Bro, I'm not an Undead!

“Uhh…” Skullius stammered.

“Don’t ‘uh’ me,” Aurolio said as his eyes twitched. “You can tell who I am, right? Of course you can, you wouldn’t be alive otherwise with that visual impairment.”

The pale man shivered before summoning a luxurious chair from a storage space whose location Skullius couldn’t identify. Aurolio sat annoyingly close to Skullius and even scooted his chair even closer, leaving a very narrow gap of suggestive proportions between them.

Aurolio them blew a warm breath into his pale hands that looked to genuinely be stricken by a biting cold and locked his eyes on Skullius.

“Uh… is this allowed? I thought you couldn’t just… I don’t know… invade people’s private spaces. Literalmetaphoricalandincludingthisoneaswell…” Skullius said, blitzing past the last sentence in annoyance so as to not be… too direct.

“I heard that,” Aurolio said with snort. “It’s not against the rules, so why not move as I please.”

‘Really?’

Now that Skullius thought about it, the rules really didn’t specify anything about this being illegal. Not that he had anyone to visit during the matches.

“You’re not what I expected. My first impression of you is already pleasant,” Aurolio said.

Skullius didn’t offer any form of snarky comment, as much as he was itching to.

Instead, he used [Graceless Hunter] to scan Aurolio thoroughly.

The pale seemed to be aware of it but didn’t mind.

The Hybrid Luman had been interested in this guy since his first fight in the Preliminaries. No, even before that. Stylla had warned him, after all.

The man who was hailed as the strongest among the Families of Pelian.

Of course, Skullius had not truly cared as much about him until he saw his ‘fight’ in the Preliminaries.

This pale man truly was strong and right now, the silent presence he exuded was making the Hybrid Luman uncomfortable. His mangled thoughts had been slashed apart as soon as he had showed up.

This was both terrifying and highly inconvenient for Skullius who hadn’t even had enough time to properly digest everything that had just happened prior to being transported here, especially everything to do with Stylla’s fate.

But that could wait.

Beside Vali, the cunning woman who expressed interest in him, going as far as to outright declare it to his face.

Besides Gabel, the poetic maniac who seemingly only practised literacy in a murder and murder-related capacity, Skullius was wary of this man before him.

What did he want?

“How can I help you?” he asked cautiously.

Aurolio shivered, emitting a funny sound in the process.

He sized up Skullius before poking his head suddenly, as if the Hybrid Luman was some toy.

“You had me fooled for a while. If it wasn’t for the guidance field and that split second from that day, I would have believed you’re actually a normal human. Wait, scratch that, you’re not even a fucking human,” the pale man said in the most monotone voice Skullius had ever heard.

…!!

Skullius shook.

Goddammit!

He visibly tensed.

“I’ll say it again. Calm down,” Aurolio slammed his hand onto Skullius’ shoulder. “Don’t make me use ‘respectfully dangerous words’ now. Like I said. I just want to chat.”

Many thoughts sprawled within Skullius, causing a mental storm that the Omniscient Thought Cracker, the small, but terrifyingly efficient brain he had acquired after attaining [Great Celestial Counterfeit], compartmentalised.

How the hell did this guy know that he wasn’t… human?!

Wait!

How much did he know?!

Dammit! Why so suddenly?!

‘Talk my vague ass!’ Skullius thought furiously.

In the real world, where all his internal thoughts were hidden, the Hybrid Luman wore an innocent smile.

“What do you me—” he began…

“Don’t you dare play dunce with me! <Sigh>. Maybe I’m going a little too fast here. Let’s start with something simple. Argh. I swear you’re almost as exhausting as Idline,” Aurolio said with a harsh breath leaving his nostrils. “You know what a guidance field is, right?”

The Hybrid Luman remained silent for a while.

In a short span of time, he managed to rein in his scattered thoughts and consider what to do pragmatically.

Guidance field?

Guidance field.

Well… this confirmed it then.

‘I knew it wasn’t just Elita who knew about this but…’ Skullius thought before gazing blankly at Aurolio.

“Yes. I do,” he replied.

