Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Indeed.

ALL THE MANA was held firmly in place.

The shrubs before Skullius illuminated his figure that still knelt on one knee while holding the abdomen of the Fire Breeder bound by chains with their orange-pink hue.

But this soon ended as the Penetrator stood, his sockets flaring madly.

"I was right. This is different..." Skullius said, his voice being very clear.

Everything around him was silent as with his 'grip' on the mana that was all around, every living creature was also firmly held down.

EVERY CREATURE!

The Fire Breeders and even his own allies.

The Nullmancer raised his head as the newly evolved skill he had attained was further amplified by [Epiphany], gaining a 90% increase in efficiency and power!

The four sockets of the Penetrator gazed at the Fire Breeders.

The dark scaled creatures gaped.

They couldn't move.

They couldn't breathe.

This... vengeful spirit that had suddenly appeared had got them in their clutches too!

But... it clearly had a core...

A white one.

So... how was it able to overpower them so easily?

What was going on?!

The tall Fire Breeder trembled as it looked at the figure of Skullius who was a finger's length taller.

At the same time, the Penetrator gazed at it, causing its heart to beat furiously.

"Ah... you're the one who decided to earn a kill for my noisy brat aren't you, bro...?" Skullius said as he walked up to the Fire Breeder which struggled but only felt all the mana around it pushed against its body with a deadly force that it caused it let out a scream!

It was as if a giant was squeezing it between its palms!

The Penetrator glanced at Yuyui who looked at him while also being unable to move and breathe, his finger swiping in her direction as this was enough for her to be freed!

The lime haired girl gasped in air and knelt down as she watched her master reach the Fire Breeder that had killed her and touch his abdomen.

"Let's start with you," Skullius said in a chilling voice that a hollow tone.

An Inhumane tone livid with brutality.

With this, the Nullmancer firmly held the Cluster beast's mana core with this new skill of his and...

Squeezed.

CRACK!

"AAAARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The Fire Breeder screeched in horrendous pain, its mouth opening up so wide that it nearly tore apart!

The other Fire Breeders shuddered at this scream.

This wasn't pain that only torture to the body could spawn.

No scream they had ever heard was this guttural and meaningful.

No death throes they knew caused such a chill to run up their spines like this.

The Nullmancer's sockets flared once again, his four blue socket flames roaring as he felt a dull sense of ecstasy from hearing the Fire Breeder's scream.

Ahhhh....

A cackle escaped his teeth.

He squeezed again.

CRAACK!

"AAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA!!!"

Another screech echoed as some of the Fire Breeders started to lose their hold over themselves.

Yuyui was the same.

What was her master doing to this creature?

Skullius cackled once again as he removed his hand from the Fire Breeder's abdomen. He was done torturing this fool who had started to leak blood and saliva from every orifice on his body.

Now followed a harrowing death that came with a snap of the Penetrator's finger along with a single word that leaked from his mouth.

A word that carried over to every spot where his hold over mana was present.

Everywhere within the mile.

"BREAK."

PWAAAAAA!

Sounds akin to glass breaking apart could be heard only in the Nullmancer's ears.

The mana core of every Fire Breeder within Skullius' range... shattered!

With this came a cacophony of agonised howls of pain.

The Fire Breeders screeched with everything they had, their vocal cords rupturing as they sung the distorted melody of death together, the shattering of their mana cores causing a phenomenon that Skullius had grown to know with his own experience.

The cutting off of the anchor to the soul and body which was forged when one created a mana core!

The shock within the body and soul from losing their core like this caused a dreadfully pain death!

The orifices of all the dying Fire Breeders shone with a luminous light as with the shattering of their cores, their mana, condensed as it was from the blue or white cores, was not lost.

The Penetrator was greedy, and the small bits of the WILLS of Fulgardt that showed in this form would not allow any of it to go to waste.

ALL THIS MANA was collected.

It seeped from the corpses as they dropped while circling around the Nullmancer in a super bright ring!

"Hehe..." Skullius chuckled as he reached out towards this abundant mana, guidance field notifications raining in his vision of the successful culling of enemies stronger than he was.

[You have killed (IV) LV45 Fire Breeder. 3,560,120 Exp awarded]

[You have killed (III) LV20 Fire Breeder. 2,000,345 Exp awarded]

[You have killed....]

....

In addition to this, the notifications for Null Life Essence also rose, to which Skullius raised his other hand, his vast range for collecting the essence coming into play as it was ALL pulled towards him – 65 points for each Fire Breeder!

"Now," Skullius said as his other hand which stretched towards the abundant mana swirling around him cast [Mana Force], the skill evolved from [Mana Blast].

It was forged when he continously compressed mana in his tiring training after the Eofel incident.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.134-136).

