"Who do I remind you of...?" Skullius asked curiously. Apparently, only the gnawing itch to know something could brighten even the dimming sensations of a soul.
The woman stared him, a rather disgruntled look on her face. Strangely, even such an expression added to her exquisite beauty.
"Demion, of course," she said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, her eyes keenly looking into Skullius'.
"Demion...?" Skullius was confused at first, but then his mind was shocked into realisation.
"Are you... Could you be... Demion's Dan—"
"My name is Irisa," the woman said with a light frown, slicing off whatever Skullius had been about to say. "But yes... to you, I'm just a sword. I was weaved into it in the end, tied to death itself for Demion... and now to you."
The woman, Irisa, took a frustrated breath.
"When he handled me, he never knew death. It was only when I was gone from his side that they managed to kill him. So how dare you DIE when I have regarded to be have the same will, and worth as Demion?"
Skullius was thunderstruck.
So this was Irisa? Irisa from that tale from millennia ago who gifted Demion's Dance to... Demion?
He would never have guessed that he would be meeting someone like this, or better yet, having it revealed to him that his sword actually had the soul of someone attached to it.
How good of a thing was this?
Skullius would have loved to say something, but he couldn't.
What was even more striking to him than the revelation of his sword, was what Irisa had said. She had broken down his rightfully earned brood of sullen emotion. His doubts and worries.
How dare he die?
That wasn't fair, was it?
"That... I... " Skullius stammered, a complex look on his face.
Seeing his struggle, Irisa's face softened.
"I'm allowed to get angry at you, and on your behalf because I know you will do better next time. What you are pursuing. What you have been through. It all gets muddled when tension is flocking about," Irisa drew closer to Skullius, and placed her soft hands over his face. "But don't forget me, alright? I'm always by your side. Demion forgot that as he grew, but you... I was grateful that you decided to get to know me earlier, and I want to get to know you too. Only when we mean something to each other can we truly get to be so strong together, Skullius..."
Skullius felt a warmth he had never known before with Irisa's palms to his face.
He didn't know he could feel it as a soul.
He didn't know how a soul could be made to feel so vivacious.
He hadn't imagined words were so powerful, they could break the anxiety in his heart right now.
Irisa...
She was good.
His acceptance of the deeper intricacies of a Swordsman had blossomed into him and Demion's Dance getting stronger.
That was perhaps what caused her to manifest to him so casually, above the fact she was already bonded to him.
Ah.
But...
"Wait... what do you mean next time? I'm... dead," Skullius pointed out to Irisa.
A wider smile bloomed on her face.
"Yes, you did," she said, her sweet voice turning into a echo that was turned dull after several moments, the corridor around dissipating as well.
What did this... what did this mean...?
...
What was the meaning indeed.
Skullius blinked.
There was darkness in his vision, but he drew a breath of air that travelled through his nostrils.
He felt his tense muscles again, Demion's Dance, and his armour.
He was standing on the flat ground, a hand firmly planted on his back. He didn't need to turn his head to know that right now, a flesh clone of Vali was standing behind him, funnelling revitalising energy into him.
What?!
Around him, he scanned and found Maxim, Grutus and Liura, all with Vali clones behind them as well, just as before they had all died so suddenly!
Heck, even the Preeminent Attegoth was standing proud behind Skullius, but he couldn't understand all this.
What was going on?
Maxim seemed to be stricken by shock. Perhaps even crippled. She was pale as a sheet, and Grutus, as well as Liura, seemed to be the same, with the latter slumping to the ground and frivolously molesting herself, as if to make sure she was whole.
'Them too?' Skullius thought before focusing on the glaring features before him.
Rias stood, the large Cluster General at his side, frenzied but seized into stillness.
The young Game Master didn't look as calm as before.
He was actually frowning, and weirdly, above his head, the counter for Units rolled, and the amount he had staggered downwards sharply, while Skullius' and the others' rushed up, restoring how many Units they had had before...
'What the hell?!'
The Cluster General's astonishing presence was far from being as unsettling as the mystery behind how and the others were alive right now!
Yet, the answer was plainly in focus.
Standing between Rias and his monster, and Skullius' group, was Gabel.
He was holding out his glaive menacingly, and a dark look was on his face; not a sombre one, but one that wholly expressed a darker side to him than the one he had been showing before.
His emerald-crimson Aura burst viciously outward, and it became clear as he spoke.
"I've toiled harder than you can ever imagine, boy," he said, his dark, hollow eyes set on Rias. "Do you really think your mortal prowess can contend with the mercies of the lady of veil?"
"Time, life and death. I have been chosen to hold their prospects in my hands. You cannot comprehend it with a measly mortal tool brought to life by mana or Aura. You can only make up an inferior copy of the real deal."
...!!!
Skullius, a little dazed, was once again left stunned.
No way!
The reason he was alive...
It was because Gabel rewound time, and restored their lives? Just like that?!
Wasn't that a bit too ridiculous?!
From the looks of Rias' expression, he didn't seem to be capable of such a thing, as Gabel had said, otherwise why else would he be so surprised?!
But was it that outlandish?
Juggled Time Veneration...
It was the power from another Deity outside the four on Aigas!
It wasn't a technique!
It could certainly break Rules!
"Extraordinary..." Rias remarked, but it was evident he was still perplexed. He extended his pink-skinned hand towards the deer which still had its maw open, large chains coming from it, seemingly intending to summon something else besides the Cluster General.
Gabel moved fast, yet unseen.
Rias' arm was sliced into pieces up to the shoulder, much to the young heir's light surprise, but he could tell... Gabel had used stalled time to attack him ceaselessly in the head!
At the same time, Rias found himself staggering to the ground.
