Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Ju`wtte exploded from Skullius at once.

The vicious hisses and dreadful buzzing noise it made were deterrent enough for Fulgardt who smirked and short stepped away. His spear remained in Skullius' flesh, but not for long.

Summoning the turquoise and puce essence of Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz, Skullius combined it with his [Ruining Cutter] to create the [False Tickler], an advanced version of the cutting technique at the First Sage Tier – two whole Tiers above the original. Three of them struck at Fulgardt's spear and broke it off.

Skullius pushed the rest of the spear within him out using his hands. He also burrowed them into the eight points where Fulgardt's kunai were still spinning within him and tore them out.

Fulgardt chuckled from the distance. The mockery was severely effective.

"Don't let him get to you, Skullius," Serenity said from deep within the Hybrid Warmoth. They were her first words in a while. "Just wait a little longer. He hasn't dropped his guard even for a moment since you've begun fighting. He's trying to give you urgency to reveal all your moves. Don't trust his words."

Skullius took a breath. 'I know.'

And indeed, he knew. Fulgardt was very good at manipulation. Even in this bout so far, Skullius had nearly fallen for it. What the Immoral said and did was all a ruse. He masked his true intentions with every bit of his body. It was unclear what he actually felt and what he had planned.

After completely healing himself, Skullius brandished his gladius and dagger once more. He added something else to the mix though. Conjuring a large bow out of [Evil Darkness], he charged his nimbus with a command and it attained a vibrant glow as Ju`wtte condensed through it and raced along his body to gather in his hand.

A fiercely bright bolt of Ju`wtte settled in the Warmoth's grip. It was no ordinary bolt, however. It was a Foe Biter. When his nimbus studied an opponent and obtained data about their abilities and physical attributes, it crafted a Ju`wtte bolt capable of taking them out in a single hit.

Of course, Skullius wasn't able to gather much from Fulgardt yet. This bolt wouldn't kill the Immoral in one shot (as in destroy his physical body) even if it landed accurately, but it was sure to do damage. Its power was supposed to be greater than even that of all his present Andori when bolstered by Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz.

Skullius nocked the Foe Biter on his bow… and then loosened.

The bolt bore a hole through space on its way to Fulgardt and reached him almost instantaneously. The Immoral was aware. He bobbed his head to the side, avoiding it entirely. The bolt disappeared into the distance.

"Don't get me started on your Levins and whatnot, brat. I said it, didn't I? I'm inclined to kill you now. Stop with the games," Fulgardt said and he shuttled forth while reforming his spear.

Skullius once again didn't retort. He simply met Fulgardt in kind.

The Immoral whirled the spear above him before whipping it from Skullius' left side. The Warmoth blocked with his gladius, and locked the spear's movements with the help of his dagger. As he did so, his lower arms drew the bow while nocking another Foe Biter.

Fulgardt sent a low kick that busted Skullius' fingers to stop him from firing, and made the darkness that formed the spear as unstable as liquid such that it returned to his hand and reforged the spear. Fulgardt twirled the spear again and made a sweep against Skullius' legs, but the Warmoth jumped to avoid it and sent a flurry of [False Ticklers] flashing towards the Immoral. With his unreal speed, Fulgardt obliterated each of them using his spear, which seemed to suddenly grow denser.

But as he did this, Skullius lunged at him and began stabbing eagerly with his gladius. This would have pressured even high-level Divines just shy of Deific power… but not Fulgardt.

The Immoral avoided everything and even found time to counter. He might have sprouted more hands. Skullius could have sworn he saw Fulgardt continue to whip about with the spear, clashing with the [False Ticklers], and also forge a kusarigama that he swiped with to slice off Skullius' top right hand which held the gladius.

Then the Immoral was suddenly right in front of Skullius, having closed the distance against all odds. Skullius lathered himself wholly in Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz in defence. It was a risky move, but it worked. When Fulgardt sank his elbow into his sternum, his arm simply bounced off the Hybrid Warmoth.

However…

BOOM! BOOM!

Parts of Skullius' flesh exploded like bombs. Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz was incompatible with his body, but that didn't faze him. As he healed, he was already drawing his bow again and firing another Foe Biter. With the close range, even Fulgardt was hard-pressed to dodge.

…So he blocked it with his spear of darkness.

