Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Incandescent Stagers were an utterly cracked bunch.

One thing to know about Stages in general, was that progression from a lower Stage to a higher one did not mean that one lost the powers from said lower Stage. For instance, when one reached the Master Stage, they did not lose the ability to use the generalised Aura of an Advancer, and as such, when becoming an Incandescent Stager, Perfect Aura was not lost, but Nitros was generally better to use as it served the same purpose, along with boosting one's overall prowess past the 1,000% limit afforded when one reached the Peak of the Master Stage.

But this was not all.

Because one was granted a profound understanding of the soul after finishing the Third Trial, they gained the ability to compel and manipulate weaker souls, which ended most fights against weaker opponents very quickly. But if that wasn't enough, Incandescent Stagers passively generated Creeds in their refined souls – constructs that allowed them to warp reality to an extent by expending them as a cost. The unpredictability this added, despite the fact that most Incandescent Stagers wouldn't use Creeds recklessly, was harrowing.

On top of this, at this Stage, an Incandescent Stager would be able to use a Majestic Territory, a more profound expression of the self than anything else that came before, not to mention the blessing granted at the start of their journeys, which also became available for them.

Skullius was facing all this, above the fact that experts from Maqi were somehow exceptionally more competent; irritatingly aware, absurdly sturdy, sharpened and fearless. That was why he had not used a red mark on this opponent.

As much as he could afford to give the minimum effort he could, that wasn't going to fly for long, and the current happenings were the greatest indicator of that fact.

'Here it comes!' Skullius thought warily.

The bald Incandescent Stager was about to reveal what his blessing could do, though, as far as Skullius knew, blessings allocated to anyone other than Paladin Champions, weren't that profound.

The Nitros coated blocks of dirt shot from the bald expert and dashed in four different directions, travelling a fair distance before abruptly coming to a halt and sinking into the ground with great thuds. They retained their white glow, in fact, it exploded out in one quick instance, leaving Skullius to wonder...

What was their effect exactly?

He had made plans to flee from his passive stance when he heard the voice of the expert:

"Stop!"

A powerful sensation attempted to press Skullius down, cutting off his ability to move, but his soul's composition wasn't the same anymore, and both him and the expert judged the result in that very instant.

The bald man frowned suspiciously.

'Was it not a ruse back then?' he thought. His opponent's soul felt solid, compact, unfettered by his words.

Curious. 

 The bald man didn't dwell on it. The momentary pause Skullius took was enough for him to apply his blessing.

Skullius felt it; something akin to a terse vibration in the air that resounded within the bounds of where the dirt blocks marked.

The blocks activated rather violently, and…

Skullius… got the impression that he somehow turned smaller, as though much of… himself, really, was gone.

Exactly half of himself.

Before he knew it, the bald man's painted face was right in front of him, his open palm slamming into the left side of his face, followed by a vicious knee strike to his right side as he keeled from the force of it, and finally an elbow to the pith of his chest!

All three blows landed in half a blink, and as quick as they were, they were so effective that Skullius felt huge chunks from where he was hit get obliterated, turned to no more than rotten indentations. Even his armour wasn't spared.

Skidding back several metres, Skullius narrowed his blank eyes.

'Interesting… Something's happened to me. And this rotting? Is that his Form Using Technique?' he thought, but there was barely even time for more deliberation even with the tiny grain of a brain that was the Omniscient Thought Cracker dividing his thought for improved efficiency.

To Skullius' surprise, when he attempted to increase his durability by piling on weight on himself to dodge the start of another combo against him, he found that… only half of it was conjured – about 850,000!

But that wasn't all.

His endurance.

His strength.

His senses.

His mana.

The quality of everything on his body was brought down to only half their fullest extent!

Against the blow that came for Skullius next, his overall reinforcement proved lacking.

The Hybrid Luman felt several of his bones fracture as an open palm dug in from his other side, a phenomenal force travelling through it.

The bald man truly put his all into the attack, and in a blink Skullius felt all his innards turn rotten, transitioning from fresh and functional, to gooey and gaping.

As he flew, the world crackling at the impact, the bald man guffawed.

"Where's all your earlier confidence? I thought even half of you would still be sniggering in my face!" he jeered as he shot forth to reach Skullius in an instant and jabbed him thrice with his knee directly in his gut, chest and throat, the same effective rot drilling through the points of impact.

Right as Skullius choked from the last blow, the bald Incandescent Stager brought down his hand in a chop to crack it over his opponent's skull.

However…

BAM!

A whistling noise of travel only registered when a chaotic boom rocked the entire area the two combatants were standing in!

Something carrying an ungodly degree of speed, had rushed this way from the far distance and rammed into the bald man, hitting square in the side of the chin!

The damage was minimised greatly by the enhancement from the Nitros, but…

"What… what…" the man swayed and stumbled in the deep crater made by the impact.

His eyes were unfocused and his entire body echoed the fierce force with which the… wait, what had hit him?

The man's doubling, tripling sight caught a glimpse of something black and round floating away from him, disappearing behind the image of the approaching Hybrid Luman who cocked back his arm, vanished for a moment, and then…

BOOOOOM!

A rattling force backed up by 850,000 tons of weight hammered right into the man's nose as his stability was yet to return and he was flung back with a bleeding nose.

Midway through his flight, he tensed his muscles and roared to urge them awake.

However, this only happened after the Hybrid Luman had reached him, his figure soaring above him…completely healed!

…!!!

The Incandescent Stager was alarmed, but he didn't buckle. He didn't have time to.

His opponent unsheathed his uncanny sword again. Its long silver, chipped blade went on full display, but the bald man didn't make the mistake of looking at it again… until he did.

He couldn't help it.

The sword's gleam, which he could see from the corner of his eye, suddenly disappeared, replaced by an unfathomable darkness.

The blade of the Bashful Abomination was suddenly soaked in black which rose to cover its brass hilt as well.

'What is that?' the bald man wondered, a rising unsettling fleeing burning within him.

He saw Skullius raise his sword, and judged that a slash was coming.

However, the Hybrid Luman, with a dark visage of triumph, unexpectedly declared:

"| Your Blessing Is Gone! |"