The Mind Caster rushed to where the short Swordsman was standing, and disappointedly gazed at Skullius' beheaded body.
The Swordsman didn't turn to him.
"We have no reason for conflict anymore. Or should I remind you that you're only alive because you have a pesky, persistent technique?"
The braided man frowned, but he also noticed that the number of Glass Units above the Swordsman weren't as inflated as they were supposed to be. A few hundred had been deducted from Skullius' own even though he lay still, his leg at another place, his right quarter at another, and his head under the Swordsman's blade.
"Is he still alive?" the braided Mind Caster asked apprehensively. "After all that?"
The short Swordsman had a grave look on his face. He jabbed his sword in Skullius' head viciously, and waited for a moment.
His Units only increased by a hundred.
He grunted unpleasantly, and then spoke.
"All I can say is... you were probably right to target him earlier..."
***
The viewing for the witnesses had become very exciting, as several large scale battles had begun. The assortment of them left different waves of emotion, as some took long, and some were over before they even begun.
The thrill most acquired from watching, mainly came from betting on the contenders, and though very, very few could see it, an invisible swarm of shapeless intent was crawling about all the witnesses, though it failed to catch them all in its clutch.
The stronger among them resisted its charm, and remained with their minds accommodating the possibility of something huge happening today, before or after the Royale ended.
The way things were going, it wouldn't be long before most the contenders were dead.
The large number above the glass panels now showed that only 22 contenders remained in the designated battle grounds after only a handful of hours since the event began.
Many had begun to wonder if this event would even last half a day, or whether or not there would be a single contender to reach the GOAL. So far, no one knew, and everyone could only look to the screens to try and predict what the end looked like.
Speaking of the screens, a terrible battle had begun a few minutes ago, and it had a large chunk of the witnesses absorbed into it.
In reality, calling it a battle was likely not the best way to put it.
It had started off quite bombastic, but had developed in a way no one had expected.
One of the contenders was getting brutalised, by not one, but two other contenders who seemed to be fighting for his Units.
Soon, the crowds gasped as he was killed, and among the shocked masses, a young girl with blonde hair, and the man next to her felt a heavier weight to this than anyone else.
Terese buried her face in Daggs' chest.
She had seen a lot of deaths since the Premium Age Royale began, but this was entirely unexpected. She hadn't thought, with all that this man who had joined their Family could do, that he would fall like this.
Daggs hadn't expected this too, and as it happened, his mind drifted over to how Theurien would think of this, and how... how...
He looked to his side, where there was an empty seat.
He couldn't think of anyone else, but this was devastating.
Maybe it had been a bad idea to join the Royale!
How would Stylla feel if she found out?
Many brutal thoughts sprang hard between the two, and in the mind of one other.
Alaris was seated with his body leaning forward, a contemplative look on his face.
He was thinking hard on the image he saw; two contenders standing before Skullius' body, their discussion which was heard only just now starting to cause a stir.
An expression of realisation crept on his face, but he subdued it. He wanted to hope in THAT, but he wouldn't believe it until he saw it. Frankly, he barely knew the fullest extent of Skullius' skillset outside his swordsmanship, hand to hand technique, and support skills.
'Don't tell me you're going to die that easily, after all that time I invested...' he thought, half regretting that he had started to get attached to the young man with two, piercing blind eyes.
***
The voices sounded in Skullius' ears.
[Graceless Hunter] helped him feel everything around him, including the air, the pillars which spread out to a wider range than he, and the other two had thought, and the reverberations of lightning, fire, and mana coming from where they had all fled.
Skullius took it all in even with his head severed, even with the panic still shrieking through his mind.
He was indeed alive, but not because stabbing him in the head couldn't kill him.
No. That wasn't it.
Since he didn't really need to breath, his image right now was quite bizarre, and with his <CURSED HEART> not really being essential for him to keep existing, him stopping it from pumping threw off the short Swordsman, and the Mind Caster.
If not for the fact that there was no cumulative mana streaming from Skullius, they would believed he was dead, and that the indicator above him was just glitching.
A sigh blew within Skullius' mind, as he tried to calm himself.
'T-tomato flinger... How are you alive right now?! Shouldn't you... we be dead?!'
'We should...' Skullius replied simply.
'Then...'
'Be quiet,' Skullius commanded.
A pause followed. A gentle silence.
His mind was starting to settle from the panic, and the rage was subdued. It wasn't that he was holding it all back desperately, like before.
No. That wasn't it.
Alaris words... they dunked a bucket of cold revelation onto him just when he got his head chopped off.
