Chapter 1031: High Hell


    ?


    Within the Territory, Reign of the Unending Exigencies, pure chaos ensued.


    It hardly seemed to matter anymore that this was Baddan''s Territory, as the fight truly became a bitter mash of varied, potent powers that shed explosively.


    It was currently a four vs two, but no hypothetical external party watching - or reading the event - could have judged that the side with the greater numbers was winning.


    In fact, it almost seemed like the opposite.


    Em-Sul had assigned his Mage to sh with Baddan and the bizarre, ugly creature while he dealt with Pherdanta and Grim.


    Quite frankly, Baddan had his hands tied for most of the battle, especially when it first began. Adjusting to the manner ofbat that Mages often used was incredibly difficult, even with the boosts that his Territory gave him.


    It was more apt to say that the only reason he was keeping up with the staggering arsenal of the Mage, was because of the physical and efficiency augmentations he got.


    The Mage had lunged at him and with a cold gaze, he stretched his hand out towards the Sky Watcher. In the next micro instant, Baddan felt his armour get pulled sharply by an unseen force, and in the next moment, he was right in front of the Mage, his armour''s chestte touching the man''s hand!


    ...!!!


    Maism?!


    Baddan felt a spike in mana from the enemy, and just before it exploded into activating something potentially deadly, he had the armour spit him out!


    As he soon discovered, this decision was done in the nick of time, because his dark grey, bumpy armour twisted and whirled before bing an ominous ball that the Mage gripped in his hand.


    ''What?!'' the Sky Watcher thought.


    He couldn''t have known, but this was Transmutation, a basic Mage skill that allowed a practitioner to change one substance''sposition, into that of another.


    The shape his armour had been turned to was that of a simple ball.


    No. That wasn''t it.


    The Mage had the ball turn into a long, dark grey spear which he suddenly fling - and with unbelievable force - at the Warpish Fuggu!


    Baddan scowled.


    The spear struck Fuggu in the head and obliterated it in an instant!


    Such power!


    Even though Fuggu was the weakest among his beasts, and one with the less impressive abilities, it had its value.


    Its core ability was, of course, Warping.


    It could distort energies and material objects alike, which usually rendered their normal properties and integrities inconsistent. This was why its attacks had seemingly bypassed Em- Sul''s Nitros.


    Of course, the creatures it summoned also possessed this Warping ability.


    Em-Sul couldn''t see, but what bore holes in his body, were horned dark blue beetles the size of a child''s fist, which manifested anytime Fuggu went for an attack.


    Whenever the beast thrust its fist, this was a feint. The real attack woulde from these beetles.


    It went without saying, but the armour Baddan received by summoning the creature, also possessed the Warping ability, which was activated when going on the offense.


    All this said... none of it mattered.


    Truly, when dealing with Mages,mon scaling just wouldn''t work.


    Baddan rushed the Mage.


    He reached him rather quickly, and noticed that he - Baddan - was much, much faster than the bastard. The Mage had barely managed to react when he sent a ruthless punch into his face!


    MBIIIIING!


    ''Impossible!'' Baddan red.


    He felt as though he had struck against an infallible wall!


    Again, he couldn''t have known, but this was another fundamental Magecraft trait other than Transmutation; Consolidation!


    It was just as it sounded. Mages used their extensive reserves of energies - mana, Aura or others – to augment their physical properties in a manner that could theoretically surpass even Form Users!


    The Mage took advantage of Baddan''s pause and threw a straight punch of his own.


    The Sky Watcher didn''t deign to take it and find out just unordinary it would turn out to be.


    He simply dodged it... and made way for a fat figure that sprinted from behind the Mage and sent six horned, dark blue beetles zipping through the air towards him!


    The Fuggu had returned!


    The Mage narrowed his eyes in suspicion.


    Hadn''t he just killed this thing?


    He didn''t have time to dwell on this, though.


    He could sense the bugs that bolted his way better than Em-Sul, but it was still only a vague


    feeling.


    As a result...


    His leg went flying, a portion of it gouged out by a creature he couldn''t see.


    No amount of Consolidation could have stopped the extra five distortive attacks that left his torso looking like a hive either!


    Through this though, the Mage only looked mildly annoyed.


    His eyes darted this way and that, seemingly trying to figure out if there were any more


    attacksing.


    But then... his head was borne through cleanly!


    Baddan saw the dramatic burst of the Mage''s head, but he wasn''t convinced. He didn''t hurry


    to go and ''finish off'' his opponent either.


    That could be a trap.


    Instead, he made the Warpish Fuggu attack the supposed corpse of the Mage.


    After all, one of the advantages of using his technique within the Territory, was that all the Exigencies he summoned, would never stay dead after being killed!


    Better yet, Baddan saw it fit to finally unleash the Primary function of his Territory.


    It had to with why, above his head, above the Forechance Deemers, there was not one, but two metallic balls!


    *


    Paradon climbed into the cloudy sky as though it was the most natural thing to do. Its right front paw seemed to step on the fabric of space and propel the entire body into the sky at an admirable speed, jutting in and out of the clouds seamlessly.


    The world above ground seemed limitless, as in as much as Paradon was moving rapidly, it didn''t seem to end, even when he moved in a straight line.


    Paradon Parody was one of the forms Grim could take.


    Its unique trait was that it was capable of giving its limbs the individual magical properties of


    other beasts that Grim had faced and thoroughly analysed.


    This was the reason all his legs looked different from each other.


