Bro, I'm not an Undead!

There were three things that influenced the concept of power in this vast cluster of worlds.

Divinity.

Direction.

Ambition.

Divinity was a thick boundary that a mortal could transcend to reach a higher form of existence. An existence that is unbound by concepts of those that lived on flat worlds.

Direction had many names. Fate. Destiny. The divine will. It was a trail that each individual was meant to follow.

The biggest question to mortals was always ‘Who made my destiny or fate like this?’. The answer waa simple. Too simple in fact.

Those that reached Divinity would instantly know the answer and their response to said answer was always a disappointed and hollow, ‘Oh’.

Ambition was something shared by both mortals and deities. To desire. To want. To envy. To covet. This influenced power in every aspect of its meaning.

Who was more conceited and devoted to desire than the being that Sause was thinking of right now?

A walking pile of bones with a chunk of flesh covering its arm to its chest, an ugly face with hollow eyes that seemed way too deep to have been those of a mortal.

In its hand a dangerous looking claymore that threatened to cleave anything in its path.

This was indeed the remains of Fulgardt the Immoral!_.

‘Fulgardt… to think you’d desecrate even your own corpse. You make it difficult for me to hate you for what you did to me,’ Sause thought.

His eyes once more turned to Skullius who remained looking vigilantly at him, his posture giving the impression that he was ready to run at any moment.

His keen eyes caught the embers of darkness and a very faint light that rose from Skullius.

As he saw these, his eyes turned back to the creature with the claymore and he scrutinised its flesh, finding that microscopic spots of darkness and light wove into it.

His eyes also took in the skeletons of the past challengers and he reached a conclusion.

‘You never change do you? Even in death. Have you been trying to bring yourself back to life? Perhaps it’s not something as simple as that, seeing as there really seems to be something grand behind those doors.’

Sause’s vision could see the weaving of darkness and light that was incredibly dense from the gaps between the double doors and the ground.

Something precious was definitely hidden behind them. The legacy of Fulgardt’s power perhaps.

But then, something didn’t add up.

All of Sause’s thoughts barely lasted for five seconds.

Two figures came from the cracks of the wall and stood on either of his sides.

It was Benzard and Reon.

Reon’s face showed the irritation that he felt from being used like this. Hours upon hours had passed with them looking for Skullius, Sause muttering something about a colourless string that he was following each time Reon had the free will to ask him what in the hell they were doing.

Benzard was a bit more composed, though a different light could be seen in his sugar grey eyes now.

His previous wounds had been healed and even as he donned next to no protection on his upper torso, his image was imposing nonetheless.

He had his hand on the hilt of his sword as he looked ahead, the darkness that surrounded this place reminding him of what he had left behind.

He couldn’t regret it.

He wouldn’t.

What he had attained… was surprisingly much better and straight forward.

Strength.

He had paid a price, but by the looks of it, obtaining Fulgardt’s legacy was even more demanding.

“Young challenger,” Sause suddenly spoke to Skullius with his boisterous voice. “Why don’t you come here?”

Skullius’ brow rose as he heard this. After having taken in Sause’s image for a rather long time, he found the request unattractive.

“Thank you but no thank you, large bro,” Skullius said while making a X gesture with his hands. His eyes lowered to take a glance at the third leg on Sause’s body and he unconsciously shuddered.

“Hmm? It’s not working,” Sause mumbled to himself in surprise. He couldn’t compel Skullius to do his bidding with his speech. “Is he immune? No, that’s not right. Is it because of you then?”

Sause’s eyes once again focused on the skeletal remains of the owner of the Labyrinth.

It must be.

He turned to Reon and said, “Raise your right hand.”

Reon’s right hand rose suddenly, shocking even him as he hadn’t intended for it.

‘It still works when I use it on them. Hmmm?’

