The air turned chillier for some reason, drained of any prospects of hope as Actuass arrived, and compelled the five contenders not to move. The hazel gleam behind his mask shimmered as the souls continues to fall, and were fed into the intricate symbol below.
From here, the masked man dared not let his attention be stolen by anything else, as when he had extracted the souls of those who had given enough authority to their Control Seals.
There were stragglers who resisted, most of which either survived because they were simply that strong; such as Incandescent Stage experts, and some who were exempted because perhaps while not as strong, they had given less power to the Control Seal by refraining from entertaining whatever else the Royale offered besides the consistent transportation.
Actuass couldn't be bothered with them. Fighting with them had higher chances of leaving him too weak for what he needed, and thus he left them to run around. He would choose what to do with them, if he so wished, after acquiring what was buried here.
Revia looked at the towering mass of Undeath energy with a look of discomfort.
She remembered that she had been the central piece to bringing what was here to 'life'. She hadn't had a choice back then.
As a Spirit Warden, Actuass found a use for her. Even though she was barely in touch with her rare abilities, he had invested a tremendous amount Creeds to enhance those abilities, and used her to fetch something from a place she had not known of until a few months ago. A place hidden from her knowledge by the Purity and their false teachings that post death, there was a place for reward and one for punishment.
Revia hated herself for it, but she couldn't undo what was about to happen here. She could only keep convincing herself that she wasn't on Actuass' side, but was using him to correct, at least, some wrongs she wanted righted before a reckoning.
Her 'condition' could be cured after all, and she was a piece in his hands.
A complex look showed on her face, and she gazed at the five people behind them.
As her eye fell on Darwel, she shuddered a little.
'We'll be invoking the wrath of Opungale too, it seems...' she thought.
Fulina, the other woman by Actuass' side kept an eye on Revia, and could seemingly see right through her hesitation, a look of something resembling reproach swelling in her eyes.
Rias descended from his height, and bowed reverently to Actuass, though with his face remaining as hard as a rock.
Actuass didn't turn his head to him, but as his voice came, it was clear who he was talking to.
"You did well. Though, I can tell you had a hard time."
"I had it under control," Rias said, a little disappointment hidden in his tone.
Actuass remained silent to this, but then said, a moment later, "Go join your father. Your work is done."
Rias nodded.
He gave the five contenders one last look, dispersed the deer head and summoned an Arcane Teleportation Scroll from his storage which he used to leave.
Actuass then extended his hand upward, and the opening from where the souls fell from grew larger, the speed with which the souls descended increasing many fold, such that the green and black tower of energy turned to a whitish green from the sheer quantity of gleaming souls travelling through it!
It seemed tens of thousands of souls passed into the glimmering engraving on the ground every second, and with such a rate, muffled wailing howling throughout the entire process, setting up an eerie vibe, it wasn't all that shocking when the tail of the vast mass of glow finally showed from the gaping pit in the sky.
Then all the souls were finally consumed.
The tower of Undeath energy turned weak, and feebly receded from its height to also sink into the engraving on the ground, branded over a large bulge of dirt.
The large formation carved on the ground gave an excessively bright glow that seemed to announce that it was fully saturated, or everyone aside from Actuass guessed.
What was this?
The trembling light in Skullius' eyes depicted that he was truly curious about this. Warily curious.
First, he hadn't had the time to digest Actuass' appearance. The last time he had seen him, it was when he was burned alive by Somanda manifesting through the object known as SoSei.
Naturally, he couldn't have known that was not Actuass' real body.
However, he hadn't exactly believed that Actuass was dead since then, but in his mind, he had begun to think that perhaps the man behind the mask, was an idea, not a person. Perhaps he had been replaced.
But evidently, that assessment was sorry.
The person in those robes and mask... it was the same man Skullius met back then.
The voice was the same.
The presence was the same.
He had a formidable pressure of Undeath about him, one that by far exceeded that of the Death Knights that always came in for roll-call back in Deadmanland.
And as if his intense apprehension wasn't enough, he recalled Aurolio's words about Existential Parallels and their bearers.
'...You, and some Undeath user or users out there are my enemies...'
Actuass... he had to be the bearer of Undeath here in Aigas, right?
There had to be one given that Undeath had solid roots in this world, ones that he had first learnt from his time in the Tremur Forest (where he appeared first after escaping Somanda).
However Actuass met Somanda, and was given the power of Undeath was beyond Skullius' guess but...
But what was the masked man up to exactly?
It was nothing good, Skullius was sure, and it seemed that this was only the Green Neolists' plan. Then what about Guissepo?!
