Skullius could still hear, and feel.
He could still think, however truncated his mental capacity was at the moment.
But...
An intimidating storm of unseen energy caught him off guard as he had taken a moment to entertain Tallo's taunting stare.
At first, it felt like a regular hit from a Mind Caster, like the one the braided man had knocked him away with just now, but he soon realised that he was wrong.
This attack, was like the very first he had received from the braided man, only, it was much, much stronger!
It was so strong that the glass pane above him indicated that it was a heavy hit, and 10 Glass Units were taken, transferred to the Mind Caster responsible for it!
It shut down his movement with incredible efficiency, and stunted his thoughts more than his own brilliant rage effect on them.
As such, he couldn't mobilise enough focus to use [Destined Warp Steps] in order to flash towards another different position and stand firmly, ready for the heavy onslaught from four Masters. He merely streaked over, and through the erect pillars all around like an arrow, no reaction registering from him.
Then... it came for the umpteenth time.
A loud call that he had been hearing ever since he came to this place through the Draw Bubble's effect.
'Tomato flinger! Get a grip! You're wasting your advantages without your full focus! Tomato flinger! Tomato flinger!'
The moment Skullius had spawned among the eleven contenders, the rage he had holding back slipped out again, its strength to give the heavy, deciding pound against his deterrence, coming from the snarky comment of the short Swordsman.
He had lost his restraint instantly.
The yet unreasonable fury clouded his usually sharp judgement, culled off his hesitance, and made sturdy his intent to just kill everything here.
To kill everyone... in place of Camilla, whom he had been so desperate to shoot down earlier.
As soon as this rage took hold, he couldn't think straight. He felt a sensation of rising heat, as if he was burning from everywhere, and his body didn't fight against it, since, in the end, this was an emotion of his, merely placed erroneously.
'Tomato flinger! Remember! Use your senses! Take in the air, and force yourself to relax! Feel everything around you! Get in touch with the serene clouds! Don't fall into the meaningless anger!'
Skullius struggled to resist, and tried to force his body to calm down... angrily, but given the unseen restraints on him at the moment which prohibited him from moving even an inch, it didn't help.
He ended up trying to shut out Sila's voice which encouraged him to head towards futility, resolving to continue to sink further in the burning pit, hoping against hope that he could somehow get back to killing even Masters that had a heavy counter against most of his abilities, but...
The sound of fluttering wings caused him alarm.
Even without the crisp processing quality and control of his body needed to activate his skills as quickly as he normally could – which he found to also cause the shroud of Null Life Essence around him to disappear completely – he was able to discern the surroundings.
The braided man flew at triple his current soaring speed towards him, his Genuine Incarnation, the staff, in hand!
The bastard was actually flying, a steely matte of Perfect Aura around him!
As soon as he reached the Hybrid Luman, the Mind Caster wore a victorious smirk, and swung madly with the bumpy bulge of his staff at Skullius' head. Skullius made a 90 degree turn into the dirt below with a voracious force, digging up a large crater with his fall.
"Without your sword, and your speed, you're not really that threatening, are you? I almost didn't recognise you to be an Advancement Stage expert at first," the braided man in the white cloak chortled, before extending his staff towards Skullius who was immobile within the depth he had made.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm not in the habit of prolonging conflicts more than I need to," the Mind Caster took a quick glance into the far distance where the rumbles of a fierce battle droned from. "Besides, I pissed off that bratty bitch from the Flatbed Family. Might as well have commented on her lacking chest. I'll feel safer when I'm away from here, but not without taking a few Units with me."
Skullius' body was raised from the crater along with the movement of the Mind Caster's staff. He floated in mid-air, his face as pale, and rigid as ever.
Sila still called to Skullius, trying to jolt him into some form of action, but there was no response.
The braided man's staff twitched like a restless toddler, and he injected mana and Aura into it, seemingly to deal a finishing deal. But...
Suddenly, the Mind Caster grunted, and turned the staff in a different direction.