The moment he did, it was as if a mini explosion rocked madly within his body, forcing him to hunch over a bit!

There it was again!

That was a reaction from Serenity, just like before when he was facing off against the Null Devil King!

What the hell?!

Aurolio pretended as if he didn’t see Skullius struggle with something and nodded.

“Good. See? We’re making progress here. Now, do you know what it means to possess a guidance field?”

Skullius paused.

“No. I don’t,” he answered honestly.

He truly didn’t know.

It was still a mystery to him why the damn thing even existed.

Why Vow existed.

Aurolio took a short-lived glance at Skullius’ abdomen before his gaze returned to the Hybrid Luman’s slightly strained face.

“Do you want to?”

‘Why does that question sound so ominous?’ Skullius questioned himself.

As if to add to the dramatic flair, the same burst of heavy energy grumbling within him forced him to hunch over some more.

‘What’s happening? What’s Serenity doing?! Ever since I evolved, our connection has gotten stronger, but… what’s this all about? Is she…Oh, is she trying to prevent me from hearing what this guy has to say?!’ Skullius hypothesised.

Indeed, Serenity’s connection to Skullius had grown stronger.

An instance that represented this was back when Somanda manifested before Skullius through their former master-servant relationship, the last remains of which rested with the Lich’s hold over half of Skullius’ soul. Serenity had also manifested through Skullius’ connection to her, coming to his aid.

The Hybrid Luman doubted the powerful entity could appear the same way again since she had been flickering the entire time when it happened during that instance, not until he grew stronger at least. Was that why she was resorting to blowing up his unidentified insides?

Wait, that was a terrible way to describe this.

If this was the case though…

“Yes! I want to know,” Skullius eagerly answered Aurolio.

Flesh Serenity!

She had been withholding what was happening; the purpose of his powers, their background and so on, while insisting that he reach Tier 4 first. But now, Skullius had a third party willing to tell him.

For now, he threw caution out the window.

He couldn’t brush this person off anyway. He was stuck with Aurolio until he got what he wanted.

“Alright. But first,” Aurolio said as he reached in to touch Skullius’ abdomen. “Let’s take care of that nuisance.”

“Huh?”

What did this man mean by nuisance?

Before Skullius could even comprehend what and in what way Aurolio meant, the pale man’s hand ignited with a furious purple glow that dyed both of them in its infectious embrace!

“Temporal Void Lock,” the pale man softly named what he was doing, as if saying it helped him focus.

Following the initial gracious tinge, a like-coloured fiery storm burned against Skullius’ abdomen lightly and the Hybrid Luman couldn’t help but open his eyes wide.

He… he felt it.

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What was it?!

Why was it so similar to Null Life Essence… yet also, different?

The way Aurolio applied it showed that he had a deep understanding of it, but its nature was a lot more rugged and coarse, without the serene and tranquil attributes Null Life Essence possessed!

‘What in the world… what is this?!’ Skullius thought, appalled.

As the surge of this foreign energy continued, he felt Serenity’s rampage somewhere within him die down slowly.

Moments later, he felt fine, as if there hadn’t been anything troubling his unspecific innards in the first place!

“How are you feeling now?” Aurolio asked while shaking his arm.

The Hybrid Luman remained awestruck for several moments before answering weakly.

“Fine… I’m… fine now,” he said as he felt for his abdomen and then turned to Aurolio. “What… what was that just now? And how did you… Bro, what the hell is going on?!”

Aurolio chuckled.

“It seems we have similar questions for each other. Thankfully, I figured you wouldn’t be as hostile as I came here imagining you to be. Who would have thought you’re just a dense wanderer,” the pale man said. “Since we’re talking things slow…”

A sharp light appeared in Aurolio’s hand for a split moment before being replaced by a book.

Skullius scanned over the book with his senses, as well as Aurolio’s own for a brief moment through [Graceless Hunter], and… froze.

“Aah. You have some idea as to what this is, don’t you? Well, in case you don’t have the full picture, this… is called a Book of Alignment. It’s a rare piece of runecraft that carves into you an affiliation, among other things.”

The Hybrid Luman opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words.

To think he’d see a book like this again.