Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1419  In Death and Time (3)

Something all too vibrant coursed the group. It had no trouble causing the great void to tremble, so it stood to reason that it wouldn't have any qualms pulsing through the mortals drifting within the boundless space they did not fully comprehend.

But it was not a mere vibration.

The beasts felt their time being disturbed. Indeed, a threat had come over to touch not just their lives, but the time they flowed through. For the weaker beasts, it might have been a mere pulse of dread coursing through their bodies and souls, but for the stronger ones…

Asthon and Jiggorrhax saw it.

They saw their time rising from them in shapes that matched their own. The time was colored in a mix of green and white, throbbing. As the vibration persisted, the outlines of time made to flee in the direction of the Chronocle Fiend.

The old bird and the Herald responded as quickly as they could.

The latter manifested vicious Rules Runes that rushed to brand themselves onto his own outline while the former spread his wings and cried, "Absolute Magic, Fear!" @@novelbin@@

A great wheel of Runes appeared before Asthon and cast a fizzing purple haze over his own outline. The shape of time was shocked in fright too conceptual to be mere emotion - mere sensation. It froze in place. Asthon applied the Absolute effect to the time outlines of all the other beasts as well, ensuring their safety.

'I cannot hold it for long. That thing wants to devour our time. I'm not sure what happens after, but I'm hoping it's something as simple as death,' the bird thought. 'This is all wrong.'

He felt his control immediately slip from his grip. It seemed even the peak of Magecraft he had learned through the Mages who often visited the courts of the many Kings of Pelian wasn't enough to stop the audacious, greedy pull of the Fiend. But, of course, it wasn't.

Luckily two individuals had responded to the threat less than a micro-second after the old bird.

Grim spilled out of his beast form into his human form. He used a piece of the sky from Jiggorrhax's shattered world as a foothold and activated two of the Starmation from his armour. A staggering amount of Null Life Essence and mana were expended at once.

A glowing blue hue outlined Grim while great plates of luminescent blue energy covered the group from all sides, overlapping where necessary.

These were the defensive abilities built into the Granted Armament: Tranquil Instance, and Stagnant Parameter. Unfortunately, even their combined might couldn't stop the vibration coursing through the void and by extension the group of beasts. Still, it could make sure the outlines of time stolen from everyone wouldn't whizz towards the Chronocle Fiend unobstructed.

'This is all wrong,' the old bird muttered as he saw this.

One of the Fruit Bearers had also extracted something for defense. It was a World rank shield, gleaming with a fierce golden light. It was about as plain as a kite shield could look, but it was effective. It prompted the manifestation of a collection of golden, protective rings around the plates of Stagnant Parameter Grim had just erected.

The vibration stopped immediately within the protected space, and the time outlines shocked into stalling by Asthon's Absolute Magic swam back to their owners.

'So that's Divine power, huh?' Grim thought as he looked at the Fruit Bearer with the shield. The Starmations were made before Skullius reached Divinity so it was infeasible for them to be able to counter Divine powers outright even though they applied Null Life Essence. But the shield…

Grim didn't know much about Divinity, but like everyone with eyes, he couldn't help but admire it.

Another one of the Fruit Bearers extracted a Treasure – what might have been a large, potted cactus. It was milky white in colour, save for the thorns growing all over it. They embodied a vibrant vermillion hue.

The Fruit Bearer chanted something and the thorns grew to the size of the average tree before shooting off like arrows in all directions. They phased through the chunks of world Jiggorrhax had created as well as the two barriers before suddenly honing towards the approaching enemies at twenty times the speed of light.

A significant number of them rushed towards the Impermanence Fiends while the rest headed towards the underside of the Chronocle Fiend.

The latter, looking dubious, blinked and one of the gigantic spears flying above it flashed down, more like a phantom of light than light itself, and obliterated the thorns.

The Fiends hissed horribly, almost pridefully. But it wasn't in response to the fate of the thorns from the World rank Treasure just now.

The Fruit Bearer to cast them furrowed their brow.

"This enemy will be troublesome indeed. Most of the Treasures at our disposal may be useless against the Impermanence Fiends, in particular," they said.

Grim clicked his tongue. Azila and the frost goblin landed on the same piece of sky he was on.

Jiggorrhax flew lower until he was right above them.

"Only extremely high conceptual abilities may be effective against the enemy now. And it appears we cannot move as freely as we desire," he said to everyone through the network. "We cannot leave the protection of this barrier lest we fall victim to being siphoned of our time. I do dread the consequences of such a fate. We have to find a better way to fight and ultimately get what Suzamete wants."

Grim concurred, as did everyone else.

He couldn't copy the traits of the Chronocle Fiend while he was this far away and without interacting with and understanding it. The fact that the Fiend seemed to have stopped charging towards Aigas only made him nervous. It must have been unnerved by how it was unable to beat them at once with that time-siphoning ability.

'It's going to try something else. And I don't think our shields are going to hold for long if it uses stronger abilities,' he thought.

"This is all wrong!" Asthon cried through the mana network and everyone was shaken.

What the hell?

But even more worthy of surprise than the old bird's scream was the sudden shudder of the golden rings barrier and Grim's defensive Starmations. They quaked so boldly that it seemed they would break in a moment or two.

The scent of death grew fouler and viler.

The Impermanence Fiends were driven to agitation.

For death was an enemy to those who attempted to skirt it, and its emissaries had long noted the presence of one of its greatest enemies: Null Life.