Now... the same concept applied, but with greater efficiency and power as all the mana around Skullius was suddenly sucked towards a point in his palm!

As this occurred, the atmosphere trembled this the action was done almost instantly, a small but shockingly bright spot of light being left.

ALL the mana just now, was compressed into this, an eyeball sized sphere that shone with extreme radiance.

Skullius chuckled once again.

"Let's save this for later and see if my other ideas will work for sure..." Skullius murmured to himself.

He pulled the orb of mana towards his core which was shining bright behind his rib cage, part of it showing below it, along his spine.

The orb of super compressed mana softly floated beside his core, waiting for its call to action which was going to be soon.

Yuyui gazed at Skullius, horrified.

She didn't know much about mana but this...

This was unnatural!

Ferex reappeared, rushing towards the two as he gazed at his master with reverent sockets.

The figure of Skullius never looked more domineering in his view.

He appreciated the Penetrator form more than he did the Hybrid Luman, so seeing the father of bone show utter dominance was quite the sight for him. The enemies he had been having trouble with had been dealt with by his master so easily.

One would ask the question of how though?

What was this skill that Skullius had unlocked and how had he done so?

Well, with [Elevated Mana Manipulation] only two levels behind its evolution, Skullius had decided to engage in one activity he was sure would cause the skill to level up.

Manipulating a mana core!

[Elevated Mana Manipulation] had levelled up from the thirties to the sixties just from the days he took recreating the Centre, Refinery and Shell for his mana core.

Now, if he did so to an external core... he was sure he could get two levels and he had turned out to be right!

The mana core was complex and its attachment to the body and soul was something he had learned from creating one himself.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.390).

With the evolution of [Elevated Mana Manipulation] came a new skill that gave a dignified title to Skullius for his achievement and not a verb for the action it allowed him to do.

[Greater Mana Crafter]!

~~~

[Greater Mana Crafter | Lv.1]

The user gains a deeper connection with mana and all its forms inside and outside their body, the ability to wield it and shape it as they desire granted to them.

Mana Requirements: ---

Duration: ---

Cooldown: ---

~~~

The ability to wield and shape mana and all its forms as one willed!

Mana in their air.

Mana in the user's body.

Mana in another person's body!

With [Elevated Mana Manipulation] and all its predecessors, Skullius had had greater control over his own mana than the mana in the atmosphere, as the limits of what he could do with it mainly revolved around drawing it to his core or using it to sense his surroundings.

The former had been able to invade the cores of others, but complete control had never been something it could give him even when the owner of the core had no means of resistance.

Now... things were different.

Skullius could even grasp a mana core as he wished.

Destroy it as he wished.

Manipulate it as he wished.

This had so many implications!

And as with all mana manipulation skills before this one, it had no specific requirements for mana, a duration or a cooldown which allowed the Penetrator to always have it for use even in dire times.

How it had the 'Greater' tag was a shock to him though but would find out soon.

As for this skill's capacity, how much power it gave to Skullius for his hold over the atmospheric mana...

How far did it go?

How much could he control?

To what degree was he proficient in this?

Well...

"Come on. There's a whole lot more left to kill," Skullius said as he extended his finger towards Yuyui and Ferex.

The mana within the atmosphere formed a blanket around the two, lifting them off into the air!

Skullius then gathered mana under his bony feet.

A massive amount of it!

At the same time, the skill he relied on in his Hybrid Luman form, [Koten Machi], which was enhanced by [Epiphany] showed him the nearest settlement within the Cluster, which was his next target!

It wasn't as useful as its purpose was to exploit the Hybrid Luman's abnormal senses but for now, it worked.

BOOOOOOM!

The mana under Skullius' feet exploded in a shocking spectacle that eradicated everything within a ten meters radius, gouging out a deep pit that continously caved in!

The Penetrator shot up at a controlled angle with Yuyui and Ferex following after him in the blanket of mana!

​ The speed they moved with was ridiculous, and Yuyui who felt a sense of deja vu, spawning from her experience with the horrendous agility of the Hybrid Luman form, yelped!

The trio descended after a long, angled flight, Skullius gathering mana below him to safely land on the ground... on the vast street, populated by thousands of Fire Breeders!

They had arrived within the first settlement in this Cluster!

The three's arrival caused shock, gasps and hostility.

But all of it... didn't matter.

All of it was inconsequential in Skullius' eyes.

The Penetrator felt the presence of the thousands of cores in his [Koten Machi] powered by [Greater Mana Crafter].

All this hatred.

All the high tiers.

They all weren't jack.

The Nullmancer, the Penetrator... raised his hand as he snapped his finger, a gesture he was carrying over from his fight with Bassbion.

A single word leaked from between his teeth.

A single word that ended it all.

"BREAK."

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