Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Black took several choking breaths as he laid on the ground.

What a defeat he had suffered.

Till the very end, he hadn't been able to do anything against his enemies who curb stomped him and his team to oblivion without breaking a sweat.

The only thing that made this loss easier to swallow was that he would now be able to meet his brother who had a headstart to whatever awaited in the afterlife hours ago.

There, he wouldn't have to fear death again.

...

"Phew...I can't believe this actually worked. I really didn't break a sweat," Cast said with the silver armour on his body, his Incarnation, growing faint before disappearing.

"Surprisingly..." Bull also remarked as his Incarnation, a Living type in the form of a bulky, muscular warrior with spiked fists also vanished.

Oliviana plopped to the ground.

She hadn't used her Full Body Aura as the fight wasn't really over. They had only taken out a fraction of the remnants of the bandits still hidden in the mountain behind the barrier.

Thus she needed to keep all her trump cards in reserves.

"I know it's still early to ask but will Sir Festos be alright against the supposed boss of these bandits? Given the fact that he suddenly vanished, I can only assume he found some way to either lure out the leader of this bastards or something else while we were finishing off this crew," Cast said as he kicked one of the corpses and gazed at Oliviana for an answer.

The short stack was the one most familiar with Skullius. It was no secret given how the two talked and seemed to know each other on a deeper level.

"I have no clue. Just like you, I didn't see anything at all. Maybe he found a way to pass through the barrier and is fighting in the mountain as we speak," Oliviana said with a shrug.

"Wouldn't we be able to hear noise from the fighting if that were the case?" Bull asked while cleaning the blood from his armour.

"Maybe he drew the enemy away with the Forced whatever. That artefact."

"Maybe."

It was really inconvenient to know nothing about what was going on following the mysterious disappearance of the crutch of the group.

Bull had been left with the Simmering Cloud in his grasp to use in case something happened after Skullius left, but the anxiety was still palpable. Everyone here was prepared for a bitter fight but... Skullius was the one who initiated this operation.

Legendary grade artefacts and below didn't have the feature of binding – ownership where an artefact would not be usable by anyone other than the individual it was bound to – thus they could be shared like this.

Whoopee!

Mystical grade treasures and above however, were different.

Several hours passed with no activity coming from the mountain or from anywhere else, which garnered confusion and worry as the group began to think that something had gone wrong.

Did Sir Festos perhaps lose?

Gulp.

Perhaps.

But then why were the bandits not attacking?

They knew they were waiting over here.

These conflicting thoughts filled up the idle minds of the Contract Knights for a while before...

"Hey."

Everyone suddenly turned to find the person they were waiting for walking towards them from the distance.

He didn't have anything to cover him on his torso which was bloody and his pants were tattered and torn hideously.

"Sir Festos!" Bull, Cast and some of the Knights around them collectively exclaimed.

Oliviana merely sighed in relief.

Thank goodness.

"Looks like everything went well on your end," Skullius said.

"Urgh... you look terrible!" Cast said as he removed the VergeRider which he wore over his usual casual getup and returned it to Skullius.

​ The Hybrid Luman donned his outfit, the Chains of Damnation responding to him well with a wriggle, something they hadn't done with Cast.

"Are you injured? We brought potions with us!" a random Contract Knight asked as he scrambled to pull out two normal potions from spatial storage ring.

'Poor soul,' Skullius thought with pity.

It seemed that achieving a victory against this band of bandits that had caused quite a solid degree of fright within the hearts of these Knights had caused them to respect Skullius a lot, some of them trying to earn favour with the Hybrid Luman.

Skullius didn't mind, but if this guy really wanted to show him some love, he needed much more than a normal potion.

Speaking of potions, a part of Skullius was pained.

He had lost his one and only Super potion for the month to an investment. Its effects were the only ones that could heal the fatal wound he had dealt his opponent, sadly. His [Great Saint's Invigoration] definitely couldn't have done such a thing and he had used up Demion's Dance's once a day use of [Irisa You Whore] to instantly recover from Kenno's flurry of superfast Incarnations that had eviscerated his body, thus it had been his only option.

To him who could see a detailed layer of his plans, it felt worth it as he could easily recover the lost potion next month but it still felt like a loss.

Skullius shook himself from these thoughts as he had already done what needed to be done. He had cleared one of his objectives.

"No thanks," he said to the fanboying Knight and then gave a shocking report. "I killed the boss and everyone in the mountain. I also took care of their bodies and cleared the traces. They are not your problem anymore."

...!

"WHAT?!"

The Knights exclaimed.

Seriously?

Sir Festos had just gone and killed everyone?!

But... but...

"The Forced Displacer was pretty handy. Plus, the boss had an armour that allowed him to pass through the barrier as he pleased. I borrowed it," Skullius lied.

The SinSky Shatterer was bound to Kenno. This was one of the reasons why he wanted to recruit him.

For the Contract Knights, choosing to doubt Skullius or rather expressing that doubt would be... shameful.

By all accounts given the passage of time, Skullius' capability as well as the Forced Displacer that was in his hands, its ability to teleport him anywhere within its massive range being extremely useful, it wasn't too unbelievable that Skullius had done what he said.

But...

"Why is the barrier still there then? Shouldn't it have disappeared when you killed the Shamans?" Bull asked with hints of suspicion.

