Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1420  Permanent Haven (1)

The golden barrier which the Fruit Bearer had erected trembled; a powerful, rough force had smashed into it violently. That one brutal bash depreciated its integrity by several leagues and the Fruit Bearer who cast it felt all that it was – energy and partly physical matter – get eaten away by the voracious appetite of death. It shattered into brilliant fragments when another thunderous crash landed on it.

Now the only thing that remained was Grim's Stagnant Parameter plates, but they were not likely to last for long, or rather, he wasn't willing to keep them active for too long since they sapped a great portion of the reserves in his Granted Star Armament the longer they were up.

Jiggorrhax rose to the occasion after the golden rings barrier shattered. The Impermanence Fiends' massive frames cast dark silhouettes behind Grim's barriers. They were aggressively brandishing their raw powers against the group and soon enough, they would invite death upon them all. It was unclear why they had suddenly become so active in attacking - at least to the group of beasts.

And thus, the dragon's body flared with genuine Divine energy, but before he could play any of the cards he had against death, Asthon stopped him.

"Hold on," the old bird said to him through the network. "I have a better role for you. I'll handle this."

The Crown and star over Asthon's head lost their beautiful glow, with the former reduced to something like a rusted steel ring forged an age ago. Without the lustre, the latter looked like a lousy rock floating within the steel crown.

But this had a purpose.

Asthon took a breath of his own Nitros and spread his wings wide.

Suddenly, an abundance of life energy poured out of him in great torrents, blaring and flaring like fireworks!

It was a shower of vibrant health, endurance, and persistence. When it met the other beasts like a wide ocean-like wave, they might have envisioned themselves as immortals while drowning in it. It was firmer and more solid than any energy they knew. Even Jiggorrhax was astounded.

Grim gaped.

'It's like the pressure I remember from the masked man right before the boss and he disappeared!' he thought, sweating, "Only, instead of Undeath energy, it's life energy!' he thought.

And that was a great feat. The kind of power Actuass had after he absorbed Jerthrax's soul was staggering. It left an impression on Grim then. If the masked man's body hadn't been falling apart under the weight of all that power, Grim didn't know if they all would have survived.

But now wasn't the time to glaze Actuass.

Grim immediately deactivated Stagnant Parameter. There was a better way to assist Asthon.

The Impermanence Fiends rushed against the group at fierce speeds once the barriers were erected, but the torrent of life energy from Asthon, still bubbling and deciding what shape to adopt caught them by surprise. For what might have been fractions of fractions of a micro-second, the jellyfishes were dazed.

Death was not an enemy of life, and life had no qualms with death. They were opposed, but they did not war against each other. Their relationship – oddly enough – was akin to the relationship between Null Life and Voided Death.

One of the true enemies of death attacked while the Impermanence Fiends were distracted, however.

"NOS AGGRANTE!"

Propping three fingers forth, Grim unleashed a Triplefold Nos Aggrante at the jellyfish. The mix of Null Life and mana pierced through Asthon's life energy bubble as a great bulb throbbing and spasming. Once it was out, it detonated with a terrible flash that blinded even the Chronocle Fiend.

All the beasts felt their skins, feathers, scales, and furs tingle. Their bodies shuddered. The force of the detonated Aggrante shook the void and distorted the margins of reality to an infinitesimally mild degree.

Even Grim was astonished by the force of the attack. This was the maximum power a single Aggrante could achieve.

When the flash of light died down, he and the others saw no sign of the Impermanence Fiends.

Could they have been wiped out?

'Not a chance,' Grim thought grimly.

Asthon grunted.

"They warped themselves in death and vanished before they could get hit," he explained to everyone. No one was surprised. He then sent a private message to Jiggorrhax and the Fruit Bearers that no one else heard.

The dragon grumbled.

"Be quick about it," he said. He and the Fruit Bearers then warped out of thedome of soft energy, ready to engage the enemy.

Asthon gave a little nod, and then he cried:

"Weave the haven of my blood, sweat, and tears! Bring forth the radiance that gives life and polishes those that breathe the living breath!"

Along with this chant, the old bird whipped his right wing upward, and a flood of runes crackled and sparked their way into existence, pristine and pure.

The flood of thread-like life energy began to weave itself into something profound, something greater than the worlds Jiggorrhax could create with his Rule Runes. They wove and linked with each other so finely and so quickly, that even Grim's keen eyes couldn't follow how they then formed the shape they did. @@novelbin@@

While this occurred, the runes Asthon had also conjured bordered the creation that formed.

He had not spoken the name, but this was another form of Absolute Magic, the very best he had learned, aptly named Enshape. It forced shapes he created to remain intact for a limited amount; the limit depended solely on the forces acting against said shapes. In this case, Asthon knew he didn't have very long.

In a few seconds, his creation was complete.

It was something like a world.

The sky, livid with a vibrant mix of purple and blue had threads of soft white lightning slowly swimming through it. Orbs of fog, like dead suns, differing drastically in size, also flooded it while pouring down a pressure far more intense than gravity. Whatever it was, was mixed in with refined life energy that fell in little droplets of greenish-blue.

Grim, as he gasped at the space he suddenly found himself in, weathered the overbearing force and the refreshing life rain.

He was standing on a thin plate of land, rich with healthy, moist blades of grass. It was roughly a hundred meters in diameter.

It wasn't the only one though.

Three more floated below it, in what might have been a bottomless abyss. They grew in size the deeper they were below.

Azila and the rest of the beasts were too bewildered and amazed to look around like Grim. The Great Mane Mountain Ape in particular was shaking with excitement.

This…

This was…

This was a Permanent Haven!

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[Author's Note]

Sorry for the stagnating updates. There will be a mass release to compensate on the 25th of January. Look forward to it.