Chapter 1805 - 1805: Promise (1)

'An auction, is it?' thought Skullius, sinking back into the Vacuum Fiend's mind.

Was that the answer?

'Most likely.'

There indeed was a new building under construction in the Monosphere, and as Skullius guessed based on one of the two figures grumbling, it was only being built to host this event: the auction.

'There's something they plan to present to the Stellars and make them bid for it?'

It sounded bizarre, and unfortunately for Skullius, his host didn't live long enough to extract even a smidgeon more of a clue about this auction; it was obliterated in an instant.

Skullius considered using the remaining Vacuum Fiends to storm towards this location and find out more, but soon discovered that even if he did, they wouldn't make it. They were too far, and the efforts to delete them from existence had grown exponentially more effective.

…But the objective had been met.

'Wishing I got more out of this would be nothing more than unreasonable. I should be glad I didn't get caught.'

With that, Skullius recalled his consciousness back to his body and cancelled Crude World Injection. Its new, evolved utility was working better than expected. Its effectiveness grew the fewer the targets he used it on, but even when applied to a broad base of targets, it wasn't bad. That would come in handy soon.

He turned to Fortus while sinking deeper into the pool. The attendants had washed his torso to a near-supernatural glisten by now.

"Shall we begin our lesson on the Soul's Cadence early tomorrow – or whenever the sun returns to its prime radiance?" said the Hybrid.

"As you wish, my lord," said Fortus, his sharpness from moments ago gone.

Skullius smiled.

…But inwardly, he began to wonder how, as he'd told Elita and Uyuniya, he'd use this auction to coax Thyrgga into viewing him as invaluable, or maybe, just as valuable as the Stellars he had invited to partake in this auction.

The Sword Gods: 'Smoke Eyes' Dragon and 'Protean' Shidao.

The furious woman. The frost woman.

The giant serpent. The bearded giant with white chains around his arms.

The rest of the Stellars.

'How my audience with the Sovereign General goes will not only determine whether I can comfortably ask for Elita and Uyuniya's leave, but also how well I make good on my promise to Paliothese.'

Ah, Paliothese…

Skullius' mood attempted to plummet at that, but he forced himself to stay vigilant and composed.

As fun as the hot spring water was, the relaxing endeavor couldn't last forever. A little over fifteen minutes later, Skullius and his company left the spring. After they had all collected their clothing and left the new resort the Lucid Parlor had conjured, it simply vanished, leaving the end of the corridor as it was before.

Shortly after, Skullius thanked Fortus for delivering the luxurious experience as he'd promised.

"Say the word, and I will show you more of what the Lucid Parlor is capable of," the steward replied, taking his leave with the attendants.

Before the door closed behind them, Skullius snuck a peek at the sentry Subossais had left behind.

'Hmm.'

Behind him (Skullius), his refreshed subordinates were cheerily chatting among themselves, commenting on the gels and massages they'd received. Timmit made a show of the glistening of his feathers, talking over anyone who dared recount their own experience. Magisa was still daydreaming about the coconutty smell lingering on her skin from the wash, making Gerriey smell it every other second.

Yuyui wasn't quite as thrilled to speak about such things, however. She nudged Grim and gestured towards Kintar, who had adopted a meek posture, smiling embarrassedly, like a naked teenager.

"It's like she's broken," Yuyui said, her voice swelling with anxiety. "Whenever she speaks, I feel like throwing up. I thought it was something like… self-pity before, but she's practically a different person now." She turned to Grim and suddenly looked angry. "Something like what you pulled earlier won't help her. It's not like she just needs to snap out of it."

"I know," said Grim, running his hands through his smooth, blameless white hair. It smelled awfully like fur washed in clean water, nothing more. "I thought she was just being stupid too – taking the blame and pretending she was the only one who messed up – but apparently not."

Grim had attempted to rattle Kintar out of her sullen state earlier by asking Skullius if they were being punished for 'her screw-up', but that hadn't worked at all.

"According to the boss, it's up to us to understand her and help her get past this. We're going to have to be more attentive. Intentional. No shortcuts, I guess," said Grim, groaning. "This isn't my forte, unfortunately, so… I'll be counting on you and everyone else. I'm not used to having to be patient with Kintar – at least not like this."

Yuyui's face softened. "It's not like I'm an expert either. Our best bet is probably Savast."

Right then, Skullius gathered everyone.

"Elita, Uyuniya. There's something I need to do – something that concerns, well, all of us who will be staying here," he said to the Void Users. "You're welcome to come and watch or, if you'd like, I can leave you somewhere in the Bosom."

Uyuniya and Elita shared gazes for a moment.

"We'll stay in the Bosom," said Elita.

With that decided, Skullius had Araeyn and Weaver stay in the Lucid Parlor and warped everyone else to the Bosom. Leaving the Void Users in the care of the Strawlers, he took his subordinates to the Second Layer of the Hatcher.

"I'm not certain about what happened, but Pherdanta and the others won't be joining us yet. Instead of resorting to something drastic, I'll wait and see just a little longer," Skullius said to them. "In the meantime, we can proceed."

"With what… exactly?" Baddan asked, confused.

Instead of answering immediately, Skullius opened a gateway to his Mobile Maverick Library. As he did, his subordinates saw the weight of sullenness upon him again. It made his handsome, young-looking face seem old – weary.

"Your current weakness is not a sin, but for my own selfish reasons, I have to empower you all artificially so you can adapt to the circumstances. For everything I have planned beginning tomorrow, you need the strength to at least be able to move about on your own at the very least."

The Hybrid led the way into the Library. The shelves housing books with covers bearing resemblances to the Stars and Troops would have nabbed the attention of the lot… if not for the shocking sight above them.

Boron's massive corpse was suspended high, frozen still as though imprisoned in a temporal cage.

An even bigger corpse stole the spotlight, however, and not just because of its size. Paliothese was dead, but it was what had become of his body that caused a stir. Great blue branches with lively blue leaves were pouring from his eye sockets, nose, mouth, and the stump of his neck.

A tree.

From the remains of Prime Worlder, something magnificent had emerged, an opportunity for the Stark-Soul Order: life bearing fruit.