Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Kill us? And just how exactly do you intend to do that?" Inquired Aster, before raising his hand and chanting, "[Telekinetic Pull]."

"Wha-...tch, how annoying," The Undead King clicked his tongue in irritation as he found himself back inside Aster's Telekinetic Zone before he could react, before smirking and adding, "Well, no matter...I can feel it, your Mana is already down by about half what it was when you first showed up here. My attacks may be unable to reach you for now, but you can't maintain this Spell for much longer, I just need to wait you out, until you're completely out of Mana and-...!"

"Quit acting like that doesn't go both ways," Aster interrupted him as he severely mangled the Undead King's body, before continuing as he bent and twisted his body mercilessly, "It's true that this Spell consumes a lot of Mana to maintain, but the same goes for you. I mean, you can't keep regenerating forever, isn't that right? It's only a matter of time before you run out of Mana yourself...am I wrong?"

"Tch, I'll admit, you're half right...first off, I don't use Mana. Mana is life energy, I'm fueled by the energy of death!" Snapped the Undead King as he began to regenerate, before Aster telekinetically mangled his body again.

"Looks like your regeneration is automatic, any damage you sustain gets repaired almost instantly, you can't suppress that. And what kind of energy you use doesn't really matter...whatever it is, it's starting to run out, isn't it? I can sense it, you know...every time you regenerate, I can feel the increased tension in you, I can feel the signs of panic in your physical reactions, and they're steadily growing stronger each time you regenerate. While you can choose where you regenerate from, you can't actually suppress it...which means, so long as I keep damaging you, you'll keep regenerating," Surmised Aster, as he continued destroying the Undead King's body over and over.

"D-damn, you-...!"

"It's funny...you're technically not alive, but the reactions I sense across your body are so human. I can feel the growing sense of desperation each time you regenerate, how many more times before you're unable to regenerate anymore?" Inquired Aster, as he crushed the Undead King's torso.

"O-okay, you figured that out, I'll give you some credit...b-but it's ultimately pointless! I can't deny it, you've got me in a dire position here, but in the end, it won't make a difference...my reserves of death energy are far greater than any human's Magic Power, you'll run out of steam well before I do!" He snapped back, before smirking as he noticed a hint of fatigue appearing in Aster's eyes, "Ah, it seems like you're quickly approaching that limit. Meanwhile, I still have nearly half my energy reserves still intact, I'll be the one who emerges victorious he-...!"

"You talk way too much," Muttered Aster, as he crushed the Undead King's head, before thinking to himself as he rapidly regenerated, "He's right though, as much as I hate to admit it...I've got maybe half a minute left at most before my Magic Power runs out, that's not enough time to finish this bastard off!"

"Do your worst, asshole! And I assure you, once your Magic Power runs out, I'll be sure to repay you tenfold for what you've done to me!" Snarled the Undead King viciously.

"Aster! Let me in!" Suddenly came Raven's voice from behind, as he flew towards Aster rapidly.

"Raven? What're you-...?" He began, before his eyes widened in realization.

As Raven closed in, Aster allowed him to enter his Telekinetic Zone, before Raven swiftly placed his hand on Aster's shoulder.

"Now, [Mana Transfer]!" He chanted, replenishing Aster's Mana as he met the Undead King's gaze and added, "Too bad for you, you're not the only one with energy reserves more vast than a normal human's. I may not be strong enough to defeat you myself...but at the very least, I can serve as a battery to someone who can!"

"Heh, nicely done...I owe you one, kid, way to go!" Grinned Aster, before blasting a hole though the middle of the Undead King's torso.

"Sh-shit...!" Uttered the Undead King through gritted teeth, a sense of panic rising up inside him.

As Raven fully replenished Aster's Magic Power, Aster proceeded to repeatedly and ceaselessly wreck the Undead King's body over and over, who was helpless to do anything about it.

He was completely and utterly at Aster's mercy, and unfortunately for him, Aster had no intention of sparing so much as a shred of mercy to him.

Raven continued pouring more Mana into Aster at regular intervals, keeping his Magic Power near full capacity, and before much longer, the Undead King began to approach the end of his energy reserves himself...

"D-damn it...no, not like this! I...I refuse to be defeated like this! You bastards, I...I've been stuck down here for over a thousand years! I cannot go out in such a manner!" He yelled in desperation, but his struggles were in vain.

His cries soon faded away, his body no longer regenerating, before Aster compressed his remains into a dense, tiny speck, flinging it away after taking a moment to make sure the regeneration had indeed stopped.

"Alright, that takes care of that. The hell was that guy, anyway? No wonder you couldn't defeat him, even my zone wouldn't have been enough if it wasn't for you restoring my Mana," Sighed Aster wearily, as Raven fired off some flames around to burn up the lingering Miasma in the area.

"I'll explain everything later, I'm beat," Replied Raven as the scales over his face and left arm receded, flopping onto the ground with a thud as the others came bounding over.

"At least it's over now...," Chimed in Celia with a sigh.

"Hey, that reminds me...why didn't you escape when you had the chance!? It all worked out because the others showed up, but if they hadn't, we would both have died! You could've taken out your last Teleport Spell and gotten away while he was attacking me!" Remarked Raven with a frown.

