Bro, I’m not an Undead!

Skullius remained still as he held the card that was in his armoured hands. His sockets had dimmed from the flames that always burned incessantly within them, the size having dwindled to resemble that of little dots.

To see the Limitless Body Null Demon Hound turn its eyes and twirl its tail was one thing.

To see the name Ferex, which was ridiculously familiar, written on the ground was another thing.

But, to see this card that held a face he had seen quite a lot lately, even with the differences in relation to what he recalled seeing it as when Doom Factor 2 closed in on him time and time again, was too much for his mind to merely cast it aside as a familiar joke.

This…

“… Ca…mi…la…” Skullius said instinctively as the face with a slight smile, as well as the blurry figure of something darting away brought Skullius to recall.

This girl.

That smile.

This was different from when he had seen her with the background of that cold scape, as if they were on a high mountain.

That rage that he always felt towards her…

Was it all fake then?

Who was he to this girl and who had she been to him?

Skullius’ thoughts rewound back to the time when he was prompted to heal Ginie, the little girl in the Harem’s Guild.

Was that as a result of this strange development?

Was it possible that this girl he had thought had been an enemy to him in his past life or whatever was actually… someone he cared for instead?

BZZT!

Like an electric shock springing from the very depths of Skullius’ soul, a burst of pain pounded against his mind, the Penetrator being forced to clutch his head.

This unforgiving pain!

Doom Factor 2 did not allow for him to simply recall all his memories without claiming back all of his soul.

The memories that he had tried to draw on remained stagnant and distant even when within the mind of Skullius, flashing images of a girl laughing heartily while holding a small dog that clearly expressed its joy, zoomed past.

The Penetrator grunted as he stumbled to lie flat on the ground.

The Limitless Body Null Demon Hound hurriedly rushed up to Skullius and laid its paw on his back, trying to comfort him.

It didn’t know whether what it had done had prompted more harm than good or the other way around.

By using [Amorphous Sampling], it had managed to create a detailed image of what it had been seeing so that it could show Skullius in hopes of jogging his memories for some much needed closure.

Creating shapes and colour with the Unliving Thread was not an issue for it after all.

“I’m fine…”

Skullius said as he rose.

His socket flames burned bright again and he sat without any other mourns of discomfort, as if nothing had happened.

The Hound knew its master couldn’t have simply recovered so easily but it could not bring itself to continue dwelling on the matter.

Skullius looked down at where the Hound had written down the word, or rather the name Ferex. He turned to the Hound that towered over him as he sat and asked, “This is a name, right?”

The Hound paused for a second while locking eyes with Skullius, and then nodding.

“I see… I remember it means something to me. At least a little. Do you want it?”

Skullius had not given his second Apostle a name yet because of the simple reason that he did not have the ability to provide cool names.

For his first Apostle, he had initially thought the name Red Rage was cool, but with his progress as a Discount Human while getting more or more in touch with society, with basic norms, he had discovered that the name, was not as good as he had initially thought.

He had delegated the names of the skills [Perfect Night Domain] and [Bead of Malevolence] to Oliviana solely because he had recognised his inability to give proper names.

With such an opportunity before him, he wondered if the Hound would want this name, as asides from its mission in his soul, it was clear that this name was written down for some other reason.

The Limitless Body Null Demon Hound nodded eagerly at Skullius’ question which amused the Penetrator.

He was right after all.

At this moment, this Apostle knew more about him that himself.

He could only trust it with this decision.

“Alright then. From today onwards, your name is Ferex.”

[Congratulations, you have named your second Apostle!]

[Apostle ‘Ferex’ approves your decision. +50 favourability]

“Looks like it won’t be long till you reach 100 favourability at this point. At that time we’ll be able to combine some of your skills,” Skullius said as he patted the head of the Hound which had been lowered to his height for that very purpose.

The Penetrator wiped his mind clear and stood, facing the large mountain in the distance.

The short but dangerous looking height that oozed of tremendous power.

“Well, we got this done quicker than I thought. Might as well get started with some other aspects of my power.”

The Penetrator and the Hound descended from the mountain and reached the foot of their target.

Bellow it where barely any green and barely any soil could be found except for rock which were continuously being ground to bits of smaller particles, one could barely withstand the currents of mana and wind.

Above this fact, the air was saturated with elements that Skullius wasn’t exactly familiar with, at least in the logical sense.

Spatial waves blasted against his armour, some of the sensation seeping through the adornment that he wore.

[Elevated Mana Manipulation] helped the Penetrator have a better sense of this energy that constantly struck against his body.

Mana that was mingling with spatial properties, the result of which could conjure the skill from the Elimparidis Staff, [Jolt Ray].

To get a better appreciation of this, he had to climb higher up the mountain and see for himself what conditions created the Legendary staff had been made in.

This was also the perfect time to bring the Nullmancer exclusive skill [Epiphany] to good use.