An intricate trident of Aura had stabbed heavily into his thigh, forcing his leg to the ground so that it would be pinned there, even if no damage was done!
Once again, Rias hadn't seen when Gabel had formed or flung the Incarnation, and it was concerning.
He too could manipulate time with his saber, but Gabel was doing it better!
Had he been holding back?
Rias' arm began to regrow, but Gabel was already upon him!
Without his full arm to take the damage, Rias was susceptible to attacks now, and that was what Gabel was aiming for!
Skullius, who was the only one perceiving carefully among the others present, only managed to sense the sharp ring of a blade before a loud noise brewed in tandem with a tremendous shockwave that, much like the Cluster General's more tame releases of mana, sent everyone flying back!
Skullius did his best to not move too far. He kept his focus on the battle.
In the next moment, a figure darted out of the rising clumps of thick dust, and skidded close to Skullius.
It was Vali!
From her presence, Skullius deduced that she was the real one.
She looked at him with some manner of relief.
"Thank goodness! Thought you were gone for good! Would have ruined the happy times ahead for me!" she called to him with a delighted grin.
Skullius would have paid her surprising cheer some attention, if not for what she had in her hand being more interesting.
It was segments of Rias' severed, pink arm yet to turn to ash!
The pieces of flesh looked to be dissolving into Vali's hand; flesh, bone and all, until nothing remained, and Vali seemed extremely happy because of it!
"Come on! Don't tell me dying once was that big of a deal! Get over it and help me out!" Vali gave him a mad look before jumping towards the thick of a terribly vicious exchange ahead.
Skullius watched her go.
'Right... I died...' he thought, recalling what he had experienced with Irisa. What she had said to him.
Had she known that Gabel would bring them to life? Skullius didn't know.
He imagined that Gabel brought him back because the dark-haired man had 'marked' him, as Aurolio had said, whatever that really meant.
Regardless of what, Irisa was right.
He had another chance! This was it!
He couldn't afford to waste it!
But to make it worthwhile, he had to change how he approached this battle before.
What had he learned?
What could make a difference?
How could he overcome the gap in power?
Was he any different from before?
Well...?
'Oh...' Skullius thought, with his Omniscient Thought Cracker accelerating his mental capabilities.
He slightly got excited... and fearful.
He had died just now.
The feeling of death was still glowering around his soul, as if trying to claim him back.
'I can still feel it...' Skullius thought, inspiration bubbling in his head. Gabel's Veneration art likely didn't reverse what a living being went threw before being brought back in time.
This was convenient for Skullius.
Maxim and the others were still in shock from dying.
But not him!
Death was just another experience to add to his earlier enlightenment!
While the feeling was still fresh, Skullius activated [Swordmaster's Quiescence], and burdened his mana core with producing Aura!
A greedy, gleam of dark Aura!
...
At almost the same time, Vali dove into the clump of heavy dust where deafening blows were ringing out, the crows encompassing the entire space flying erratically!
The Cluster General, its eyes unfocused, flung a deadly fist at Gabel at that moment, which, as it streaked like a bolt of lightning, made Vali feel as though a hurricane was about to ravage every inch of the close surroundings!
In the next moment, shockingly, the Cluster General found itself NOT throwing a punch as it had been just now, and furthermore, Rias, who had dashed away a micro second ago, was back where he was. He unceremoniously took a wrathful bash to the face from Gabel which he didn't see, sending him reeling backward clumsily!
The Cluster General meanwhile, roared, with another surge of mana building up within its body casually, but in the next moment, it also found itself skidding backwards, a searing pain in its chest!
Vali was left standing where it had been, and she looked crazed, almost frenzied with excitement.
"I could get used to this," she said, her sparkling eyes darting to Rias who had stood up from the previous blow, his large saber still clutched in hand.
He breathed out, an irritated look on his face.
...Then his sword changed.
...!
It acquired once again a black matte on its blade and the thick furs where its cross guard was supposed to be. The eyes on it suddenly lost the hourglasses within them, and the clouds above rumbled madly!
Quicker than anyone could have imagined...
"Hailstorm.." Rias suddenly said right after, and before long, the deer conduit pushed out of its mouth an almost tangible clump of thunderclouds that sprayed out heavy rain and gusts of wind!
This storm wasn't the natural kind.
Not only did the rain spew out horizontally, intent on whipping Vali and Gabel, it carried an acidic effect, conjured not from mana, but Aura!
The ground had began to melt, as did everything else that was pelted by the spray.
Vali guarded, reinforcing her Aura, but Gabel...
Immediately, the hailstorm vanished, as if it had never been there at all!
Time had been reversed, but...
Rias had brought his sword down, while chillingly uttering to the dark-haired man, "You can only reverse one instance at a time, right?"
...!
Gabel realised only later what Rias had intended.
He was right. Gabel couldn't reverse time on multiple instances – different occurrences – unless they happened at the exact same time.
The hailstorm, and Rias switching back his sword from its emulation of time, back to the Sky Watching traits, were two different occurrences, and continuously reversing time wasn't possible, since a brief window existed between – a cooldown – unlike with simply stopping time!
Thus...
A glaring bright light began to shine.
That disastrous lightning attack was going to erase another section of the Cluster!
... And it would have, if not for a shrill noise that screamed from behind Gabel, and Vali.
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
It was quick, and it declared a painful silence to everything else with its coming.
It shot from a presence that was darker than death, and looked quite like the embodiment of death itself.
The noise was merely a decoration, however.
By the time Vali and Gabel heard it, they had also seen the satisfying malevolence it had conjured.
It started with Rias' sword being cut through like butter, and then...
His neck was sliced through cleanly, blood splattering from the back as evidence that indeed...
He had been harmed as intended!
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