    His right front leg had the ability to step on the air, and this was the ability the Unlimited


    used to ''fly.''


    This flight wasn''t quite efficient in this case, however.


    The enemy could also do something simr.


    Em-Sul was hot on Grim''s trail.


    He rode what looked like a metallic te shaped like an arrowhead. It was just as fast, if not


    faster than Grim''s galloping form.


    It spun wildly around the trajectory Paradon took, and then Em-Sul did what he had been doing for thest several seconds!


    He exposed two different artefacts which spat two different streams of odd energies. Right as the blue and white jets spun around him, the Harmonic Ember once again attained a greater whitish haze around it. In the next instant, the blue and white jets were forced to collide, and Em-Sul, in that exact moment, had them sh in Paradon''s direction! Midway through their flight, they perfectly merged to create something that caused the temperature in the skies to drop.


    From what it looked like, king like old, wet wood, yet surging rapidly towards the target, it was akin to a torrent of cold me!


    The mana imbedded within it was immense, casting this unusual power over a very wide area.


    It would be very difficult for Grim to dodge.


    Luckily, he wasn''t alone.


    Pherdanta, who rode on his back, grabbed the hilt to her sword with both hands and shed


    down with aggressive intent!


    Cleanly, the catastrophic meld of heat and cold was split apart in the middle, and its integrity waspromised.


    However, right as it copsed, a thin ck ray that moved in an upromising straight line, shot from Pherdanta''s right, right when she was still bearing the weight of the force she


    had used with her sword just now!


    Another hidden attack?!


    Clicking her tongue, the Unlimited, d in her Perfect Aura bolstered her dexterity enough to


    where she managed to extricate her right hand from gripping the sword, and point at the


    beam!


    Right before the beam bore through Grim...


    "Aggrante!" Pherdanta cried.


    From her index finger, a bright jet of mana and Null Life Essence cast an overwhelming


    highlight on the surroundings and swiftly overpowered the beam, shredding it halfway to its


    source.


    Pherdanta sighed and readied again her stance as Grim changed course.


    ''This is ridiculous. Does he had infinite store of artefacts?'' the female Unlimited thought.


    Em-Sul kept revealing artefacts that stored strange energies which he extracted and used in tandem with the Harmonic Ember.


    Because Kenno had brought news from the Bryne Estate back then, before they reached the


    Central Boundary, all the Unlimited and Baddan knew about the Harmonic Ember and its


    powers.


    That ck and white gem, stolen from the Bryne Family, was capable ofbining concepts. That was how the Bryne Family were able to form their differing Contrast techniques. More specifically though, the Ember was only able to merge no more than three concepts within the body of the person who used it. This merging could only be done once in this case.


    If the Ember was used forbining elements and such outside of a body, however, the usages were practically limitless.


    Pherdanta''s face hardened. While thinking about this...


    ''I thought that only the members of the Bryne Family were able to use it so well? Did this man


    adjust the Ember so it could work for him as well?''


    It seemed likely, given that Em-Sul, as Replicus had exined to the Unlimited, had a


    particrly unusual proclivity with artefacts of various kinds.


    While that would have been the most convenient answer, though, the true answer was something a lot more sinister.


    Em-Sul wasn''t the one to adjust the Ember.


    This was done... by the Saint''s Chamber. An organisation allied with the Severed Union.


    A man like Eobald would have known how useful their services were. After all, they were the


    ones who tempered the Universal Gate Key he acquired for the Labyrinth of the Yoke, which he then gave to Replicus back then.


    Pherdanta gritted her teeth and shed with herrge, red sword.


    She had seen Em-Sul sh through the clouds only four meters away from them.


    Her strike was incredibly precise, not to mention powerful, given the boost from her Living


    Type Incarnation!


    ...And it found its target!


    A chilling noise ruptured.


    A sharp sh had collided against firm gold!


    Yet the gold remained intact, only sizzling lightly. Em-Sul disappeared within the clouds andughed mockingly.


    "What a profound weapon you have there. It makes distance practically irrelevant when


    matched with your skill, correct? Not to mention the dense cutting efficiency I sensed just now," the Faction Leader said. "Unfortunately for you, I can do the same now."


    ...!


    As Pherdanta scowled, Em-Sul''s golden gauntlet manifested from its palm the hilt to arge,


    illusory sword that looked eerily simr to hers!


    Em-Sul then shot forth while on his arrow-shaped disk, hurtling towards the duo from the


    cover of dark blue cloud.


    This experience was turning out to be more enlightening than he imagined.


    His Mage seemed to be fairing well against the Territory''s Caster.


    Said Territory Caster was yet to unleash his Primary assault, or perhaps he had already done so


    but clearly it wasn''t capable of inhibiting his opponents.


    ...Andst but not least, while it did concern him as to why Replicus wanted this Ember,


    especially at this particr time, he was close to his goal.


    Even if Replicus had somehow caught onto what he wanted to use the Ember for, it was too


    late.


    The gem was close to granting him what he had always wanted.


    What would be a better way to celebrate that victory, if not showing the corpses of Replicus''


    subordinates to him when he was sure they were faring well.


    The Faction Leader cackled just as he emerged in front of the leaping Paradon and swiped


    with all his might using the ghostly sword in his hand!


    While expecting the sweet taste of victory, Em-Sul didn''t recall it in the moment, but there


    was an extra set of eyes waiting for him. Waiting for this exact same moment.


    A pair of eyes livid with determination.


    The fifth individual within the Territory finally acted.