As Sevill called out to free the five, she immediately rushed to cover Darwel's mouth, pushing back her soul back into the enclosure of her body successfully!
Unlike Masters, Incandescent Stage experts could manipulate souls and handle them like tangible objects if they so wished, but the circumstances here were different. The Control Seal kept pushing out the souls of those without enough Units, and the struggle didn't seem like it could be stopped with a mere palm acting as a blockade.
Viccil, on arriving, glared at Actuass who didn't look quite as surprised with her arrival. He merely looked exhaustedly at her. Thankfully for him, the incapacitated figures of Revia and Fulina were restored, and after they wiped off the slightly dazed looks on their faces, he turned to them.
"Stall them," he ordered.
Fulina nodded, and Revia turned to the assigned foes reluctantly.
Viccil tore Skullius back, and pushed him towards Sevill.
"What took your so long?!" Skullius found himself blurting at the Sif guard just as she was about to bound towards the enemies.
"I'm sorry Lord Luminant. We couldn't escape that stadium to come here until 'the game ended', as that masked man said. Even he seemed to be bound that," she explained curtly what was a complex story, before rushing ahead.
Skullius and Darwel's plan to survive the Royale's extra (main) purpose, had mostly depended upon to the two guards. They had guessed that there would be a lot of unpredictable obstacles, and had thus simplified to their plan to:
Find each other if separated.
Call for help when things start looking bad.
Darwel hadn't lied when she said she was sent here from Opungale without any powerful treasures, but she did have a special ring that allowed Viccil and Sevill to know her location and state of mind. Squeezing it was the signal for them to come rushing.
At this moment, Sevill with her free hand, imposed her will on the souls of Vali, Gabel and Maxim, stopping them from flying out from them.
She didn't have to, but felt it would be better if she did.
Skullius looked on as she grunted heavily, struggling to keep a hold. The gears in his Omniscient Thought Cracker spun, and he tried to find a solution.
'Think... think... think...' he thought, as he looked for anything useful.
Were any of the items in the Royale useful?
He only had Draw Bubbles mostly, and they didn't look to have much use. Perhaps if Grutus had shared his stash of items, but it didn't seem like the EverSword House would place anything which could counter their plan within the Royale grounds.
Wait!
Skullius looked at Maxim, and then at Darwel.
The former had '7,500' Units, and the other... she had '8,100'.
What had that Hun guy said again?
Units could be shared, right?!
You just had to either touch or gesture towards the person you wanted to give said Units to, right?
Skullius turned to Maxim, and then to Darwel, then Sevill. The Sif guard looked to be about to let Maxim's and the others' souls slip since she wasn't actually holding them!
The Hybrid Luman could save only one with his Units... but he wanted to save them both.
Darwel was crucial to his growth, and beyond that, he didn't consider her a mere nuisance anymore. He couldn't just let her die.
While not that connected with Maxim, Skullius felt a firm, foundational bond between himself the pink-haired woman. Ever since they rallied together to battle Baddan, Maxim had had his back, and they had interacted naturally from then slowly growing to know each other.
Ever since extracting the UNCoddled curse from himself, Skullius had regarded creating a network of friends and allies highly important. That was why he and ... and uhm... that was why he had decided to meet up with other Families at the Bryne Estate to discuss terms of partnership.
To finally grow where he had failed before.
Discarding someone like Maxim, felt wrong given his resolve. Or perhaps there was excess sentiment involved that even Skullius didn't recognise.
Perhaps, perhaps not.
Still, on seeing Sevill struggle, Skullius rushed to Maxim and willed – with immense hope – 2,500 Glass Units to be added to her own!
As soon as he wished it, the flickering counter above Maxim showed a '10,000' and her soul, which had been struggling to leave slipped back into her mouth, and consciousness was restored to her.
With a jolt, Maxim panted, and looked frantically around before laying eyes on Skullius.
"It's alright! It's alright! I've got you," he said to her with a slightly complicated, albeit soft expression, and Maxim opened her mouth to speak, only to not find what to say.
"What did... what happened...?" she asked.
"Later! Not now," he dragged her to her feet and rushed to Sevill who looked to have her burden relieved a little. The other souls didn't look to be close to sprinting away.
Skullius, concerned, turned at the numerous Vali clones. They were all conscious, which was rather strange, and he figured that they knew that fighting Actuass was probably a stupid idea, but one of them seemed to be gesturing something to him.
Viccil on the other hand, on seeing Fulina and Revia approach as they had been ordered, extended her hand towards the large humanoid tree which Darwel had summoned, which was now standing motionless, its eyes looking to its tamer who was held by Sevill with what could only be concern.
'Thank you securing this for me, Lady Darwel...' Viccil, pleased that she at least had something to use, thought.
She was limited to her raw physical prowess whenever high quality natural elements weren't close, just like when she fought the Maqi assassin months ago.
However, whenever needed, Darwel, with her Fauna Keeping abilities, usually awakened rare plants for her to use.