Where had he gone?!
A long sigh broke Skullius' train, and chain of thought.
It came from Actuass.
"I'm finally here. After all these years. It's ready," he said, a bit of sentiment in his voice. "But... we still a few more souls remaining behind us. Might as well..."
He turned to the five, and the hazel gleam behind his mask gave a suffocating blast of pressure to the captives.
"You are the only ones remaining with the Control Seal," he said, yet his gaze seemed to turn elsewhere too, and then return to them. His eye hovered over them, and in an instant the group knew he was gazing at their Units.
Skullius '12,550', Darwel '8,100', Maxim '7,500', Vali '2,410 , Gabel '3,200'.
"The Units were a way to liberate yourself from being a part of this. Leave this place through the gateway, and you would even be rewarded. But, it seems only one of you qualifies. The rest..."
...!!!
The Control Seals on each of the five took on a bright glow, and their owners felt them start to burn away, but with an unpleasant sensation building up!
Yet...
There was a ripple from Gabel so light it could hardly be seen.
With a nasty jerk that looked as though he had cracked every bone in his body, he moved... and so did the others.
Using a force of will foreign to normal human beings, Gabel had reversed time on the instant they had all been compelled into turning still by Actuass!
Indeed, it had been more than three seconds ago, but Rias had been right about the dark-haired, dead looking man's capabilities possibly being much greater than the ones his saber had managed to emulate!
A Veneration art was not a simple Technique with reasonable limits, and thus, with enough sacrifice, it could be used past what one was capable of even in the feeblest of states!
This was such an instance!
The moment everyone turned free, with Gabel grunting blood from the very bowels of his body, it was as if the cells within their bodies were set alight.
If given a chance to survive...
Maxim seemed to be fastest to act. Her watery Aura roared and she funnelled every fine unit of mana she had into creating her paper thin Centipede Incarnation which zipped through the sky and blew out a wave of Aura.
In almost the same instance she had kicked into high gear, Revia and Fulina found themselves turned flat, panes of a thin glass-like material around them!
It was an astounding feat, but...
Actuass remained unaffected.
He merely stood there, watching the group, no visible signs of alarm from him.
Skullius was next. Like a streak of lightning, he had rushed towards Actuass and swiped mightily with his sword, and Darwel behind him had called for a large, humanoid tree from seemingly out of nowhere, while in her hand, she kept squeezing at a ring-like object eagerly.
Vali summoned a lilac flame behind her, and her mind raced as she thought of what to imagine.
Her previous powers were already wearing off after lasting for roughly two minutes, and that was after she had something to help her imagine what she desired. What would it be now? Would it even work?
She had thought to mobilise her clones which were still holding the surprisingly tame Cluster General, but thought against it.
Actuass obviously knew about them, and was ignoring them because they were likely no threat to him.
"Stop," Actuass said again, in a tone of voice that sounded exasperated, and everyone was forced to stop again; Skullius as he slashed, Darwel with her ring in tight grip, Vali with the flame on her hand, Maxim concentrating on her Incarnation and Gabel kneeling down.
"A fine effort," the masked man said.
As he spoke the Control Seals over the five continued to burn away, and the number of Units above seemed to start flickering, with the exception of Skullius'.
It was happening as Actuass said, as Rias had said.
Without enough Units, the others would die!
Their souls would likely be added to the formation on the ground, and from Actuass' tone, they weren't even necessary.
It started with Maxim.
From her mouth, a glowing globe began jutting out, and her eyes rolled.
Then Darwel followed, her body starting to turn limb even as she was forcefully frozen stiff.
Then Vali, and Gabel.
Skullius sensed all this, and he shuddered!
'NO! he cried from within, desperation strangling him like a noose.
They were all going to die!
They were all going to die!
Skullius' soul ached at the thought. Even if he didn't have much connection to most of these people, it was still a dreadful loss, especially with Maxim and Darwel, not to mention Tallo, wherever he was!
He imagined this was happening to him too!
Skullius knew he would carry a bitter, tragic feeling if he survived this ordeal like this!
It couldn't be...!
A distinct feeling pinched from his soul!
This couldn't be!
It couldn't...
...!
"Be free!" a feminine voice crashed into Skullius' ears right then. His body suddenly became light, and he was no longer restrained.
Someone had countered Actuass' compulsion, and the light steps that sounded behind Skullius announced the arrival of the help he so desperately needed right now!
With veiled faces, two powerful, loyal guards had burst onto the scene.
But could they change anything?
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