A gleaming peach-coloured blade struck against the staff with a powerful force from above, causing the braided man who had just blocked in time with his Genuine Incarnation, grunt. He was far from being physically as strong as most Swordsmen of his Stage would be, and thus, he swindled himself out of the clash, skidding on the ground to stand before Skullius who was still hoisted in the air.
The short man, his armour having been torn from his torso, stood facing the Mind Caster. He emitted a sharp breath, before spitting out blood. A thick red, cloudy Aura bubbled around him, this being the Genuine Incarnation he had revealed moments ago, to unknown effect.
"Too much for you too, huh?" the braided man sniggered.
The Swordsman snorted, but it was evident this was true. While he had stuck around longer than the braided man where Maxim and Tallo were, he too had rushed away from what was almost certainly... death. Yet, he still put up a dignified face.
"I see you're trying to leave with some kind of prize," he said.
"So?"
"You really think I'm just gonna let you have it? I'm the one who made this all possible. All of it didn't work out as I hoped, but I'll at least reap from the one who benefitted the most here."
The Mind Caster guffawed, as he secretly massaged his hand which had been burnt by Tallo's first attack.
"Haha. You have the same thought I do, it seems. 'Better him than those two freaks. I can at least beat YOU'."
The Swordsman clenched his sword hard, and a moment later a massive cloud of neon red blossomed from his body to overwhelm the area!
The Mind Caster super charged the staff which lividly shivered with mana, and unseen by all, a blurred dome extended a dozen meters around, encompassing Skullius in it!
At the same time, the Hybrid Luman felt himself released from the restrictive hold, and his instincts flared. A rush of rage caught him, and he immediately activated [Destined Warp Steps] to go kill the braided man.
However...
His first step towards the white cloaked man came only three seconds after he thought to do it, and his second came six seconds later. The leap he planned came twelve seconds later, and the fist he planned to throw after saturating his arm with mana, came twenty-nine moments after he intended.
What was this?!
They was an outrageous delay, and his mind felt muddy!
As all this time passed under Skullius' shocked perception, the Swordsman, and the Mind Caster had been clashing heavily, quickly, desperately.
They weren't stalled like Skullius was!
The short man couldn't see the blurred dome around them, but it didn't matter, because it didn't have an effect on him anyway. The braided man on the other hand was annoyed greatly by this fact, and had to avoid the cloud swirling around the Swordsman as best as he could. He would dip into it to reach the short man here and there, but wouldn't overstay his welcome in it.
What a peculiar Incarnation.
For someone who wasn't from the Families, it was truly impressive, but the Mind Caster couldn't afford to praise his opponent right now.
Skullius was still finding his body responding later than he intended while trying to keep up the Mind Caster, and Swordsman's movement. Somehow, they seemed dozens of times faster, even if they were bolstered by Genuine Incarnations!
What was going on?!
He had taken another step, when he saw the Swordsman several paces away, stop after having blasted the cloaked man a distance, and....
The Swordsman's eyes suddenly constricted, and he held his sword up with both hands, its hilt – or rather sceptre handle – stuck to his chest.
...!!!
[Primal Caution]'s passive effect rung wildly in Skullius' head, but there was nothing he could.
With his delayed, stunted thought, he felt a familiar sensation. A sharp... whisper that called the sceptre sword, travelling the distance between it, and him in fragments of time he couldn't discern!
....Then, he was hit.
Somewhere in the background, he felt the Mind Caster bash heavily into the Swordsman, as if to stop him, but Skullius was already feeling something slide off his body.
His shoulder, from the right side of his neck to corner of his right hip....
It had been cut down, and had fallen to the ground.
Skullius' rage boiled again, but then, he noticed something.
A glow of cloudy, red neon was smothering his armless right side which was bleeding profusely!
It did not budge.
Furthermore, as it persisted, Skullius found that the passive effect of [Saint Lumis' Benign Arc], was not activating to heal him!
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