Bro, I'm not an Undead!

He was hoping he could take advantage of the Association\'s information sources once again as they were rather accurate and efficient, at the exclusive level at least.

As he walked through the foyer, he suddenly stopped.

Something within him started to burn.

"Hmm," at first he murmured.

"Ngghhh!" then he grunted.

Something hidden deep within him was reacting viciously to an external influence he couldn\'t understand!

"What\'s going... on?!" Silrat cried.

In the next instant, he madly screamed without care as the agonising pain of his soul getting ruptured was too much to bear, a piece of it bursting out of his body violently and flying off into the distance!

***

"Boss, what we doing? You haven\'t told us anything in detail since that day. For us to suddenly be returning to the Union..."

Kenno sighed in annoyance.

"We\'ll be meeting a new benefactor soon. Before that, we need to finish all our pending matters there. Loot and all. Will that suffice as an answer, Udo?" Kenno said while turning to the man who had just asked the very question he had grown to loathe.

The man, Udo, reluctantly nodded but was still largely unconvinced.

He opened his mouth to speak again when...

"Argh... what the bloody hell?!" Kenno grunted with his eyes bulging from the sudden burst of pain just now.

Before he knew it, he had collapsed from his horse and he was crying out loud in a broken voice with excruciating pain written across his face!

Then deep within him... he felt something being sliced up and expelled from his body!

***

In a far away land, a certain giant was kneeling with his large palms plastered together in prayer before a beautiful shrine when...

"Hmmm?" he frowned.

He noticed danger from within.

A terrible influence flooded from the outside.

It spilled sublimely somewhere delicate.

\'The bond for my Tie of Exchange?\' he thought while standing up, his mind quickly guessing what was happening.

To this, he couldn\'t quite give his signature smile.

As a burst of pain threatened to drag him to his knees once more, Sause merely grunted before narrowing his eyes, his figure vanishing to a convenient spot within the lands for consultation.

***

Yuyui could tell something was wrong.

His master was angry, muttering negatives left and right.

Did it fail?

Was it for nothing after all?!

This question had no answer for now.

What responded was something else.

A sudden crushing burst of pain registered within her soul, making her scream bitterly as she felt something get pulled out of her and flung over in Skullius\' direction!

The Penetrator had turned his attention to Yuyui when a piece of her soul was dragged into his, but it didn\'t merge with him.

"Huh?!" Skullius exclaimed in more layers of confusion.

What was this?

To make things worse, two more pieces of soul came rushing from who knew where only to disappear within him!

"What?! Whose souls are these?!" Skullius asked himself.

There was no answer.

The terrifying set of notifications had set him to prepare his trump card, his last resort as what he had joked about back then was actually coming true!

This was truly perilous!

An unrealistic dose of bad luck had somehow caused Somanda to gain DIVINITY at this moment, denying him the chance to purge all the curses he intended.

Wasn\'t this bending reality?

Was the abhorrent luck borne from convenience?

In that cause, this was too FLESHING convenient!

All the curses were being amped up, no doubt to enable them to resist purging, a gift from the dead Remnant Child of Polarity!

It had to be!

Unfortunately, Skullius did not have the time to fully comprehend all this and the implications surrounding it all as his consciousness suddenly waned, his surroundings vanishing from his sight.

A cold darkness washed over them, persisting for a time before a simple night sky replaced it.

Sky was standing within it. His body was extremely light, defying worldly laws. However, he wasn\'t truly a body right now.

He was a soul.

A dull, facially undefined and short soul that stood, a mildly luminous light emanating from it.

Had his soul left his body?

"This is our third time meeting and I swear, every single time, you do not fail to impress, Skullius."

...!

Skullius turned behind him to find the hazy figure of a man. A strangely familiar man.

\'Shit.\'

The man Skullius was looking at had dry, dark green skin that looked cracked in some places. Large red eyes that released trails of red dust that defiled the night\'s black showed on his face with a mouth full of brown teeth revealed on it as well.

No hair could be found on this man\'s head and his body was covered by shroud of darkness. It was like a dark veil with bursts of grey brimming within it, disallowing Skullius from truly seeing what the man\'s body looked like.

Skullius showed no fear in his eyes.

He had expected the worst when the first notification following the change of the situation showed.

"How long will you keep pursuing me, Somanda?" Skullius said. "Do you really not have better things to do?

