The Cluster General along with thousands of Fire Breeders stood tens of meters before the massive shattered white space that was supposed to lead them into Aigas.
On both the General's sides stood two of his remaining guards and roughly fifty Fire Breeders from the largest city Skullius could be seen forming an encirclement around the three.
The presence of these fifty was almost the same as the guards but it was evident that the difference lied in the quality of their abilities.
The fire essence that Fire Breeders brewed from within them was not the same as fire flavoured mana or general flame formed through non-magical means. It was a natural sort of flame. Biological even.
Pure fire that could be considered to be the natural ability of these Cluster beasts. To put it more elaborately, water wouldn't be able to counter it.
The fact that the guards could produce purer forms of this fire essence was what lead them to have a higher status than the rest.
Other lower level Fire Breeders flew above as they gazed forward. The Cluster General no longer controlled their minds so with the bits of freedom they had, they appreciated the fact that they would get to see something new.
Within the ring of protective guards and high level Fire Breeders, Skullius, Yuyui and Ferex could be seen still tied up, at least up to the arms.
The lime haired girl could be spotted taking heavy breaths as she looked around while Skullius and Ferex didn't show any fluctuation in their emotions at all.
After two whole days, Skullius still hadn't talked to her, leaving her to wallow in her self pity and fear.
There really didn't seem to be some kind of plan.
The Cluster General wanted them close as he left room for this same thought – that there could be an escape attempt.
"Ten of you. Go and scout ahead," the General commanded, ten of the Fire Breeders flying out into the white opening.
They sank in and disappeared, the Fire Breeders behind waiting for the feedback.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Ten minutes.
The Cluster General's eyes showed an ounce of trepidation.
He turned to Skullius who didn't say a word.
The Cluster General had made sure to keep a link on Skullius' mind in order to detect anything funny, he did or said.
He had acquired a unique natural ability to infiltrate and control the minds of all Fire Breeders as he had evolved past that name himself with his merging technique, taking a different path even though he was a Tier 7 like his guards.
The crown of his head amplified his natural abilities and skills but even with that, doing the same thing he did with the Fire Breeders to every other race wasn't something he could do.
At best he could detect external interferences from the outside, which is what he had been doing for the past two days with Skullius. So far, he hadn't discovered anything strange, except for how Yuyui was trembling.
Unlike Skullius, she was the one he was convinced least about, but he had seen her revive, regardless of the points he could make against this.
Of course, he didn't get careless.
Now though, he was tempted to ask.
"Are there beings from your world already waiting for our arrival outside?" the Cluster General asked.
"Who knows?" Skullius replied hollowly.
The Cluster General hurled the great sword he had over his shoulder and scoffed, refocusing ahead.
The crown atop his head pulsed once again, two hundred of the Fire Breeders in the sky getting manually controlled to sour towards the sky as they headed towards the Cluster exit.
Unlike before, he linked what the Fire Breeders saw to his own sight, an advanced application of his natural ability and his crown.
FWOOSH.
Four steady flames flared.
This was it.
The socket flames of the Penetrator flared.
There it was.
He sensed it.
The Penetrator casually opened his mouth and spoke.
"Yuyui. Are you afraid of dying?"
The lime haired girl was jolted out her cluster of emotion as she turned to see Skullius gazing at her.
Afraid of dying?
Why was she being asked this?
"I... I don't know. Not really, I suppose. Maybe it depends on the type of death."
Pat!
A large hand gripped Skullius' shoulder.
"You dare converse in my lord's presence?" a particularly angry Fire Breeder growled but Skullius didn't care.
"Good," Skullius said while in the background, the Fire Breeders controlled by the Cluster General sank into the exit.
There wouldn't be too long of a time before the Cluster General figured out the convenient setting that had swallowed the ten scouts from before.
He had to act fast.
"Then if I gave you death itself, would you still be afraid to fight for what you want?" Skullius asked.
"...."
"Hey!" the Fire Breeder butted in again, but he was ignored.
Yuyui couldn't wrap her mind around what Skullius had said, but...
Death.
She tasted it every other day of the week.
Her ambitions were to die in different, more comfortable styles.
One could say he knew death quite a bit.
If she could wield death as a weapon, would she be afraid to fight?
What was her greatest fear anyway?
Dying continuously without meaning? Yes.
Starving to death? Absolutely.
Losing pieces of her self with each death? Right.
Dying for naught a cause? Aha.
It even seemed like her history contained much of this.
Yuyui felt something creep under the ropes that bound her and funnel into the ring she held tight in her hand, Skullius' spatial ring!
"You said you'd become whatever I needed, when I needed it. I'm giving you death itself, so don't disappoint me. When you hold it, just SWING with all your might, then we'll see if you really aren't a FIGHTER."
These words would have been a load of bull to anyone who heard, but the rapid series of events that followed made Yuyui understand what Skullius meant before his words faded from her ear.
...!
The Cluster General who had sent out his Fire Breeders expressed a light burst of fury.
"I see. So that's why," he said as he saw what was on the other side of the exit. The threat to his kind. A natural one.
Did that waking bunch of bones know this all along?!
At the same time, however, the Penetrator made his move with the General still occupied.
[Null Life Aura] was cast!
The serene field spread around Skullius unnoticed by any of the Fire Breeders then, with a burst of golden light, a shot flame ignited on the ropes that bound him while another streaked towards Yuyui and crashed into her, tearing the ropes that bound her as she was sent flying a few meters away!
As she landed on the ground, the chill she had been feeling on Skullius' spatial ring magnified.
It was Skullius' mana activating the ring to release...
Demion's Dance!
The sword fell to the ground and Yuyui's eyes met it.
At the same time that this was happening, a powerful fist bashed into Skullius' face sending him flying to crash into the wall of the cavern a distance from the exit!
"I knew he would try something!" the same Fire Breeder who had been interrupting Skullius and Yuyui's conversation growled.
He had punched Skullius just now but held back as their lord wanted the walking corpse alive.
The Penetrator's jaw was shattered and so was half of his skull but he hurriedly stood as the thousands of Fire Breeders turned to him menacingly, some of them hurrying to bind him and Yuyui again!
The Cluster General narrowed his eyes, returning to himself. He focused on Skullius but the Penetrator wasn't dismayed.
"Hehehehehe..." he cackled as he saw the enemies before him.
The odds were stacked against him.
He didn't make a move yet however, as he turned to the distance where Yuyui was slowly rising, in her hand, Demion's Dance.
Unlike most people who saw the weapon, she felt it.
Death.
She had tangled with it too many times to not recognise its scent, its feel, its power.
The beauty that lied in losing life.
It then clicked in her mind.
What Skullius had just said.
'When you hold it, just SWING with all your might...'
This was the Death he meant!
Yuyui saw the enemies rush to apprehend her from the sky in their thousands.
They were going to take away the new life she has started where she could eat anything she wanted, even if there were several stipulations.
These monsters were going to make her a slave and keep her under their feet, taking away the fortune she had won a few days ago.
This is what her father was trying to say.
'These are dangerous times. Evil lurks everywhere...'
Yes.
Right now, evil WAS everywhere.
And...
Huff, huff.
Yuyui took in deep breaths as emotion welled in her.
If she wanted to live a comfortable life, she had to SWING!
If she didn't want to disappoint her master, she had SWING!
Her grip on the sword tightened tremendously and she grit her teeth.
"I won't disappoint!" she called out, putting all her strength into the sword.
It was a clumsy diagonal swing.
It had no form or class.
But it was packed with the emotion of someone who didn't want to remain the same anymore!
And thus...
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!
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