Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The reanimated woman who was still perched atop a high building had a lazy gaze that followed Revia’s now slowed movements.

It made sense to the Paladin Champion when she finally settled her mind, standing up straight after crashing to the ground, the pressure from the powerful art bearing down on her.

‘The way my leg was singled out and sucked into the ground at the critical moment of my attack, how that green skeleton countered my Distorted Killing instantaneously! It wasn’t a coincidence! She probably knows what I’m going to do next!’ Revia surmised as she gazed at the woman.

Chips of steel armour fell from her chest where she had been punched with dents and slight cracks on the positions where Actuass had stormed her with a flurry of punches while she was grounded.

Blood oozed from Revia’s exposed chest, a grievous bloody bruise that was almost caving in being visible!

The Paladin Champion spat out blood and pulled herself up while gazing at her two assailants, one of which immediately stomped down, causing a low quake that doubled the force from the [Grounded Body Limiter Art], which made Revia’s skin flutter as she tried to resist being forced down on her face!

She gritted her teeth and powered through it.

She still had a lot to analyse about what had happened a few seconds before.

The disorienting switches for one.

It appeared that SoSei was the anchor for switching. It could swap its position with Actuass and the armoured man seamlessly which posed a problem for Revia especially now that moving at her top speed was nearly impossible.

The optimal option would be to take out the Diviner but that required blitzing her before she could be switched out.

From her analysis, the switch for the reanimated corpses wasn’t as fast as with Actuass himself, as evidenced by how she had managed to slice into the bulky armoured man before with Distorted Killing.

Perhaps it was done on purpose to lure her in, but she had to bet on something and this was it.

Once more, a massive surge of strength burst violently from Revia, the trapped life energy within her raging madly as its quality intensified, translating into strength that made it much easier for her to handle the hold of the [Grounded Body Limiter Art]!

90%!_.

She took a deep breath and a stance.

Her brows wiggled again. The tension from before had not afforded her this luxury but now, the habit slipped out.

‘To what end is this increase in my strength? If this man really wanted to capture me, as he said, shouldn’t he let my life energy flow out until I’m weak, instead of inciting me to keep it within me? If I keep growing stronger…’ she thought but cleared her mind soon after.

Indeed. What was the point? It all seemed contradictory.

The bulky armoured man dashed towards Revia, his arms becoming enveloped in the same warped energy that had wounded Revia before!

Revia rushed to meet him as she swung her sword in a perfect lateral arc, the bulky man dodging the speedy strike and launching a hook to Revia’s side!

The Paladin Champion twisted her body with great difficulty to avoid the attack as she found that leaping up was nigh impossible!

She narrowly avoided the blow but then a quick flash which was the bulky man’s fist rapidly smashing towards her face, greatly surprised her!

Again!

She was being read!

There must have been a mental link between these four for information to be passed so efficiently!

She swiftly ducked under, barely being missed by the deadly attack but then a heavy sensation pressed against her with a vehement force that pushed her back, a knee having bashed against her injured chest!

Revia groaned but quickly held herself.

Immediately after this, a blast of green energy shot against her armour which made her lose balance!

This came from Actuass who was ten meters beyond, stretching out his hand while billows of green and black fumes raged around him!

The imbalance Revia suffered was enough for her to be unable to respond to the vicious downward flying kick that came from the armoured man’s greaved foot!

BAM!

Revia’s head was smacked down, the pain resounding within her entire body!

For a moment, she felt weightless, but she resisted death that came in such a smooth cox and swung her sword while infusing a third of the mana she had remaining into it!

Unfortunately…

MBING!

BASH!

The armoured man was replaced by SoSei which was already launching a powerful straight punch that parted the air towards her!

Revia was completely unprepared for the attack and that was the point!

A turbulent typhoon exploded ahead as the punch connected with its target, the ground leaping up at the force that seemingly foretold the doom of the fifth ranked Paladin Champion!

Yet…

SHIIIIING!

A bright white light that outshone even the star in the sky suddenly emanated from the typhoon as in that instance, the world stopped, a truly mind boggling scene erupting next!

