'Did he find a way to store away the Litte I released earlier?' Fulgardt thought, half in panic, half in awe. 'No That doesn't make any sense. He would have used it when I was pressing him in the Bosom!'

But the only logical explanation didn't make that much more sense. If not the Litte that came from the Absolute Sun, then the Litte Skullius had used just now must have been a kind he produced on his own!

And the way he used it…

The hands conjured by Demesne of Maximum Fatality were too swift even for Deities, and inside the boundary of the Territory, they were pretty much impossible to avoid. The only way to escape death was to attack before Fulgardt mobilized the dark hands. Skullius had even applied this means of escape before, when he'd freshly accessed the Second Phase of the War Body.

But this time, he simply used Litte to wildly accelerate his dexterity, carefully offsetting the trajectory of each of the hands the instant they were within an inch of him. While applying Litte to his hands, it was definitely possible, but Fulgardt couldn't conceive of the depth of speed required to do this. The sheer strain it would put on the body was monstrous.

Fulgardt's Zero Sight eye honed in on Skullius. He had to see it for himself – confirm it for himself. Was Skullius actually producing Litte?

'There!' It was true indeed.

The Zero Sight eye revealed things that would normally be hidden from the normal eye (even normal Divine eyes). The tiniest spark of golden light – of Litte – was blinking somewhere past Skullius' forehead, shrouded in a haze of puce and turquoise. What was that haze? A Parlous Nature?

'Somehow, he's doing it,' thought Fulgardt, and he laced himself in [Just Light], accelerating his own speed to the limit; albeit a limit much lower than Skullius'. 'He can bear the burden of using Litte for transcendent speed like that with his body because of that limitless Null Life Essence flowing through him, reinforcing his flesh. But something has to give.'

Fulgardt lunged.

…And so did Skullius.

Before they met in the middle, however, Fulgardt vanished… and a ratcheting burst of noise resounded all throughout the hall.

Fulgardt had accelerated further, using the same technique he'd learned from the Second Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher – external blasts of sound that propelled him in any direction he desired at frightful velocity. Like a ghost, he materialized behind Skullius, reaching for his faint cloud robes, but a serpent-like kick swished from his flank and blasted him in the side.

Fulgardt groaned, but was not deterred. He inched backwards while striking with a whirlpool of jabs with one hand and summoning a kusarigama of darkness to cut his opponent.

But Skullius was faster. He squeezed in through Fulgardt's defenses, bashed his chest in with his knee, and struck once, then twice with his elbows at Fulgardt's face before the Immoral finally managed to guard with his hands.

Fulgardt dropped low and sent his feet whipping at the back of Skullius' legs, aiming to stagger him, but defying gravity (if it even existed in the depths they were battling in), Skullius leaped, avoided the attack, flipped, and fell with two of his hands ready for overhead blows that Fulgardt barely managed to avoid.

…But that did him no good. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

As he rolled on the molten floor, which was rapidly trying to repair itself, Skullius got him in the gut with the length of his shin, hammered him in the neck with his elbow, and kicked him away like a ball.

'He's using my—!'

A straight punch broke the Immoral's Bare Guise off… and also his jaw.

WOOOOONG!

Skullius' relentless onslaught only paused when Fulgardt, broken and bloody, pushed out a boundary of light around himself – a familiar technique.

The Immoral was panting, a scowl deep upon his face.

'It's impossible! I can't hurt him at all! His reinforcement with Null Life Essence is on a completely different level than before! He's using it on a cellular level for absolute toughness. Even Exorbitance won't make him budge!' he thought as he spat out a few teeth. 'And there's more…'

"This isn't fun for you anymore, is it, Fulgardt? You can't even smile right," said Skullius, adopting the same fighting stance Fulgardt had been using. "Am I qualified to beat you now, since I now understand the workings of light? Add that as another consequence of you mouthing off as you wish to an enemy."

(Refer to Ch.1542.)

Fulgardt's scowl grew deeper, his senses growing more acute. He could sense the expressions of the denizens of the hall who were able to keep up for the moment, as he and Skullius were standing still.

"Come on. Keep struggling. Grab my Ju'wtte if you can."

Skullius' lunge forced Fulgardt into a trance.

With his boundary of light expanded, his body automatically responded to oncoming attacks and countered immediately after.

…Or it should have.

A rain of blows punished Fulgardt before his body could prepare even the most basic defense. If not for Fulgardt's ability to fix himself in a paradox where he couldn't die, he would have died a frustrating death.

A fist that blew through his chin to his brain. A kick that hit several impossible angles before crushing his temples in. A combo that pierced his heart and brain at the same time.

And more…

And more!

Void Clot did nothing against all these attacks.

Meanwhile, Fulgardt's combinations of Seeds, many as they were, missed or were rendered inconsequential.

'This is hopeless! Utterly hopeless!' thought Fulgardt. 'Between his invincibility and my immortality, we can go at it for eternity! There is no merit to this! Neither he nor I has an answer for the stalemate!'

A hint of serenity…

A hint of drowsiness…

Fulgardt ignored it.

'Why did I even choose to fight this brat? For pride? I'll grow beyond that! I'll look past it! Before my properties as a Voided Death User wear out, I have to nab his Ju`wtte. I'll use the Bosom as a means to rush into the void. To hell with this!'

He would leave it all behind. He would leave even his soul behind if he had to. Fulgardt would part with anything that dragged him down, even if it was his sense of self. Even that paled in comparison to his devotion towards the Wanderer. His name and values did not matter.

"REACH!" he cried, and he grabbed – in a way that transcended the material – for the faint sparks of Ju'wtte on Skullius' robes. He managed it, pulling away a throng of merigold lightning…

…At the same time, however, half a page – a piece of blue paper – slipped from his body, and flew into Skullius.

---

[Author's Note]

Indeed, Fulgardt's Voided Death abilities are from a one-time use card he was given by Void. They are temporary.