Chapter 1582: Dragged To Lumen
As Skullius and Fulgardt took off, Red Rage and Kenno panicked. Neither knew what everything that constituted Skullius’ plan entailed, but this likely had nothing to do with it.
"Boss!" the Unlimited Star cried desperately.
In stark contrast, Somanda was laughing so hard, bits of his molten flesh flying in all directions. His apparel – the dress he was wearing – rapidly turned to ash.
A moment later, his body began to rise into the sky as well.
"Oh?" At once, the High Lich understood what was happening. He gifted Red Rage and Kenno a mocking grin. "Looks like I’m primed to follow. This is truly going to end well for your master."
Before either the Unlimited Star or the Apostle could find a retort, SoSei was dragged after Skullius and Fulgardt at stunning speed.
"Damn it! So much for keeping that thing in check!" roared Kenno with a scowl among scowls. He turned to Red Rage. "What do we do now?"
Even if the Apostle had an answer prepared, he didn’t get to say it. A portal suddenly opened a bit of a distance away from him and Kenno. Three figures spilled out, all looking rather pathetic. Araeyn, Beyrmir and Weaver looked so battered up that it was a miracle that they were still kicking. Their vigour drove them, however. The Authority of Dimensions was withholding a fire Red Rage had never seen him bear before – a fury.
"We were fooled. I didn’t realise it until that man decided he was done playing games with us," said Araeyn, his voice scorching.
Weaver looked up. "Our liege has taken the battle to the void?"
"Not of his own will," Red Rage said, rising into the air. "We have to follow after him. He needs our support."
"Will we be able to catch up?" said Beyrmir. His tone made it clear that he feared they would be late.
Kenno chimed in. "Unless we can move as quick as Fulgardt in the void, there’s no way we’re catching up."
"We?" said Red Rage as he turned to the Unlimited Star. "You’re staying."
"What?! You heard the boss! He needs me for something!"
"Yes, he does. That’s the one thing about his plan we know for certain. Thus, it’s best for you to stay in place. Let him come to you. He will give you the signal."
Kenno was dissatisfied, but he couldn’t find a sensible retort. He didn’t want to jeopardise his master’s plan. It did sound rather lucrative.
"The rest of you, let’s go. We don’t have a better choice other than following by flight," said Red Rage to the other Apostles.
"We do, Sir Rank 1." Araeyn’s leer made everyone turn to his position.
"What?" Red Rage said.
The Authority of Dimensions brought his hands together and between his palms, a miniature portal appeared. "I have an idea."
...
Meanwhile, on the other half of Aigas, Ferex had withdrawn himself from the conflict against the masked man. He was on one of the Drakkens’ back, arms folded, and eyes pinned towards the horizon. He had not averted his gaze since Boron crashed through the barrier that had been dividing Aigas in two.
Sheltered within the Apostle’s body, Silrat was confused. He had hesitated to ask before, but now, he found he could not go a second longer without inferring what Ferex was doing.
"Shouldn’t we be helping the others?" he asked.
Ferex shook his head (both their heads, indeed). "Your part is done. You got a taste of power you never imagined you could bear. I will release you somewhere safe when I get the chance."
"My role, on the other hand, needs to chance perspectives. I cannot be the only Apostle not to fight by my master’s side."
***
The great void was like a compounded thicket of black sand. For the average expert, it was difficult to traverse through without a vehicle designed for that very purpose.
Creatures born or artificially woven within in the void had terrifying natural physical attributes. They also tended to have absurd supernatural abilities, since the great void had abominable ’natural’ disaster of its own from which odd monsters could form from.
Because of both these conditions, it was rare to see mere Divines traversing the void without aid.
Fulgardt was adept at such a thing, however.
He and Skullius threaded through the great void as easily as they had been on Aigas. The Immoral seemed to thrive in the darkness, in fact. He might have even been faster. Skullius, who was in the monster’s solid grip, could hardly fathom what powers Fulgardt gifted himself with advanced Fundamental Barter to casually accomplish this feat.
Even worse, he wondered...
’Where the flesh is he taking me?’
The answer was soon upon him.
With one ruthless push, Fulgardt cast Skullius away. The Hybrid soared at ten times the speed of light and then felt himself collide with something massive and stalwart. Groaning, he hurried to a stand and surveyed his surroundings.
’What... the...’ His eyes swelled when he took the view in.
"Impressive, isn’t it?" said the Immoral. He was standing nearly forty thousand kilometers away. Somehow, his voice reached Skullius. "This was once Lumen. Luserus’ world. Worlds are a pretty sight. Dead or alive. I wager that’s another thing you didn’t know, despite your arrogance, brat."
But Skullius was too drawn by the sight.
He and Fulgardt were standing on a gargantuan, tattered disk. Worlds from the perspective of the void, did indeed look like great, ovular disks with bathed in blinding light. But not this one. It had a dull ebony hue and most of its bits were torn from the whole, standing completely still in the void.
The fact that the two Insurgent Magni could stand on its atmosphere as though it had never been solid was a testament to how dry of any kind of essence the world was.
Skullius gulped.
’This was Luserus’ world?’
But just as he thought this, something came hurtling from the distance, a red outline smothering it. It landed nearly three hundred thousand kilometers away... cackled.
Somanda’s glee was unfathomable.
As Skullius studied the behaviour of Undeath energy flaring around SoSei, he cursed the Immoral. Unfortunately for him, his voice couldn’t travel through the void as easily as Fulgardt’s could.
"I’ll reiterate. You might have gotten better at planning ahead, but that doesn’t make you a genius, brat. You’re playing a dangerous game," said the Immoral as he turned to Somanda. The Undeath energy around the High Lich was... growing stronger.
"You didn’t account for what would happen with your Doom Factor 2 if you stayed in the great void for too long, did you?"