Bro, I'm not an Undead!

“I knew it! Her Territory is based on her Hidden Class abilities! This Lambent Phosphor is like an element with many applications, probably the reason behind her Hidden Class properties!” one said with a scholarly tone.

“Of course it is! She has the ability to make ghosts, sockethole! These ghosts, which can probably be constructed in the likeness of anyone who has died recently, most likely possess the physical attributes of the dead, manifesting them in a body made from condensed Lambent Phosphor!” another said proudly, swirling around the Penetrator’s face unseen by anyone other than Replicus. “She can merge these ghosts with people too, it seems. What an oddball!”

“Wait! Wait! What are the properties of Lambent Phosphor then? It’s registered as a high level concept right? But how is it responsible for the things within the Territory and this ability to create ghosts.”

“Obviously, it has shown itself to be able to reveal the true nature of anything it touches or embodies. Ghosts are a form of that, or rather, they can be interpreted as such. I think this woman is stretching the interpretation of Lambent Phosphor with what her Territory allows her to do! That’s quite genius!”

“Oooh! We need to get this concept fully deconstructed with [Epiphany]! All the things we could do with it…!”

“Not quite yet… We only have a basic understanding of the concept. There’s still the properties these ghosts gain, and whatever whoever they possess gains. I believe a single touch from them won’t be pretty, especially if we haven’t got a better affinity with Lambent Phosphor to resist yet…”

And indeed it was as the thought phantoms said.

Replicus had been avoiding hits from the possessed thrall of his opponent because he had a bad feeling about what it was capable of.

The ominous, hollow greyish light that was generated when the creature circled above him, was a prime example.

He wouldn’t let it touch him without gaining a better affinity grade with Lambent Phosphor.

Replicus’ figure vanished right before the light could do what it intended, and he appeared a distance away.

The moment, he did, however, a mountainous force delivered with such precision it could have torn his head clean off, hammered into the right side of his helmet!

Protruding from the mirror beside Replicus, was Nedalia with a feral, pale look to her delicate features!

Her punch had been extremely well-timed and well-executed, the might behind it causing the still darkness around them to cry in a deep voice.

In that one moment, she had gotten the better of Replicus.

However…

The right side of her face exploded with a greater degree of thunderous shock than that which she had dished over to the Penetrator’s face!

Though her own merely turned into fragments of glassy mirror, Nedalia grunted hoarsely, a strained look on what remained of her face.

For the first time, she felt pain, but she was more concerned with what had just happened.

Did the damage she intend for Replicus… emerge on her instead?

But the blow she received was much stronger!

Instead of enlightening her, Replicus gave the most condescending laugh he could pull while gazing at Nedalia’s half a face.

“You’re already reaching your limit, aren’t you?” he said, his face drawing very close to hers.

The red haired woman turned vicious, her eyes becoming bloodshot.

“Don’t you dare look down on me, you fucking monster. Just because you’ve managed to fool everyone by wearing a fake face, doesn’t mean you aren’t still an insignificant pest that has been at the mercy of humankind more than once…” she said with half-threatening, half-ridiculing tone.

“So you know that much, huh?” Replicus mused.

An instant later, his figure vanished just before a dozen mirrors finished reflecting his image within them.

Nedalia clicked her tongue.

Her possessed abomination swam through the air and began circling around her.

“I know several of your weaknesses,” she said while glaring at Replicus.

The Penetrator seemed to ignore this statement, however.

“At the mercy of humans, you said? I’ll admit, I hate that I have such a stain on my record. I’d like to give it a reverse…” he said.

…And Nedalia found her body gouged out by two vicious lean rips that had clawed at her without witness.

…!

She belatedly saw Replicus’ fingers propped before him.

Before she could regenerate where she had been damaged, a mighty force bashed into her chest, this time with an odd, inflated force that gave the impression that Replicus’ fist was bigger than it actually looked!

As she stormed off involuntarily, breaking the version of a sound barrier in this space, Nedalia found to her utter astonishment, traces of lightning and mist that emerged beside her, and a starry fist bashed into her with the same force as the last blaring punch!

She spun, and somehow managed to dip herself into a mirror shard in order to emerge elsewhere, fleeing from the ungodly combo that had just begun.

However, the moment she showed herself from a separate exit in a distant mirror shard, the same silent spark of lightning and clot of mist danced around her and her heart almost stopped in shock.

‘How—”

BAM!

Nedalia left a glowing trail as she smashed to bits tens of mirror shards, the velocity she travelled at making it hard to find a way to tug herself from this loop!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Wrathful fists sent her bouncing all over the place and wondering…

How?

How was her opponent beating her in her own Territory where she had the edge in both supernatural abilities, and physical attributes?!

It didn’t make sense!

Worse yet, even with her spatial awareness, it was impossible to discern where Replicus approached from.

It was almost as though… as though he didn’t exist until right before he delivered his mighty blows!

This assessment was only half right.

Like Replicus’ Endurance, his Agility had been subjected to an irrational change too after the use of [Unbound].

Instead of being termed ‘AGILITY’, it was now called ‘ASTRAL BLIZZARD MOTION’.

Every time Replicus intended to make a meaningful motion, his body would cease to exist in Aigas, and would swiftly transition into a spatial corridor tailor made for his dextrous motion, the Astral Blizzard corridor – a space that only existed in the miniscule periods that Replicus took to move from place to place.

This corridor looked very convoluted – with a heavy mist, a flood of white cold and lightning – though passing through it accelerated Replicus’ speed as he moved. Most of the times, he retained the ethereal aspects of this corridor right after exiting, which is why Nedalia sometimes saw sparks of lightning, or failed to see the rest of his body.

As for the cost of this, there was none.

It was simply Replicus’ physique.

But Nedalia didn’t know all this. She would have lost a part of her soul if she did.

She was busy agonising over the prospect of failure.

‘I’m losing a lot of mana by regenerating from the damage I take. If this keeps up…’ she thought begrudgingly.

Her summoned apparitions had yet to achieve a single thing since she merged them with her fellow Faction members.

Even against Replicus’ subordinates, one of them had already fallen.

Nedalia took another hit from Replicus and for the first time, blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.

‘Looks like I have no other choice…’ she thought.

Replicus would soon accomplish what he said he would do if everything went on like this.

She couldn’t allow it.

Thus…

“This is my Creed…” Nedalia whispered, feeling the many colourful blobs of alluring light within her soul, “… Rage of Truths is replenished!”

A savage presence blasted from all around the unseen edges of the Territory as Nedalia declared.

Replicus who had been halfway through the Astral Blizzard corridor suddenly came to a stop, and it vanished from around him.

He felt the essences within the Territory groan.

His sockets flashed intensely.

It was coming.

The Secondary attack function was coming!

It was coming sooner than he had thought!

Yet… he couldn’t help but get excited.

“Bring it!” he called.