Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"We heard word of it half a day ago. The Grand Priest will see you tomorrow," a Priestess said to Skullius while blocking his path with a cold stare.

"It's urgent. Can't we do this now?" Skullius said with a deepening frown.

"You have no right to rush us. Every second you spend afflicted by the curse upon you serves as atonement. Receive it with open arms."

The Priestess no longer paid Skullius any attention as she attended to the many other people coming and going from the Temple.

Her expression turned bright, showing off delightful rays of affability with her kind handshake and smile, this being in stark contrast to how she had treated the Hybrid Luman.

How judgey.

You tell a tale about abducting innocents for a devilish cult and suddenly you're the bad guy?

Sigh. Yes, you're the bad guy.

Yes you're they bad guy.

Fairly so.

Skullius scowled and turned away.

"Well that's perfect," he said as he shook his head.

The moment he had arrived at the Temple, the Priestess had greeted him with a sack of hostility and the disappointing news that the Grand Priest wouldn't tend to him today.

Apparently, Anara had told them the good deeds he had done, but well, it wasn't enough to garner urgency.

'I hope this confirms my theory that distance does affect UNCoddled. Or perhaps Anara keeled over and turned into soup moments later,' Skullius thought with a shudder.

Whatever.

There was nothing he could do about this situation right now. He just had to come back tomorrow after the seven Preliminary matches.

'Coincidentally, tomorrow is also the day [Bringer of All] comes off cooldown. Good. Maybe I'll have many causes to celebrate,' Skullius thought.

It was finally here.

The much needed time to forge a blue core and create an Avatar with the powers of his Eternal Storm Veil Penetrator!

But that wasn't all.

Skullius had a few different things he wanted to try afterwards. He could barely hold in the excitement.

"Hehehe," he chuckled, his mood improving.

Skullius went straight to the Bryne Family Residence from the Temple.

On arriving, he found Setkh and Karrun sitting in the lounge with some of the maids serving them food as they chatted.

"Ah, Festos. Come and join us. We were just having a man to man chat," Setkh said with a delighted smile directed at Skullius.

"Yes, brother. Come and eat with us," Karrun said with an eerie subdued smile, as if he was taunting the Hybrid Luman instead.

'Brother?'

Skullius had always been repulsed by Karrun's desire to build this sort of camaraderie with him. This wasn't the second or even the third instance of this.

It was growing too annoying to bear.

Sure, since they bore the name Bryne now, they could be identified as brothers, but it was just so cringey to say it out loud.

"I've already eaten," Skullius said as he began walking to his room.

"Of course you're not the chatty type. You'd rather speak to my sister. Understandable," Setkh said while nodding. "I have a question though. How confident are you if you are pitted against Karrun?"

Skullius stopped and turned.

"What?"

Setkh waved his hands in front of his body hurriedly.

"Don't take it the wrong way. I don't mean it in a provocative sense," he said with a chuckle and then picked up a glass of wine. "I mean in the Royale. I'm sure you've noticed. There is nothing stopping members of the same Family to face off against each other. If you happen to be each other's opponents, how would you deal with the situation?"

Skullius only realised now that this was true.

According to Rearren, the matchups were decided at random. The Hybrid Luman didn't believe that fully but he assumed that some matches with well known individuals would be carefully placed and decided on by the Game Master.

For general folk such as himself and Karrun though, he now assumed the thought that yes, they could be pitted against each other by random selection.

However, since either way, the winner would be giving the Family shine...

"I'd kill him," Skullius said as he turned to Karrun.

This was his honest answer.

"Hahahahaha! How resolute! I like a man like you," Setkh said with a flirtatious gaze to Skullius that made the Hybrid Luman frown.

First it was his sister, now him?!

Which way did this man swing?

Karrun on the other hand, shifted in his seat, a wide, creepy smile appearing on his face.

"I promise to do the same too, brother," he said.

Skullius scoffed and walked away.

Those two seemed to compliment each other... a little too well.

Trying to link the calm and cool Stylla to this man was difficult. He couldn't imagine the fact she was really related to this guy.

The Hybrid Luman reached his room moments later and without wasting time, he slipped himself into Fortune, a glimmer of hope flickering in his <CURSED HEART> that Red Rage had returned but no.

The bastard Apostle was still in the wind.

"Tsk," Skullius grumbled. "Oh well, let's get Yuyui and make her an <Attachment>. Hopefully I don't regret it."

Skullius took steps towards the Temple of Unlusted Tears when...

"Master."

"Hmmm?" Skullius turned to the unfamiliar voice yet familiar presence that had suddenly rushed towards him from the side.

He turned to find Ferex in his Hound form, his sockets burning bright with a blue light.

"Oh hey there bro. I was just about to... Wait.." Skullius said, pausing midway through his sentence as he did a double take. "Did you just...?"

Ferex nodded.

"I did, Master."

Skullius gaped.

What the...?

Ferex could talk now?!

"I was eagerly waiting for your return so that I could show this to you, Master," Ferex said with hints of excitement noticeable in his voice.

Skullius couldn't believe it.

He walked up to the Hound and gave him a quick vetting, noticing changes through his senses that the Apostle had done to his body.

He had grown shorter with a heart of roughly 1.7 meters, his build sleek with a shape akin to a greyhound – abdomen curved inward, long, slim legs and a smaller head. The Unliving Thread over his body layered multiplies times over and tightened to give a smooth, taut surface that shone lightly, announcing that it wouldn't break easily.

Ferex looked more like a dog as the name of his race suggested.

"Hahaha! This is fantastic! You can talk and you've modified your body?" Skullius laughed as he felt over the Hound's stretched Unliving Thread, his body, feeling how tough he was. "You've outdone yourself, Ferex!"

"Master..." the Hound said, displaying a little bit of confusion. "...this isn't what I wanted to show you."

"Huh?" Skullius expressed. "What do you mean?"

The Limitless Body Null Demon Hound suddenly stood on his hind legs and his body started to change.

The Insurgent Magnus was beyond shocked.

When Ferex said he had something he was working on, he didn't think it was something like this!

He had imagined something more tame.

As this new form was forged before his senses, Skullius could only shake his head and whistle...