Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Yuyui had not withdrawn from Kintar since embracing her earlier. She kept at it, even as they left Amanas and pooled behind Skullius, looking like mice when matched against his size. It broke Yuyui when Kintar began quivering. The presence of the monstrous Divines and Deities a distance away was so sharp that it still poked through Skullius' Null Life Essence, making even the unruly Deputy of the Stark-Soul Order shrink.

…But then again, Yuyui was shrinking too, terrified. The masked man had never inspired this fear in her, and not even Suzamete, a Deity.

It was hard to breathe. It was hard to move. For a moment, the prospect of ever reaching Deadmanland to fight monsters similar to or stronger than this became an absurd notion to the Stars and Troops. Their uselessness was going to force Skullius to do everything on his own, wasn't it? They were only holding him back.

To Elita and Uyuniya, who were shielding themselves with Voided Death Essence, reaching Zelozeld became a fantasy, a dream. How would they even escape the enemies in this dimension?

"…I dare you. Make another snide remark about my family if you think Gylliard is fast enough to stop me from taking your life."

…But Skullius' words revived them – all of them.

Family, he said.

True to his word, to the same message he'd given the Troops and Stars when they left Aigas, Skullius had once again emphasized what the Stark-Soul Order was.

Yuyui bled tears and embraced Kintar harder. Baddan felt vindicated and Savast perhaps even more so. Grim swelled with resolve.

Suddenly, they all felt ashamed of losing their will to fight, even if it was only for a moment.

They had been watching, after all. From within Amanas, they had gauged the strength of Skullius' opponents – Subossais and… Gylliard. The Void rank flying vessel was capable of predicting and ascertaining the danger that all manner of enemies – living and otherwise – posed. The things the console had shrilly noted about the Grand General had horrified the mortals.

…Yet Skullius was standing against that and more without disparaging or dismissing the family behind him.

"We'll be okay. We'll be okay. We'll get through this. You'll get through this. I promise. We'll get stronger."

Yuyui kept whispering those words in Kintar's ear. They did wonders for both of them.

…But Skullius' bold declaration was not received so kindly by his enemies. Most of them found it funny, but the Stellar Head who looked like a human-faced serpent was not amused – not in the least. Neither was the frosted woman.

A stretch of silence persisted. Rafnuung and Skullius remained bared against the Stellar Head and no one else. The other Stellars were more interested in Gylliard's reaction. Unfortunately for them, he didn't have one – an immediate one, at least.

Only when "Smoke Eyes" Dragon finally broke the silence with a chortle, muttering, "That's more like it," did Gylliard finally react.

"At ease," he said to the armoured figures, ready to converge on Skullius as soon as he showed even an inkling of the intent to strike. They did as they were bidden.

Gylliard then turned to Skullius, eyes closed, smile thin. "I misjudged you."

Everything tensed like iron.

Skullius readied himself for the worst. He'd provoked the Grand General, knowing there would be consequences, but he wouldn't let anyone look down on the will of his friends.

"You're even more charming than I expected!" Blossoming with a bigger, cheery smile, Gylliard appeared beside Skullius again and patted his shoulder.

To say everyone, including Skullius, was dumbfounded would have been an understatement. No one here had ever seen Gylliard so chummy with anyone – not like this.

"I did say it, right? We are going to get along. Allow me to escort you and your…family personally. I daresay, I don't do that often. Ever."

Before anyone could gasp and possibly question him, even Skullius, who raised a brow in confusion, Gylliard twirled a finger, and the arched pillars around the landing port ignited. The Runes on them shimmered and erected a dome-shaped barrier over the port. The cold ash falling from the sky was warded away, as though the dome dispersed it before the slightest contact could occur.

"Let's set off before someone finds another reason to antagonize anyone else, shall we?" said the Grand General.

Subossais and the other armoured figures, divided between the Stellars, raised their Tors Lampions like Gylliard did.

"TORS!" they all shouted, and again, there was a flash of that gloomy, blue light.

Same as before, Skullius felt completely restrained. They warped – all of them. The light prompted travel in some way the Hybrid was yet to understand, and before he knew it, he was in another location.

The first thing Skullius did was ensure the safety of his subordinates.

'Wow. I didn't even need to shield them. Whatever this Tors Lampion does… it's delicate enough to not harm mortals,' he thought and dispelled Rafnuung. 'That takes skill. Great skill.' He eyed Gylliard before appraising the surroundings.

The cold ash was harsher here, flooding in from the skies with dreadful temperature and onto the great citadel stretching farther than the eye could see. High-rise buildings of different shapes with a luster oddly similar to that of the armour Subossais and the rest were wearing littered everyone's view. Each of them was giant, and most, stacked in a neat formation, populated the sky rather than the ground. Millions of figures could be seen in and outside the structures, performing a plethora of tasks in coordinated fashion.

'Already, this branch of the Aspire to Divine is proving to be even more formidable than the one Boron hailed from,' thought Skullius as he followed after Gylliard.

The ground seemed stone-paved, but when Skullius patted his foot on it, he felt as though it was metallic instead – a darker silver metal. It gave a strange reaction upon meeting the slightest physical contact.

"Sector TIU (B) Negative is one of seven outposts in the Quadrosphere, the one closest to the port and, of course, where you dropped in," said Gylliard to Skullius. He chuckled. "I shudder to think what would have happened if our sentries hadn't managed to send a signal in time about you."

The implication was clear, but Skullius didn't understand why Gylliard kept emphasizing it. It was a knock on Subossais who'd caught on and scowled. Skullius felt him glaring at his back.

'What are you angry at me for? He's the one who keeps mocking you, sockethole,' he thought.

The Stark-Soul Order and the Stellars had appeared right in the middle of the citadel, where a gargantuan, complex contraption stood, towering over every building that wasn't floating in the sky. It was a kind of smooth oblate spheroid that barely touched the ground, with four great cubes constantly revolving around it, shooting beams of some inexplicable light on its exterior from time to time.

Many armoured figures were surrounding it, operating a range of mechanical panels that no doubt dictated the operation of the thing. Gylliard stepped forward and addressed several of the figures before turning back to everyone – Skullius, in particular.

"This is a Tors Gate, a model for efficient, long-distance travel," he said while beckoning everyone towards a circular entrance into the spheroid.

Skullius drank in the sight, marveling and ignoring the obvious attention he was getting from the armoured figures around the spheroid. The Tors Gate was even bigger than the landing port and infinitely more complicated. How it was even conceived was a mystery. It looked like an innovation of technology rather than supernatural powers, but perhaps there was more to it.

The interior was dark, littered with large, square-shaped scales, each one branded with a series of complicated Runes. There were hundreds of millions of these scales, and they felt both soft and firm, as though they were made of lead or gallium.

'This can't be an innovation that was created as a result of the Acceleration, can it?' Skullius thought before completely disregarding the idea. That wouldn't track, especially if the Tors Gate operated how he thought it did.

Only when everyone had entered the spheroid did Gylliard take his Tors Lampion and insert it into a sophisticated socket next to a wide operation screen on the wall. The entire socket lit up, and then all the Runes on the scales followed suit, giving ample lighting within the Gate at last.

…And then a voice spoke, resounding through the interior of the Tors Gate. Skullius was dumbstruck when he heard it.

[Command Recognition Protocol running…]

[Access Granted!]

[Welcome, Grand General Gylliard]

[Please wait…]

[Charging…]

[Charging…]

[Tors Gate Functions will be available in 5…4…3…2…1]

'Is that…' Skullius resisted the urge to gape. 'Is that… the guidance field?'

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