The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 113: The Apostle of The Envy Sovereign
"Ah! Welcome!" The hyena mask spoke with open arms, standing up from his throne and glancing at both of them. "My master did say you would come! How magnificent!"
Maniac... But... It’s not him. Neraxis deduced and jumped down, stretching out his sword.
"Wait a moment, I’m not here to fight you," the hyena mask exclaimed, flailing his hands around. "I’m only here to talk and relay some words directly from my master."
"Speak up then," Neraxis urged with a frown.
"You see, my master has been expecting your arrival ever since your return. He hoped to meet you personally, but given the circumstances, he was unable to," the hyena mask explained. "But some unforeseen variables made your return slightly... different."
Neraxis stared at him with wide eyes.
After all, there weren’t many people who knew of his return, much less approached him so directly.
But the master this masked man was talking about was likely the one who killed his parents.
"You are what exactly?" Neraxis asked. "A vassal? A servant? Which is it?"
"I am an apostle, directly under my master. You can say I am a servant since I do everything he asks of me... So yes, you can call me that," the hyena mask replied with a smile, which made Neraxis furrow his brows.
"Who is your master? And why exactly would he want to come into contact with me?"
"My master is the Envy Sovereign, and he oversaw your... I can’t translate this correctly, but..." the hyena mask trailed off. "Training, I suppose? He made sure you became much stronger than you could ever be, and he was expecting some kind of debt to be repaid."
"What bullshit are you spouting?" Neraxis asked, readying his sword to strike at any moment.
"I don’t wish to fight against you, err... Neraxis?" the hyena mask stammered. "I value my life as much as anyone else, but I just wish to expand my master’s forces, else he would be overrun by the other Sovereigns."
"If you truly wish not to fight against me, then tell me what you meant about the unforeseen variables," Neraxis pushed.
"I wasn’t informed... but!" the hyena mask said with a pause. "Master had mentioned your psyche resisting your true self. That’s about all I know."
"Anything else?" Neraxis asked. "Since I hope you know, that isn’t enough to let you live."
"What!? But I told you so many magnificent things! How could you?" The hyena mask comically crouched down, black tears falling from his eyes.
[He’s corrupting the air with those tears, be careful.] Evangeline warned, and immediately, Neraxis used {Simple Stab}, putting a hole straight through the apostle’s forehead.
However, instead of brain matter, what scattered was a slimy black substance.
"That looks disgusting," Eris commented from the side.
[It is disgusting... bleghh...]
...Did you just vomit?
[No...] Evangeline trailed off. [Yes, but you can’t imagine how disgusting that blood is. Not even the past me would drink that!]
Ignoring her tantrum, Neraxis turned his attention to the troublesome foe ahead of him.
Instead of the humanoid body he was expecting to face, some kind of monster amalgamation formed instead, made purely out of the black slimy blood.
"Why must you resort to violence? All I could ever wish for is for my master to attain his goals," the amalgamation said with a distorted voice before looking down at Neraxis, its eyes hollow and white. "However, master did give me permission to kill you if the chance arises."
As the last of its words fell, Neraxis suddenly felt an impact on his stomach, before being flung back into one of the nearby trees.
But he only stopped flying after toppling nearly six trees; the sheer strength of the attack was way too overwhelming.
Is that a C rank? Shit... can I even handle this? Status.
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+-----+
Status
Name: Neraxis Valen
Age: 16
Stigmata: [Fragment of Calamity {56.3%} (Seals Unlocked: 2)]
Affinity: [Eclipsed Abyss {SSS}]
—Perks:
[Aura of the Abyss]
[Unyielding Vitality]
[Cosmic Sight]
—Stats:
Rank: E -> E+
Strength: E -> E+
Agility: E -> E+
Stamina: E -> E+
Intelligence: E+ -> D-
Mana Capacity: E -> E+
—Secondary Stats:
Luck: H- -> I+
Charm: B- -> B
—Skills:
[Eve of Ruin {E}]*
[Swordsmanship {F}]
[Stellar Dominion {A}]
[Minor Reflect {D}]
[Sword Dash {F}]
[Restorative Cut {E}]
[Vampiric Dominion {A}]
[Aegis of Eternity {C}]
[Crimson Sovereignty {S}]
—Fragment of Calamity Skill Tree (2/???)
[Simple Horizontal Slash]
[Simple Stab]
+-----+
Hmm... No, even if it’s not doable, I have to somehow do it or else I’m fucked. Neraxis thought with a frown and kicked off the tree, dodging some kind of black ball.
As the black ball made contact with the half-bent tree he was perched on a moment ago, it suddenly dissolved.
Its blood is acid, I can see why Evangeline did not like it, Neraxis mused and attempted to use {Crimson Sovereignty’s: Blood Sovereignty}, however, it seemed to not work.
Mark of Decay seemed out of the picture as well, since instead of his attacks connecting, the apostle was moving its black, slimy blood away the moment his sword approached, so he never truly dealt damage.
He had managed to cushion the earlier attack, albeit just barely, so he wasn’t seriously injured.
Nonetheless, Neraxis stepped up, jumping onto a nearby tree before leaping into the sky.
Just as he did, he immediately used {Stellar Dominion: Cosmic Cascade}, setting the entire monster on fire.
However, that seemed to do little aside from irritate it, as it swung its massive arm right at him.
But he merely swiped in the air, killing his own momentum and dropping to the ground.
At the same time, Neraxis dodged the palm which was about to land on him before he cut off the entire monster’s hand.
That did not seem to do much as it merely reconnected its hand back together.
Is there no limit? He had a thought but immediately dismissed it.
All skills had limits, no matter how overpowered they seemed.
But finding that limit would be a difficult process.
Or so he thought, but in the next moment, Eris shot some kind of strange arrow at it.
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The apostle tried to part its blood like with his sword strikes, however, the arrow seemingly expanded before finally reaching the apostle’s rear.
Soon, a vile scream resounded.
"AAAAAAAH!!! YOU BITCH! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE AIMING!?" The apostle screamed, and as it turned its back to Neraxis, it was finally able to see the culprit.
It was ice, and it seemed to have completely frozen its slimy black blood into solid form, with seemingly no hope of regenerating.
[Ouch to the monster.] Evangeline said with a trembling voice. [But you know what you have to do, right?]
Yeah... I can try. Not like I have many sure-fire methods anyway. Neraxis grabbed hold of the necklace he had on himself and shot a glance at Eris before shouting, "Buy me one minute! Okay!?"
"The fuck do you mean one minute?" She shot back. "I can barely last 30 seconds against this freak, hurry up already!"
Neraxis nodded and dashed a bit away before perching on top of a tree.
Taking a deep breath, he focused, until eventually, he could feel himself slipping away, his body moving somewhere else.
And in the very next moment, a sudden chill ran down his spine, the byproduct of the surroundings being extremely cold.
"You’re in a bit of trouble, darling. I wonder why you’ve come to see me?" Seraphina teased with a smile, but he got straight to the point.
"Could you lend me your frost powers? I don’t think I can beat that monster with my current skill set, not without losing something anyway..."
"Not even that deteriorating hand skill you have?" She mused, rubbing her temples. "Oh right, that thing is almost immortal, I see... You want to freeze him to death, don’t you?"
"That’s right," Neraxis nodded, watching as her grin widened.
"I would be willing to help if you do me one teeny tiny favor," Seraphina said, approaching him.
Noticing her mischievous look, he asked, "What is it?"
But that seemed to only make her grin turn more sadistic.
"Hahaha... Darling, I want you to..."