Chapter 1808 - 1808: Unruly Gift Tree (2)

Except for Grim, none of the other Stars and Troops took Yuyui's freaking out too seriously. They all caught the Chubby Remnant Sons as Skullius threw them their way and began appraising them.

"Chubby Remnant Sons?" said Gerriey, turning the crying thing in all directions and squeezing it to determine the depth of its textures. It was like holding a heavy jellyfish.

"Something to that effect. Without the guidance field, it's quite difficult for me to determine the names of things like this," said Skullius, a little annoyed by how much his dependence on the guidance field continued to show now that he'd lost access to it.

"Smells delicious," said Baddan, sniffing his Chubby Remnant Son and licking his lips. "We're supposed to eat it, aren't we? That's why Yuyui is getting hysterical."

"How could you look at this adorable thing and want to eat it?" Yuyui hissed at him, and then she turned to Grim. "Please tell me you're sane enough to see how insane this is?"

Grim donned an awkward smile, and a drop of sweat trickled down his temple. "Well… depending on what properties this thing has… maybe I won't even need it since, if you recall, I got aged back ten years by the Chronocle Fiend."

(A/N: Refer to 1420-22)

"Yuyui is under the impression that the Chubby Remnant Son is the same as the Child Remnant Child of Polarity," scoffed Skullius, and Yuyui glared at him as though he'd called her a slur. "The Chubby Remnant Son is… meant to be eaten, like the Child, but instead of giving stupendous luck in one instance in exchange for terrible luck randomly in the future, it will simply turn you all into infants and build your bodies back up rapidly depending on the conditions acting against you."

"…"

"Uh…" Magisa droned, not quite sure if she fully understood. Many shared the same blank look.

Savast, however, was among the few who got the idea.

"It's to cover our weakness," he said.

Even Yuyui's frown melted. She understood as well. "So that's what it's for."

This realization calmed her down a bit. By all accounts, she had never distrusted Skullius and wouldn't suddenly start now, but she did question how far and how weird Skullius' methods would get. She loathed having to consume the Child Remnant Son just as much as she loathed her own weakness, which caused Skullius to have to resort to things like this to cover for it.

Grim scratched his head.

"This is going to be excruciatingly painful, isn't it? If I'm understanding this correctly, the magic babies will make our bodies stronger by having us adapt to the rough density and gravity here in the Breaking Chasm until we're fully grown," he said. Then he winced, as though someone had pinched him. "Are you going to make us sleep outside the Sanguine Suite so that we get exposed to those dreadful conditions? That's too much tough love, boss."

"You've been through worse," said Skullius, and he waved his hands again, manifesting dozens of obsidian ores that kept twitching, as though they were flesh lumps riddled with nerves. They were about the size of a fist (a normal human fist), with uneven surfaces that spotted discolored impurities. "Lucky for you, though, I'm not going to cast you out into hell to maximize the Chubby Remnant's Son's effect. Before that, I need to do something else."

Skullius distributed the ores, two per person, but didn't have his subordinates hold them. They merely floated in front of the Troops and Stars.

From Skullius' armour of Numinous Ichor, dozens of tiny droplets of the poison, barely the size of a fingernail, extricated themselves and flew into the center of the ores. None of the Stars and Troops saw it. They didn't see how tense Skullius was either. The Hybrid swallowed a large lump of saliva. He was terrified. One small error and he'd make the same mistake as the Warmoth.

It was a miracle indeed that the Unruly Gift Tree could birth fruits like this – the Chubby Remnant Children and Sons. The latter was much less profound than the former, but far more practical. As soon as Skullius had seen them and agonized over their properties using his exceptional Null Life manipulation powers, a new innovation for the Adaptor Gene had been born in his head.

…But it was dangerous. It might have needed a combination of both the Children and the Sons to perfectly execute, but Skullius wouldn't risk that. The Chubby Remnant Child of Polarity's luck properties were powerful, so powerful, in fact, that they had somehow conjured enough bad luck for Skullius by somehow making Somanda a High Lich – a Divine Lich – which worsened his circumstances a long time ago.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.556.)

Gambling on that again wouldn't do. Skullius was already walking a fine line with what he was doing right now.

'Even this much Ichor is dangerous, which is why it's sealed inside the ore,' he thought, nerves taut as steel cables. 'The Ichor will corrupt the ores slowly over the next few days, which means, if I don't work quickly enough to finish the Gene…'

The question of why he would do it now if it was so dangerous was valid. But the ore had another function beyond being a stable container for the Numinous Ichor, one that required time to perfect. So, this too was a gamble.

"Boss, what is this?" asked Grim, reaching for the obsidian ore.

Skullius drew it away from his grubby fingers with a thought. "Nothing important for now."

It was both the truth and an ugly lie.

'Here goes…' thought the Hybrid, drawing his utmost focus.

…And then he called on IN and MU. The two creatures revolved around the Stars and Troops, granting Skullius absolute control in that range.

…And then MU shone with such a devastating flood of light that the armour, skin, and bones on the Troops and Stars faded to reveal their delicate innards and their souls.

It happened in an instant none of them could have defined.

Skullius diminished his immense size and warped to each of the Troops for the delicate work. For each, he began by destroying their exposed kidneys, and then, with dexterous, careful manipulation of [Just Light], he held the blood vessels and nerves left behind and connected them to the obsidian ores before positioning them where the kidneys had been.

By the time it would have taken for the Stars and Troops to blink, Skullius was done with them.

"Where did those black things go?" asked Yuyui with a duck face.

"They are exactly where they should be," said Skullius, and he watched them all for a reaction. There was none. Not a single one of them would be able to detect the changes within them. Not yet.

'Good.'

Skullius' nerves loosened ever so slightly. "Do you still have any misgivings about eating the Chubby Remnant Sons?"

Yuyui immediately pouted. Grumbling, looking at the Son, then Skullius, she took a deep breath and angrily bit into the consumable's head.

Seeing this, the other Stars and the Troops grinned and followed suit.