Skullius remained lost in his thoughts for a while. Throughout his journey home, he felt as if his head was swelling with possibilities and anxieties that had too much to do with him.
It was a lie to say that this world revolved around him, but he felt like his existence marked a turning point for Aigas. His arrival here was met with too many events, many that changed him for the better and others for worse.
In it all, a thought made Skullius open his guidance field to check the time left before his sentence again.
~~~
Doomed Factor 2: Existential Crisis
<Progressive Soul Confusion>
Your distinct perception and absorption of mana throughout the years has caused you to start awakening what should have been lost a long time ago. If you fail to recover and remember this in time you will suffer a crisis of your own existence and descend into madness.
Time till DF2 : 21 days
~~~
The timer was quirky.
After Inhone, Skullius had 3 months left, and that amount of time had passed if everything that came after to now were added.
That said, Skullius had spare time afforded to him by something he had wondered about a lot.
On the night Somanda reached Divinity, he had wondered about a certain notification.
[The remnants of nourishment to your soul by a Mythical grade treasure are erased...]
(A/N: Refer to Ch.556).
Skullius had found that it must have been the medallion Sause used on him to integrate the WILLS of Fulgardt to his soul. Whenever he had checked the notification for Doom Factor 2 after that event in the Temple of Unlusted Tears, the timer hadn't changed.
That was until, this notification showed up.
When the time he had left started to trickle down again, Skullius had understood everything.
The medallion, among other things, had stalled Doom Factor 2. Of course, when Somanda became stronger, its lingering effects couldn't continue the valiant deed.
Because of this though, the Hybrid Luman had a little more time left, but he wasn't sure if Sause had helped him on purpose.
That said...
'I still haven't figured out what <Progressive Soul Confusion> means. I haven't felt any different since that day...' Skullius thought.
The tag on Doom Factor 2 had also appeared when Somanda ascended, but he hadn't felt anything remotely close to what it seemed to entail, thus had brushed it off on most occasions.
Well, if it wasn't doing anything, then he might as well not think of it for now.
'So far, I have no real reason to think too deeply about it. I just need to move forward with what I've prepared,' he comforted himself.
There were worse, closer pains he had to steel himself for after all.
Skullius blinked a couple of times, throwing his mind away from the thought.
Instead, he flung a quick sensory glance at Aurolio's mansion which he had left behind, and a crooked smile formed on his face.
Strangely, not being the only anomaly on Aigas made him feel a bit better, even if he wasn't actually friends with Aurolio.
Ah, that reminded him.
'If only I'd met Elita after I had gotten rid of UNCoddled. We would have gotten along well perhaps,' Skullius thought.
Since it was obvious that Elita had been a Voided Deathform, or at least a candidate for it, Skullius truly wished she hadn't died. The memory of her helping him escape Eofel only to be killed by dreadful curse for assisting him....
Skullius sighed.
Soon, he had opened the doors to th Bryne Family mansion which wasn't guarded by men and women decked in shiny armour anymore since the whole Family had moved back.
Skullius had no need for protection, and between him and Silrat who was usually making rapid trips to the Association or staying there for days on end, the mansion was usually left empty.
Unless of course...
"Did you have to hurry off like that? I wanted to talk to you!" a familiar voice bashed against his ears.
"I had a final few things to do before settling. Besides, we agreed that I don't have a tail with your name on it!" Skullius barked.
Darwel twisted her lips.
"Settle you say?" she asked.
Before a reply came from Skullius, two individuals standing at Darwel's side gave a deep bow before speaking in perfect synchrony.
"Good day, Lord Luminant!"
It was Viccil and Sevill.
Skullius gave a nod before sitting in the lounge.
"Yes. Settle. I won't be leaving the city until the Royale begins. Is that enough time for you?" he said.
Darwel beamed.
"Of course!"
Since the Second Round of the Preliminaries had ended yesterday, Skullius had been zipping around and outside city, making it difficult for Darwel to speak to him. Finally, seeing as the Hybrid Luman was sparing time for her, she couldn't be happier.
"Before, you said you had a lead?" she asked. "Let's hear it."
Skullius bobbed his head this way and that before folding his arms.
"Yes. Kind of," he said. "After reading that parchment of yours, I saw mention of something that could be useful. There was this one, old Luminant, who unlike the others committed to their old traditions while still keeping a tight lip on details, right?"
"Yes. He built something. A shrine. A large one. It's beautiful," Darwel said with her eyes twinkling. She began to turn restless just by thinking about it.
"It's like... a towering sacred, humanoid beast made of jade, decorated with all kinds of sunset lilies, last moon straw and ostrich feathers. It was preserved from old times with magic."
Darwel tore herself from the loop of admiration, seemingly having realised that she couldn't understand why Skullius was interested in this.
"Why?"
"I don't have a concrete solution, but it'll be a start. I'll need to get to this shrine. Since you planned to get us to Opungale after the Royale, then it's no problem, right?"
"Of course, Darwel said with a large smile."
