Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Cogent Stark Order's two Primary functions heavily relied on the people Pherdanta shielded using the Territory. She was rewarded for reviving them if they died, but she earned some non-Creed-based benefits from simply having people enter her Territory in the interest of safety.

Each individual recognised by the Territory as an ally – with their name printed on one of the houses within Cogent Stark Order – fuelled the Stark Constellation statue. When Pherdanta was in danger, a non-replenishable charge of energy with power equal to one of Pherdanta's full power physical blows would be unleashed to meet the threat.

That was what one of Ashema's bodies just now had suffered.

But there were worse, nebulous things about Pherdanta. Indeed, the oddness of her Territory, which Ashema was still trying to come to terms with was one thing.

Pherdanta's brazenness was another.

When she tore a strand of hair from her head, Ashema had expected an immediate attack against him, but…

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Great sparks exploded from far down below, in the sea of darkness that was pressed by Cogent Stark Order.

Pherdanta was attacking the damned halberd with [Great Sempiternal Vein].

The attacks did not stop. They did not relent.

'This woman!' Ashema thought, and his bodies rallied towards Pherdanta at breakneck speed.

Why was she attacking the halberd? Did she really think that she could cut through such a thing with her attacks?

So what if they could cut Divines?

Did she think the Void rank halberd was in the same tier of power as those lousy Cavern?

Ashema let out a mocking scoff, but his unease didn't die out. Not entirely.

While healing from the continuing contortions of her arm because of Ashema's influence, Pherdanta brandished her strand of hair. There was a flash around it, and in the next instant, it turned into a perfect, silver gladius.

…!!!

Her hand moved gracefully, cutting through the inverted gloom around her and against the enemies. She aimed for one of the Cavern descending upon her with a cord of red lightning lacing its arm. A dreadful slash aimed to cleave this enemy and… failed to bypass its heavy blanket of Primus around it. The Cavern laughed.

"Pitiable!" it cried, while its other mates rallied around it and Pherdanta.

But the Unlimited Star did the unthinkable. Leaping off the ground to meet the laughing enemy in the air, she tore another strand of her hand, and coiled it around her fist. She cocked her arm back and sent a shattering punch streaking into the Cavern's sternum.

The protection of Primus was sliced through like jelly with a knife, and when Pherdanta's fist connected, a crisscrossing mess of slashes eviscerated Ashema's flesh!

It was as though every inch of the hair strand around the woman's hand sent a thin slash towards the Cavern while boosted by the power behind her punch!

'What in the…!' Ashema gaped, but sent the others to lay on the pressure. He wouldn't lose momentum.

He coordinated his bodies with great focus. One of them remained a distance from Pherdanta, working the malevolent magic through her blood.

Right then, after Pherdanta had defeated the one enemy, the arm she'd struck with began twisting and coiling violently, collapsing on itself. She didn't hurry to heal herself this time, though.

Overhead, one of Ashema's bodies had poured a sea of emerald sand over her head. There was no mistaking the fact that it had some horrific quality to it – something meant to harm anyone who was touched. Pherdanta escaped using Granted Warp and tore another strand of her hair.

But the other Cavern were on her like milkmen on milk. Just as Pherdanta had great awareness of her surroundings because of her Territory, her enemies were also well informed because of the Under. (At least as long as they were within Cogent Stark Order too.)

Six of the incoming Cavern received terrible blows to the head through Cogent Stark Order's Primary function and flew like arrows into the distance, and then Pherdanta warped to them, dealing lethal blows in the fraction of an instant before they recovered.

She pulled one of them by the neck, bringing them face to face with barely any space between - as much as the wad of Primus allowed. Pherdanta's glare was cutting. Literally. The top half of the Cavern's head went flying, slashed off!

In a blink, she brandished another hair strand and it turned into a rapier which she – with some difficulty – used to pierce through the protection of Primus to stab another Cavern through the eye.

In another instance, she used the same tactic as earlier, wrapping her fist with the hair and blowing through a Cavern's Primus and body.

The rest of the bodies were dealt with in similarly astonishing fashions.

Ashema, watching and experiencing this through another body couldn't help but be awed.

'Such strange powers. She can kill me countless times with ease. However…'

The bodies that had been dealt fatal doses of damage were restored almost immediately after Pherdanta killed them. Ashema restored their blood and their flesh with his blood ability and reinforced them with some of the Primus energy guarding them.

He grinned and had Pherdanta's leg start coiling like a serpent, breaking and whirling!

"It's useless. Everything you do is useless. It's taking you a lot more effort to kill me than before, and even if you do, I can just heal," Ashema shouted jubilantly. "I told you. I am Lord of the Under by my master's decree. I am free to wield the powers he left behind. What has your master left you with? That sword? Funny. Why won't you use it? Will that not change a thing about the result? Oh! Perhaps you're waiting for the Secondary function of your Territory to charge, ahaha! Indeed, I know about that." All his bodies laughed. "Is that all you have left?"

Pherdanta healed her leg with Granted Restoration.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

For a moment, only the sound of clanging down below persisted, like steel smiting steel.

Pherdanta met the eyes of one of Ashema's bodies.

"To think you'd waste your time resorting to verbal mockery when this is still the time I allotted for you to fortify yourself," she said nonchalantly, and the look in her eyes turned colder and more careless than before. "I suppose I gave you enough of a chance."

…!!!

Ashema scowled.

This woman couldn't be serious.

'Still?' Ashema thought, but then his heart, no hearts, went cold. He drew a sharp breath.

The clanging noises below abruptly disappeared, and everything turned silent.

No. This was deeper than any silence. It was as though sound had been isolated in some far away box all of a sudden.

No. Rather, it was as though sound had been…cut.

Pherdanta casually drew Dance of Necrotic Butcher from its sheath. The sword seemed unreal, with its strange curved, and chipped edge. Its hiss was inconsistent as it slid out and into the grip of its master.

"I made it so that drawing my sword is the only way to bring out the full might of my Impossible Splicer Series. The work of a Creed – though I feel it's a little odd, stronger than I was aiming for," Pherdanta said calmly, as Ashema felt a chill flirt with his ten necks.

"I have some ugly restrictions with my [Infinite Sword God] abilities, you see. In all, my slashing techniques number four in total. Great Vein; Great Necrotic Rending; Great Sempiternal Vein, and Universal Error. All these can only be used against enemies – entities, rather – ahead of me in overall strength. You just barely meet that criteria."

A part of Ashema wished Pherdanta would return the sword back in its sheath. It was all he could focus on now, his eyes reflecting its surface. But as he did…

All ten of his bodies were blasted with a violent slash each that split them in two. The slash had no care for their Primus, however dense it might have been.

…!!!

Ashema was horrified.

'What…! She could have done this all along? Then why…?'

But now wasn't the time to agonize. Immediately, Ashema employed his blood abilities to heal.

That… did not work.

Something was festering where his bodies had been struck. Some poison that didn't eat away at his flesh or compromise it chemically. No, it was best described as a Necrotic Rending.

Pherdanta, who brandished Dance of the Necrotic Butcher, said to the Lord of the Under:

"Now it's your turn to answer. How does it feel?"