Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1226: Invitation

Red Rage looked at Yuyui with relief and recognition while Elita raised her brows; she was a bit stunned that the anomalous incident just now had actually been caused a living being. To slaughter over sixteen thousand Carven and bring both her and Red Rage to the ground before they could realise what had happened...

Elita found herself growing more invested in the identity of this lime-haired woman. She looked rather young, and her armour stuck out like a sore thumb. It was anything but ordinary.

It was slim and dark, featuring ever-moving, nebulous thickets of faint blue, red and yellow within which many stars could be seen. And speaking of stars, the poleyns, couters and chest were all printed with large, six-pointed, golden stars, giving the woman a more valiant look than the Paladin Champions!

The small tree-shaped mark on her forehead also inspired mystery, constantly crackling with odd, vibrant lightning.

Elita was impressed.

It was also surprising to her that she couldn't ascertain a single thing about Yuyui's strength, which was why her senses were molesting everything else about her, trying to grasp at anything that would reveal more to her.

Before the former Paladin Champion could voice the many questions she had though, Replicus spoke first.

"Good work, Yuyui," he said. "I see your reflexes have improved excellently. I wasn't sure you managed to escape the blast entirely unscathed."

And indeed, Replicus hadn't been sure if Yuyui and Red Rage could react to the crazy destructive capacity Skullius' ray had unleashed. Thankfully, because of the armour Yuyui was wearing, Replicus could always ascertain if she was alive or not, though her exact condition would be lost to him.

Yuyui wore a bright smile and passed Red Rage and Elita as she rushed to her master. She gave the Hybrid Luman body, which stood still like a statue beside Replicus, a heavy look.

She sighed.

"I'm glad you did it in the end, but... it's... it's really hard to see him like this," she said sombrely.

Replicus immediately felt exasperated.

"For the last time... You do realise that's still me, right?" he said to her.

"I know, I know, but..." Yuyui said and hugged Skullius' body tenderly.

Replicus would have rolled his eyes if they had the capacity for it. He turned away from Yuyui and faced Elita.

The look on her face immediately told him that she was as befuddled as a normal person should be upon witnessing the odd scene before her and hearing what she just heard.

"This is Yuyui. One of my subordinates," Replicus said, gesturing his head at the lime-haired girl.

Elita smiled.

"I figured, since you told me you're free from that curse. I'm surprised you managed to net someone as powerful as her though. It really hasn't been that long since I left, you know?" she said.

Yuyui temporarily turned from Skullius and gave her a quizzical look.

Replicus laughed.

"Well, you'd be surprised if you saw the rest of them."

Elita raised a brow.

What was that supposed to mean?

"How do you know about my curse anyway? I don't recall ever having told you about it," Replicus said.

Elita gave a subdued laugh, recalling a plethora of both pleasant and extremely unpleasant memories.

"There's a long story to that. Long story short, though, Void explained to me about that. Even though I had survived the ordeal, I never forgot about it and I always wondered what it was all about. So I asked," she said before giving Replicus a keen look. "I'm sure you're familiar with the name Void, right?"

"Yeah, I know Void, alright. A bit."

Replicus nodded his head, which was about the only thing he could do with his body at this moment.

He had a lot of questions for Elita, some he hesitated to ask now of all times.

So much had happened today, and the crashing of the corpses of the Carven from the skies like summer rain seemed to conclude the day's events and the direction they took all too well.

A brief, awkward silence ensued. For some reason, the fact that Replicus and Elita recognised each other as bearers of Existential Parallels changed the exact nature of their relationship, however favourably they considered each other.

Oddly enough, the change happened in this very moment.

For Replicus, it was even more strange to consider that Elita probably knew a lot more about him than his ties to Null Life. (Of course she'd know given what she had hinted at just now.)

Thankfully, in the lull, Red Rage interjected.

"Just out of curiosity, Master. Where did you send those whom you rescued from the Territory clash?" he asked.

It was as though a bolt of lightning had stricken Replicus.

Right!

He had nearly forgotten all about that!

"I'm not sure, really. I teleported them as far away as I could. They are probably still in Pelian

though."

"Did you, by any chance...?" Red Rage began.

"I'm not sure of that either," Replicus cut off the Apostle with a grave look. He knew exactly what he had been about to ask.

There had been so much going on during the Territory battle.

Replicus hadn't gotten the chance to verify if among those he managed to save, Silrat and Theurien were included. A battle with his alter had not allowed that much leeway, especially with the fact that his vision had been 'cancelled' throughout that latter part.

Red Rage paused and the awkward silence took over again. Elita didn't know what the two were talking about, but the subject didn't inspire her to speak too freely.

Yuyui joined in, having gotten enough reassurance that her 'master' was safe.

"Master... that last blast... I really thought it was going to do a lot more damage than it ended up doing. It was so sudden and really powerful. How did you manage to contain it?" she

asked.

Replicus turned to her and smiled wryly.

"Ultimately, I didn't do much. I tried to use my Territory to smother the explosion, but it broke apart almost instantly. To be honest, I was quite surprised when I sensed that Aigas was pretty much in one piece after the blast. I had given up hope on preserving it after his last attack," he said as he gestured to his Hybrid Luman body.

And indeed. The moment the attack was launched, Replicus had known it had the power to completely level Aigas. To think [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] could be weaponized to such

a degree.

"Did Suzamete end up cushioning the explosion?" Replicus asked himself aloud.

"No, Master," Red Rage said. "It was the dragon. He was the one who contained it. I saw it

happen from the distance."

"Jiggorrhax?"

Replicus was surprised, but then he wasn't.

Right. That actually made sense given how the dragon had behaved when innocents were at

play. Well, he was a Herald, after all.

He had even used his Rule Runes to revive people who had died just by being in his presence

over Agmold.

"Jiggorrhax?!" Elita cried in shock, but her face soon slackened as she realised a few things.

She looked up.

The world was bonded in three timelines at the moment, and it didn't look like something that could be undone easily.

Replicus glanced at Elita, wondering about her reaction and then asked Red Rage:

"Where is Jiggorrhax now?"

"On my way here, I didn't see him. Such a large body should have been visible from anywhere.

I do not think he is in this pit," Red Rage replied.

Replicus sighed.

Since Aigas was all messed up time-wise, Jiggorrhax was probably still hanging around

somewhere.

The dragon was probably a pretty prelude to a catastrophe.

Replicus turned to Elita.

"I almost forgot that you just now arrived in Aigas and have no idea what's going on. I

suppose I can explain it all once we are somewhere... other than here. And you can share your

adventure as well," he said.

"...Right," Elita said with a sigh.

Indeed, it was better not to engage in lengthy lore and exposition in the scorching crater. Besides, time was of the essence and many things had to be done.

Replicus made Red Rage support him and through the Stark Constellation on the Hybrid

Luman's forehead, he promptly made it draw closer.

But right then, a large crack opened in space a few meters away from the group.

They all turned hastily to look at it.

"What's that?" Elita asked, confused. "A Cluster?"

To her surprise, Replicus answered her with a frightening level of calm.

"It's an invitation. Suzamete is inviting us into her domain," he said.

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