(A/N: Beware. Plenty of dialogue exposition ahead)

Serenity?

Serenity.

Serenity!

Indeed, Skullius had heard this word before. This name that seemed to be the very representation of peacefulness and tranquility.

Even though he had spent the last 24 hours in his Discount Human form, being devoid of most of his Null Life traits, he was still aware of the many notifications he had seen about Serenity doing this… something, something done by Serenity when dealing with his Null Life based powers.

“I am the reason why you have access to this strange power, Skullius and I know you have a lot to say to me. About Null Life itself and about… yourself. Now is one of the few times when we can communicate because of your lacking connection to the world behind me. I can reach out to you whenever you touch upon this place right before evolution. So please. Let’s make the most of this,” the voice from the flame spoke, its soothing yet somewhat apathetic tone giving Skullius a distant hint of comfort.

“Uhm…” Skullius indeed had many things to say to this.

However, he didn’t know how to start. He was quite overwhelmed by what had happened so far. How was he to just start babbling out his thoughts after a roller coaster of emotion just minutes prior?

Skullius took some time to calm himself.

Serenity did not speak, waiting for Skullius to settle and begin probing for answers.

That was a given._.

A few minutes later, Skullius finally spoke.

“So you created this power?”

“It would be inaccurate to claim sole ownership of it but on a technicality, that is indeed true,” Serenity said, a bit of pride detectable in her voice.

“Gotcha. Why did you make it and why was it in Somanda’s hands?” Skullius asked two questions that had been gnawing at his mind all this while.

Why was such a power in Somanda’s hands in the first place?

Why hadn’t he used it?

“Both of those are good questions,” Serenity said. “You see, Somanda intercepted the carrier of those two skill books on their way to their designated location. After studying them, he found their unique properties compatible with his goal. His primary goal to be exact.”

“Primary goal?”

“Indeed. There are many worlds out there. The undead society is one obsessed with taking life and turning it into undeath, amassing great numbers. However, some worlds have unique forms of protection that impede the bulk of undead from invading, especially Arch-Liches.”

“Somanda found that this power was able to disguise him as a human in addition to giving him power that had the potential to transcend Undeath and was interested. His first thought was probably to use it to invade this world but… I imagine starting from scratch with a new power was something that caused him to weigh his choices carefully as thousands of years worth of research was at stake.”

Skullius pondered over it. His mind recreated the scene from when he had been called by Somanda to the tower, seeing the magic circle that was lit up, ready for use.

What had that magic circle been for? Had the Lich truly intended to use both [Lifeless Evolution] and [Flesh It Like You Mean It]?

Skullius thought that perhaps Somanda has wanted to use the skill on its own and jump into Aigas, but that didn’t seem to be a possibility as it was complementary to [Lifeless Evolution].

It was unlikely that [Flesh It Like You Mean It] would work without [Lifeless Evolution].

“So that’s how it is.”

“Yes. As for why this power was created, it’s for war. There’s no sugar-coating it. The existence of many worlds and the ability of many beings to able to travel between them has cultivated great powers that need to be kept in check. It would be premature to mention this in detail as you barely remember enough for it to be of use to you,” Serenity said with a sympathetic tone. “It was never meant to be you in this position, but you have a strange tangle of Direction on you that draws certain events.”

These sets of words grabbed Skullius’ attention quite a bit.

Barely remembered enough?

There it was again. What was going on with him? What was the story with him before everything he currently remembered?

Then there was the thing with having events drawn to him.

Somanda had said something similar.

What exactly did this mean?

From where he stood, Skullius felt that it completely conflicted with what he thought he knew.

Atrocious luck.

Constant sprawls into dangerous situations and narrowly getting out alive.

Did it all have a meaning he didn’t understand?

“Who am I?” Skullius asked with a serious tone that he rarely revealed. “I don’t understand anything. Everything keeps moving around me like a blast of wind, dragging me here and there yet there’s somehow always a way to drag myself out if I really try. What is this- URGHHHHH!”

Skullius suddenly screamed. His speech had changed for a few moments, words that expressed his emotions in a unique way to the norm coming from him. Yet… this had caused him pain.

Skullius felt a connection to somewhere else for a brief moment but there was an excruciating pain that crept up within him afterwards.

“I’m sorry.”

The voice of Serenity sounded, bearing a deep sense of compassion for the lone existence that floated before it.

Skullius finally calmed down, his air returning to normal.

“Bro, that was intense! It felt so strange. Why did I feel that pain? What happened?” he asked.

“<Sigh>. Undeath is a powerful concept Skullius. It might be a failed version of what Null Life is, but it is undoubtedly powerful and cruel. You have lived in the lowest rungs, barely able to see what it can do which is why you have you such a shallow understanding of it.”

Beside the flame of Serenity, a white ball of light appeared. Serenity intended to demonstrate how Undeath worked at a premium level.

“There are creatures who are able to wield the power of Undeath, calling themselves Necromancers but that is a basic class of the power where the soul is released while the body is used as a tool for Undeath. However…”

The white ball of light beside Serenity split into two parts, one being three quarters of the whole.

“Say this is a soul, the higher and true form of Undeath binds the larger portion of the soul to the caster of the Undeath medium while the smaller portion is sent to a prepared vessel that is then at the mercy of the caster. The caster can manipulate both pieces of the soul as they wish, with the more they insert Undeath energy being the stronger they make the vessel for the soul and soul itself for their own purpose.”

The smaller portion of the white ball was sent a distance away from the larger portion, both pieces beginning to change from white to red.

“The longer these pieces remain apart, the more easily they get corrupted by Undeath. A full piece requires to remain whole. As both pieces are incomplete, they end up having to be pieced together by Undeath energy. That is the core of the power of the Undead. Powering broken souls into becoming weapons for war.”

Skullius remained silent for a moment. Somehow, this lesson began to make him think deeply about Somanda’s words and the things he saw in that hall of ice.

Those images he saw trapped in the ice!

Where they all the greater pieces of once whole souls?

One particular line spoken by Somanda made his consciousness shiver as he fully began to understand what it meant now.

‘… your emotions carry more emotions and show the sorrow that your soul has through the camaraderie that you try to cultivate among yourselves as the dead!’

So that’s what he meant.

The desperation the he and his friends felt. Their intense need to feel recognised and be part of something bigger was all just… a bunch of broken souls missing their fullness which was trapped by Somanda.

Serenity pitied Skullius, but there was limited time. She could tell him this much and let him digest it on his own later.

“A part of you is bound to Somanda and he is not some scrub in Deadmanland. He is a being close to Divinity. I cannot render help to rescue your other half from such a being, but you have the strength to save yourself,” Serenity said.

“So that means…” Skullius said with a sullen voice.

“Yes… Doom Factor 2. It pertains to your soul being bound. Your memories are all tied to that part of your soul that Somanda has. He knows you need it and that’s why you’re bound to cross paths with him again in the future. The first Doom Factor shouldn’t be too much of a problem after you evolve into Tier 1. However, to solve the second Doom Factor, you’ll need to search for a powerful expert to assist you in retrieving your soul before a year passes or…”

Skullius was already dreading the second option now despite the pompous declarations he had made when he was ignorant to the levels of power.

He saw the Arch-Lich in a different light now. A different red light.

“… you will need to grow stronger and take it from him on your own.”