Hundreds of hazy figures with a likeness of Revia appeared around Actuass, the Diviner and the Warrior!

They all held their swords tight with aggressive visages while stationed in all directions, the world seeming coming to a stop!

Anyone who could have seen this image would have marvelled but alas, no one could except perhaps, a certain green skeleton!

The hundreds of swords equally divided between three targets all rained down at a speed that was impossible to defend against with the current abilities of these three!

Bright explosions raged in the hundreds, causing the city to rumble and crumble while the civilians hugged each other tight and quivered in fear, hoping that maybe… just maybe, they could put this behind them after a few days when they cheered over the enemy’s defeat!

Smoke and dust mushrooms rose within the air, spelling the great amount of power exerted!

Valis had watched, but seen nothing, yet he knew what had happened.

He used every bit of mana he had in his core to charge up the star in the sky to protect all the remaining civilians.

He had told Revia to go all out after all, so protecting everyone was his responsibility.

Soon, everything cleared and amidst the dust and heated rock, destroyed houses and all, blotches of blood and bone mixed with ash could be seen where the armoured man had been, chunks of dark metal sprinkled over like flakes.

Wood and mud stained the blood of the Diviner who had been eviscerated, nothing of her remaining.

Where Actuass had been… a green skeleton stood, its bones full of deep gashes that dug into it!

It barely looked intact, the blue light in its sockets still flaring vivaciously.

“I thought as much…” said Revia as she stood, covered in a strange mix of a white halo-like light that constantly revolved around in her strange forms.

Her power had effectively exploded over the 100% mark and with this, she had executed her strongest UnForm Blade Technique, True Omnipotence, which she could only use once a day before.

It could unleash up to 420 doubles of herself with roughly 80% of strength which could only use her physical attacks once before dissipating!

She had been saving it as a final move to use along with the effect granted by the stage she was currently progressing in.

Now however, she felt like she could use it up to two more times.

She had used it right before she could be obliterated by SoSei’s punch which saved her along with dealing with her troublesome opponents!

“I knew this skeleton would prioritize you over your corpses. Come out…” she said with a stern face while turning to her side.

The hooded figure of Actuass appeared from the dust as the light in his hazel eyes remained the same.

“Indeed,” he said while eyeing the power currently being displayed by Revia.

This was it.

“Do you want to surrender now, or should I just beat you to death with the strength you have granted me?” Revia said as the intensity of the white glow around her increased.

“That certainly would be an ironic twist,” said Actuass with exasperation present in his voice. “They certainly didn’t give me enough information about you… No one mentioned you to have such a freakish sword technique…”

Actuass raised his hand as green and black wisps of energy coiled around it.

WHOOSH!

A thin white line appeared from nowhere and cut off his arm, the limb falling down with a thud.

Blood oozed from the wound but Actuass didn’t show much of a reaction.

Revia had slice his arm off so quickly that even SoSei couldn’t react! She hadn’t even moved from where she stood.

Revia was faster now!

“Tell me. Who is ‘they’?” she asked.

Instead of a response, Actuass’ hazel eyes behind the mask glowed green and a stupendously acrid energy roiled and gushed backwards, rushing towards the hundreds of civilian corpses that had been crushed under the [Grounded Body Limiter Art]!

Instantly, the bodies jerked, rising up as broken bones reconnected superficially, flesh repairing itself while the victims’ eyes blazed with greenish black light, fumes rising from their bodies.

Revia frowned.

Desecrating the bodies of dead.

This was unacceptable.

Was this the man’s last ditch attempt at surviving?

Revia didn’t spare any of her strength as she moved to end Actuass before he could fully reanimate the hundreds of civilians.

An Aura rose from her body, rushing along her bloodied silver hair as she attacked.

Actuass sighed inwardly, feeling slightly annoyed at this development.

‘I suppose I have no choice. I didn’t think I’d need to use it. Hopefully it lasts long enough in my state…’ he thought before he muttered a few words that changed everything.

<Undeath Concept, Reverent Soul>