Chapter 1041: Vision of Misery! (3)


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    Kenno had told Replicus and the others all that he had managed to learn after his assigned mission to the Bryne Family State. Among many other things, he had learned of Sty''s


    mysterious disappearance after she suddenly acquired the power to remove the curse that had hung over her father for a long time.


    Replicus had found that odd.


    There had been no exnation for this urrence, which had been beyond his wildest dreams, but now, as he glimpsed the differences in the redhead; her more defined physical features, how she now spotted a pair of webbed wings behind her back, and her inexplicable level of strength that allowed her to face against a Herald...


    ''Is she... is she somehow now allied to that thing?'' Replicus wondered in horror. ''Or is that thing the reason she became so strong?''


    This development rocked him to his core.


    What had really happened back then in Genhuis City all those months ago?


    It seemed the only one with the other portion of the story - the missing piece - was Skullius. Replicus gritted his teeth.


    The odds were continuing to stack themselves against him, and the stakes kept rising. After Kenno told him everything he knew, the Prator had been inclined to try to help Sty, return her Family jewel, the Harmonic Ember, and make Em-Sul and his goons suffer for what they did to the estate back then.


    This, along with how he was constantly troubled about Ferex''s whereabouts, had weighed on the deepest recesses of Replicus'' mind.


    Some of the answers he had desired were finally here, but he hardly knew what to do with them.


    Wordlessly, the Prator clutched the Harmonic Ember in his hand tight and allowed himself to be smacked by the vicious gusts of mana-filled wind, and an odd wall of darkness that proceeded another crackle like lightning in the sky. The battle between the dragon and the Null existence, aided by Sty continued.


    "Keep calm socket hole! This isn''t the time to give in to sentiment!" one of the thought phantoms he had summoned cried right as Replicus was submerged in the vile, ebony sea.


    "Yeah! Remember, we need to get out of this alive no matter the cost. If we can do that... and re-merge with Skullius - perhaps after a fight as bitter as this one - we will be able to handle most things on this damned world, which should be a good thing, since we are going to need all that strength against Somanda!"


    "Hurry! Inaction will only cost us. You''re a skeleton dammit, stop caring for a minute or two!"


    The loud choruses of encouragement in his head did help Replicus a bit. He had started to get crushed under how impossible everything he set out to do was, but his thought phantoms were right.


    If he could make it alive from under these odds...


    However, said odds were a little more treacherous than met the eye.


    Replicus wrestled against the dark tides within the ocean. Harsh lights burned above the waters, and the searing heat that came with them was egregious.


    The Prator had figured out why his Titan World Storm Prator abilities were all dispelled, along with Araeyn''s.


    It was because of that damned dragon.


    The weird tilting of the world, the melting of the clouds; things he had seen and thought to be illusions, were the creature''s - perhaps - passive effect on the world.


    Every influence under a certain level was immediately crippled in the dragon''s presence.


    Replicus guessed that Special skills and below were quite weak against that overbearing power, which made sense considering the sheer calibre of the dragon.


    The Emissary hadn''t done justice in describing the dragon''s power at all.


    As for how Araeyn''s [Grandiose Manifestation] ability was affected, well, it seemed that spatial abilities were likely to fail in front of the dragon as well, but there was some slight


    nuance.


    Baddan''s Territory persisted for a few moments under these conditions, while [Grandiose Manifestation] fell immediately.


    A Territory was pretty much a spatial maniption feat, and not just on the inside. What likely made Baddan''s Territoryst, was because Baddan had full control over his Territory, while Araeyn couldn''t possibly be able to control an entire dimension. At best, he could manipte a few elements of the Boring Mine Nova Star Course, not be deigned itsplete master.


    Replicus'' sockets zed even within the dark liquid.


    All these factors were why he couldn''t use things like Spatial Lightning, or warp into Stagnant Space which he already had a weak affinity with. Heck, he couldn''t even store the Harmonic Ember in his spatial storage, and thus settled for having his armour hide it within itself.


    ''I can''t use [Unbound] on the Ember either. Even that skill is being restricted here...'' the Prator thought.


    His use of the Ember was stalled. He had wanted to upgrade it right after acquiring it to maximise his gains, but...


    ''Dammit!''


    For now, Replicus resolved to find his team. He could sense them through their Granted Armaments.


    They were moving.


    He swam as fast as he could as the sea flipped this way and that. Within the dark waters, he noticed a great many things. Struggling humans, struggling fish and struggling beasts. Thetter made a desperate attempt to swim deeper into the ocean, fleeing from the presence of an infinitely more monstrous problem.


    Replicus weaved through them all. They didn''t see this as a time to attack, after all.


    Soon, the Prator noticed a familiar coat of fur above the sea. Arge beast with a long tail was running on the air while mounted by multiple figures.


    Replicus immediatelyunched himself out of the water and clutched onto the beast''s foot.


    He then hurled himself onto its back where several eyes shot towards him.


    At once, Replicus'' socket me fluctuated between bright rage and soft fury. Only one among the three in his direct line of sight felt the pain this subtle sign expressed. Baddan looked quite heavily injured. The series ofcerations and gouges on his arms and chest told of the coarse ordeal he had barely managed to struggle through.


    Grim''s shaggy body also depicted his tribtions through the numerous singed or outright scorched spots on it. His front leg was mangled, but he powered through the pain, using its ability to use the air as a foothold to move away rapidly from the thick of the conflict in the


    skies.


    Pherdanta seemed to have sustained the least amount of damage. She was bleeding profusely from her hands and face with the cause unclear, but of course, she could care less about her


    own minor injuries.


    After all, the one nested in her arms had it far worse.


    The sight of Allora with her waist a few grams of flesh away from parting with her torso, leaving her in two halves, was quite harrowing to say the least.