"Right back at you, you could've teleported away when he charged in to finish me off!" She shot back indignantly.

"Ugh, stop yelling, it's annoying...this is such a pointless argument, just fuck and make up already!" Huffed Lexia with an irritated look on her face.

"Wh-wha-...!?" The pair blurted out in bewildered unison, their faces turning red.

"I don't think that's how the saying goes," Chimed in Tacitus in bemusement.

"Yeah, whatever. Can we just get the last Relic and leave already?" She grumbled in response.

"Sounds good to me, I'm feeling pretty worn out myself at this point. Come on, let's go see what the final weapon is," Nodded Aster, a look of curiosity on his face as they began heading towards the damaged doorway.

They climbed over the pile of rubble in front of the doorway and entered the room, before approaching the stone coffin in the middle.

Aster lifted the lid off and tossed it aside, before the group peered inside curiously...

"Ah, damn it...I was hoping for another dagger or something else suited for an Assassin," Sighed Colt in disappointment.

It was a pair of short-swords, one black and one white, laying across each other in the middle of the box. The black blade had a white handle, and the white blade a black handle. Lexia then picked up the stone tablet and skimmed it.

"Let's see here, it says...'YinYang, these twin blades weaken your enemies while making you stronger. The black blade, Yin, consumes a person's Mana when it cuts them and transfers said Mana to the user, the white blade, Yang, does the same with stamina'," She read the text out, before adding as she glanced at Aster, "Well, seeing as you're the only Dual Blader in the group, I guess these'll go to you. Hmph, like you weren't strong enough already."

"Well, he did defeat the Undead King, so I'd say this is a fair outcome," Remarked Raven with a wry smile.

"Yeah, that's fair...also, obviously, the two of us fell the farthest from that trap on the thirtieth level, and if this is the lowest level, we landed on the sixty-second level. Did you guys find the other four Relic Armaments? Or are we going to need to find them on the way back?" Inquired Celia wearily.

"Nope, Tacitus and I landed on the forty-third level, so we've already got the other four. We found a dagger, whip, a large, heavy sword and a pair of gauntlets. Once we're back at the hideout, we'll have to decide whether Colt or Lexia gets the dagger. The heavy sword will go to Tacitus, and you'll get the gauntlets, Celia. As for the whip...I don't know, we'll have to put it in storage or something for now, since none of us have the right Combat Template for it," Aster informed her, as he picked up the blades and inspected his new weapons in fascination.

"Can we go now? We got all five weapons, so let's leave already," Sighed Tacitus, stretching his arms up.

"I second that...if you want to talk, you can do so while walking, I've beyond had my fill of these damned ruins," Added Lexia in agreement.

"You two really need to lighten up. But, yeah, I suppose we should start heading back now," Nodded Aster, as he put the twin blades in his Storage Ring.

"There is a small problem though...Celia and I are down to our last Teleport Spells, the Undead King's Miasma-...the dark shadowy stuff flowing out of him...-kinda fried our second ones," Spoke up Raven sheepishly.

"Uh-oh, don't tell me...," Muttered Aster, as he exchanged a glance with Tacitus.

"The two of us used up our second Teleport Spells a couple of levels earlier and switched to our third ones...yeah, they're not working anymore," Remarked Tacitus, as he took out his Teleport Spell and ran his Mana through it, but nothing happened.

"Well, our last Teleport Spells are in our Storage Rings and should still be intact, plus at full capacity," Replied Celia, as she took her last remaining Teleport Spell Card out of her Storage Ring.

"U-uh...mine isn't working. It might have gotten damaged while I was fighting the Undead King...," Said Raven with a grimace, as he ran his Mana into the ring, but nothing happened.

"Hm...yeah, the Magic stone is damaged, everything you had in there is gone for good," Mused Tacitus as he inspected the ring, before glancing at Celia's and adding, "Looks like you got lucky, the ring itself has a few cracks, but the Magic stone is undamaged, so it'll still work."

"Hey, our last Spell Cards are in our rings too! Since we landed a few levels below Aster and Tacitus, our second Teleport Spells hadn't burnt out yet, so we didn't take out our third ones!" Grinned Colt, as he manifested his third Teleport Spell from his ring, before Lexia did the same.

"Okay, three Cards, we can use one for every two people...that'll put more strain on the Cards and result in them burning out more quickly, but it's better than nothing," Remarked Tacitus with a quiet sigh.

"This is gonna suck...there's no way these will last us even halfway through the ruins, we're going to have to cover a shitload of ground on foot," Groaned Lexia in dismay.

"Nope, we won't. We can take a shortcut...we just need to point our Teleport Cards straight up and we can skip several levels in one go!" Pointed out Aster with a grin.

"Hey, that's pretty smart...I can't believe we didn't think of that before," Responded Celia with a relieved look on her face.

"Wait...why didn't we just do this to begin with?" Frowned Lexia incredulously.

"I'll explain on the way out. We should try to save at least a few teleports for once we're out, it's a pretty long distance to our hideout from the Quartz Mountain Range, after all. Alright, then, Irregulars...time to begin our journey home!" Declared Aster, as they began making their way out of the room...