Chapter 1298: Scheme (1)
Chapter 1298: Scheme (1)
Chapter 1298: Scheme (1)
"Hard pass, sockethole," Skullius said at once.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
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.
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.
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