Skullius sighed exasperatedly and with a wave of his head, nine severed heads flew out of his spatial storage ring!

"I had a feeling there'd be doubt, so there. And as I said before, the Shamans draw energy from nature to power their barriers. Until the supply dies, the barrier will remain. It will grow weaker until it vanishes which may take some time. You are free to wait until then to confirm with your own eyes but once again, as I said, I got rid of the traces," Skullius explained with an annoyed click of his tongue and an outstretched hand that demanded Simmering Cloud back from Bull.

The Knights looked at the severed heads.

It... really seemed like it was all over.

Some of them smiled with shining eyes while others gave nods to Skullius.

They were inclined to believe.

Bull also nodded.

Skullius' mission here was to look for a chance at redemption. Or least a semblance of it. Surely he wouldn't be lying.

'I guess he's not going to mention any treasures and coin he may have found in the bandits' pockets. Let's leave it. I'd be asking too much anyway,' Bull thought.

Whatever spoils Skullius secretly stashed were rightfully his.

"If you're satisfied, I have a request. When you go back to Evic, tell Anara to keep his word. I'm sure I've contributed enough to get what I need," Skullius said, his gaze leaning more to Oliviana whom he believed he could trust.

Oliviana tilted her head.

"You're not coming with us?" she asked.

"I can't. I'll have to set off for Genhuis City immediately," he said much to everyone's surprise.

Olivia paused for a few moments. She had hoped they would get a chance to chat a little on the way back but this was probably for the best. If she kept getting all friendly with Skullius, she might end up slipping up and getting killed by Skullius' curse.

She was already walking on a fine line already and this request of Skullius' was also dangerous but thankfully he phrased it well enough.

This was something he earned.

It would be a disservice to him if no one emphasised his hard work.

He would do it himself but time was running out and Anara had some means to communicate with the Grand Priest anyway, so instead of wasting time with a trip to Evic, it was better to leave.

Oliviana nodded to Skullius before her short figure walked up to him and punched him lightly on the chest.

"I'll see you around then."

"Sure," Skullius said before patting Oliviana on the shoulder with a three second long blank gaze as a goodbye.

He didn't have much to say to this woman.

His figure then vanished before the crew.

The group grew silent for a few moments before Cast face palmed, realising something.

"Argh! He forgot about those bastards he spared. Didn't he say he wanted to take them back with him?" Cast asked.

"Maybe he didn't care too much about them after all."

***

Evic.

Twenty nine Masters were imprisoned within a large cell, special chains binding their hands, necks and legs.

The chains couldn't completely cut off their powers. Such things were difficult to procure for Master Stage and stronger combatants. Only high tier Legendary items and above could do such thing and having items like that for nearly 30 Masters was not something a Champion of Anara's rank could be given clearance for.

Even the neighbouring cities didn't have things like that in high supply. They were full devout men and women, not warriors.

The effects of these specific chains however was to weaken their target's ability to think, with a minimal sense of physical weakness imposed.

They would feel sluggish and be unable to partake in complex thoughts and to add to this, the Priests and Healers had contorted weakening potions that were force fed to this prisoners.

The chain's effect varied depending on how strong a Master was and because of this, multiple Knights were guarding this cell, monitoring the movements inside.

Suddenly...

The five guards stationed here had their bodies fragment into dust-like particles, the speed at which they had been attacked leaving no room for them to make a sound!

A gauntlet covered hand touched the array reinforced bars to the cell and broke them down, a man in a true sapphire coloured armour walking into the solitary space.

"B...boss...?" one of the bandits chained to the wall said in a weak voice, his eyes barely able to stay open.

Kenno gave his men a prolonged look.

Blink. Blink.

So annoying.

Tsk.

He couldn't believe how far that bastard had thought this through. As he had said, he had spared all his stronger men and now, they were unfortunately going to be working for their enemy.

All because Skullius didn't want Kenno to start from scratch in this 'project'!

That was what Kenno thought but the reality was a bit different.

A complicated look etched itself on the armoured man's face.

Kenno touched his chestplate with a grumble.

He was bound now. He felt it. Something was planted in his soul.

Blink. Blink.

'Damn. And I thought I was meticulous,' he thought as he walked up to the bandit who had called to him and destroyed the chains holding him.

Shortly after, the man stood, his senses returning bit by bit.

"Boss! You really came to save us!" the man said enthusiastically. "Did you bring everyone for another raid?"

Kenno scowled and ignored the man's question.

Blink. Blink.

These were more annoying than this ignorant man's words right now.

Kenno freed the others before issuing an order.

"We're leaving," he said as he held the Forced Displacer which Skullius had allowed him to keep for this very purpose. Transporting his group away.

Everyone else on the mountain had been spared to serve as the starter group, save for nine who were sacrificed for... reasons.

'Damn it.'

This wasn't what Kenno expected. There was no backing out and he had so much to do!

Blink, blink!

Even now, he couldn't believe the blinking notification prompts that had yet to vanish from his sight, confirming his five kills outside the cell...

---

[Author's Note]

That wraps up this arc. We'll be diving back into the second day matchups for the Premium Age Royale which will show some pretty crazy stuff. Many things will be kick started by the next few chapters and then we'll meld with the Kenno situation again in the near future.

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