Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Skullius was stunned.

Vali's range was shocking!

When had she even begun practicing the sword?!

[Swordmaster's Quiescence] was an ability that allowed any sword practitioner to reach a state of flow and immersion that enhanced their powers to an astounding degree; a qualitative degree to be more precise.

Skullius hadn't known Vali to be Class Branching seriously into swordsmanship. That was the only way she could possibly have managed to use this skill of his.

The Hybrid Luman watched as four of the Maqian enemies were killed instantly, all cut up differently, but cleanly.

The rest had either managed to dodge or were hit, but used diverse means of recovery to their less-than-fatal wounds, which was rather admirable.

They weren't random fodder, it seemed.

Vali's sword shattered into pieces after her slash.

Skullius could feel her unnatural reserves of mana flowing into and saturating it. Unfortunately, the sword hadn't been strong enough to hold such power. It had only been a regular sword, after all.

As the sword broke, [Swordmaster's Quiescence] was broken, and Vali, seeing the survivors, sped from her spot with [I Am The World] and appeared right in front of one of them. 

Before the female enemy she targeted could mobilize her guard, she watched as Vali's arm bulged, the super-powered cells within it – products of Cellular Supremacy – funneling an abundant degree of power deep within the recesses of her muscle fibers. This might was then loosened into the Maqian woman's face, the fist that smashed into her burning with Vali's Perfect Aura for good measure.

'How brutal…' Skullius commented on the mess that followed. Amusing.

It was almost as amusing to look at as the Shaman's face.

Given how wide Vali's attack range turned out to be, it could have killed a decent number of civilians, not to mention the Shaman himself, but he had managed to dodge. However, the stunned look he donned was also because he had no idea how the hostages he had been keeping in sight had suddenly vanished from before him.

Vali dispatched the rest of the enemies with some level of difficulty. If it were her normal self, she wouldn't have fared as well.

She looked quite pleased with herself, but it seemed she hadn't had enough. She walked up to where the Shaman was, and the two stared each other down.

'This might be an interesting battle…' Skullius thought.

Energy Former against Energy Former.

Three hazy, yet detailed figures floated out of the Shaman's body in an instant, rising to tower over him like ancient, spiritual guardians. They were all in the likeness of old human figures, Maqian figures, each with pronounced, distinct, features on their bodies that were similar to those the Shaman had – attire-wise.

These weren't Genuine Incarnations.

Shamans had the ability to connect with natural entities, be it flora, fauna or elements. Once the connection was made, a Shaman would be able to exploit the inherent power of these for an assortment of spells, rituals and even curses, which was quite useful. However, this wasn't the greatest highlight of the Shaman class.

Shaman was the only normal class to give its users the ability to pass on their powers to another user of the same class. Skullius remembered seeing something like this as early as back in the Tremur Forest days, with Ukur, the leader of the Bloated River Goblins.

The hazy figures to manifest above the Maqian Shaman, were the soulless figments of Shamans who entrusted their powers to him. Each of them, under his command, would use their powers to attack his enemies freely, though of course, their power outside the Class wasn't factored.

'What will you do against that?' Skullius thought to himself, wondering how Vali would beat the Shaman. He was clearly a cut above the rest she had killed, especially with the added advantage of his mysterious staff. Thankfully, he wasn't at the Incandescent Stage, but he was still extremely powerful.

Vali didn't look all that worried.

After the Shaman set loose his magical inheritance, she… began to split.

Cloning was a big part of Vali's powers. By rapidly producing a variety of cells, she was able to empower them with her outrageous volumes of mana, and with the effect of her class, form them into more of herself; more Valis.

The clones spread out, the seductive grins they wore hiding devious, devilish ideas.

"Hmm…" Skullius hummed.

He could already guess the result of this battle. Thus, he moved on, flashing away from the Aurora.

It seemed the Maqian army was spreading out too thin. Despite their might, they wouldn't be able to attack the whole of Maqi that quickly or that easily. Even now, not even 5% of Opungale had been destroyed. This was why Skullius concurred with the assertion that the Maqians who came, weren't exactly the 'A team', save for the Ode and of course, that old hag. In fact, it seemed to Skullius that rather than destroy, the Maqian army was here to… conquer.

So far, all he knew was that there was some kind of conflict between Maqi and Opungale, and said conflict was manufactured by someone else, according to Erlton, a Herald, like him, which was the reason he gave for not being able to participate.

'Excuses. It seems everything formed out of the Deities is quite fond of creating convenient responses that exclude their involvement. I see now…'

So, was that other Herald's plan to see Opungale burn like this? 

What kind of beef had he manufactured using the catastrophe that was the Ashing of Time, a product of the salvation of Aigas from the broken Rules back then?

Curious.

Skullius swept past two Aurora that were in flames, corpses and trees alike burnt to a fragrant char.

The death toll was rather huge.

The Maqians liked to be thorough.

The Hybrid Luman felt the urgent urge from the surrounding nature and he clicked his tongue as he picked up the pace. 

He swept through two Aurora that were under attack, the main assailants being Masters who were finishing off the resistance with relative ease. Indeed, it seemed like their teamwork was what allowed for their fearsome efficiency.

This was way different from the Maqi of old…

Thankfully, Skullius was also efficient.

He quite easily killed the raiders without even descending among them and transported the living Sif in the Auroras elsewhere lest another batch of brutes came.

None of the Maqians even saw how they died, and none of the saved Sif even registered that they had been saved for several moments.

Two more Auroras later Skullius saw another, fresh with assault. The stationed guards were fighting back fiercely against a slew of vicious, wild Maqian Masters and a single Incandescent Stager… and they were losing.

Skullius sighed.

"It almost makes them all seem weak…" he mumbled before willing the millions of Sif in the city, soldiers and all, to be branded by the mark of the Preeminent Attegoth. A moment later, they all vanished, leaving behind only the three Sif Incandescent Stagers who had been fighting among them.

There was confusion in the air for a single instance… and Skullius took advantage of it.

With Demion's Dance held tight by the glowing 'appendage' of the Graceful Monolith, he killed five Masters in that single instance.

The sword whizzed through the air quick as lightning, unseen, and it decapitated all in its straight path before shooting up into the sky, leaving only death and panic in the following sketch of time!

Skullius lazily looked at the proceedings, wondering if he was going to have to do such tedious hero work for the next few hours… when he suddenly sensed something bellowing from the sky above him and shooting down quickly.

"Hmmm?" 

There was no inherent hostility from it, so Skullius didn't attack immediately, but he did sense a familiar enthusiasm.

"It's you! It's definitely you!" a voice cried excitedly.

Skullius raised a brow… and then he frowned.

It was this odd creature again.

It was Ashema.