Chapter 1581: Dread Factor Roulette! (2)
Just a moment before, Fulgardt had felt it, a throbbing deep within his body. It pulsed, like something connected to his beating heart before unleashing a signature of Deific power that he didn’t entirely understand. But as nebulous as it was, Fulgardt managed to sense the surging of Null Life Essence entangled within it.
...!
’So that’s what he was preparing for...’ he barely managed to think as his consciousness began to drown.
A moment later, his body wasn’t his own.
From the Immoral’s body, Undeath energy fired with a furious intensity, piercing into the sky.
"Oh... you are a deplorable little wretch, Skullius," said Somanda, but he was grinning with Fulgardt’s face.
Skullius clenched his fist hard while Kenno and Red Rage looked at him in shock.
’It works on him too!’ he thought, overjoyed.
It was as he had hoped.
The new SoSei was an artefact meant to offset Somanda’s hold over Skullius – especially his ability to extract information about Skullius by possessing his body – through Doom Factor 2. As it were, Skullius was pretty sure Future Skullius empowered SoSei’s abilities with basic Fundamental Barter, hence why it was even capable of this: in a random sequence, it was designed to divert Somanda’s influence from Skullius to either its own body, or Fulgardt.
It was a blend of risk and reward. Naturally, in a battle against Fulgardt, Skullius imagined he’d get the advantage if he scrambled the Immoral by having him fight over control of his own body with Somanda. But things could also get very bad if Somanda had free reign through SoSei’s body during a turn.
As another blend to the risk and reward, Skullius (or rather, Future Skullius) had made it so that this effect only lasted for about a minute at a time before Skullius had to reinitiate it by looking at Camilla’s appearance and triggering Doom Factor 2 again.
But how was Fulgardt seamlessly added to this gamble, one might ask?
Well, it all had to do with the seemingly insignificant blow Skullius had landed on Fulgardt with the help of Serenity earlier. Using all his Null Life Essence had helped in imprinting the connection on the Immoral further and ensuring that he wouldn’t be able to dismantle it.
Skullius studied Fulgardt’s body closely.
’Yes. Somanda is in control right now. But I don’t know if Fulgardt really ca—’
His question was answered immediately, though not in the way he had expected.
"Hmm?" Somanda voiced his surprise.
The towering pillar of Undeath energy sputtered and diminished rapidly. Soon, it fizzled out, only sending sparks from the Immoral’s body at spontaneous intervals.
Yet...Somanda remained. He was studying the strangeness of this with an expression Fulgardt was unlikely to ever make.
Almost at the same, darkness pulled from the Immoral’s body and formed an extremely detailed human shape. Indeed, it was Fulgardt’s. Rather than a shadow, it looked like a solid object short of a bit of colour to becoming Fulgardt himself.
The Immoral had managed to use Crude World Projection before his consciousness was trampled deep within his own body.
Somanda turned to the Projection, a brow raised.
"I can’t muster Undeath energy within this body of yours. That only means one thing."
...!
The High Lich didn’t say what this thing was, but Skullius noted it immediately.
’We were right!’ he thought. ’Fulgardt really has become some kind of Voided Death existence. That’s why Serenity wasn’t punished for holding him in place for me earlier!’
Somanda laughed while Fulgardt continued his silence.
"This is a veeeery complicated body. Just taking in all its worth, all it remembers, and all it knows is qui..." The High Lich’s mirth suddenly vanished. He scowled instead and fixed Fulgardt’s Projection with a dark look. "You... You know about that?"
As Skullius frowned, wondering what Somanda could have possibly meant, Fulgardt’s Projection crossed its arms.
This... displeased Somanda quite a bit. "You’re one of those then. Not even a maverick like Void would tell anyone about that. But perhaps you’re a maverick yourself. Your body seems to be drawing information from me too."
Fulgardt’s Projection shrugged, and then it suddenly took to the air. Somanda didn’t see why – as he was still absorbed in what he had found in Fulgardt’s body – at first... until Skullius landed a fierce hook livid with Ju`wtte on his face and sent him flying.
When he landed, he finally managed a small smirk. "Ah, that’s right. This is your intention, after all, little Skullius. But you’re forgetting something crucial."
When Skullius reached him again, drawing forth the Amras he had managed to recover thanks of the Exora Mead and his Immoral Void Physique, Somanda grinned.
"I can cease my influence on you anytime I want, which means..."
Somanda’s presence died down within Fulgardt’s body just as Skullius was readying another attack. The Immoral’s eyes flared with darkness as he countered in full Fulgardt fashion. Crude World Injection came into effect immediately.
A high knee to the temple sent Skullius flying back. He cursed when he rolled on the ground, but didn’t lose sight of his objectives.
’Damn it! Of course, Somanda doesn’t need to keep his influence in me active if the conditions don’t favour him!’ the Hybrid thought. ’But still...!’
He looked at Camilla’s appearance right away.
Undeath flooded through him and then rushed into SoSei.
"And back again," came Somanda’s voice from the vessel. He made to attack Skullius at once, but Kenno came rushing in, grabbing SoSei by the wrist and pointing his index and ring fingers at its head.
"Kenno, my dear. What do you think you can even do?" Somanda grinned with a melting face.
The Unlimited Star had only hesitated because of how messed up it seemed for him to strike someone important to Skullius. But that hesitation lasted only for a second.
"Aggrante!"
A jet of concentrated mana and Null Life Essence was fired into SoSei’s head, sending Somanda flying back.
But while this was happening, Fulgardt’s Projection fed back into his body. The Immoral stood upright and cracked his neck.
"Contingency upon contingency. Trump card upon trump card. That’s the way, Skullius. I’m almost impressed that you would weaponise your Doom Factors," he said. "You seem to have underestimated just how much I know about them, however. How easily I can make them backfire."
...!!!
’What?’
Skullius braced for the worst, but he couldn’t have braced enough if he tried.
"Let me show you how complex the world really is." The Immoral already had Skullius by the face by the time he finished the sentence.
Darkness coiled around him and Skullius, and then the two shot upwards into the sky, shattering Aigas’ weakening Rules and pouring into the great void as a black throng!