblances of what had happened between the masked man and the Purity.

It started with a decrepit scene of dozens of shattered, torn and wrecked large ships, all with a three-pointed star symbol over their hull and sails. At least those that were not too damaged depicted it.

Another more unnerving visual detail, was the sea of red that cut across the calm ocean.

It was all blood, and those who had spilled it could be seen floating within.