Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"...."

"Hahahaha! I\'m just kidding. We\'re probably going to die. At least me and Ferex will. You\'ll probably become a slave to that Cluster General and never get to eat a single piece of food again. That is, of course, unless you manage to outlive the bastard and his bros."

"...."

Yuyui\'s stomach growled.

Skullius\' words caused a dreadful chill to run down Yuyui\'s spine.

She trembled.

Skullius was joking right?

He couldn\'t possibly mean what he said right?

The lime haired girl turned to Ferex and found the Hound sitting down silently, bound as it was.

Hey hey hey!

Was everyone just giving up?!

The girl then turned to look up at the hill beyond the magma pool. The Cluster General sat down without a word but the increased discomfort from the worsening temperatures in the atmosphere told of how frustrated he still was.

Earlier when he was conversing with Skullius, he had been left with a dilemma. He had shared a summary of his life with Skullius because he didn\'t believe the invader could escape him, intent on linking his method of growing stronger with how Skullius and his crew got their interesting skills.

If he could attain them somehow, he could become even stronger.

Unfortunately, what should have been petrified prey before him turned out to be a nightmare that dropped a few bombs on his head.

Killing him. Not killing him.

These choices seemed to be much of the same!

One would be inclined to think this was a bluff but the Cluster General was well aware of the mystery behind the other side of the world he lived in.

A bigger world full of its own dangers.

How could he not believe it?

At the very least, he couldn\'t dismiss it.

In the end, he had Skullius, Yuyui and Ferex stationed right before his throne. If he couldn\'t kill them, then he\'d just keep them with him to delay whatever demise was going to come eventually.

He had thought that perhaps Skullius would try to kill himself but the confidence this skeleton and his companions displayed made him realise that he was probably enjoying his conflict.

Still, he had Skullius and company bound.

Something akin to thick ropes with cracks that glowed red could be seen wrapping around Skullius and his crew individually as they sat down, the ends of these ropes nailed down to the ground.

These ropes were extremely powerful and wouldn\'t even allow Skullius, Yuyui and Ferex to budge. Yet that was all they could do.

Several hundred Fire Breeders patrolled in the skies, all their eyes gazing on the enemies at all times.

"Master..." Yuyui said as she found her emotions going awol once again.

She understood that the Cluster General had some kind of mind related powers that it had used to communicate with Skullius, but it didn\'t seem like he could brainwash or harm Skullius with them.

Was her master just being cautious with his words?

"Make sure to keep my ring safe for the next thousand years," Skullius said before his socket flames flared and then died down.

...!

Yuyui at first was alarmed but then she realised that this was probably the equivalent of Skullius closing his eyes.

But...

"Keep the ring safe?"

The girl wasn\'t used to this kind of stress.

Was this a coded message or something?

Was there something she was supposed to derive from this?

Yuyui gritted her teeth.

Skullius had given her the spatial storage ring after his grand attack earlier. Apparently the ring was hard to keep safe when he was fighting and he had had to use large quantities of mana to keep it from melting when he first fought that powerful Fire Breeder that could manifest exploding spears.

Now, his choice turned out to be right as he would definitely lost everything within it if he had been wearing it when he was molten away by the sudden attack from the Cluster General\'s great sword.

Since Yuyui and whatever she wore would come back to life along with her, the ring would always be safe in her possession.

Skullius had even told her to eat it if she could avoid suspicion by doing so, but she declined, opting for another, more mundane way of hiding it from the Fire Breeders.

Now, with Skullius having shut his vision and with Ferex resting under the binds as if without a care, Yuyui was left to her own.

All she could do was replay the memory that she had awakened.

She recalled how her parents wanted her to be safe by being able to protect herself. She even boldly made an excuse for herself, that she couldn\'t fight. That it wasn\'t a part of her.

She justified her weakness by turning to music.

The Deities said so, so it was probably alright, right?

She didn\'t need to fight, right?

Then, was she really able to just let herself live a lengthy life of slavery then?

\'Arrgh!\' Yuyui frustratedly screamed in her mind.

Alone, she just couldn\'t see a path ahead.

All she could see was her own uselessness.

Even if she couldn\'t die, it seemed less and less of a superpower than it was a mere trait about her.

The girl felt herself devolving, her mind-set going towards being sheltered like back in that lonely place. Perhaps that was all she meant to amount to.

Perhaps... that was all there was.

If she just relaxed and let everything divulge in the way it was supposed to...

It would be fine.

***

CRACK!

A resounding echo travelled through the entire Cluster.

It was time.

Approximately two mostly uneventful days had passed.

On the high ground from where Skullius and friends had come from, a light could be seen.

Space tore on itself as it invited the Cluster beasts held within to exit, entering the world of Aigas, finally.

"The time is finally ripe," the Cluster General said.

The opening to the Cluster was grand, like a massive white circular gate that didn\'t show what was on the other side, just like how the mercenaries saw the Clusters from the outside.

Yet now, it was welcoming to the Cluster beasts for a change and even those who would have entered would be free to leave now, despite not being able to clear the Cluster.

The Cluster General rose, his large body rising for the first time in decades. He gripped the hilt to his great sword and pulled on the nigh three meter long weapon from the pool of magma around his throne, his feet that had also been in the liquid hell pushing through as he set them on hard ground.

"Let us go. I wouldn\'t dream of leaving you behind as I venture into your world."

The face of the General was a little tense.

There were too many mysteries with this bone creature.

While he hadn\'t done anything but wait patiently for the Cluster to open, as his inborn instincts foretold, he had witnessed this creature change shape twice in the past days!

Its presence changed dramatically when it transformed into the shorter, more... \'normal\' looking form that he assumed was how the creatures on the other side would look like, a calm yet deadly air revolving around it that put the other to shame.

Yet...

Contrary to what the General had assumed, even in this new form, this creature still did nothing, remaining in the binds that adjusted later to his size.

It was suspicious.

Only this kept him on edge.

Fortunately, Skullius wouldn\'t take the easy way out.

The Penetrator\'s sockets lit aflame as he exhaled a burst of mana.

Indeed, it was time.