"You’d better pay attention, you formal bastard! GRANT THE CHANCES!" cried Baddan.
His technique, Incarnation of the Six Wild Exigencies, had changed, or rather, he’d evolved it in several ways. The technique, which allowed him to summon six powerful Null Life creatures with the two disks that manifested above his head (the Forechance Deers), normally allowed him to call upon one of the creatures at a ti and support it with one of three effects: Magnification, Duplication, and Complication.
Now, however, Baddan was able to summon two beasts at once and grant each one of the supporting effects.
This was why Lipptis had suddenly manifested on the battlefield. The creature was stronger than it had been when Baddan had used it on the voyage towards Edagon before, not to ntion more nacing. Humanoid, with feminine features and fifty arms springing from its lower body, the creature expelled a mighty pressure of Null Life Essence. The draping curtains of hair falling on both sides of its bandaged face danced wildly – it might have been reacting viscerally to the presence of a Lich.
As Lipptis manifested, Baddan was suddenly draped in a purple coat. His fur turned a deep shade of silver, his eyes becoming more focused. He was granted a small dagger with a queer presence of Null Life Essence, and he brandished it before him.
Each of the six Null beasts in Baddan’s arsenal granted him a garb and weapon that complented its powers upon being summoned – that was, unless they were hidden from view.
Soizar considered Lipptis, his attention stripped away from Savast entirely.
"Well," he said, adjusting his glasses, "there’s more specins to take ho than I imagined."
Savast slunk back and eyed Baddan, who was standing close to Lipptis. The two knew at once how they would play their hands right then, and they did.
It all started with how the second Forechance Deer above Baddan’s head chid and granted Lipptis a supporting quality. Just as the Sky Watcher hoped, Lipptis was granted Complication.
’That’s what I’m talking about!’ he cried jubilantly.
Suddenly, Lipptis pointed at Soizar with fifty of its hands. The creature’s base ability was to freeze all targets it successfully pointed at with Null Life Essence.
...Yet it didn’t work on Soizar, but not because he paused to see what the creature could do. In a fragnt of ti the mortals couldn’t have comprehended, he had zood over to Lipptis and decapitated it.
...But then both Savast and Baddan bled furiously from every orifice on their faces. Soizar found that odd.
...Until he realized why.
A terrible, blunt impact bashed against his head, disorienting him. No. It struck his mind!
Temporarily, he lost control of his body and all active powers. The damage felt familiar. It was the attack he’d received from Savast earlier, Charged Stroke, only, it was twenty tis stronger now!
The two Unlimited Stars took advantage of Soizar’s weakness. It wasn’t inconceivable that their reaction was as swift as that only Divines could have managed. Both beasts were under the influence of Savast’s most powerful application of his Mind Casting abilities: Autist Range.
Autist Range ramped up the power of all his other ntalcraft abilities by 2,000% for a short ti. Charged Stroke was one such ability bolstered by Autist Range, but so was Mimic. It was the sneaky ability Savast had used to evade Soizar’s blow just earlier.
Its effect? It used the residual thoughts that leaked from a sentient opponent as a ans for the user to reach into said opponent’s mind, draw their imdiate intentions, and imdiately counter!
Savast was sharing the feedback he was pulling from Soizar with Baddan, allowing them to react and operate at a level far beyond their own. It was a feat and a half, but it was extrely taxing. Both Savast and Baddan could feel death encroaching upon them already. Their bodies were screaming, but they wouldn’t stop!
Baddan raised his hand, and Lipptis’ head suddenly regenerated, using the generous reserves of Null Life Essence it possessed. Then it was as though Lipptis had its own agency. It raised one of its hands... and a portion of the beasts orbiting the Cluster General behind it swam through the air rapidly towards Soizar.
...But the Lich had recovered. His teeth clacked.
"You’re touching my mind!" he cried, his socket flas flaring as he turned to Savast.
Another Charged Stroke slamd into him... but not before he charged his fist with Undeath Essence and split in the Unlimited Star’s head!
...Or so he thought. The Charged Stroke set in just when he realized he’d struck Savast’s shoulder instead, carving through him to the groin.
"Your aim is off!" cried Savast, grinning, his eyes drowning in blood. He refused to heal yet. That would be a waste. This kind of pain wasn’t enough to debilitate him. It was nowhere near the agony he’d experienced during the Impossible Task.
When Soizar growled furiously, a storm of beasts flooded him and Savast and began whipping around them like a dark twister.
There was a curious thing about them. Each held a trace of Null Life Essence.
...But each beast was also dead.
Soizar might have been confounded by this if he could think clearly. What the thousands of beasts did next didn’t help with that affair. One by one, they erupted from the inside, or rather, the Null Life Essence inside of them condensed and detonated as close to Soizar as possible!
A rattling and sputtering blasted Soizar, along with yet another Charged Stroke. Tiny chips appeared on his skull as the explosions kept pouring. Hissing, he powered through the chaos in his mind and made a swift attempt to seize Savast, who was also being punished by the storm of explosions.
"I have more than one way to return from death, you know?" the Unlimited Star said as Soizar sliced off the top of his head.
...But indeed, Savast returned, good as new, in the next micro-second. It wasn’t an application of Granted Armant this ti. No. Just like monsters like Kintar had their physical attributes altered by Skullius’ [Unbound], Savast did too. In place of his Health attribute, he had an attribute called I Resist Death, which gave him 50 lives!
(A/N: Refer to 1241.)
"Good as knew!" cried the Unlimited Star, grinning like a fiend. "Fresh as a daisy!" He was fresh indeed.
He propped up three fingers and aid for Soizar’s skull right when Lipptis pointed all fifty of its hands at the Lich and activated its base ability again. An unusual brand of Null Life Essence smothered Soizar right then, making a vicious attempt to paralyse him. It only managed to restrain his arms and legs while he was weakened.
...But that was enough, because...
"Ko Aggrante!" Savast fired the treacherous beam again.
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