But Skullius took advantage of the man's effort to bar the Foe Biter. Warping to Fulgardt's side, he slashed with his gladius while imbuing it with [Nonstandard Splicer], a stronger version of [Elusive Meta Carver] empowered by Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz. This time, Skullius attempted cut Fulgardt's thoughts.

The Immoral must have sensed something terribly amiss, because his response was quite strange.

A large gnarled hand appeared from thin air and blocked the path of Skullius' sword. Only its palm seemed tangible, however, and the rest simply phased through Fulgardt.

…!!!

'He's wary of his thoughts getting read, like last time!' Skullius thought. 'This hand must belong to that Corrupted Deity of his!'

The Hybrid Warmoth backed away, but to his surprise, the giant hand vanished. Fulgardt wasn't going to bring his ace – if it even was his ace – out yet. Instead, he moulded another spear and flashed towards Skullius.

"That was a tricky move there, brat,' he said and his attacks grew more vicious. "I'm a little offended, however. You'd rather resort to trickery than brandish the full brunt of this so-called hatred you have for me. Don't you think that's a little fucking disrespectful.'

His spear now looked like a thick rope given how it bent. With every twirl he made with it, he generated enough force to blast through world-sized mountains. Skullius blocked with the gladius, but upon contact, the spear bounced back as though elastic, and smashed back into the sword with twice the force.

When Skullius staggered, Fulgardt spun the spear, cocked it back, and thrusted a thousand times in a split-second. Skullius couldn't block each blow. Holes appeared in his body casually, as though some large eraser had poked into him and rubbed off his flesh.

Fulgardt swished, slashed, bashed his spear laterally into Skullius' face, warped it behind Skullius neck and pulled it back so as to draw the Hybrid close and headbutt him. When Skullius reeled and countered with his gladius, dagger and bow, Fulgardt kicked at Skullius' wrist to disable his grip over the gladius, jumped up with his grip still on the spear to avoid the Foe Biter, and then decked Skullius in the face with a punch as he was spun behind him.

Skullius continued to lock his vision on the Immoral, however. He saw him fling his spear. It landed just a meter short of the Hybrid, its blade deep in the ground. But then Fulgardt was behind it, holding the blunt end and kicking its other end hard such that the pointed blade whipped out of the ground and catapulted towards Skullius' head. If he hadn't dodged in time, Skullius' head would have been badly injured.

But then Fulgardt rushed in to correct that.

"You have an unbelievably shallow depth to your loathing, Skullius!"

The brutal hook punch Skullius received then was in a different league to the others. It didn't pop his head like a melon, but it sent a shuttle of vibrant pain coursing through all his nerves, and made him drop his gladius.

Another to the jaw, coupled with a violent slash that tore his arm off – it's source nebulous – made Skullius lose the Tainted Lycan's Siphoning Claw. A lethal spinning kick that decked the Hybrid Warmoth in the head finally took his lights out momentarily and he flew like shooting star across Edagon.

"Don't mock me, brat. You have no right to hold back against me!"

Fulgardt followed him, grabbed him from the back of his neck and smashed his face into the barrier standing at the Central Boundary of Aigas. Its glow highlighted Skullius' battered, bloodied face. The Warmoth hadn't even known he could bleed.

"I can kill a lot more easily than you think," said Fulgardt, all his mirth gone. "This is it. Your last chance. Meet me with the true essence of your hatred or your legacy will end before it even absorbs any meaning. Somanda will win, and I will slaughter all your starry clowns, bringing an end to everything you've worked for. That doesn't sound so sweet, does it?"

Fulgardt pushed Skullius' face harder against the barrier.

…But the Warmoth laughed.

"You're awfully kind, haha," he said. "I guess you were looking forward to fighting me then. Why hold back yourself? You're that curious, aren't you?"

"Make of it what you will," said Fulgardt.

"Oh, I will." Skullius cackled. "You're damn strong for a sockethole. Stronger than I imagined you to be back when we met in Maqi. I guess you wouldn't be Fulgardt the Immoral if weren't at least this powerful, huh." He spat out blood from his mouth and then grinned. "But you see, Fulgardt, you were never in a position to kill you me at your discretion. Unlike last time, I'm fighting you as the Insurgent Magnus and the Nullmancer."

Fulgardt narrowed his eyes. "Is that so?"

The words had just left his lips when he and Skullius were blasted to oblivion by a massive column of Clear Flame that barrelled furiously from the empty skies!