Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The sharp mana flowing within Demion's Dance was mesmerising. Everyone was enthralled by it. Even those with subpar mana sensitivity were dazzled by the way it ran through the sword's blade, perfectly harmonised with the sword and its whole shape. The green blade seemed to turn teal because of it.

But then this mana simply vanished as though it had never existed to begin with.

…And then Pherdanta slashed down with Demion's Dance. The arc she drew with it was slow and deliberate. Everyone saw it leave afterimages, but it was so slow that even the weakest combatant here could track it all the way down to the floor. Pherdanta slashed the floor on her right side.

But slow as her slash might have seemed…

SHP!

There came a sharp whipping noise and then all of a sudden, a gaping maw was opened in the courtyard!

It was akin to a trench, its edges perfect. It was roughly six meters wide, and it thinned as it drew away from Pherdanta, nearly disappearing when it approached the experts packed against the courtyard's walls.

Nothing could be seen from the depth of the thickest portion of the trench, only darkness; the deep sort that even the most unusual eyes couldn't extract anything from.

The old Priest was the first to speak, his eyes wide.

"Is that... it?" he said, looking at the deep darkness.

Pherdanta sighed and slotted back Demion's Dance into its sheath.

"Yes," she replied. "This isn't a cut into the mansion, however much it might look like it. It's a rift that will lead us straight into the Under. Get ready."

It took a moment for everyone to ingest and digest what they had just seen, but soon they were gathering around the rift, steeling themselves.

Pherdanta raised a hand.

"Before we go in, there's another measure of assurance I wish to give everyone. This one is less of an individual boon, though," she said. And indeed, she had promised three of these measures.

One was the slashes she'd given everyone. She expected that by now, Maxim had figured out a way to make sure everyone could use them without risks to their safety.

The second was the [Soul Talisman].

And now, this third was…

Pherdanta pulled her hands together and made a complex gesture with her fingers.

The old Priest was stunned.

'Is she…?' he had begun to wonder when Nitros exploded out of Pherdanta, super condensed and vicious.

"Majestic Territory Expulsion, Neutral Stark Order."

Everyone gaped, surprised that the Unlimited Star was actually expelling her Territory before the battle even began. But they turned even more surprised when no Imaginary GeoScape was established.

Instead, the white Nitros she released turned dark, becoming some depressing shade of grey, like ebony. It bulged, enveloping everyone in the courtyard in its embrace. Everyone touched by it didn't feel the suffocating suppression that came with being under the influence of an enemy Territory, however. It felt as though they were blanketed in a shield of protection instead.

The old Priest couldn't have been more confused.

'This feels like a Transcendent Stager's passive territory, also quite different. What is she doing?' he wondered, looking around him.

Lucky for him, Pherdanta wasn't stingy with answers. She addressed the old Priest and everyone else who knew much about Territories.

"This is a Dormant Territory, or something like it. Beasts are capable of leaving their Territories open for decades and even centuries just by keeping them dormant – that is, by ceasing any special effects like Primary and Secondary functions, except perhaps the look of the Imaginary GeoScape. I applied the same principle to my Territory. Well, I tried. It turns out that humans aren't able to replicate the mechanism behind a Dormant Territory as easily."

"So, instead of that, I isolated a portion of my Territory and turned into into this – a Dormant Territory that only gives me extreme awareness of everything enveloped within it. This way, whatever enemy we meet on the way to the Under, I can respond to without needing to strain myself."

"…"

The Six House Heads, the old Priest, Vali, and Maxim looked at Pherdanta blankly.

They couldn't believe what they had just heard.

Had this woman just said she split off a portion of her Majestic Territory?

That was unheard of. And beyond that, most people wouldn't find a use for such a feat to begin with.

In truth, isolating a portion of one's Territory would require a lot of Creeds to accomplish, and even if one accomplished it, keeping that isolated slice of the Territory functioning would require even more Creeds. This was not to mention that this would lead to the weakening of what remained of the Majestic Territory.

But of course, Pherdanta had Creeds enough to spare, and she was creative enough to make use of that isolated Territory. She'd fought many Cluster beasts during her training, after all. She'd learned a trick or two.

"Follow after me," she told everyone.

With one graceful leap, she fell into the dark trench she had created. The others followed after her, still wrapped in her Dormant Territory.

They all met darkness. It was deep and impenetrable. If it weren't for the gloomy hue of the Dormant Territory around them all, they wouldn't have been able to see anything at all.

Pherdanta was beneath them all, looking below with sharp eyes.

The Stark Constellation on her forehead was sparking and spitting Ju`wtte, mirroring her resolve. Pherdanta was prepared to unleash her full strength if there was a need. It was likely that their arrival into the dreary place would be met with malice, after all.

But she had options now, with her Impossible Splicer Series established.

[Impossible Slicer: Vein] was only one type of slash she had devised – the most basic of them all. It was a lesser version of the first unlimited sword slash she had seen Festos use against Replicus, when the latter was in the town defended by the Capital Service Knights.

As they continued to fall without any evidence that they would reach a destination, Pherdanta began to wonder:

'The Extreme Formula must have connected directly to the Under then, negating any distance between Aigas and the Under. I had thought there would be none at all, but that was… stupid, I guess. There is Stagnant Space all around Aigas. We are probably passing through a large layer of it. It seems particularly sturdy, as though enhanced by something. Did Quintess and Listafelle reinforce it to keep Boron from sneaking his influence into Aigas?'

In the end, she disregarded the answer. If Quintess and Listafelle did reinforce the Stagnant Space here - to aid the Extreme Formula - they either did a poor job of it or intentionally made it so that Boron could exert some influence to free himself.

And it was definitely the latter.

Guissepo had received a vision from a Cluster General that had been created in a Cluster that had been infused with Boron's Primus energy. And as it were, Clusters were generated within Stagnant Space before they manifested on Aigas. Skullius had discovered this fact during the voyage to Edagon.

But just as everyone was beginning to dread the fact that the darkness wouldn't end, it did.

The Under opened below them, blooming like some monstrous, black and red flower.