Bro, I'm not an Undead!

In the end, when presented with the choice, Skullius had chosen not to permanently remove Sila from him.

Granted, the medallion Sause had used was quite the unique item that could repair whatever the damage Sila was patching up just like the Luminant Seed would have, but the Hybrid Luman had chosen differently.

Many would have chosen to remove this pain in the pelvis from their lives for good, considering that Sila had even confessed that while he was helping Skullius to enhance his powers, he would still scheme against Skullius.

This seemed self-destructive for Sila as a declaration as it wasn’t impossible for Skullius to find another possible way to get rid of him. And it was.

Sila was a torn soul.

He had been serious about dying and he was serious about living enough to find if some of his comrades had survived. Heck, he knew that Skullius had the opportunity to do that whenever he wanted but…. his emotional and mental state wasn’t what one would call stable.

He was broken soul.

Skullius had known this as well, noting the shift in Sila’s thoughts from his madness to after he had taken his body.

Knowing this would surely encourage anyone to get rid of Sila but…

But that was no so for Skullius who had spared Sila for different reasons before and after absorbing the WILLS.

Skullius had spared Sila because of his invaluable information before Sause did his thing but after he merged with the WILLS, he came to a rapid realisation…

‘I’m not sure you will like the response, Sila. I advise you to accept as it is. Or better yet, believe that you’re still here because of my whim,’ Skullius said nonchalantly with just a tinge of ridicule.

Sila was taken aback.

This wasn’t the response he had expected. At least not from the Skullius he knew.

He thought the bastard was just putting up a front against Sause just now and he had even decided to shut up in case he attracted more of the giant’s attention but…

There seemed to be something more.

Still, he was displeased.

This feeling of being looked down upon.

He didn’t like it.

‘I’m not in the mood for your jests, tomato flinger! Do you think I will suddenly become subservient just because you spared me?! Is that it?! You will not get any gratefulness from me! You might as well have had my soul destroyed!’ Sila growled from within Skullius.

The Hybrid Luman didn’t flinch though.

Instead, he inserted mana into his ring as if he didn’t hear Sila’s ramblings, drawing something from within it.

Right after this action, he decided to indulge Sila for a bit.

‘It doesn’t matter to me how you feel about it. Even if you choose to not be the well of information I have been relying on anymore, I can manage pretty well without you. Besides, that isn’t the only reason I kept you intact. If you knew, you’d be begging for a swift death…’ Skullius said with a brief laugh that added to the condescending vibe he gave off.

Sila shuddered in fury… and a bit of fright.

What on earth was Skullius talking about?

From the looks of it, he was dead serious!

He didn’t need him anymore?!

Bullshit!

‘You’re bluffing!’ Sila boomed with rage. ‘You barely know anything about this world! What are you without the knowledge I give you?! Where would you be if I didn’t tell you where this place was?!’

Despite the words Sila said bearing quite the bit of truth, Skullius didn’t show any reaction.

He merely looked at the objects he had extracted from his spatial storage ring.

Three large plaques.

They were made of a certain hardwood with a dark brown colour that wished to cross over to black, their lengths almost half of Skullius’ height.

Their borders were adorned with beautiful frames that had similar designs of alternating dark and light colours, giving off the sense that they were merely decorative.

That was what Skullius had thought when he had first found these.

These were the other objects that were stored in the first chest he had found in the Labyrinth of the Yoke within the room that held the Fruit of World Myths!

Within the chest had been the All Eater scroll as well as these objects whose description held the <???>, effectively proving too complicated to discern.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.104 & Ch.343).

Yet now, things were different.

Before he dove into these, he granted Sila a last response before locking him within the ‘bubble.’

‘You’re right. I reached this stage because of you. But that doesn’t mean anything to me just as me sparing you means little to you,’ he said.

That was how Skullius felt.

As for what he truly intended to do with Sila, the more important reason why he was keeping him…

Well, the aged piece of soul was a failsafe against… death.

‘Heh,’ Skullius chuckled as he thought of this new outlook he had gained.

Perhaps the WILL OF CUNNING was already working a bit too well, gathering all he knew and making sure he used it all wisely and efficiently, as it should.

The Hybrid Luman had discovered that this batch of WILLS didn’t affect his stats, but merely used what he had to bring about the best results!

“Right. Let’s see now,” Skullius said as he held out his one hand while holding one of the plaques with the other.

His palm flashed with [Evil Darkness] the element wrapping around his arm like flames while distorting everything in its immediate surroundings.

‘I can’t believe I was so short-sighted with this. Darkness and Light. They aren’t limited to what I was using them for before…’ Skullius thought as he felt the element clearly.

Its sensation.

Its power.

It was alive.

It had greater purpose than being forged into orbs and domains.

This was what the WILL OF UNDERSTANDING was funnelling into him.

While gaining a new perspective of his abilities, Skullius had thought to these mysterious objects that he didn’t understand.

They exuded faint wisps of darkness and light but beyond that, he hadn’t been able to decipher what they held.

Were they weapons?

Precious auxiliary artefacts?

Random tools?

He was about to find out.

Skullius waved his hand over one of the plaques using darkness and…

“I see…”

A trail of words started to appear.

Actually, it was more fitting to say symbols.

They crept up over the surface of the wood from the left to the right, creating rows of these strange symbols with gaps in-between like absurdly large paragraphs.

Each symbol had wisps of darkness flaring lightly over them, as if on fire.

…!

To Skullius’ surprise, it seemed he could understand what these symbols expressed, as they seemed to be similar to the ones he had seen in the Labyrinth back when he had attained [Pseudo Evil Veneration]!

It was an understanding that one could understand through reading.

No.

That wasn’t it.

It was like hearing what each symbol expressed through the darkness he had on his hand and that which flared on the plaque!

Weird!

Swallowing the surprise, Skullius dove right into it.

<They do not understand. Not my Chosen. Not their lieutenants. Not even you who reads…>

Skullius was taken aback.

Was this… Fulgardt?

<The essence of Evil Darkness and the truth of Just Light. It was birthed after I extracted the secrets to humanity. Their true depths which are rarely ever absolute, split between black and white. The vile ilk that taints them, the purity they bear and the bland middle that is created when these are mixed together. That is the truth of humanity. Of sentience. Pretenders infest the masses, along with clowns, jesters and psychopaths. On the other hand, there are those born with purely good emotion and intent in the world, those I seek to spare in the coming reaping. These are the foundation of my power. How I structured it to work against them all with the gift the Wanderer Who Seeds imparted on me…>

<Evil Darkness, to RESTRAIN and BIND while Just Light CONTROLS AND GUIDES. These are but the crumbs of what these powers can do when one’s connection with them grows to a partly respectable degree…>

<However, when one truly embraces both of these abilities, they can do so much more. To EXTINGUISH, ERASE, DICTATE, RULE… and above all else, when these powers are brought together, meshed as one against RULES, against the natural ORDER, against the NORM, the one who holds the gift I received, can…. GIVE ANYTHING…>

…!