Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1400  Araeyn V. Red Rage

"I would quite like that," Red Rage said.

Skullius slapped his face.

Just when he was commending his Apostles for being civil, they turned to combat to solve the deadlock of wills they had reached. He wondered if they even considered that he was the one with the final say and that it was by his own whims that the two Apostles were even allowed to battle over the position.

"I never thought your summons could disagree among themselves like this," Elita said to Skullius. The Hybrid Warmoth grumbled.

"Are you going to stop them?" Uyuniya asked him, a coy smile on her face.

In all truth, Skullius was split between either option at his disposal. Both had a mound of advantages.

He got one more good reason for either of these options with Uyuniya's taunt just now. He knew why she was asking if he'd stop the Apostles or not. It was a trap.

With the revelation that Uyuniya was a princess who was quite experienced when dealing with leadership roles, Skullius understood that she was very much interested in his ability as a leader. She had shown it when commending him for choosing Kintar as a Deputy.

Now, it seemed she was interested in seeing how he would deal with these summons. She, of course, could tell that they had a staggering degree of freedom.

Would Skullius overwrite it and simply choose Red Rage for the Commanding Rank or would he allow his subordinates to decide for themselves?

Skullius didn't know which one Uyuniya deemed right in this situation. He cursed.

'You already know a lot about how I treat my subordinates by now,' he thought, eyeing the terrestrial woman.

Red Rage and Araeyn walked up to him all dignified like.

"Master. Will you allow us a duel to settle this matter?" the former asked, bowing. Araeyn remained standing aloof.

Skullius secretly rejoiced. He gave Uyuniya another glance.

'You must be closing in on the fact that my summons can rebel against me,' he thought. 'Thankfully, my summons didn't decide to ignore my position this time. They saved me some face.'

Skullius folded his arms.

"I will allow it. But you only have thirty seconds. The first one to be knocked down loses. However, if neither of you is bested according to that rule in the next thirty seconds, I will pick a different Apostle to grant the First Rank."

The decision astounded the Apostles.

Skullius grinned… inwardly.

He was quite serious. Indeed, the original idea was to test Red Rage's theory of growing strong enough to do something about Boron's crystals, but that – seemingly – could be accomplished with either the Rank Bestowal or the Apostle Trait. If Red Rage failed at his chance to earn the First Rank, he'd get just have to settle for the Apostle Trait.

Skullius would have learned how to awaken it in his Apostles by the time he got back from the Null Verse.

Speaking of time, Skullius had limited the time of the two Apostles' bout simply because there was a lack of time to entertain a long battle. Skullius needed to go to the Null Verse after this, and after that, he had to go to Opungale to settle the matter with Luserus.

Both of his contending Apostles were powerful and Skullius doubted that in a full-fledged battle Red Rage, the weaker of the two, would go down easily.

Thus, he made the contest only 30 seconds. It wasn't only strength that could win the prize now.

Aurolio looked especially excited.

"Well, this is going to be interesting," he said, grinning.

*

Skullius finally addressed the Monarch and the Arch-Mages before the battle between the two Apostles. He had already known that his showings in their presence had killed all opportunity for the calm, collected, diplomatic relations he had planned for, but he decided to be friendly still.

It felt meaningless doing such a thing, and for the first time, Skullius actually felt as though… it was beneath him.

He quickly cast aside the thought though.

"Ready?" he said to the two Apostles standing outside, in front of the Monarch's barely-standing Royal Dwelling.

14:02

'Araeyn will probably start with…' he thought.

…And Araeyn whipped his hand forward and grasped at the air.

"[Micro-Dimensioning]!"

At once, the space around Red Rage was scraped off like paper. The background of the Royal Dwelling, the gloomy hue inspired by the night and the ground… Everything was stripped away within three meters of the Saint, replaced by a torrent of clouds mixed in with turbulent Levin!

At once, Red Rage sank into the Null Remnant Araeyn had created a gateway to, and the Authority of Dimensions (Araeyn's race) closed it immediately and opened another to follow after his opponent.

Skullius smirked.

'You are severely underestimating your opponent, Araeyn,' he thought.

And sure enough, the Authority of Dimensions had been looking down on Red Rage a bit too much. A spinning golden light suddenly sprang forth where Red Rage had been before, and the Apostle stormed out of this light, whipping towards Araeyn at full speed!

Indeed, Red Rage had a powerful warping ability that transcended dimensions. He had used it before right after his evolution back then.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1111.)

'But you don't want to be rushing for a physical contest with Araeyn, Red Rage,' Skullius thought.

It appeared he was right.

Araeyn noticed Red Rage's appearance a little too late, but his response was anything but swift.

The Apostle was constantly protected by two odd Skills that erected barriers around him. One disintegrated anything that touched him and the other transported foreign matter to Null Remnants upon contact.

Araeyn could freely control these barriers, making them larger or smaller. He opted for the former, in this case.

The barriers expanded around him, shredding everything they came into contact with as they rushed to meet Red Rage.

And then the battle was over, Skullius knew.

Araeyn's barriers smashed against Red Rage and began breaking down every part of his form. Great, scorching sparks flew in every direction, wild and furious and greedy. They spelled the end for one of the two contenders.

"Fall on your back. I command you in the name of master Skullius!"

BOOOM!

Araeyn was down before he knew it, lying on his back. His body obeyed the voice that commanded it without so much as a finger of resistance. And just like that, it was decided that Red Rage would be the one to hold the Commanding Rank.

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