Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Even Erlton was caught off guard.

He hadn't expected the Hybrid Luman whom he knew for sure was... to be so forward and say something so doming before a whole host of people stronger than him!

Naturally, Erlton had some idea about what Skullius was counting on. He didn't know what the thing with the four wings was about, but he was also sure that Skullius understood that when it came to Transcendents, even without comprehending the depths of their true strength, his 'charm' would not be so effective.

Yet Skullius still looked wholly confident in himself even as the entire hall bore witness to the escalating drama while turning into a conflagrating hell.

Darwel poked at the Hybrid Luman from his chest where he had her plastered.

Looking at her, he sensed the unhealthy beating of her heart which threatened to explode.

The El Sif mouthed to him silently.

'What in the world are you saying?!'

Skullius gave her a smile.

She obviously thought he wasn't serious. Or at least that he was just trying to piss off her parents.

Well...

"I do need your services for a certain task of mine. You and several like you, that is," he said to her, ignoring the King and Queen's glare.

As Darwel wore a bizarrely appalled expression, the Queen scoffed loudly and raised her hand to point at Skullius.

The movement of her wrist was incredibly quick, so quick in fact that even Erlton almost failed to see it whip out, the royal's index pointing at Skullius with her visage turning so ugly... and strangely, so beautiful.

The Herald decided it was time to intervene. He didn't know if Skullius had something on him that could help him survive even a flick from the Queen, but he wouldn't chance it.

The Hybrid Luman had been right.

Erlton did want him to help clean up some of the messes the Heralds caused and were incapable of handling themselves.

He was a bearer of an Existential Parallel, after all, an outlier... a neutral variable.

Midway through his dash to reach the Hybrid Luman, however...

GOOOOOOOOONG!!!

A deafening, ear-splitting noise suddenly filled the hundreds of ears in the hall!

Then it came again.

GOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!

Everyone who heard it, lost their balance.

Something in their brains was struck the instant the gong reached their perception, and as a result...

Skullius buckled and knelt on one knee.

However, he wasn't the only one.

Darwel and Sevill dropped to the floor, along with every royal guardian within the room!

Even the Queen, who was standing, supported herself with the table, an alarmed look on her face.

Erlton was the only one to remain standing, but even he found that he needed the entirety of his focus to remain on his feet.

GOOOOOOONG!!!

That sound...

Was it a bell?!

Where was it coming from?

Benyn and Cosycn made the quickest attempt to resist the effect of the gong. One of the two remained with the King and Queen while the other had rushed to Skullius, but then...

GOOOOOOOOOOONG!!

This was definitely an enemy attack!

But how did this sound wave, whatever its source, pass through the barrier over Opungale?

Was its source within the barrier?

Impossible!

There were many Sif combatants waiting for the Maqi ships outside the barrier, keeping track of their movement.

They why-

GOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!

This time, after the effect of the gong lessened, and before the follow-up, Benyn placed his hand on the giant table, and called:

"Open!"

Right then, the mansion vibrate vehemently and then quickly, it began to unravel like an immaculate tapestry, only now revealing that it too, as beautiful as it was, was made of roots, tree trunks and vines that could unwind methodically without causing damage to the property they held!

The dark sky overhead was revealed as the walls opened like the maw of a great, wooden beast.

GOOOOOOOOOOONG!!

Only the expansive room, the great hall was left wholly intact, with the very tall shadows from the open walls from higher floors sweeping over the living beings struggling with their balance.

When the sycamores around the Gauurdfell were exposed, the true horror of the loud gong was also revealed.

The trees were withering, their leaves losing their green pigment for a pale, grey hue.

Their barks and trunks creaked and tightened as though being squeezed from within, and every Sif in sight grimaced at the atrocity!

Every green thing detached from the mansion was affected mercilessly.

The King and Queen seethed.

"So they chose to attack our very lifeblood first!" the Queen howled madly.

GOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!

She resisted the disorienting pain, and so did her husband.

A moment later, the other experts started to get accustomed to the sound as well.

Skullius and Darwel couldn't of course.

The Hybrid Luman squinted every time the gong sounded. It was deeply uncomfortable.

'What grade of artefact is capable of bypassing the barrier up top?' he thought, recalling the properties Cosycn mentioned it had.

Just as he wondered....

"EEEEEEK!"

"ARRGGHHHHH!"

"AUUUUGHHH!"

Ghastly, desperately screams were suddenly heard from the distance, from nearby Auroras!

They immediately eliminated the relief the Incandescent Stage experts were brewing from finally being able to resist the effects of the gong.

Now there was another threat!

What could be happening to the people in the various Auroras?!

Was it actually possible that the Maqian 1,000 had already invaded deep into Opungale, without any word from the experts stationed outside?!

Skullius found it odd.

Instead of wasting time trying to resist the gong futilely, he expanded his senses, allowing the information carrying from the trees and all greens that rushed to him – including the restless ambient mana – to give him the full picture of everything that was happening.

With an astounding degree of vividness, and flexible depth, Skullius perceived what the trees saw.

Within the closest Aurora...

"Huh?"

It wasn't an army that was attacking.

Indeed, the common Sif were running erratically with dark and pale looks of terror on their faces, but no enemy followed with malice behind them.

No phenomenally powerful expert was chasing after them.

No ugly, bloodthirsty beast clawed towards them.

Then... what was it?

Skullius heard a sound akin to beads rattling, and his 'vision' was forcibly focused onto the split second image of a female Sif sprinting in fear....suddenly being devoured by a wavy, black something!

And then she was gone without a trace.

"What?"

Once again, Skullius' perception through his natural companions turned to a small girl crying amid the frightened, older Sif who rushed past her in fear.

Just as he set his vision on her, the same unsettling sound of beads sounded and the girl was taken away by a black something.

It was hard to describe.

It looked like a black cloth, but also like a large maw with dark teeth and a black tongue.

What in the world was this?

His sight was hooked again and then again in another direction.

Every second, someone was taken away.

There was no pattern.

There was no rhyme.

There was probably no reason either.

However, there was an abundance of effective despair.