Chapter 994 Delusion
Before Skullius awakened…
"Well, I think it's about we had a chat, don't you think?" Fulgardt said as he looked behind the giant, skeleton siphoning both Null Life and Insurgent Magnus powers within its bones. It held a nasty green-bladed scimitar in one hand, and a longsword with its blade jagged horrifically in the other.
This monstrous creature was guarding a small, frail Boneman with blue flames issuing from its sockets fiercely, mirroring its turbulent emotion. Of course, this pitiable skeleton, was Skullius.
He shook at the gaze of Fulgardt piercing through the gaps in the ribcage of his guardian and attempted to swallow hard only to fail for obvious reasons.
"You…" he said, a notable tone of bravery and hate boiling in his voice.
Fulgardt – a broad shouldered man with an equally broad yet muscular frame, long dark hair cascading down his naked back and a piercing glow in his sharp, almond eyes – looked up. He saw the dark green sky looking as though it was ailing, and expressed what Skullius almost thought to be pity. His eyes then turned to the fiery sea around the broken island on which he and Skullius stood on.
"The Reflection of your Soul is quite tragic. Except for this murderous thing protecting you, nothing here quite… embodies what you are, Skullius. But I suppose, that's the Direction you have been dealt. Same as me," a smooth voice that flowed like water only to become as rough as rust where the Immoral aimed for emphasis, leaked from his mouth.
Skullius would have frowned if he could.
"What's it to you, damned sockethole?!" he growled. "You're the last person I expect to barge in with fleshing nonsense about us being alike!"
It was worth noting that despite the ferocity in his rebuttal, Skullius was beyond terrified. This scenario had played out just as abruptly as one would imagine. Skullius had just awakened to this scene where a man he immediately knew to be Fulgardt was standing before him.
Why Fulgardt was suddenly in the Reflection of his Soul; why he himself was here; what had happened to his body after that bright flash…
All these were questions that a hypothetical search engine in Skullius' head was looking for the answers to.
Fulgardt smiled… and then he sat down on the torn ground littered with flowers that showed globes of light over their petals which displayed blurred out memories.
"Of all the delusional people I've met, you might not even crack the top ten, but I'd say you're in the same league, Skullius…" he said.
The Boneman shook in fury.
The bulky skeleton guarding Skullius seemed to react to the swelling in his emotion. It lunged towards the seated Fulgardt and swung down its longsword with great speed and might!
Fulgardt raised a hand briskly and caught the sword effortlessly, gripping it so tight that the great black skeleton couldn't withdraw it.
The Immoral then wore a grin so sinister that Skullius could have sworn this island they were on turned several notches darker because of it.
"You see? This is delusion. What madman attacks another madman who is responsible for their life and their powers?" the Immoral said, his eyes piercing the Boneman standing at a safe distance.
Skullius' socket flames blazed with emotion.
"Responsible for my… for my life? Flesh you! Perhaps you wouldn't know, but I braved the terrors of the Tremur Forest back then on my own, without your damn help! It was all me! Even in that detestable Labyrinth of yours, it was my efforts that counted in the end, even beyond your rigged sets and gifts. Surely you know that. I wouldn't have gotten your Legacy with just the free skills you gave, right?" he said.
Fulgardt chortled. With rough force, he pushed away Skullius' Reflection and its sword.
"Hmm. You did do well. You deciphered a little of the markings on the wall to receive my [Evil Veneration], used your [Mana Manipulation] to live long enough against Dezrael, employed a little cunning, not to mention a boatload of luck, to escape the Hall. But let's be honest, all of that wouldn't have been possible without my design. All the tools you needed to reach the prize were in that Labyrinth. Do you know why there was a stack of rusted and worn Legendary and Mythical grade tools right in front of the chamber that held my Legacy?"
Skullius had no answer.
"It's because none of it would work. I paved the way. No path other than what I created would do," Fulgardt said with a tone of authority.
The Boneman shuddered and reminisced.
