Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1417  In Death and Time (1)

Yes.

The answer was a solid yes.

It was that hard to traverse the dark void.

When Skullius had narrated how he managed to defeat his other self – putting quite the emphasis on how he had Beyrmir travel outside Aigas to retrieve the soul Festos had hidden – Grim hadn't paid it much mind. At the time, he hadn't thought travelling outside Aigas to be something he'd be charged with doing any time soon.

Perhaps Beyrmir should have given an account of what it was like. He should have given all the Unlimited Stars a heads up for what was to come.

'Thank goodness we had that bread!' was Grim's first thought when he passed into the darkness. Since Suzamete had unravelled the Rules over that portion of Aigas the squad was escaping through, it took no time or effort reaching the great void from Aigas.

Turning behind him - just to sate his curiosity - Grim saw what the entirety of Aigas looked like from up here. It was like a gargantuan disk of colour fettered with a series of clouds. It was impossible to see the details of the sky or the lands below.

Thick strings, glowing with a Divine sheen wrapped around the irregular disk, expounding a fierce light into the darkness.

Grim was enthralled.

Aigas was as beautiful as it was inconceivable huge.

But the great void was more of the latter than the former.

Grim had thought it'd feel like being in a large tub of thick, mana-enriched oils, but he was wrong. Very wrong.

Traversing through the great void was like trying to swim through densely-packed sand.

Not only was it hard to move limbs while you were within it, it was incredibly hard to muster mana out of the body.

As soon as the group met the darkness, their Nitros fizzled out, dispersed into the void. Experts of their level couldn't die of asphyxiation. They could thrive off their energies. But losing said energies was a problem. They scrambled to shroud themselves again.

Condensing more mana to form Nitros was a task that required herculean effort and skill, they found.

Whatever mana or Nitros they coated around themselves needed to be held tight by their skill in energy manipulation, otherwise it would be lost in the void. Most of the guardian beasts, including Azila found it incredibly challenging, but Grim managed. If he wasn't at least a tier better than them at manipulating mana, he wouldn't have managed to complete the Impossible Task.

Asthon and Jiggorrhax had no trouble at all controlling their energies. The former hadn't gotten his Nitros sapped away at all when he entered the great void.

'The difference in strength and skill in uncanny,' Grim thought as he looked at the old bird. 'He reminds me of Kintar. They might be a match for each other.'

And indeed, it certainly seemed appropriate to equate the two monsters.

When it came to the Fruit Bearers though, it appeared they didn't require mana to traverse through the void. At first, Grim thought they were protected by some special authority of Suzamete's, but he soon realised that that wasn't the case at all.

The Fruit Bearers used artefacts to enable their mobility – Mythical grade artefacts.

A close inspection of them told Grim that they… did not partake in Aigas' power progression system at all.

They were simply humans, untouched by mana, Nitros, Primus, Amras or any other kind of energy. He found himself doubting if they even had souls. @@novelbin@@

But the mystery of the Fruit Bearers was too great to unveil right now and on his own. Grim could only throw it to be back of his mind.

As time scrolled on, everyone became even more appreciative of the fact that they could fly without exerting any effort into trying to push against the dense void. They didn't cover much ground, but luckily, they didn't need to. The enemy was coming to them.

It was impossible to communicate through normal means in the great void – at least for mortals.

Asthon, anticipating that a lack of communication was likely to cause problems later on, established a mana link with everyone around. They only needed to send their thoughts through the network to be heard.

"I suggest that all of you get your wits about you. Adapt to the environment as fast as you can. You will need the ability to mobilise your energies at the very least," Asthon encouraged. He then turned to Grim and Azila. "Come closer."

The Unlimited Star and guardian beast did as they were bid.

"The shadow of this Fiend approaches. My instincts tell me it's not the sort of creature we have the luxury of fighting over a long time. If it truly expends its body as fuel when it attacks, then it will be eager to finish us off as soon as possible. As such, we should also be aiming for a strategy that resolves this quickly," Asthon said to Grim, and with a swipe of his wing over his head, a Crown was revealed.

It was a strand of brilliant light coiled over him, a radiant star seated within it.

Azila was surprised. He didn't know the Crown could be hidden like that.

"Look at this closely. At the end of this, you might be able to acquire a Crown of your own," Asthon said excitedly to Grim. "I only want you to watch as soon as the battle begins. I'll spell out your cue to join."

Grim nodded hesitantly.

Azila on the other hand, looked offended.

"What about us? Are we only here as exhibits?" he asked Asthon.

"Not in the least. Your remarkable performances are what I'm hoping for."

Right then, the great void seemed to grow darker, scarier. The luminance from Aigas behind the group made it easier to spot such a difference in the highlights.

A shadow was cast over all the beasts.

Far beyond, something had appeared. Something colossal in size.

The void was an odd place indeed.

It was impossible to tell what was ahead, at least for mortals. It was like looking at an endless black canvas, only, this canvas had bits that were darker than the rest randomly placed over it. A Divine could have distinguished and discerned the many things in the distance, but mortals could only rely on proximity for clarity.

The shadow cast over them was the thing to alert them of the enemy's arrival… at least until the creature drew close enough to be seen. It had a light of its own, which made its figure easy to describe.

The Chronocle Fiend was more than a million kilometers away, but to the collection of beasts, it might have been a mere stone's throw removed from them.

It was truly mind-bogglingly colossal, but also a horror among horrors.

It didn't need a crushing pressure to terrify its foes. Just its form alone was too fierce.

Grim felt his white furs tingle and curl at the sight of the beast. It was unnatural.

Of all the things he had seen, the Chronocle Fiend was easily the creepiest. Its luminous, neon-like green hue only made it even more difficult to comprehend.

And as though just the look of it was not chilling enough, the creature had brought companions to what it assumed was a feast.

A company of fifteen beasts with the crushing pressure that was missing from the scene surrounded it, easily pushing through the great void.

But even Asthon found himself turning especially wary when he sensed a familiar, unkind sensation from this unexpected company. Jiggorrhax was the same.

It wasn't only time that the collection of beasts had to fight, it seemed.

They also had to fight… death.