"I have devised a plan on how we going to use this room to our advantage. Your Tasks, Trials, skills and cores, we are going to fine-tune them to their limit here. This place can show you your limits and exactly how you can overco said limits. Nothing is as enlightening as watching a version of you use your current arsenal to do things you've only ever dread of, after all," Replicus said.
His words and the matter of replicating living beings did, however, carry so degree of irony considering that, indeed, he himself was going to be joining in on the training he had devised in the last few hours in order to learn how exactly he was going to win against Skullius.
Serenity had knowledge about Skullius' new moves and powers, so creating a replica with that kind of knowledge wasn't going to be difficult.
"So of the limitations I had have been removed, so in addition to what this place has to offer, I'm going to be adding to your move sets as well. We'll find ways to complent your current abilities and enhance them," he said.
Baddan was the first to react to this. He had been the latest individual in receiving an ability from Replicus.
"I thought you couldn't give abilities so freely, boss," Grim said with a bit of sulking voice. "I rember I told you I wanted that skill which would allow to sq-"
"I know," Replicus cut off Grim. "I'm able to do so now."
"Really?" Pherdanta said with a look of disbelief, albeit one which paled in comparison to the one she had worn just monts before. "The whole reason you made the Granted Armant armour series was because you couldn't grant abilities like Aggrante and Granted Restoration to our bodies. How did you discover a way to circumvent what stopped you from being able to do so?"
Replicus looked at Baddan.
He had been able to give the Sky Watcher the Incarnation of the Six Wild Exigencies technique because several factors aligned.
One, Replicus, through experinting with newborn creatures, had realised that he could use [Wealth of Spoils] - a skill that gave and took away skills and even stats from inanimate objects - to grant living creatures skills by having them absorb the skills through their brains while they were still developing. This wasn't as foolproof as he would wanted, but it worked to a degree.
In Baddan's case, Replicus had conjured the six beast he used for the technique and made them manifest in Baddan's mind. Baddan had had to battle the creatures and win their loyalty, which would allow him to summon them at will.
This tied into the second reason Replicus had been able to grant Baddan the unique technique. It was the fact that the way the beasts were summoned lined up with the abilities Baddan had possessed before - using clouds as a dium to conjure different kinds of creatures. Thus, it wasn't really that hard for him learn to summon the Null beasts that he had now won over. Now, however...
"It's a bit long-winded," Replicus said. "Soone revealed to how I could give abilities. Two individuals, actually. It's simple. All I need to do is reach out to the soul of the individual I want to give abilities to."
Pherdanta, Grim and Baddan's eyes shot up.
"The soul?" Yuyui said in surprise, and imdiately, she thought about the masked man, Actuass.
Her inference wasn't wrong.
It was because of Actuass that Replicus managed to acquire abilities that allowed him to sense and protect his soul, but it was Serenity who helped him see that he could use his new awareness of the soul for far more than he had initially imagined.
(A\N: Refer to Ch.1121).
"On top of this," Replicus said, "I have another ability that can allow to directly enhance other aspects of you that aren't skills."
While everyone looked at him, confused at what he could possibly an, Replicus smiled.
[Unbound] was now capable of affecting other living individuals - a product of him reaching the Fourth Tier!
Just like him, Replicus could use [Unbound] on their individual stats, mutating them into more... unusual forms!
The Warmoth's Progeny was eagerly awaiting what would be born in his subordinates.
However, before all that, he had to address sothing... soone...
He looked at Pherdanta's brother.
"I suppose I can't ignore you any longer. I'm giving you only one choice and this is all for Pherdanta's sake. I have no qualms with having you join us, but I will need a certain degree of assurance that you really are on our side now," he said while watching the young, pale man with blonde hair and wide-set brown eyes beside Pherdanta.
His eyes trembled at Replicus' stare but he didn't respond.
"I killed her, you know?" Replicus said and the young man quickly looked up. "Warding Pride died by my hands, and it wasn't pretty. You can either learn to live with that or you can walk." The young man, after flaring his nostrils at Replicus' confession, gave Pherdanta, who was glaring down at him a dark look and then he gritted his teeth.
His eyes were turning bloodshot.
"Heh, I see. She really despised you. I'm sure she felt the sa even until the end. I would never betray her feelings. I'd rather carry on bearing the hatred she had for you," he hissed at Replicus and once again turned to Pherdanta. "Say what you will about her, but she cared for her subordinates. She even cared for you back when you and brother were loyal. That's why I'm alive right now."
Replicus scoffed.
Well, there was his answer.
He hadn't actually expected this outco. Despite what the blonde young man had seen, he was still not going to keel over to Replicus' might and offer his servitude, it seed.
In a way, that was comndable.
"Well then..." Replicus began.
"You're wrong," Pherdanta suddenly interjected, her body flashing white with mana. "You're alive right now ONLY because master desires it. Now, however..."
Pherdanta's hand swung elegantly across her brother's neck and in the next second, his head dropped to the floor.
Without giving the corpse a second look or thought, Pherdanta gave a stern look to Replicus.
"I ant it before, when I said I didn't care for his fate. I am proud of where I am and what I have beco. I don't need anything else to wear , and in turn, you, down," she said with a voice so resolute that Bassbion gave a whistle.
Replicus smiled.
"I never doubted it," he said and he flicked his finger, the body of Pherdanta's brother disappearing in the next instant. "Now that that's sorted, let's get started. But of course,
there's one more thing..."
***
Deign.
Kenno, looking exhausted but unhard, gave a deep breath.
The large red stork by his side scoffed.
"Why do you look as though you've been fighting for several days straight?" it said.
"Because I have, Timmit. And I must say, thanks for your help in clearing literal hundreds of
enemies trying to get a foothold over OUR island," Kenno said sarcastically.
"Hmph! I saw you set up barriers and all. I imagined you'd be able to fend for yourselves
against those... those... what do you call them?" the stork said.
"Factions?"
"Exactly! Factions!" Timmit said while flapping his wings and jumping repeatedly. The trees
around them swayed from the force of his flaps. "If the pressure was that imnse, why did
Bright Storm leave you alone with protecting this place?"
Kenno looked at the sky which was partly vignetted by treetops in his vision.
"Because he trusts and my strength. I desperately wanted to et those high
expectations. I think I'm doing a pretty damn good job."
"Pat yourself on the back, will you?" Timmit scoffed again. "When will that ba—"
It never beca clear what Timmit had been about to ask because the island suddenly shook
at the sa ti a set of impossibly vast doors appeared. The doors opened wide with an ear- splitting groan, a burst of radiant light gushing from them.
...!
Kenno and Timmit were alard. They grew tense and set to see what was going on, but the island of Deign suddenly jerked, pulled in the direction of the doors.
As though all this wasn't enough to strike the Unlimited and the beast guardian aghast, hundreds, no, thousands of cracks in space - Clusters - suffused with different colours, flew from all around them, hurtling towards the bright light issuing from the open doors.
A few monts later, the great doors were gone... along with the island that had once stood on the fresh waters as a base for a mighty Faction.
[Author's Note]
This marks the end of the arc - from the Battle Across Null Remnants to the revelations on
Edagon.
The last arc of the volu approaches and I would assu the conflict it houses is pretty much clear at this point.
In any case, be sure to comnt how you felt about this last arc, if you enjoyed it, if you hated
it or if you wish you can have my skin! I would really like the feedback. You can also leave Questions here and I will answer.
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