There were indeed stacks of weapons back then, not to mention corpses. It was from that pile that Skullius found Demion's Dance, actually.
"So what? Why are you here? Wait, let me guess. Is it because I'm delusional?" Skullius said sarcastically.
Fulgardt laughed.
"You really are a funny fellow. Too bad you're actually right," he said. "You and I are similar in that regard. At least an earlier version of me. I too believed that I was destined to break out of a cycle I was born in. That it was common sense to find my roots. My true roots which led to me finding myself. Perhaps I was destined to be a renowned farmer, a carpenter perhaps, or a fearsome warrior. I didn't care, as long as there was a mark that said 'I was here, I achieved this'. Well…" Fulgardt looked up at the green clouds.
"…that was a crass thought. The majority of us are meant to carry out the will of someone else, Skullius. The true value of an individual only shows itself when they discard themselves and became the legs and not the head. You were living such a life, weren't you? You were living out your calling under the might of someone else, becoming a part of a bigger machine. But you abandoned that only to find that once again… you've become a slave to someone else."
Skullius' sockets blazed. He grew furious.
What was this bastard rambling about?
He had escaped Somanda because he was about to get extinguished like a candleflame, and chose not to sit still and watch it happen!
The Boneman balled his hand into a fist and the Reflection a few meters away from him hunched, preparing to shoot towards Fulgardt again.
Fulgardt laughed.
"I can feel the defiance practically wafting from you. Funny. You claim that you didn't need my powers before you reached the Labyrinth. Fair enough. But weren't you hanging off of Serenity's powers before then? Wasn't your faithful Bone boar, born because of her grace, the one to save you many times before you came to me? Weren't you yearning to evolve so that you could escape the clutches of your former master to serve a new one? What did Serenity say again? Ah, yes, that when you reached Tier 4, she would tell you everything. That your, grand purpose will be given to you. Do you honestly think that purpose is to be her equal, or to be a pawn, serving her whims?"
…!!!
Skullius shook.
He immediately wanted to deny it, to reject it. Several bullet points worth of valid counter points had risen in his head, but they were immediately washed away mysteriously by an overwhelming sense of…acceptance.
All of sudden the Boneman swayed and dropped to his knees. He felt reluctant to argue.
Was Fulgardt right?
Was his path just a road to switching masters?
But wait…
"No. No, you… Sause told me all about this! The stronger your powers inside me get, the stronger you get as well. You're just trying to flesh with me!" Skullius cried, refusing defeat. He even rose to his feet, his socket flames beginning to pop and flare. "You're wrong! I…Serenity is just…!"
The sentence just couldn't form in Skullius' head.
What did he want to say dammit?!
"Hmm, that's what I thought," Fulgardt said with a look of pity. "Like I said. I used to carry that delusion. You see, everyone in the world, in a world, rather, serves someone higher. In Aigas, the answer, is the Deities. Everything done on the ground doesn't matter. It doesn't prove anything other than the fact that you are a subject. You live for someone else. I was blessed enough to understand this quickly. When I told everyone this truth, they pitied me. They looked at me as if I was some kind of sick dog. I pitied and hated them in return. Listen Skullius, we mortals are bound to this, but some of us can gain the privilege of choosing who to serve."
"SHUT UP!" Skullius suddenly exploded.
His Reflection hurtled towards Fulgardt with its swords raised.
The Immoral disappeared from where the thing aimed to attack and appeared behind Skullius whom he grabbed by the collarbone and soared up into the sky with!
The Boneman hurried to wrap his hands around the Immoral's neck and he squeezed with all his might.
"STOP TALKING! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU THINK! SHUT UP AND LEAVE THIS PLACE! I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, YOU SOCKETHOLE! YOU'RE NOT TAKING OVER MY BODY!" Skullius screamed.
Fulgardt wore a vicious smile as he drew Skullius' skull to him and screamed back:
"WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT TAKING OVER YOUR BODY! YOU, SKULLIUS! YOU ARE GOING TO BE THE NEXT FULGARDT!"
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