Master Stage experts, as they grew stronger, awakened the ability to activate their skills with Aura, instead of mana. Since Aura was a product of mana being condensed finely, it was easy for it run through mana channels, igniting the carved skills branded to the body.
The effectiveness of skills used with Aura would be ramped up by the margin of enhancement the Master was at in their Stage.
If they were halfway through the Master Stage, they could enhance a skill efficiency by 500%. Though, the strength of their mana core could hinder higher numbers from being reached – white cores couldn't cut it.
If the Master was at the Peak of the Master Stage, with a sufficiently powerful core...
....
The grandiosity of the radiance, and the stupendous outbreak of torrents of electric destruction struck the braided man silly, even as he held on to dear life; dear life being his Genuine Incarnation.
The burst of branched lightning that escaped from the hold of Maxim's flattening Technique nearly razed his body into oblivion.
Thankfully, the Mind Caster had setup his dome beforehand in an attempt to capture Skullius within it. He hadn't known it would end up saving his life.
The mental energy dome had three functions.
It crippled the thought process of targets, which in turn limited how they could use their skills. This was what Skullius had seen it do so far. The second, was to enhance the movements of the user, since the area acted as a boosting territory.
The third function, was to expose the mental energy from the target, and interpret it, which allowed the Mind Caster to see his enemies' moves before hand. Against other Masters, all other functions could fail him, but this usually kept him at an advantage.
This was why the Mind Caster had been able to evade being harmed by the Swordsman, but using this ability drained a lot of energy.
Now, as the glaring calamity had spawned a few meters from him, he had escaped with only several gruesome burns, and mild losses in his flesh, which, in his mind, was an absolute win.
'Dammit! If only my storage wasn't destroyed by that bastard!' the braided man thought begrudgingly while massaging his arm which had the broken spatial storage ring.
There were healing accessories in it that he couldn't reach now.
On the other side, Skullius who was completely unharmed, watched as Maxim's figure, which looked slightly dishevelled, landed in the spot between him, and the Mind Caster.
She took a few deep breaths before giving a glare to the Mind Caster who flinched, and backed away.
Of course, she hadn't forgotten what he tried to pull, and she looked dead set on killing him.
A moment later, a mash of colour appeared atop one of the hollowed pillars. Tallo emerged, a bare bones smirk on his face as he looked down at Maxim.
"That was a mildly enjoyable waste of time," he said before turning to the Mind Caster, the Swordsman in the far distance, and then at Skullius.
A few marks, along with smudges of dirt could be seen on Skullius' face, depicting that he hadn't had an easy time fighting his two opponents.
"Looks like that green sword of yours was a heavy crutch. You aren't holding up too well without it, huh?" he taunted, much to Skullius' snort. "What are you? An Arma User? A Form User? You seem to be allying yourself with too many facets of strength."
"Well, wouldn't you like to know?" Skullius replied.
Tallo smiled.
"I was hopeful that I'd seen much from all of you as you fight amongst yourselves. I'm currently not impressed."
Skullius frowned. Was this guy keeping tabs on him, the braided man, and the Swordsman while fighting Maxim? It seemed so.
Maxim didn't take this too well.
It made her feel like a sparring doll.
"You're nothing too hot either. You've just been flinging elements is all, and keeping your distance. Why would I bother to entertain such a coward?" she shot.
Tallo's smile grew wider.
"Yes, well, the light show had a purpose. I was attracting company. Or rather, making sure our guests arrive earlier. We are currently trespassing on what you may call, an open temple. Common sense can tell you that much. And we have been wrecking the living hell out of this place. They are already on their way. I've always preferred chaotic battles. They bring about the inspiration tame powers like myself desire to burn brighter. Maybe it's the same for you too," he said.
His words struck Skullius, Maxim, and the braided man like thunder.
Of course, at the very start of this battle, they had imagined that this place didn't look like this for no reason. It was definitely built by creatures from this Cluster that had some form of religious belief, but from Skullius' perspective, he couldn't imagine that the Beckoned Retrievers, and Fleeting Pioneers had made this.
Was there another type of creature in these lands?
"In the meantime, why don't we continue the horseplay, hmm? Maybe you haven't noticed, but I was really only here to obtain an alternative form of enlightenment. Perhaps it starts by making you all turn desperate enough to reveal your hidden cards..."
As Tallo said this, shots of lightning zapped towards everyone!
Skullius, who had been on guard all along, [Beyond the Hype] empowering his dissection of anything that could happen, wasn't fazed.
As the bolt of frightening blue came, he first intended to block, or dodge it, but at the last moment, he allowed it to hit him. When it did, he activated [Swordmaster's Quiescence], and shifted his focus from the WILLS of Fulgardt, to [Greatest Mana Crafter]!
