Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Unbeknownst to all but Baddan and Replicus, the Incarnation of the Six Wild Exigencies, was a technique Replicus forged, first and foremost, by using [Unbound] on the unhatched eggs of Cluster beasts.

The Special Bonus Random Upgrade worked wonders with procuring rare creatures within the Null Verse, though admittedly, most of them tended to be akin to the Chubby Remnant Child of Polarity – 'living' creatures that weren't exactly living creatures. Some turned out to be consumables, others turned out to be accessories and some... were more like plants.

Some seemed to have souls, and others didn't.

It was only after many trials that Replicus managed to get genuine beasts which he then used [Wealth of Spoils] on to grant abilities in their infancy before grooming them. For some, he merely enhanced those they already had.

These same beasts were what made up Baddan's technique.

The Incarnation of the Six Wild Exigencies began with two Forechance Deemers being summoned upon the user's head.

The larger one selected randomly on which beast would emerge – thus the metallic ball – and the smaller one selected randomly at three additional properties that could result after a beast was summoned.

At the moment, Masked Facade Lipptis was currently enjoying one known as Magnification, which tripled a summoned beast's size and doubled its strength!

Dander raised his wand, and a calamitous jet of golden flame streaked towards Baddan who stood still!

The attack was unavoidable, as he had seen along with the others, so he didn't bother to dodge.

Instead, he gripped his dagger firmly, caused Nitros to billow around his body, and lunged forth to meet it!

Baddan's Incarnation technique, in addition to summoning beasts, granted him a different weapon and outfit that possessed qualities tied to the beast he summoned, complementing their prowess.

The dagger was one such item, and the attire was as well. His dark purple clothing opened up his body to the surrounding environment, allowing him to sense it all well even with the veil over his face covering his eyes.

The moment Baddan's polished blade met the jet of flame, the surrounding gold gleamed all the brighter as flakes of fire were cut apart. The dagger pierced through the sharp, penetrative zeal of the flame which had already begun to melt the surroundings all around him and Lipptis.

The Masked Facade quickly whipped its hands up, directed them at Dander who stubbornly remained sending his stream of golden flame at Baddan.

The moment the Arden Curse noticed the attention of the hideous creature, he retreated and flew fast and away, streaking across the sky to avoid being pointed at.

'He's wary. Of course he would be...' Replicus thought as he watched, with rest of the Ardent Curses having resumed the chase after him without their leader.

Just now, he had confirmed that the Ardent Curses were not entirely invulnerable.

It made sense really.

They were completely immune to attacks that needed physical contact to apply damage or had to travel.

Or perhaps it more apt to simply say, the less material an attack was, the more likely it was to affect an Ardent Curse. Whatever protected them seemed to grow with how powerful the Curse too, it seemed.

As Replicus had surmised before, they weren't protected by some kind of barrier. It was a filter of sorts that manipulated anything that it could come into contact with.

Apparently, this didn't extend to conceptual attacks.

'It's good that he's rattled. If he knew he probably won't be affected by this particular ability of Lipptis', he would be a bigger problem to deal with.'

And indeed that was the case.

Lipptis had the natural ability to freeze anyone she pointed at and then turned them incorporeal, rendering their salvation impossible unless someone disrupted her hands. The ability was similar to Replicus' [Static Limbo], which froze targets in place, the duration depending on how big the difference in strength between him and the target was.

The same thing applied to Lipptis. While she was strong, she couldn't hope to immobilise beasts past Tier 20 like she did those below Tier 15.

Of course, this only applied to this primary ability of hers.

Replicus paid close attention – and so did his Unlimited and the still restless and nagging Araeyn who were travelling with him – as Baddan kept sending his dagger to bash at the golden flame Dander sent while soaring into the skies.

Each time, tongues of flame were spat out as the dagger collided with the fierce fire, resisting its further charge towards Baddan's body.

The Sky Watcher, after resisting the fifth jet of flame, suddenly hurled his dagger at Dander who was alarmed and attempted to rush away.

However, like before, the dagger vanished, as though it didn't exist, and it appeared on Dander's forehead as a dark brand.

...!!!

As the Ardent Curse felt it stick above his upper mouth, he heard an ungodly, loud voice screeching horribly in his body!

It was as though a million untalented vocalists were screaming at different tones of voice at the same time, and with their mightiest effort!

But that wasn't all.

It couldn't be all.

This effect was bolstered several fold by something Dander couldn't feel.

It was bolstered by Null Life Essence!

Blood sprayed from his mouths and ears and he roared in agony!

The pain was great!

Dander's brain shook and his face tumbled!

No wonder...

No wonder his kin had perished...

That same screech he heard from that abomination before, was being played wirelessly in his head, without having to enter through his ear!

How cruel!

Dander wouldn't have known, but the dagger Baddan held allowed the user to project Lipptis' deadly screech within the body of the target. When flung, the dagger would seize to exist until it hit the target – provided that the aim was perfect – but it wasn't impossible to dodge in that circumstance.

 Only when the target was frozen by Lipptis' finger gesture beforehand, would the blade become impossible to evade, and it could manifest its effect on all frozen targets simultaneously!

Dander roared, and spat blood continuously.

Bad!

This was bad!

It was hard to think!

It was hard to breathe!

The noise in his head and body was quickly damaging his innards, and there was nothing he could do about it!

He and the other Ardent Curses were adept at using elements and emotions with their wands, nothing more. These two powers were normally as powerful as the Curse itself and the wand they used.

Everything else they desired was supplied by the golden world they lived in.

"NO!" Dander bellowed, and with strenuous effort, he resisted the urge to keel over and submit to the pain.

In that moment, his rage surpassed the agony he was feeling, and with the meaningful point of his wand at Baddan, he cried:

"Majestic Territory Casting, Fuming Singularity!"

...!!!

A bizarrely abundant amount of energy gushed forth from Dander as a dark stream of power that barrelled towards Baddan!

It travelled rapidly, and smote right before Baddan who instantly coated himself and Lipptis in Nitros!

The jet of dark energy gathered before the Sky Watcher and formed a dark, irregular spherical mass blinking momentarily with flashes of white!

'That's...' Baddan thought behind the veil, his face hardening.

Immediately, he retrieved his dagger from Dander in a decimal of time before using it to strike at the rugged of partial darkness, but the edge of it merely cast sparks upon contact!

It wasn't enough!

Unfortunately, that was the only instance the Sky Watcher would get to strike, because in the next moment, the massive spherical shrank to become the size of a pinhead... and then tugged at everything that made Baddan who he was!