Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1271  The Power Required (1)

Skullius could hardly fathom what had possessed Theurien just now, and how Elita had known how to deal with it but he was relieved all the same. He imagined that perhaps what he had said to Theurien before bringing him here was too vague. He had wanted to surprise the man and give him hope.

Stylla was still alive, after all.

Skullius had simply wanted to show Theurien that Stylla was well, except for the fact that she didn't have a body and thus could only exist as a soul for now.

Because of the BoneTender, Stylla had been compromised and forced to travel with him as his aide. Yuyui had recounted to Skullius how she had managed to save Stylla, but stressed repeatedly that it had been a close call.

She had used her Eye of Moving – a special eye that allowed her to perform any action that remotely associated itself with the word 'move' – to traverse into Stylla's Reflection of the Soul and convince her to fight. There, Stylla had told Yuyui that she had done terrible things that she found hard to live with while under the BoneTender's control.

Skullius imagined that before Stylla and the BoneTender headed to Edagon, they had 'enjoyed' several adventures across Aigas, performing atrocious deeds. This was probably how they gathered information they wouldn't have otherwise gotten access to.

The Hybrid Warmoth had sympathised with Stylla. Thankfully, Yuyui managed to save her soul, even though her body ended up getting destroyed in the BoneTender's final gambit.

It pricked Skullius when he thought about how Stylla would react upon waking up. She hadn't been conscious since the day she was saved.

Normally, souls couldn't exist without their bodies for long, but Skullius had used the powers of the Fallen Reincarnator's Shadow, a weapon that embodied the powers of the masked man, Actuass, to delay her extinction. The weapon gave Skullius incredible skill with souls. With it, he was no different from Actuass in that particular regard.

Skullius gazed at Theurien. The man continued to weep as he pressed himself against the glass cage around Stylla's bed. A part of Skullius had felt that the man needed this – to cry as bitterly as he could. Thus, he had allowed it for several minutes.

He turned to Elita.

Wordlessly, he asked her if it was alright to interrupt Theurien now. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

She nodded with a smile.

"Theurien," Skullius said.

The man flinched slightly and turned.

"Stylla's is in good hands. She exists only as a soul now, but I finally have a more permanent solution," he said.

Theurien seemed to crumble on the inside.

"Please…" he managed a murmur. "Please… if you can…"

Skullius nodded.

"Leave it to me."

He said this, but a few minutes ago, he had only been partly sure he could perform a deed that required Divine wisdom and power. Now, he knew he couldn't allow himself to fail. He simply couldn't.

Kintar's words rang in Skullius' head at this moment.

'…It's beneath you.'

Skullius shook his head.

'No, it's not.'

How could one simply start to see mortals as lesser just because they had managed – through a mix of hard work, luck and mortal assistance – to transcend to a higher state of existence. A wise being, in Skullius' opinion, would never forget his roots.

Even now, he recalled his roots.

He remembered even Bonet, Fractures, Monosocket, his friends from the bunk tombs in Somanda's domain. He wished to save them or at least allow them to final find peace in death.

Such things weren't beneath him.

Skullius had rejected this very ideal that his possessed self had been pushing forward, disregarding everything that wasn't useful for breeding a perfect future, including the past and lesser lives.

'She'll understand one day,' Skullius thought.

 He grabbed Theurien's shoulder gently.

"What I'm about to do might be unsafe for you if you stay close. I'm going to have to move you out of this building to ensure your safety. When I'm done, I'll bring you back in," he said.

Theurien nodded with what sounded like a small, 'Thank you.'

Elita held his hand and escorted him out of the room. Strawlers opened the door and escorted Silrat out as well.

Now only Beyrmir remained in the room with his master.

Skullius sighed. He looked at the Apostle.

"I'm not sure even you will be safe from this," he said. "You've lost two bodies to me already. I think you should try to defend this last one too."

Beyrmir's first body had been destroyed when the possessed Skullius had used the Noboboyama to cut apart a portion of Aigas, including its Rules.

The second body, which Skullius, as the Soul-Burdened Warmoth had donned to weather through his possessed self's final gambit, had also been eviscerated by that menacing ray of power created when [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] were given offensive form.

Now, Beyrmir's last Mercurian body was hidden in the Sallow Face.

The Apostle grinned.

"I have not once regretted losing my bodies for your sake, my liege. It is my purpose. I am proud that in each event, I proved to be of some use," he said, but then he looked down. "I know what you intend to do for this woman. Please, allow me to stand here and be the first to witness the most perfect version of you."

Skullius was dumbfounded at first, but then he laughed.

Since Beyrmir had access to his skills, he (Beyrmir) could also discern Skullius' Andori and their qualities. The Apostle must have understood Skullius' composition and powers so well that he gathered that to save Stylla, the powers his master needed to access were not in the Hybrid Warmoth body.

They must have been in another one that was leagues stronger.

Why else would he have Silrat and Theurien escorted out?

Skullius was pleased.

"Very well. I'll allow it."

***

Elita knew she hadn't needed to move out of the room with Theurien and Silrat, but she had wanted to.

She, unlike Beyrmir didn't know exactly what Skullius intended to do, but to her, it seemed rude to simply stand and watch.

She, Silrat, Theurien and the Strawlers climbed down the mountain, the cool, rich air walloping them gingerly.

...And then it happened.

…!!!

Elita sensed IT first.

With the Voided Death Essence she had recovered, she shielded them all before IT swept past them.

Something went off high on the mountain, and then the entire thing toppled down gracelessly like a tower of stacked cards!

A great beam of bright energy exploded upward in a frightening pillar, impressing its dominance on any and all who would dare to exist in its vicinity.