What had brought them together more than anything was the [Son of Luserus] skill that Skullius had, which couldn't be activated just by willing it to, like most of his other skills. It wouldn't respond.
With all the knowledge Skullius had gotten from Darwel, he felt like he was a step closer to getting this skill to work.
A racial skill that was supposed to bring out the true form of Luminant... or a Hybrid Luman.
Surely it would be powerful... and hopefully safe.
If Luserus really was a Deity like Skullius imagined, there was a high margin of risk, but a similarly high margin of benefit to this.
Hopefully, his luck would remain as tame as it had been.
At that moment, Silrat walked down the stairs, seemingly coming from the in-house library where he usually spent a large portion of his time.
Seeing Skullius, he gave a weak smile before a nod.
"You look terrible," Skullius remarked.
"Yeah, well, some of us have actually jobs," Silrat hissed in a low voice.
He had bags under his eyes and for the past month, he had been working his butt off as a Supervising Overseer.
The job was relatively easy, as Supervising Overseers mostly monitored scouts and the exclusive mercenaries on top of executing orders from the General Board, which wasn't that frequent of an occurrence.
Silrat though, seemed to be working extra hard towards a goal Skullius didn't know.
He perhaps had been taking other Supervisors' duties and exhausting his body so much, he had to use Full Body Aura just to keep his body from slumping to the ground.
Skullius really wanted to ask Silrat what his endgame was. He had known ever since the day he went for the evaluation – the day Silrat told him about his father – that the man had a goal, but more often than not, he resigned to the idea that if Silrat didn't talk about himself, it was better not to ask.
"How's Theurien?" Silrat asked.
"He'll be fine," Skullius waved his hand before standing up and walking up to his friend.
Silrat was a bit confused to see Skullius approach and stand there in front of him wordlessly for a while. He had expected a high five or chest pump, as Skullius usually did for whatever reason – even he didn't know why.
After a while, even Darwel cocked her head to the side.
"Do you two need the room?"
None of the two replied. But then...
"You've been pretty slippery for the past weeks, and I've really had to think long and hard about this..." Skullius said with a wry smile.
Silrat was puzzled.
Skullius could perceive how tired he was, with tinges of excitement burning within him. Whatever it was that Silrat was working towards, it was important and he felt that he was getting closer to achieving it. But for now, it had to wait.
'Seeing it to the end.'
Skullius remembered when he and Silrat had agreed to this.
Flesh that.
Suddenly, Skullius reached his hand into his Temporary Storage and drew out a lump of what looked like a bundle of lint the size of a fist, but with purple fragments imbedded into it. It looked hard and rough over certain parts its exterior though, strangely enough.
A moment later, the Hybrid Luman crushed it in his palm, and threw the fine dust it turned into right at Silrat's face!
The Overseer grew vigilant, many thoughts running through his mind, but a split second later, he felt a hand bore into his chest viciously, the torrent of pain that followed causing an impulsive reflex to take a sharp draw of the air!
All the dark dust around him raced into him the moment it was invited, gushing through his orifices and disappearing in his flesh completely.
'W...What...?' Silrat thought in horror, a feeling of immense pain clawing at his innards horribly, like he was moments away from imploding.
"I'm sorry. This is me being selfish, but I can't take chances... Not when it comes to you."
These were the last words Silrat heard before a sharp strike to the back of his head knocked him out.
Skullius caught his limp body, a dark expression on his face.
Darwel and her guards looked at the scene in utter shock, not knowing what was happening.
What was Festos doing?
Skullius turned to the three with a sharp presence about him, one that Sevill and Viccil quickly recognised. It was swollen with guilt, fear and...fright.
"I had to," Skullius said before turning to Silrat's unconscious body.
This was one person he couldn't allow to be harmed. Not now.
"What did you do? Isn't he your friend?" Darwel asked. Unlike her guards who had already visibly relaxed, she remained oblivious and tense.
Shockingly, appallingly...
Under the gazes of everyone, Silrat's body that leaned against Skullius' arm started to break apart like fragile glass, the broken bits which rapidly turned into ivory specks of light dissipating into the air.
"He won't... be here for a while. Until after all this is over... or until it begins," Skullius said simply to which Darwel finally got an idea as to what was going through Skullius' head.
When all of Silrat's body had vanished, Skullius breathed out a frustrated breath with his eyes closed. He then opened them and walked back to his seat.
Looking up at Darwel who was still standing, he said.
"We still have a lot to iron out, right?" he said.
Darwel slowly nodded and sat back down.
"...Yeah."
Indeed, there were lots of things to talk about.
Yet, as the two's conversation picked back its pace, one of them was a bit distracted, hoping against hope that what he had done wouldn't go terribly wrong.
However, after a few seconds, it became hard to think about this subject.
What was it?
Who was it?
....
~~~
[Ghostless Ascension Mould]
<Mythical+>
The one who takes in the mould into themselves will cease to exist as a material being, an ethereal one, and as a concept within the world they reside. The duration lies entirely with the one who inflicts the mould onto the target.
.....
~~~
----
[Author's Note]
Royale begins next chapter!
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