Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 927 The Shrine

Skullius hadn't known what the Oath of Mourning was, or did.

The moment he sensed it, he knew that it was what he was looking for and went for it.

He didn't know that it would slow down anyone who approached it, whether they were the humblest of Sif or the most pureblood El Sif.

He also hadn't known that it hid the actual location of the thing he was looking – something that the scroll Darwel had given him back then mentioned.

A shrine.

She had said that the Luminants had a some kind of supreme being they revered. Her scroll had then revealed to Skullius that there something built by the Sif in the past. Something that represented this divine being whom he had been speculating about.

Yet Skullius' ignorance was still rewarded.

Upon touching the large parchment in the middle of a standard, Opungale road while in his [Boundless Evil] form, he felt as though his body had breached through six layers of fragile space; or maybe these layers had willingly opened themselves for him, he couldn't tell.

The sensation lasted an instant.

Skullius came to a halt immediately after, returning to his human form from the mass of darkness and rags. His robe still fitted over him, Skullius took in the new space that opened up around him.

'Magnificent...' he said with a bright smile of wonder.

There was no greenery here, or rather, no green.

For some reason, while there was an abundance of trees on both sides of the wide path he stood, they all felt as though they weren't real. They shook constantly partly obscuring their features. The barks to them were a pale gold and their leaves a pristine white.

The same was true for grasses and the wide path which mirrored the bark.

'Strange,' Skullius thought.

This place...

He felt as though he was standing in an alternate version of the wide path he had been traversing on before.

Was this another effect of that scaled parchment?

Besides the quivering vegetation, there was also the sky above which didn't depict night, but a sullen version of the day, as though the sky was heavily overcast.

Interesting and bizarre.

Skullius took steps forward.

That wasn't his intent. He wanted to use [Destined Warp Steps] again, but it didn't activate.

'Fair enough.'

He wasn't allowed to move as he pleased in this place, something he imagined was true for everyone else given the context of what the shrine was, and what it meant to the Sif. Thus, he walked briskly instead.

The wide path went on, and dipped gradually into a downward curve.

It was obvious that something was at its end.

Skullius was burning with anticipation.

When he had taken ten steps, he felt the presence of three individuals appear behind him, but he didn't turn back.

A pale Benyn looked at Skullius' back with a deep frown, as did Cosycn.

They both couldn't believe it.

That man had suddenly disregarded the rules they knew to apply when anyone approached the Oath of Mourning.

That man should have been stalled by the Oath, slowly sinking within its unfathomable borders, which would take some time, but he passed through instantly.

This didn't make sense.

While they took unintentionally slow steps forward, Sevill sniggered at them from under her veil.

"Is it starting to click for you now?"

She received glares that she welcomed with sneers. "He can even move as well as the El Sif in here, unlike us. Do you still doubt that he is special?"

The two Incandescent Stagers watched as Skullius quickly disappeared down the path.

Indeed. He moved better than them. He moved as well as each member of the High Family.

"Let's follow him," Cosycn growled at Benyn and they took slowed steps – one average pace every two seconds.

Skullius on the other hand, was getting a glimpse at something phenomenal at the same time.

'So that's it?' he thought as his senses spread wider.

All his skills were impossible to activate here, including [Greatest Mana Manipulation], but thankfully, the Hybrid Luman was still very sensitive even without it.

He was twenty meters from his target.

The shrine began where the road turned dark; everything in its immediate vicinity was dyed black.

All the trees were eaten away by the beautiful, unconventional shadow that was cast outward, even onto the very air itself from the construct.

Then came its actual design and hue within the wad of soft black.

Its heavy blue tint was awfully glaring, but equally as excessively engaging was its manner of construction. Winged figures marvellously sculpted using a light, see-through material, its texture like jade, were conjoined at weird angled in the hundreds, forming an arching shape.

The oddly mixed, humanoid creatures rose in a cone shape, but never met to cover the top. The erratic wings from their individual, linked designs came closest to accomplishing this.

Strangely enough, even with its cone shape and half-circle curve, the shrine still managed to look – in its whole – like some, great, terrifying beast with great spines all over it.

What calmed its implication, was the large number of flowers, straw and feathers methodically placed on it, making it look a lot more pleasing.

'Just like Darwel described...' Skullius thought.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.711).

Within the gap left behind within it, was a sort of pedestal onto which two sets of wings pointing upwards could be seen perked atop, their hue not blue like that of the others, but a luminous white.

It was splendid creation, this shrine.

It easily exceeded Skullius' expectations with its visuals alone, which he could see a limited amount of.

However, the greatest takeaway, was how menacing it felt.

It was unwelcoming by nature.

He felt feelings of rage, disdain, sorrow and distrust from it, but he was convinced he was the only one who could detect them. If these emotion were constantly expounded by the shrine, then the Sif wouldn't visit it regularly, would they?

Also, it didn't seem like the feelings were expressed towards him specifically.

'You wouldn't reject me. Not with what I am...' Skullius thought confidently.

He drew closer to the shadow around the shrine.

"Stop! You'll defile it!" Cosycn barked.

But of course, Skullius didn't listen.

He increased his pace and he passed where the path ended.

Benyn felt his heart race.

How dare this man...!

So casually...!

Why was he exempt from everything that everyone else was subject to?!

Could it be that...

FWOOOOOSH!

A burst of light attracted the eyes of the three onlookers.

From behind Skullius' back, a single wing stretched from the very centre.

It looked like a shard of light stretched out by a pair of divine hands to form an unorthodox wing of golden white!

It contrasted beautifully with Skullius' dark robe which had not dissipated, bringing with its emergence spots of light, glitter really, that floated around the Hybrid Luman, completely changing the air around him.

Benyn and Cosycn gaped.

That was...

But that was...

No, that didn't make sense!

Again, Skullius could care less about their crashing reasonings.

After all, immediately after his [Wing of Embrace] or rather, for him, [Wing of the Just], appeared, the negative sentiment droning from the shrine disappeared.

Instead, a boundless desire unfurled with a greedy undertone.

It was as though the shrine had become a living organism, attaining the ability to feel a staggering sense of desperation that made it yearn for the intricate blood of the one who stood before it, slowly penetrating its shadow.

Skullius felt the shrine's desire vividly. Twofold even.

The guidance field immediately expressed it as well.

[A divine will calls for you from beyond the stacks of wings cast before your feet]

[The divine will promises unfathomable blessings, gifts that your body has never tasted in this realm]

[Your blood pulls upon this birthright from the side, the divine will pulls upon you from the other]

[Are you willing to interact with the divine will?]