What would happen if he lost himself in the embrace of something that was more dear to him instead of something that he only started to appreciate after coming to Aigas?
What would happen, when Skullius sank into the wholeness of crafting mana?
...
For a moment, the mana around Skullius turned still.
Tallo noticed in the crawling time within his perception.
When the lightning exploded upon coming into contact with Skullius, grinding the ground with shots of heat springing everywhere...
...!
A burnt hand that was rapidly healing emerged from the dirt, and its fingers clasped tightly as if it was taking hold of something violently.
....
Tallo couldn't believe it.
The mana around them all turned stone-like hard, as if it had all been used to create a solid, compact cube within which everyone was trapped in!
For a brief moment, Tallo himself found that he was a bit restricted from moving, but he easily broke free. The same was true for the Mind Caster, and Maxim who easily used their Perfect Aura, and Incarnation to bust out of the hold.
But it seemed the play was far from over.
The massive amount of mana around them gathered up very quickly, and sprang up, and about to form... to form...
Tallo eyes went wide with wonder!
"Runes!" he cried.
A cascade of runes jutted from the flowing mana every millisecond until hundreds emerged, all flying about erratically. In no time at all, they formed a veil-like dome that trapped everyone in it!
The speed of this development was unprecedented, yet only Skullius could appreciate how extreme this feat was, when matched against how he had done this before!
He had just created a Chieftain Screen in less than 1.5 seconds!
Maxim was surprised, and so was the braided man.
Skullius scuttled out of the aftermath of the streak of lightning that he had allowed to hit his body, already healed up.
'Let's see what I can do if I put I my all, connecting one craft to another!' he told himself, as he sped forward, opened his Temporary Storage right between him, and his opponents.
He emptied out half of the mana stored in it, and compressed it, restricting it to where he desired.
...!!!
The sheer volume of it as it poured out intimidated Maxim, who instantly began to form her Genuine Incarnation. Her instincts were flaring madly!
Something really bad was about to happen, and she had to shield herself. She doubted she'd be able to leave the barrier around them as quickly as she needed.
And she was right, on both accounts.
"What... what is this bastard doing?" called the Mind Caster as he used his staff to take to the sky with its little white wings.
But this wasn't going to help.
Skullius clasped his hands, compressing the massive volume of mana further, and then, with a breath of hope, he used it all to do something wild.
Something crazy.
BZZZT! BZZT!
Tallo wore a manic expression of excitement as he saw it.
Sparks trickled from the large ball of glaring mana in the first second, and in the next, the white ball sent out thousands of thick, blue bolts of lightning that dashed everywhere before spasming, wriggling... and urging their source to ignite outward!
How this was possible for Skullius who had never used elements with his Luman body, only the horse himself could answer.
He too wore a thrilled look on his face.
...
A flare-like torchlight led the way. It was so bright that it rose like a divine pillar, and could be seen from everywhere within the Cluster!
What followed behind it was the shattering of the Chieftain Screen Skullius like millions of fragments of a silver sky outward, as it couldn't bear the apocalypse he had set loose within its bounds!
Skullius began to think he had overdone it.
But no, it was alright.
Because he was still not done.
This wasn't a light show!
With his perception, and processing of information being so extreme, and with his use of [Destined Warp Steps] for mobility, the Hybrid Luman dashed through the chaining bolts that vaporised everything they touched!
A large mass of light still blinded all who could see, and the explosion of mana, and lightning rendered most forms of perception useless, and this what Skullius wanted!
In the wake of the noise, light, and saturation, he was invisible, and he could strike as he pleased!
Dodging the chaos was incredibly difficult, but Skullius used all support skills at his disposal – non-Insurgent Magnus skills – and zipped his way through the slowly flying rubble, madly darting lightning and all, to reach right the spot right below the Mind Caster, his target.
The man had been flying away, but even now, as Skullius could perceive him slowly using everything he had to defend himself, and cover his eyes, he grinned.
His rock sword appeared in his hand, and this time, he put his back into it, Null Life Essence flowing around its edge.
He held the object with care, and carved the air with it as he slashed from the distance, a swelling confidence that ignited the rock sword through [Unmatched Sword Sense] beaming out.
A scream that only a Swordsman could hear shot ear-piercingly from the rock, and Skullius watched the result with cruel glee!
....
When all that was left was a black wasteland, devoid of the cultish structures anyway nearby, dark smoke dyeing the air, Skullius held the head of the braided man, and threw it to Maxim, who was covered by a strange Incarnation.
As the head rolled to her feet, she frowned, and glared at Skullius who smirked in return.
"Beat you to it."
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