Bro, I'm not an Undead!

“That was definitely a nice exchange you had there. I was almost disappointed when you gave up,” Setkh said with a tilt of the head and nuanced smile.

“Really? Glad to hear it,” Skullius said as he sat on the couch and took a breath.

Everyone else sat down on separate seats except for Yuyui who sat on Skullius’ couch’s armrest.

“I understand why you gave up though, all things considered. In all honesty landing a blow on someone a full Stage above you is an incredible feat on its own but… have you thought about investing in armour? I’m sure that special sword of yours is Legendary grade and it wouldn’t do to bring another treasure of that level to the Royale but what you needed to continue fighting was replenishment of your energy, wasn’t it?” Setkh asked.

He was only partly right.

‘Hmph. Does everyone think Demion’s Dance is a Legendary grade item? Whatever, that serves me well either way,’ Skullius thought, not bothering to correct Setkh.

Indeed, the green sword was only a Unique grade item. What made it compete with Legendary grade items was its complementary skill, [Swindling Death’s Dance] which brought out the full potential of the sword.

As for looking for an item to replenish his mana…

“For me, armour doesn’t change much. It’s especially useless when almost everyone I’m fighting in the Royale is a Stage above me and has some crazy technique. In that situation, Legendary grade won’t do me much good. Even if I were to replenish my mana, in some cases that doesn’t mean anything, just like with this fight,” Skullius said.

Silrat nodded.

He agreed with Setkh’s analysis too.

It was already a miracle that Skullius was able to battle people in the Master Stage.

While general witnesses couldn’t quite understand the significance, everyone who knew about strength in general was surprised by how Skillius held his own when he was an only an Advancement Stage expert, though, as Skullius had thought, they were under the impression that his Legendary grade tool was the one doing the heavy lifting.

Karrun gazed at Skullius thoughtfully, wondering if his words were the truth or lies spun to support his pride.

In any case, now that Skullius had failed, a part of him felt the weight of responsibility, more than anyone but Setkh realised.

“Perhaps things would have been different with the armour you’re choosing to ignore. The whole reason you lost was because you missed, right? You could have fixed that easily,” Karrun said with a slight smile.

Yuyui gave him the stink eye while Silrat coughed and defended Skullius.

“If Festos says he has no need for armour, so be it. In fact, having less flashy tools to assist him only helps his case as a weaker contender, in technical sense. Much like with how he broke that barrier,” he said.

Skullius nodded before turning to Stylla who hadn’t said a word all this time.

She had been facing the floor ever since they had reappeared in the residence, drowning in her own unknown thoughts.

“Stylla. What do you think?” he asked.

Stylla seemed to emerge from a heavy pool of darkness as she gazed at the man who asked her the question.

“There are two contenders in the Family. If one fails, we leave it to the other,” she said with hollow look on her face.

“I see…” Skullius nodded.

How pragmatic.

Furthermore…

“I’ll be heading home tomorrow to see father. Care to join me, Setkh?” she continued, changing the topic.

Setkh was surprised by this.

Stylla never asked her to do things with him. If she had to, it would probably be something extremely important or…

“You as well Festos. I think it will be a good opportunity for you to… meet the Family Head.”

Stylla sounded exhausted midway during her sentence which made everyone a bit suspicious.

“Sure,” Skullius responded.

The female redhead nodded and gave a short glance to Karrun before standing up.

“I’ll be retiring to my room.”

After she left, everyone in the lounge looked at each other, as if trying to read each other’s faces.

What was up with her?

Did something happen?

Was she really passed off about Skullius losing?

Maybe.

Skullius was the first to stand afterwards, grabbing Yuyui by the shoulder and dragging her along.

“I have somewhere to be, so I’ll take my leave,” he said as he pulled Yuyui to his room, grabbed a few stuff and then disappeared out the door with her.

​ “Where are we going, Master?” the lime haired girl asked as she clung to Skullius.

“To the Temple. I need you for something. I didn’t consider it before but I could benefit from having you around with this. Hmm, I phrased that wrong. In any case, I was naive…” Skullius replied.

Yes. He had been naive.

Sure, it was likely that the Purity would give him what he needed to rid himself of his FIENDISHY ABBHORENT LUCK… eventually. However, the main problem lied with whether or not they were willing to lend it to him for a night or so.

Unlike Tulnas who was charismatic and had cultivated a good relationship with the Purity, Skullius was sure that he was going to be asked to use whatever he was going to be given inside the Temple as obviously, he wasn’t trusted.

