Skullius' Aura was outlandish, far removed from the norm. When he had first gotten a taste of it, he had noticed that it was rather… strange. It was greedy.
(A/N: Refer to Ch.573).
It had adopted a dark blue hue back then, alerting everyone who had been with him and making Skullius a little hesitant.
When using it normally, it bolstered his strength a little more than that of the overage Advancement Stager, making him stronger when paired with Skullius' already absurd base power, along with the ridiculousness of his skills.
However, all this had been stripped away during the Premium Age Royale. At this point, Skullius would have regarded his death against Rias as the highlight of that entire event. Not only did he meet Irisa in death back then, right after he was revived as result of Gabel turning back time, he used [Swordmaster's Quiescence] on the sensation of death, fresh on his soul, to amplify his already strange Full Body Aura.
(A/N: Refer to 767&768).
What had happened to seemed to be a casual powerup, but it was actually far from it. Skullius' Full Body Aura had changed from a heavy shade of dark blue to a blackish red that coated his body like flame, barely leaving room for his bodily details to be seen clearly.
From then on, Skullius had begun to match Rias while using Demion's Dance, even going as far as to overpower him in some instances.
The state of his Full Body Aura then allowed him to embody the traits of whatever he was using. This worked especially well with Demion's Dance and the skill Skullius had managed to acquire because of it, [Swindling Death's Death], which made it impossible for him to die as long as he did the dance. Better yet, the damage sent to him by enemies would be returned to them several fold.
All this, was embodied by Skullius' Aura back then, making him even more efficient against Rias, who should have been stronger.
While the effect seemed to have faded with the time limit of [Swordmaster's Quiescence], Skullius' Aura still took on the deep blackish red hue even now.
It was unknown whether that held any significance or not, but what Skullius wanted to do with the Aura at the moment was simple; to combine skills.
The Preeminent Attegoth as a body capable of housing a mana core of the purple quality, could also generate Aura, and a massive amount of it compared to what he alone could produce.
This Aura mimicked the kind Skullius made with his core as well, seemingly because even while the source of the mana used to create the core was from the entirety of Opungale, it was refined in the same way Skullius would – just without the gravitational properties.
Additionally, the fact that the Attegoth could have skills branded within it was also a sign that it was a viable entity for the entire power system created by the three Deities of Aigas.
And thus…
"Let's see… [Parting Wave], [Ghost Rending Divine Sword Art], [Elite Swordplay], [Unmatched Sword Sense], [Swordmaster's Quiescence], [Swindling Death's Dance]. Let's combine them all," Skullius said with an eerie grin that seemed to ooze perverse desires.
The Attegoth groaned, and at the same time, the guidance field churned, immediately alerting Skullius of every step of the process.
[The skills you have selected are currently being merged]
[Please wait…]
There was a pause as the intensity of the Attegoth's quivering grew and grew some more until it began to make the waters within which its entirety was settled, boil furiously.
Skullius laughed.
"What in the world are you doing?" Ashema asked curiously.
"You'll see…" Skullius said to him.
"That's no different from what you said last time?!"
OOOM!
The great Precept of Light shuddered, and the shroud of Aura around it diminished considerably.
Skullius could feel the skills he had directed within the body of the Attegoth becoming saturated with concentrated Aura and then they began to get drawn together.
Usually, skills of the same caliber would work best for the combination process, but Skullius was banking on the fact that only two skills from the bunch he had chosen were classified under Normal, with the rest being Special, and thus likely wouldn't affect the success rate. Besides that, with the massive volume of Aura available…
[Skill merging complete!]
[Warning! The resultant compound skill has too many extreme subskills!]
[Warning! The resultant compound skill may interfere with the 'Insurgent Magnus' Hidden Class!]
[To lessen the burden, would you like to create a Legacy, a Hidden Class of your own?]
Skullius cackled.
'I see. This new skill has a lot of functions and traits that make it worthy of forming a Hidden Class. I didn't expect that…' he thought, thoroughly fascinated and elated.
Serenity's words rang through his mind once again.
'You think you've won. You believe you've lost. I pity you. He will set you straight.'
Skullius scoffed at these words. Serenity had a lot of faith in that fake, and for some time, even Skullius had started to believe that going against him would be more than just a hefty task. But now…
"I'd like to see him try," Skullius' eyes burned with liquid-like darkness.
He then turned his attention to the blinking prompts of the guidance field.
Was holding two Hidden Classes even possible?
Beyond that, wouldn't creating an alternate set of skills as opposed to a single powerful one defeat the purpose of what he was trying to do?
'Hmm, I can handle a single skill. Besides, if need be, I can create the Legacy on my own,' Skullius thought and then…
"No," he said to the guidance field. "Proceed."
The Preeminent Attegoth groaned again, and then the guidance field set loose a flurry of notifications in the Hybrid Luman's sight.
['Parting Wave', 'Ghost Rending Divine Sword Art', 'Elite Swordplay', 'Unmatched Sword Sense', 'Swordmaster's Quiescence', 'Swindling Death's Dance' have been successfully merged]
[Congratulations! You have created the Super Skill, 'Infinite Sword God']
[The value of the weapon for you no longer dwells within the vessel that is termed as such. For you, there is no distinction between the tool you use for carnage and your limbs. To you, everything that exists can be cut apart with just the right intent]
The Hybrid Luman's face became decked in solid darkness that played in the crevices formed when he smiled sickeningly.
Oh yes. Oh yes, this was worth it.
Hobbu Gobbu wished he could have attained this kind of power.
Skullius felt Demion's Dance's voice get louder, and he even heard its edge speak to him as though even that specific of part of the sword now had a voice he could hear.
Worse yet, he felt the outline of his body grow sinister, sharp and… also undefined.
Even his fingertips felt oddly… dangerous.
It was almost as though a single swipe of them could split Opungale.
Right then, Skullius recalled a certain word spoken by someone he had held in high regard when talking about the sword.
'Swordmaster.'
"Have I finally reached it, Alaris? Or have I surpassed the very meaning of the word," the Hybrid Luman almost sounded deranged.
At least Ashema thought so.
..!!!
The Hybrid Luman suddenly felt [Primal Caution] get triggered, and his unusual sights were drawn towards the Ode and the old hag Umbett who looked at him and the Attegoth from afar.
"Oh, please be patient. I have one more thing to do," Skullius guffawed, and he selected all the skills related to [Just Light] within the Graceful Monolith to be combined.
All including his recently awakened [Son of Luserus] skill.
The Attegoth shook again, this time with as much vigor as the breaking of the world.
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