"Oh. Even your disposition has changed," the man with green skin mused with a smile, ignoring Skullius\' taunt. "Will you not first congratulate me for joining the ranks of Divine Liches under the Eminence of Undeath?" Somanda said with a gleam in his eye.

Skullius remained silent.

Who was this Eminence of Undeath?

This was the second time Somanda had mentioned him.

The patch on Skullius soul pulsed, attaining a brighter glow at his soul.

"I see," Somanda said, realising he would get no answer to his question.

This conversation wasn\'t moving along.

"What did you do just now?" Skullius posed a genuine question. "What were those souls?"

"Hmmm? Ah, you mean those?" Somanda said, pointing above Skullius\' head.

The short soul looked up and saw...

...!

Three souls were swirling above him silently, their forms strip-like with bright shades of white that were barely humanoid, bordering on serpentine instead.

Now that Skullius could see them, he noticed that they had faces!

Familiar faces!

"Silrat! Kenno! Yuyui!" he exclaimed.

"Hoo. You know them by name? You have cultivated relationships despite having my curse? Hahahaha, amusing. Sadly..." Somanda cocked his finger and the souls swirling above Skullius floated towards the Lich!

...!

"No!" Skullius dashed and gripped the souls, pulling them so that they didn\'t reach Somanda.

The High Lich grinned.

"What are you doing?!" Skullius called in fury while pulling as hard as he could. This wasn\'t good!

How could these three lose their souls?!

What was Somanda doing and how was he doing it?!

"Is that a serious question? I\'m turning them into my undead of course."

...!

"What?!" Skullius was astounded.

Turn them into undead?!

"Don\'t be so surprised. Even as I have Transcended the realm of normalcy, I still cannot intrude in a world of Deities casually. You broke my only point of contact with my sworn spawn and now using you, my conduit bound with a portion of my powers and your powerful connections to decent individuals..." Somanda said nonchalantly but with a forceful pull from his finger, the portions of the souls of Kenno, Yuyui and Silrat landed in his hands.

They swirled slowly, their small faces looking to be filled with despair above Somanda\'s palm.

Skullius\' face hardened.

"If you have already achieved DIVINITY, then what do you still need me for?" he asked as stealthily, he prepared.

"Who would deny the prospect of growing stronger, my dear Skullius? I have hundreds of High Liches to compete with. Divine Undead. I am yet to be something special," Somanda said as he reached for Skullius with his bony hand. "Besides, you are my possession, something I won from a dying world fairly. Now that I have Transcended, nothing stops me from claiming your soul. Even Rules are more lenient towards me and my belongings. I will return for this world, but you..."

Skullius felt his soul draw near towards Somanda and he knew...

He was doomed.

Fortunately, he had prepared a failsafe.

The patch of soul clearly visible on him, closing up a ghastly wound on this form beamed with energy that pulsed at regular intervals.

This was a very dangerous method but at the very least, Skullius would live to fight again. He would remain in this world and reclaim everything that was his... eventually!

Skullius grinned.

This persistent son of a fossil...!

\'You\'re not getting me today,\' he thought as...

"That\'s enough. Both of you."

...!!!

Both Skullius and Somanda were shocked to hear the voice that sounded from between them.

A flicker of blue flame emerged after, lightening up the surroundings splendidly.

​ It crisply torched the two only to flicker and flicker again.

The flame forged a humanoid appearance. A feminine one.

With its flickering nature, it might have lost most of its frightening value in a different scenario but right now...

"Serenity."

Both Skullius and Somanda said at the exact same time.

A fiery hand grasped Somanda\'s thin, green hand and pushed it away before swiftly snatching the three pieces of soul in the High Lich\'s other hand!

...!

Somanda\'s face hardened and his red eyes gleamed bright.

As Serenity\'s figure paused, souls in hand and protectively standing before Skullius, the short soul couldn\'t help but put a halt to his last ditch attempt at escape.

Serenity seemed to notice as she turned to Skullius with her plain flame ridden face.

"You\'re bolder than I thought," she said before returning her gaze to Somanda.

"Shall I tell the Eminence of Undeath that the youngest of his kin has finally shown herself?" Somanda taunted.

"Do as you like. Unlike Void, I play smart," Serenity responded with a proud confidence.

--

[Author\'s Note]

I reiterate. Don\'t be hasty.