Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Within the Bryne Family Residence, bright flashes of silver light tainted the space briefly as seven individuals appeared in the lounge, standing where they had been before they were transported to the Venue.

They all looked around, most of them at least, Setkh going on to ruin the silence.

"Well, I'd say that was a sight I didn't expect," the redhead said with a jovial tone while slapping Karrun's back.

Everyone else felt the same way but agreeing with Setkh verbally felt... wrong.

Skullius instantly turned to Silrat who also turned to him.

They were on the same wavelength.

In the rarest of scenarios, both were being choked by the same paranoid sentiment.

How were they to communicate safely about what they had just witnessed?

Was there surveillance?

Did the Control Seals have information gathering functions which obviously hadn't been stipulated in the Rules and Regulations?

This was tricky.

Before more than a few seconds could pass as the two thought about this though, Skullius found something in his hand.

"Hmmm?"

He could have sworn he wasn't holding something a moment ago.

A beige envelope was between his fingers, and strangely...

"Oh! Where did this come from?!" Karrun exclaimed as he raised an identical envelope to the one that Skullius was holding, up!

The Hybrid Luman's senses grew keen.

There actually wasn't anything unnatural about the envelope. In fact, it was a perfectly normal, soft piece of paper, with another clean sheet within it that seemed to have writing on it.

Skullius passed the paper to Yuyui who stood by his side, the girl who was used to this already aware of what her master wanted.

"It's an address. I think," she said, reading the lines of text over and over again.

"Indeed. It seems to be where the gathering will be held and everyone closely related to the Contenders is allowed to go," Setkh said while reading the paper he had taken from Karrun.

"Do we really have to attend?" Stylla asked as she plopped on the couch.

Silrat took the paper from Yuyui and began reading, his brows furrowing as many thoughts collided in his mind.

"I'd say it's a must to go. This is being hosted by the EverSword House and since there's a possibility they are in the city, they may show up at this party," the former Association Branch Head said with a conflicted voice.

Stylla's perceptive on the matter changed instantly. She understood what Silrat was implying.

Her goal was to have the EverSword House help her with the issue with her father. If by some chance her or Skullius' absence was registered, it was possible that they could jeopardise the entire plan before the Hybrid Luman even had a chance to show what he was capable of in the Royale.

"Ugh..."

Still, it was a drag.

Stylla wasn't the type of enjoy gatherings filled with posh and prideful versions of lesser royalty and nobles.

Such a shame.

Silrat suddenly held Skullius' shoulder.

"Excuse us for a moment," he said as he dragged Skullius out of the lounge leaving the others to their individual concerns and thoughts.

*

Skullius and Silrat sat opposite each other in the latter's bedroom – the former on the bed, the latter on a chair.

"So...?" Silrat voiced.

Skullius' blank eyes didn't show much emotion or concern but he was doing a lot of thinking. More than usual.

"It shouldn't be a problem if we speak vaguely right? Unless this thing detects our actual intent and thought instead..." Skullius said.

"Right..."

Silrat concurred even before Skullius finished speaking.

Either way, they needed to talk about this.

"What happened with that man?" the Hybrid Luman inquired.

"Well..." Silrat began while swiping his face with his hand, removing the bits of sweat over it.

He gave a brief explanation of the situation with Guissepo without stating any names or laying some obvious implications or accusations, most of which Skullius caught on to.

"That's... unexpected," Skullius commented.

The Galemonger seemed to have been a more important piece than he thought. It hadn't been a simple Cluster General.

Could that thing's purpose have been to save Guissepo all along?

But then... that implied that a predetermined set of events were anticipated from the very beginning.

All that said, this meant the Premium Age Royale was most definitely another one of the pieces closely linked to these predetermined set of events that Guissepo was linked to, right?

"We can't withdraw from the Royale and I reckon informing someone from the Purity about this will be unwise too. The safest bet would be to see this through to the end. If the EverSword House is involved with the Evenfall and potentially the Green Neolists then.... you'll have to fight your way to becoming someone they can value," Silrat said while his gaze remained stuck on Skullius' white eyes.

Unfortunately, even attracting the attention of the House wasn't guaranteed to work.

Who knew what the victors were going to be used for or even the loser?!

"The EverSword House, huh...?" Skullius said.

He couldn't help but recall the glass panels that showed Rias EverSword. He couldn't see the details of the boy's face clearly but he etched what he could in his mind.

That boy was said to have cleared the Cluster beasts in the purple Cluster on his own!

That was just the power of that one kid.

What about to other members in this Family?

The uncles, the aunts, the cousins... the Household Head?

If everyone had power similar to that... it definitely wasn't worth it to antagonise this House in any way or be found out to have attempted to do so.

Above the general strength, it was clear that the EverSword House had the backing of someone who was extremely proficient in runecraft, not to mention the two groups they were associating with.

If anyone else knew this, all they could think of was how to suck up to this powerhouse and lay low.

It would be better to act oblivious and give it your best in the rounds, right?

Right?!

Yet...

Skullius grinned.

Silrat was greatly unsettled.

This should be a very undesirable situation for them so why was Skullius relaxed?

"What do you think?" Silrat asked nervously.

"This event is supposed to take a few months, right? That should be enough time."

"Enough time for what?" Silrat questioned, very lost on what Skullius thought.

"I told you about the Labyrinth of the Yoke, didn't I?"

Silrat silently nodded.

Indeed.

He had been told a lot about Skullius, his journey and his powers, the Labyrinth included, yesterday.

It had been a lot to digest and saying that he slept well the previous night would be a grand lie. He was still trying to process all of it even now.

The revelations that had been laid before him cleared up a lot of questions he had but also made a doorway for a swarm of more questions.

"There are hundreds, if not thousands of LIVING solutions there. It may take a while but I'm sure they can be of great help with some persuasion," Skullius said.

The intricate details were lost to Silrat as he hadn't been told every single bit of information there was and frankly, he didn't want another dump of convoluted knowledge just yet.

"Fine but if these solutions of yours require time, how will you participate in the Premium Age Royale while also simultaneously dealing with them?" Silrat launched a very good question which had a very good answer.

One that he wouldn't receive yet.

That line of knowledge was still lost to him.

There was no way he would be told about Skullius' double life.

Not yet.

"I'll take care of that," Skullius said with a mysterious smile. "For now, you're the better of us two when it comes to networking and collecting information. You should be able to gather some details that can help us in any way. You could hint at how bad this is to Stylla too. She needs to know."

"Right," Silrat said as he felt like boulders rested on his shoulders just now. "And what will you do?"

Skullius clicked his tongue, a little annoyed with his next immediate mission.

"I have to deal with a certain chance at horrendous luck."