Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1298: Scheme (1)

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"Hard pass, sockethole," Skullius said at once.

Fulgardt raised a brow. He hadn't expected Skullius to be so direct. He expected him to ponder about it first at least.

"Hmph. You sure about that? Don't tell me you think you have nearly enough allies to help you raid the dwelling of the Liches. Haha. If you truly believe that, you're a bigger fool than I had hoped!" he barked.

"I have no reason to trust you," skullius said calmly. "Ties of Exchange won't work for us after we leave Aigas and I'm not so confident in my ability to create other powerful contracts. Needless to say, I wouldn't trust you to handle that either."

The weakness of a Tie of Exchange - a type of contract governed by the Deities of Aigas - had been revealed to Skullius when he was battling in the Null Remnants against Aurolio. The Voided Deathform had made a Tie of Exchange with Skullius that forbade him from doing him any harm, yet in those deserted spaces where the Deities of Aigas had no access or control, he had been able to attack the amalgam Vohnvolt as much as he wished without consequence. If Skullius entered into a Tie of Exchange with Fulgardt - the safest bet when it came to contracts, as it would be overseen by Deities - its terms would cease to matter after they left for Deadmanland. There would be no repercussions for breaching it.

"I suppose that's a fair fear," Fulgardt said and his eyes turned vicious. "But do you really think you can afford to lose me as a potential ally? It's not as though I would dart away after you give me what I want in exchange. I would gladly dive into the land of the undead myself if I knew how to get there."

"I have enough allies. They are all budding and best of all, they have my trust," Skullius said. In the past few seconds, his phantoms had been theorising on just how much information Fulgardt got from the WILLS. It appeared that Fulgardt only had information from before Skullius merged with all the elements of himself he had carefully split and conjoined - all of his alter's memories, that is. That should have been obvious, but the fact that Fulgardt mentioned the Unlimited had tripped him up a bit. He wasn't supposed to know that.

Skullius imagined he might have learned that from Rias, who had Actuass' memories. The masked man would definitely have had a strong impression of the Unlimited solely because of that last attack they had launched on him as a collective.

The Hybrid Warmoth turned to the First Horn.

"Excuse me, First Horn," he said with a tone of respect. "What exactly did he offer you?"

The 'he' was referring to was no doubt Fulgardt.

The First Horn had sat back in his bowl. He considered Skullius for a bit.

"The same thing you offered us. As you are here, I am certain you remembered what you proposed," he said.

"Oh, I remember," Skullius said while secretly grinding his teeth.

At that moment, the words his possessed self had said before their battle rang in his head.

'...nothing you do can stop the progression of these plans. Even besting me will not change the course I have made.'

This scenario was one of the things Skullius' possessed self had been talking about.

"I promised that I would take you with me on a voyage outside Aigas and that I would give you gifts that would make the treacherous journey easier. I remember," Skullius said.

The First Horn supported his chin with a hand.

"I decided to pick your favour over that of this man, the scourge of Maqi. The other First Horns venerated in stone before my palace would curse me if I yielded to him," he said, giving Fulgardt a nasty look. "But, as you and I agreed, there are additional terms - my terms - in response to your proposal."

Fulgardt laughed. Skullius sighed.

"Indeed, there are terms. I remember," he said.

The fact that his possessed self had already promised to give gifts to the Maqians when he had yet to unlock access to the Insurgent Magnus' ability to gift anything, was rather bold.

This ability, which Skullius had just used on his Unlimited Stars and Stark Troops earlier, could only be acquired when the affinity for both [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] had reached the pinnacle - S grade. Additionally, it could only be used on the same individual once, and it could only be activated twice every thirty days.

But this wasn't exactly relevant for now. What was important, were the terms the First Horn had made after Skullius had proposed the idea of Maqi coming under him.

"I only have the right to your son, the Ode," Skullius said.

The First Horn nodded.

"Indeed. You bested my son in combat, as well as Umbett. Those two are at your disposal to do with as you wish. If they are to come under you as you traverse past Aigas, they shall. If they are to bring a portion of their followers with them, they shall. They cannot and will not refuse to be yours. But I will not serve or bring myself under you," he reiterated what he had told the Hybrid Luman.

Fulgardt hummed in thought.

"Oh, that's right. You did tell HIM that," he said, his eyes shining. "Such false honour. Anyone who tests the might of the Insurgent Magnus is doomed to fail. Even if it were you who was supposed to fight against HIM, you would have lost all the same."

Skullius disagreed. He only beat the Ode back then because of several perfect conditions matching his repertoire of new abilities. He could not have bested the First Horn. In fact, it wouldn't have been a fight at all.

But perhaps Fulgardt was imagining himself going against the First Horn while wearing Skullius' skin. Perhaps that would yield a different outcome.

The Immoral then turned back to Skullius.

"I will not sit here and watch as you two get chummy. Make your decision, brat. Will you make

a treaty with me or not," he said, and a dangerous pressure began to rise from him again.

Elita was ever ready to match it, Skullius knew.

He sighed.

That wouldn't do.

"Fine," Skullius said. Fulgardt grinned.

"What?" Elita turned to him, shocked. "What are you doing?"

Skullius kept his blank eyes fixed on the Immoral.

"However, in exchange for giving you access to the Labyrinth of the Yoke, I don't want you as

an ally for my final goal, Deadmanland," he said.

The grin disappeared from Fulgardt's face.

"What is it you want then?"

It was Skullius' turn to grin.

"I have recently made a terrible enemy, you see. Two enemies, in fact. Two Primeval Deities. One is TITEMIUS and the other is D'JORRO. I'd appreciate it if I had a senior Divine expert to help me if ever the wrath of these gods befell me."

[Author's Note]

It's always fun when Skullius brings up something like this. Fulgardt's face likely looks like Sause's back when he heard he'd be helping Skullius fight an Arch-Lich.