That was a problem.

The only way for his body to accept whatever he was going to be given, provided that it possessed the blessing or powers from the Deities (obviously it would), was if he was in his Eternal Storm Veil Penetrator form which didn’t have the Binds of Fukal restricting it.

The Binds of Fukal, the cross shaped tattoos on his Luman body, received when he took in the Insurgent Magnus powers were marks that resisted the Deities’ powers.

The more Skullius had thought about them, the more he realised that these things were made to resist the powers of the Deities of Aigas specifically. The animosity between Fulgardt and the Deities must have been incredibly thick for him to do that.

“How good are you at lying?” Skullius asked Yuyui who looked at him and blinked a few times.

“Um… I’ve never been good at anything besides music and the likes but… I can try,” she replied.

The two crossed a few meters, passing crowds over crowds under the two bright suns.

“I see. I’m going to need you to sound pretty convincing with something,” the Luman said. “By the way, how’s the guidance field?”

“Oh! It’s really nice! I can tell everything about myself easily. I didn’t even know I had some skills that I currently have! It makes everything easier to navigate! Thank you very much, Master!”

“Good. As long as it’s working for you. Soon, we’ll be changing how we move. I need to get both my forms much stronger much faster. I need the same for you.”

Yuyui wanted to cheerfully say ‘Yes, Master’ but the words didn’t come out. That was going to be difficult.

In any case, like she deigned, she would make it work but for now, she quickly changed the subject.

“So what I am supposed to lie about?”

Skullius turned to her. He could feel how the lime haired girl was clinging to him tightly.

The two looked each other in the eye. One of them at least. Yuyui’s green bangs covered one of her eyes, the Inhuman Eye, while the other didn’t look away from her Master.

“You’re already playing the part. Sadly, to prevent any inconveniences, I won’t be there with you. We’ll use this chance to test out something but just to make sure, first you…” Skullius began expositing.

It was a simple plan really.

The Temple was usually busy in the afternoon. This was especially so after most people had vanished to the Premium Age Royale for a few hours.

Skullius was sure those obnoxious Priestesses would block his way and claim that the Grand Priest wasn’t ready or whatever. That’s where Yuyui came in.

A few minutes later, Yuyui walked up the steps with multitudes who were eager to enter the Temple. While belief was dwindling, there were still a lot of people who went to the Temples to hear the doctrine of the Deities.

Yuyui took deep breaths.

She saw the Priestesses at the doorway and wore a cute frown.

‘So they are the ones…?’ she thought before wiping away her unhappy face and wearing a big, smile riddled with apparent sadness.

Yuyui tore herself from the crowd and reached one of the Priestesses who turned to her and smiled kindly.

“Greetings to you, miss. How can I help you?” the Priestess said.

“Uhm… I was wondering if…” Yuyui said, her words coming to a halt while her heart began to pound madly.

If Skullius’ theory turned out to not be true…

Seriously, melting right here would be…

‘Just do it! Just do it!’ Yuyui thought while sweating buckets.

“Yes?” the Priestess said.

“I was wondering if I could get help from my brother. His name is… Festos.”

Yuyui immediately covered her face with her hands.

Nothing happened.

Oh?

Really?

The lime haired girl, now burning with a small flare of optimism, uncovered her face and looked left and right suspiciously.

‘Good?’ she thought.

The Priestess looked at her with worried eyes. Bewildered even.

“Uh… something wrong?” she asked with concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m alright. I was just wondering if I could get HELP for Festos,” Yuyui said before covering her face again, this time going as far as to duck down and envelop her head with her arms.

Still nothing!

“I really want him to get the HELP he deserves. Like, I really care for him and I want him to get HELP for his own safety and benefit. HE—”

“Alright! Alright, miss!” the Priestess said, beginning to sweat as she thought someone deranged had come but she didn’t show it.

Yuyui looked left and right.

It worked! It worked!

Master was right!

If he was far away, UNCoddled didn’t react!

Yuyui was overjoyed!

A self pitying tear even strolled down her face!

‘I really didn’t want to die today..’ she thought, thanking her lucky stars.

Hippee!!!

With that out of the way now, she put on her game face and clenched her fist secretly. It was time give the performance of a lifetime!

As an artist!

As a loyal companion slash servant!

As an aspirant of whimsical experiences!

The fire within burned bright as she rose and balled out all like there was no tomorrow!