“You realise that there is nothing for you here right, young challenger? You’re just one of the many sacrifices that is needed to resurrect the Immoral himself. I assume you’ve at least seen a bit of what I’m talking about,” Sause said to Skullius who frowned, recalling when his some of his comprehension of [Just Light] and [Evil Darkness] was taken.

“That look in your eyes tells me that you have. You see, just like cumulative mana taken from another being that has stored and personalised it, this Labyrinth lets challengers like you cultivate darkness and light before they inevitably give it up to this walking pile of bones and die. Do you wish to meet the same fate?”

Sause had analysed Benzard and Reon especially, finding that they had been granted [Evil Darkness] after entering the Labyrinth. Further questioning of these two led him to piece together what could potentially be happening, with the final piece being everything he had seen in this room which confirmed his previous inferences.

Some clarity was brought to Skullius after he heard Sause’s words as it made a bit more sense now why this entire exchange of elements was happening.

But still… that didn’t mean he would just switch sides.

What guaranteed that he wouldn’t be killed by this giant? Wasn’t this just a similar situation to when he had been taken by force to follow Benzard and his group?

Reon and Benzard wanted to kill him too and he didn’t want to re-join a team made up of these people that had considered him a tool from the beginning.

He wasn’t quite clear on what these two were doing with this giant, but it didn’t look he would get any benefits from it.

“Once again, I’ll have to say no thank you,” Skullius said firmly while anticipating the worst.

No more being trampled by stronger beings.

He couldn’t even sense how strong this nude giant was, but that in itself was an indication of how much it was out of his league.

Sause sighed.

“I was looking forward to seeing what makes you so unique but…” he said. “… I can’t let you be more nourishment for this dead man. You two… kill him.”

The order was given to Reon and Benzard to kill Skullius!

Sause had wanted to get Skullius’ key to get out of the Labyrinth but the situation had changed after he saw what Fulgardt’s goal was. Looking at Fulgardt’s corpse also gave him an idea as he then checked Reon’s body which had a very faint trace of darkness.

‘Perhaps there isn’t merely one way to get out of here aha ha,’ Sause thought while getting a wild idea. ‘Instead of this challenger, how about I let someone else receive Fulgardt’s legacy.’

This was an idea indead. There was a risk that the one to gain the legacy would be corrupted by Fulgardt’s will, but Sause thought it would still be better to give it a try since he already had a hold over Reon. There was definitely a way to use the Insurgent Magnus’ power to leave this place.

The young challenger seemed to be under Fulgardt’s protection from compulsion. Who knew what else Fulgardt’s remains would do to protect him. Therefore, he had to disposed.

Sause could own two pawns with powerful energy after returning to the world again!

Reon’s body began to move on its own, his hand gripping his sword as he took large strides.

Benzard on the other hand, didn’t move.

“Why don’t you kill him yourself?” he asked Sause. “Surely it wouldn’t take long.”

“Two simple reasons. One, there’s a force that’s trying to expel me from this room. Only humans can inherit the legacy of Fulgardt and only they are in invited into this place. I’m using quite a bit of my strength to keep myself here,” Sause explained.

Sause knew quite a bit about Fulgardt’s motivations. The man wouldn’t give any of his knowledge to any other race other than humans. He might have been the Immoral, but he was less so when it came to his own race.

“Two…” Sause said before he took a step forward.

The moment he did, the creature by the staircase raised its sword and pointed it at him, a rough wind beginning to blow in the entire room!

“Fulgardt valued strength. Only the strong were his opponents. The weak were existences he ignored. That’s probably the reason why that young challenger is still alive. Fighting a mindless puppet packed with individual values possesses some advantages sometimes. How lucky. Now… get killing. Be sure to show off your new tricks, my boy.”

The grin on Sause’s face irked Benzard who saw it from below.

He held his sword and began walking up to Skullius with a stern expression, his blue core beginning to bubble as it pumped him with mana.

The image of a shocked Skullius reflected in his eyes as he activated the strength he had inherited from a powerful giant!