Bro, I'm not an Undead!

While his false Andori (the one withheld by the five-minute timer) was disabled, and his Physique diminished, Skullius only had access to three qualities.

One was the basic property of his body - his soul body. Indeed, it was a soul so potent that it could beat out even the strongest physical bodies in the great void, but it belonged to the Nullinity's Herald all the same.

With it, Skullius could force out great physical feats that far exceeded those he was capable of using with his Default Body; this included even his [Justified Maximum: Overload].

This soul form of his had been bolstered by the corpses of Caxellac – physical body and soul body – as well billions of units of Null EXP, creating a monstrous Null Lifeform that had bones possessing four-dimensional properties.

In essence, the powers exerted using anything derived from these outlandish four-dimensional bones – from his spine to the chausses – could completely ignore the properties of most Parlous Natures, Andori, and Treasures that weren't graded by rank or grade as… Reality level.

That was to say that when identified using the guidance field, Skullius' bow, wakizashi, and gladius would be…

~~~

[Perfect Gladius]

…

…

A gladius made from the bones of the Nullinity's Herald. It has been blessed with the |Greater Cosmic Law|

~~~

The second means of offense Skullius had access to was one of the basic properties of his Sovereign of Refined Anarchy Class: [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light]. Through it, he could conjure these elements, and even use the Seeds of the Fruit of World Myths. He possessed access to them all 9 now, divided between the Default Body and War Body.

One, The Womb; Two, Crude World Projection; Three Limitless Paradox; Four, Master Cataract; Five, Exorbitance; Six, Melding Stitches; Seven, Seramoro, Oblivion's Edge; Eight, Delight's Pursuit; Nine, Crude World Injection.

Lastly, Skullius also had access to incredible soul-based powers. He had merged both his powerful Transcendent weapons, the Warmoth's Spine and the Fallen Reincarnator's Shadow. with the War Body, after all. The latter had the powers of the masked man, Actuass, and they were empowered tremendously once applied to Skullius' War Body.

…And of course, it was this particular property that Skullius used to damage Nunax with the arrow.

Earlier, the future Hybrid had destroyed Nunax's flesh and placed a 'curse' on her using his Ju`wtte and Fundamental Barter, ensuring that she wouldn't be able to restore her physical body as quickly as she could have. Nunax had been fighting using her soul body all this time.

The Enlightened Ju`wtte Skullius laced around his arrow just now had been imbued with his immense soul manipulation abilities. When it destroyed the Fated Reef, expelling the jarring light, Nunax, who couldn't escape the bounds of the tiled space, was forced to weather through the blast of light.

Of course, this light hadn't been ordinary - a mere aftereffect. It was a targeted attack.

The results were…

"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!"

Nunax was burning. It wasn't fire that burned her, however. She was simply frying from the touch of the soul-manipulating light. To her, it felt like a great, scorching hand had grasped her whole. Her soul bubbled as boils and welts appeared on it, her butterfly wings searing off like dried paper. Her scream grew more intense - sharp and cutting.

As she was writhing like a serpent splashed with hot oil, the voice of the Sovereign of Refined Anarchy came. But it wasn't a mere voice. It was a force of nature.

"|You will collapse to the ground, and you will continue to feel the searing agony on your soul long after it has passed.|"

It was a command.

It was [Perfect Evil Veneration]!

…!!!

Darkness caught Skullius' words and then rushed to pour onto Nunax!

The Corrupted Deity fell onto the ground with frightening force. She didn't feel it, however. The scorching of her soul continued to cause her great pain.

But indeed, the effects of the soul-manipulating attack were supposed to have ended already. They lingered because of the command Skullius had made.

As powerful as the Herald was, he had already exhausted two-thirds of his Amras reserves with the sequence of attacks he used post his activation of [Instant Embodiment of Perfection].

This was another drawback of the First Phase of the War Body: Skullius had powerful abilities, but constrained reserves of energy not quite enough to power them.

Despite this, however.

'It worked better than I thought, but I can't use it again. I'll run myself dry,' thought the Sovereign.

It was [Perfect Evil Veneration] he was referring to.

It was a Veneration art that allowed him to harm opponents with his words, as long he meant to harm.

Previously, hateful intent had been one of the prerequisites to using this Veneration art, but Future Skullius had long refined it; that prerequisite was no longer necessary.

This change was entirely due to his own merit though. He had learned with time that there was a further meaning behind reaching the S grade affinity with both [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light].

But as effective as [Perfect Evil Veneration] was, it had cost Skullius more than just Amras.

Veneration arts also drew on the soul of the user as fuel. Luckily for Skullius, his soul body was terribly powerful in this form. He had used its essence to offset some of the Amras cost involved with attacking an opponent stronger than he was – at least in Standard Unit terms.

A full minute passed as Nunax writhed. But then…

'3…2…1…' the Nullinity's Herald counted.

When he reached zero, Nunax stopped screaming and hurried to her feet. She looked unsightly. Her massive body was marred with char marks, boils, welts, and tears. Bits of her were hanging or molten.

The Corrupted Deity gnashed her teeth. The cunning light had long left her eyes. She was losing her mind with rage. Her previous battle-savvy self was slipping. Soon, she would be fighting recklessly.

Skullius smirked.

He drew another arrow from his spine and nocked it on his bow. Enlightened Ju`wtte, bright and beautiful, rode it, making its four-dimensional beauty even more striking. If the arrow hit Nunax directly, the Deity would perish, but Skullius wasn't sure he could hit his opponent accurately, even with the help of his Retainer.

Well, he didn't need to risk pouring more energy into attempting something like that anyway. After all, it wasn't like he should try and kill her.

As long as the arrow expelled light in every direction after impact (after striking any target within this space), Nunax, who couldn't leave, would be harmed. Slowly, her abilities and strength would be chipped away until she lost.

And if she didn't lose from this method…

There was always the Second Phase of the War Body.

"Just four more minutes and change left," said Skullius… and he loosened his arrow.