After all, Viccil was a Form User. The rare kind that only Opungale could produce.
The tall, humanoid tree turned its gaze to Viccil, and leapt up to reach Viccil's position where her extended hand touched it.
A vicious, steamy glow ruptured, and the large tree turned bloated up, as if filled with an enormous amount of energy, more in quantity than that which had been sustaining it for hours. It didn't just grow bloated though, it turned from the dirty-brown colour it normally had, to a golden-brown and parts of its branches stretched to Viccil and sank into her, as if the armour she wore didn't exist.
Astonishingly, Viccil's body became decked in a ragged, golden-brown wooden crust that somehow managed to not look like a ridiculous coat of bark, but an archaic suit of armour without the neat for stylish add-ons.
But that wasn't the thick of it.
The rest of the humanoid tree burst into small, brown buds that rained all over the place and in an instant, exploited the mana rich ground to birth large, slanting trees with strong, golden-brown barks livid with what seemed like boundless Aura. A thick, crooked woodland had suddenly formed around Sevill and the others, with the trees that made it up wrapping protectively around the vulnerable Gabel and Vali.
The sense of fortification the closely knit domain of trees gave was unparalleled, and Revia, as well as Fulina didn't dare approach it casually.
Viccil got into a steady stance, her palm extended before her, and she spoke with a chilling voice.
"Keep still."
Both Fulina and Revia were stunned, compelled to not move.
However...
"Keep going," Actuass, who was behind them, commanded and they were set free. Viccil frowned behind the helm of fortified wood. She had expected this, but anyway...
Without warning, she punched forward, and with a crackle in the air, and a hazy, violent ring of air roaring ahead in fragments of time hard to discern, an unknown force shot towards Revia!
Right before it reached her, its invisible mass suddenly turned into a pointed mass of interlocked branches that erupted, stabbing wildly, and expanding madly like a contagious disease!
The force of it was astonishing, probably powerful enough to impale the Cluster General easily, but...
Revia wasn't skewered within the mass.
As soon as the tangle of branches had shown itself, she had already sprung forth, flying at hot speed towards Viccil and, with her sword which quivered, making the blade look like mist, she slashed dozens of times at Viccil before the Sif guard even imagined to send a counter attack.
'Nothing at all...' Revia thought before dashing away, almost unseen. Her attacks had accomplished nothing. Barely any nicks could be seen on Viccil's wooden armour.
'She's fast. Too fast...' Viccil gave her own appraisal of Revia. 'Attacking her directly might be futile, but...'
Viccil stomped on the ground, and a sleek stream of Aura bore through it in a ripple, and where Revia set her foot, a root shot out and wrapped around her ankle!
Revia looked in alarm, and in a moment, she slashed tens of times at the root, but barely any scratches showed on it.
'Damn it!' she cursed, a disgruntled look on her face.
"You could try to be a better actor, Revia," said a voice from behind. "However you try to convince yourself to not kill 'innocents' won't exempt you from being one of us, as YOU decided."
A loud thump followed Fulina's words.
A broad, armoured figure suffocated in a light, red mist stood before her, a pitch black plate armour covering its exaggeratedly short figure.
Four spindly, blistered arms that sprouted from its chest gathered, and summoned an irregular ball of howling energy that, just from sight, set itself apart from mana and Aura.
It was Divine energy. Primus!
...!
Revia frowned as it appeared and at Fulina's words. As the Primus was fired past her with the same force as dozens of cannonballs towards the armoured target...!
Viccil didn't cower from it. Instead she burst forward, crossed her arms, and ran up meet it!
The bizarre explosion that followed on collision left the air and sparking, as though something was disturbing its usual flow. Yet, this didn't last long.
Skullius having witnessed the entire exchange gawked at the armoured midget, and its spindly arms.
'That looks like...' he thought in horror.
He recalled a creature that looked much like this dark armoured monster. An armoured undead creature that had a longer arm fitted with multiple other smaller arms to hurl curses and elements in addition to what it could already do!
(A/N: Refer to Ch.126).
He, Elita and Red Rage had fought and killed it!
So it was this woman that made that thing?!
Soon, it was revealed, after the obscurities passed, Viccil, half her wooden armour torn, as well as burnt. The same was true for her armour underneath.
Fulina didn't look surprised.
She was more surprised by Viccil rushing to meet a ball of Primus than her surviving it.
She locked eyes with the Sif guard, and in the temporary lull, she understood that to contend against Viccil, she would have to empty her current storage of creations, and get Revia to fight with the intent to kill, which, she seemed to not have towards people she was still too soft on.
...But that wasn't part of Actuass' plan.
Surely they weren't going to engage in full.
Fulina turned to Actuass, and saw him crouch down and place his hand over the shimmering engraving.
Slowly, she watched it crumble, along with ground on which it was branded onto, to reveal a large pit where faint wisps of energy rose.
Fulina's eyes narrowed, and she relaxed.
Right.
When she saw something rise from the pit and stand before Actuass, she knew... it was all over.
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