'...After speaking to you, clashing swords with you and witnessing what stands as your resolve, I cannot see what I see in everyone else who transcends some threshold. Maybe it's truth you're missing? A tangible goal maybe? Whatever the case is, the sword cannot handle it. It requires you wholly in it, even if you may die by it.'
Skullius, without using all his abilities right now, didn't stand a chance. Unless he was resolved to run away from all these high level Masters every chance he got, he was going to die. Like he would have just now.
Moments ago, a deep set fear had started to overcome him.
In the face of a Swordsman who could cut him without swinging his sword.
In the face of his speed being matched.
In the face of none of his attacks being effective against his enemies, his mind had started to grow stunted, limiting itself, and giving in to the unfortunate rush of emotions he was feeling from the incident with that damn flower.
But.... was it because he REALLY couldn't kill all these bastards with his current powers?
Was it?
No. That wasn't it either.
He DEFINITELY could.
As Skullius was about to wholly die by the sword, as Alaris said, he finally started to understand a bit about what Alaris meant the day he asked him:
'... Am I close to being a Sword master?'
The answer was surprisingly buried within the same thing that had almost killed him just now.
The sharp whisper that came whenever the short Swordsman raised his sceptre, and simply stood in his aloof stance.
That was it!
Skullius opened his eyes, much to the short Swordsman's apprehension. His red neon cloud Incarnation immediately billowed around Skullius, and the Hybrid Luman felt his body getting rapidly weaker, his connection to his skills, and their effect also turning mellow.
It was frightening to encounter such a thing for one like him, and it had nearly been his undoing, but the glittering, purple liquid flowing through his body right now, resisting his death, and very slowly, regenerating his limbs, had worked wonders. It had given Skullius a chance to find the right mind to counter his doubts about what he could do.
To fight against what limited him from becoming a master at a craft.
"Crafty! He somehow drank a potion!" the Mind Caster cried, and he pointed his staff towards Skullius, ready to once again expand another dome of mental energy!
However...
Discreetly, a jade orb spawned from the space behind the two contenders who were both ready to take away Skullius' Units at all costs.
The Hexer's Inheritance.
With Skullius' command, a massive amount of mana he stored within his Temporary Storage was expended by the orb, and in flash, it glowed, and became engulfed by a crimson flame that beckoned a hellish heat, like the sun!
The Mind Caster, and the Swordsman were surprised by the sudden emergence of the giant ball of lustre, and scorch which threw itself at them right away.
A great explosion of flame devoured the two, and as it did, Skullius, with [Greatest Mana Crafter] used the ambient mana to push his head towards his body.
Around his neck, another swarm of red clouds could be seen. They greatly resisted the healing properties from the Super potion he had transported from his Temporary Storage, and directly into his body before he was decapitated, but Skullius' body was still regenerating.
The Swordsman's Incarnation was powerful indeed.
As Skullius' head attached to the stump of his neck, it was only loosely connected, but he still managed to transport his entire body away.
As soon as he landed on his feet... he felt another sharp whisper!
...!!!
Skullius' torso was ripped to shreds, and he nearly toppled over once again!
The two contenders began to emerge from the hot flame unharmed, but he didn't allow the panic he had escaped moments ago grip him again.
He had to keep calm for what came next.
Sadly though, his arm remaining arm was cut apart too, and even though his body was trying to recover because of the potent effect of the Super potion, the process was very slow.
Skullius took a breath.
His ripped torso, which looked comically like a checkered shirt with a red, misty neon glow, didn't dismantle into pieces that fell to the ground.
Instead, a bright blue glow held the individual pieces together such that Skullius stood sturdily!
Even his minced arm was brought to firmly set on his shoulder, despite looking like a bloody mess!
It took his utmost focus to keep this up.
But this was just the beginning.
"You think taking a potion will save you?" the Swordsman bellowed after fully emerging from the crimson flames. "I'll hack you every which way until you die, just like any other man!"
Skullius offered no response, but he was attentive. Both to the Swordsman, and the Mind Caster who was trailing, walking in another direction with an apprehensive look on his face.
'We'll have to see...' he thought.
The Hybrid Luman reached in for a pillar close to him, and pretended to lean against it for support.
Then, he skilfully crashed his fist into it, breaking it into pieces that fell to the ground.
Under the gazes of the two enemies though, Skullius caught one of these shattered pieces, which just vaguely... very vaguely, looked like a misshapen, thick sword.
Skullius' blank eyes gleamed, and he held the sword out with a concentrated breath of hot air.
...
A hiss came from his body, like pulse of wind shuddering from his skin.
...!!!
The short Swordsman opened his eyes wide, as Skullius flexed the torn muscles in his arm, somehow kept together.
'Huh?' he wondered first in surprise, then in shock.
It was his turn to hear a sharp whisper that hurtled towards him....
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