Bro, I'm not an Undead!

[Forbidden Monastery of Black's Scion] was a Third Ascendant Tier Andori that allowed the user to manifest a monastery which granted them access to the eight abilities and eight floors worth of room for varying purposes – mainly battle.

These abilities were represented by eight statues within the monastery, and manifested through the gates outside the monastery.

The statues embodied the nature of these powers, all of which were tied to why the user of the Andori was a Scion: Black the Mother; Black the Guardian; Black the Observer; Black the Ghost; Black the Pugilist; Black the Prayer; Black the Grace, and Black the Penance.

Without manifesting the full monastery, Skullius could access these abilities by manifesting the gates instead – the Vanity Gates. So far, he'd used Black the Guardian to increase the sturdiness of himself and the Apostles; Black the Pugilist to increase their attack power; Black the Ghost to make himself intangible; and of course, Black the Mother, which allowed him to recover 35% of all energies he expended with each singular ability activation.

Indeed, Black the Mother was actually a rather underwhelming ability, at least when considering what Skullius was used to – like with skills that could restore his mana instantly, or with cheats like Creeds that could bend reality. It remained true that the best way to restore Amras in the wider reality was with a fitting Immortal Physique or with Exora Mead.

Without the full monastery, Skullius could only use the powers from two gates at a time and could only grant external parties a single power from the gates. Within the construct of darkness, however, he could use the abilities from four gates at once and could allow external parties to not only use more than one power, but to also take the place of the statues that represented these abilities.

This was why a certain statue behind Skullius, right next to one that looked like a nurturing mother in long linen robes, cried to him in warning. The statue took the likeness of a large, long-legged bird akin to a heron, facing ahead with its left eye. It was the Observer… and it was Eternity's Weaver.

"Back away, my liege! DO IT!" the Apostle urged in Skullius' head.

…!!!

Skullius obeyed. Before the dark slash that was coming behind him could phase through him (as it could never do him any harm in the monastery) on its way to Fulgardt, he flashed away from the Immoral's body. Beyrmir did the same.

What was Weaver warning against?

It was a mystery.

Whatever Skullius expected, it wasn't necessarily what he saw in the next instant.

The Inverted [False Tickler] met no resistance. It found Fulgardt's neck and cut it as easily as though it were slicing through a wad of cheese.

The Immoral's head fell to the dark floor, where his golden white ring of invincibility had long since disappeared. The rest of his body remained standing, slightly hunched.

Skullius knew, for a Divine, this didn't necessarily mean death. Even if the body and soul were cut, a Divine could never be pronounced dead unless their Broader Existence was destroyed.

So why?

Why did it feel as though Fulgardt was well and truly… dead?

The Hybrid scowled.

He grew startled when a loud, slow clap rang from above him. Frantic, his head shot upwards, as did Beyrmir's.

At first, Skullius didn't quite see it clearly because everything within the monastery was dark. But then he did.

A perfect replica of Fulgardt's shape was sitting high in the air, legs in a lotus position. It was every bit of what Fulgardt was, only blacker than night.

And indeed, it was applauding Skullius, who had a nasty feeling about what was about to follow.

"It would have been a marvel if this interpretation of darkness you are using was a product of your own understanding of the dark, Skullius. But it's not. It's not enough. It was given but not honed from the bowels of an Insurgent Magnus," the Projection of Fulgardt said. "It's instead a lofty weapon being handled loosely by a jack-of-all-trades Nullmancer."

It was unnerving to hear the Projection speak, worse yet, approach as it then did. Fulgardt slowly descended from above to hover over his standing decapitated body.

"You were almost a successor to me, you know? A true successor. Unlike me, my older self's will to crush the natural order of the wider reality, AKHASHA's natural law, was squashed when he tried to find an exit through another Primeval Deity. Oh yes, he was punished heavily for it. His will withered, and he surrendered to the powers above. When he fashioned the copy of the Fruit of World Myths in you, he was fine with whatever abomination was created when someone took it, just as long as it carried on his ideas. It didn't matter if it wasn't really him. As long as it carried his hate, my hate, he was fine with it."

"But that wasn't the original plan. That wasn't what he wanted when he was… me. Seeing you fumble with my abilities only confirms it. You are not one of the few with qualities of a Fulgardt, Skullius. Those really are few and far between. But perhaps, that's not a bad thing. After all, very few can claim that they have been…"

As he said so, behind his decapitated body, another perfectly fine Fulgardt emerged and finished the Projection Fulgardt's sentence.

"…blessed by Direction."

…!!!

Skullius gnashed his teeth. What was this?

Fulgardt grinned.

"Ah, what's with that face? You should be proud. Of the seven Deities I have ever faced in battle, only six have ever made me want to take matters of war – like this one – seriously. The only one who didn't… haha. You're acquainted with him. Hmm. Perhaps I'll get to meet him today. You must have had a chat with him, I think. Knowing how desperate you must have been earlier, turning to Luserus was for sure a viable option, right? That's your motto for this helpless phase of yours, as you said, isn't it? By any means necessary. Well, most means."

Skullius didn't answer. He wouldn't have known what to say even if he had wanted to answer.

Fulgardt's Projection swatted away his headless body and stood in its place next to his new body – if it could be called that.

"There's several more layers to this building of yours, aren't there? Come on. Show me," said the Immoral as a shroud of darkness flared around him. "I like the name, by the way. It's certainly the type of thing a false hero like you would want. Forbidden Monastery of Black's Scion. Haha. I'm a little jealous."

…!!!

Skullius' skin crawled.

'…What?'

But just as he wondered what in the world this meant, the Immoral chuckled and revealed the secrets to his true unbridled strength.