Before Aurolio knew it, two fingers were pointing at him from behind and in front, those who owned them looking be inches away from shedding restraint.
Allora and Grim were indeed ready to fire if necessary, and Baddan had a cold look to him as he remained where he was, making a meaningful hand gesture that caused mana to ooze out of him.
Pherdanta would have loved to join in, but she had to keep the ship steady, otherwise one Scorching Tear would end them all.
Aurolio whistled.
"Relax. I come in peace," he said.
"Is that so? I didn't hear a kind knock before you spawned in," Grim said coldly.
"It's cold outside. I thought we could settle the pleasantries later," Aurolio smirked.
"That's not how common standards of courtesy work."
"You pointing a finger – that's not really just a finger – to my head also doesn't apply as courtesy now, does it? I thought us men bred with the same white feathers on our heads would understand each other. Oh, there's another one," Aurolio said with a glance at Baddan.
"What's your purpose here?" Pherdanta asked malevolently.
Aurolio was stunned to see her emerge out of nowhere.
"This is an interesting group," he said, looking around before his eye fell suspiciously on the pale – sickly, really – creature sitting by the bowsprit, minding its own business. "Interesting indeed."
"Don't make me repeat myself," Pherdanta said as she drew the large, merged blade behind her back – and eerily – with her eyes faced towards the sea.
Aurolio grinned.
"No need to be so tense. I'm just a messenger. Eaniss has something for your... leader, Bright Storm. Everyone's calling him a show off. The name certainly gives it awa—"
"You can give us that message. I'm afraid only a few white-hairs are allowed to waltz in on the boss. You're not one of them," Grim said with his red eyes pulsing with emotion.
He and the others would have lunged at Aurolio by now, but they resisted the urge simply because Replicus had warned them against being careless with opponents who could bypass the umbrella-shaped barriers.
Breaking the barrier wasn't easy, but it wasn't too difficult. It just took a little time. Those who could act as though it didn't exist were to be automatically judged as very powerful.
This man before them was one such opponent.
Aurolio looked at Grim with amusement in his eyes.
In a flash, he vanished from their midst, and there was there was a horrendous crashing noise, as though something fast and solid had hit a sturdy wall!
Aurolio had rushed towards the small cabin in what would have been the quarter deck, but a bright barrier had appeared around it just when he had been about to burst through the door!
Grim had his hand pointed in his direction from the distance, looking cockily at Aurolio.
"I told you. You're not meeting the boss on your own terms..." he said chillingly.
Aurolio had on a look of wonder as he pressed his hand on the barrier that had just blocked his entry.
'It's Null Life Essence...' he thought, his eyes glowing delightedly.
Right then, he quickly spun around when a tall woman appeared right on top of him and sent a drop kick to his head which he dodged easily, whizzing back to stand between Grim and Baddan.
"Let's not make this harder than it needs to be. I would prefer to deliver the news to your boss personally. If you aren't going to be kind enough to let me through, I could just humiliate you all – leave you seconds away from death – and then see your boss. It would be quite the sight for him, wouldn't it? Especially with what I have to tell him," Aurolio said with a calm smile.
"Let's see you try," Grim growled as strings of gold fur rushed over his face while his eyes rippled.
Everyone else on board – except Araeyn – was ready to remove that easy-going smile off Aurolio's face as well. Even Pherdanta looked to be close to abandoning the ship for a hot moment.
A set of long fingers wrapping themselves around Aurolio's neck changed the mood, however.
The starry armour made its appearance in that moment, diminishing the sense of dominance Aurolio had had over everything.
The pale man grinned as he looked at the tall figure before him, with four super bright lights shining from its helmet which threatened to turn him blind. His hand whipped towards the figure's neck also, and for a few moments, the two were stuck in place, applying atrocious grip to their opponent.
"Is it some kind of tradition for Eaniss' dogs to behave so boldly?" Replicus said in a deep voice.
"Hahaha! If I'm one, so are you," Aurolio replied, his face turning fierce, with a certain degree of bloodlust that made the Penetrator suspicious.
"Hmmm," Replicus hummed. "I won't let assaulting my subordinates pass without punishment, even if it was just intent, and even if you are just a messenger. I hope you understand. Eaniss will have to as well."
Aurolio was baffled by the sort of finality hidden within Replicus' statement, but it became clear what he meant when a familiar energy – vastly larger in volume and much more precise in its application than he was used to – descended across his body!
...!!!
Everyone on the ship felt.
They didn't feel what suddenly hit Aurolio, but they sensed the mighty drag it had on the atmosphere when it slashed across him from the right side of his neck to his left side!
Aurolio wore a look of befuddlement as a splash of blood sprayed from him and onto his large, fuzzy jersey!
He seemed to turn a bit paler, and he backed away rapidly, creating great distance between himself and the Penetrator.
He then gave Replicus an odd look as he hunched, pressing his hand over his large, and deep wound.
"Oh, you survived? I suppose you weren't really an ordinary Master after all, Mr. Strongest," Replicus said.
Aurolio chortled with an openly triggered look on his face.
" | I vastly underestimated you too, I think.|" he said.
...!!!
At once, Replicus was forced to kneel on the ground, as though a massive orb of Distorted Gravity had dropped on his head and pushed him to deck's floor! The force of his knees crashing on the ship was so great that it nearly bore a hole into it, as the old Undead Incandescent Stager had done!
"Boss!"
"Boss!"
"Master!"
The Unlimited were startled to see Replicus buckle, with two of them rushing to him while Pherdanta left the ship's control and gripped her swords' hilts.
'A Veneration Art. It's the same one he used yesterday. A Verbal-type, like [Pseudo Evil Veneration]!' Replicus thought.
He was currently only restricted physically, with no damage being done to him at all, which made him surmise that perhaps Aurolio's Veneration art was inferior to his own. Both of them, in fact!
He looked up at the pale man, seeing him don a large smirk at seeing Replicus kneel.
...But that smirk suddenly vanished in the next moment.
...!!!
To everyone's surprise, the gash in Aurolio's chest suddenly adopted a vicious, dark glow, and an ungodly amount of blood spewed from it and onto the deck in a literal flood!
The hell?
Replicus was shaken.
That... wasn't his doing.
What was happening?!
Aurolio gave a harrowing roar of pain as he looked to the sky, his face getting stained by his blood which flew erratically.
'What is this...?' he thought in agony.
What treachery was this?!
Even if Null Life Essence could do much more harm to him than mana...
This didn't make any sense!
But then it did.
His guidance field revealed why, explaining his folly. A mistake he couldn't have guessed.
Aurolio looked in horror at the notification flashing before his eyes.
[You are breaching the terms of a 'Tie of Exchange'....]
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