Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Jiggorrhax soared brashly across the air, the strings of time caught in his teeth continuing to grow past the length of his body. Grim continued to mass produce them as though they were cheap noodles. He didn't show it, but it took a heavy toll on him. Worse yet, it was unclear how much string he'd need to release both drapes of time grafted onto the present Aigas.

But before he could even worry about that problem…

The Herald and the King sank into a drape of Aigas' time fixed from the peaks of the Second Grand War. Their work began on the inside.

"Was that really Grim?" Skullius asked Suzamete, baffled.

The Deitess scoffed.

<You're not even aware of the potential of your own subordinates?>

Skullius scowled, appalled. "That's not it. I knew what Grim was working towards and it certainly wasn't… this. How was I supposed to guess he'd somehow become a user of Death and Time? If anything, you should be able to relate to that!" He turned away, gazing long and hard where Jiggorrhax and Grim had just disappeared. "Doesn't this new power mark Grim as a Divine, even if in name only?"

Suzamete shrugged.

<It does. He took inspiration from what your Fulgardt self did with that construct of light, the Stolen Angel.> she said. <But I'm afraid he's risking death each time he uses this new form of his. I've gone to great lengths to help him sustain it for this task, and even then, I'm pushing his limits too hard.> She gave the Hybrid Warmoth a dark look. <You have to help him reach Divinity soon.>

Ever since Kintar pointed out the glaring flaws in Skullius' thinking, the Hybrid Warmoth had had every single one of his subordinates on his mind. Kintar's stab at him regarding his inability to wrap his mind around the fact that the Stark Troops and the Unlimited would likely die in Deadmanland for his sake was particularly painful.

Skullius had thought that this final challenge on Aigas was enough to build the Stark-Soul Order up, only to discover that it wasn't. It merely acted as a modest threshold for the kind of stress they'd need to endure much later, and an indicator for the power they required.

After all this, there had to be a plan.

'Should I delay going to Deadmanland?'

The thought would have been insane to a Skullius from yesterday, but the Skullius of today knew that he had this option now, even if it was riddled with risks.

Future Skullius had shown him the way. VOW was on his side.

Perhaps if Skullius could find a world with a faster flow of time, relative to the standard flow of Consternals in the wider reality, he could delay his need to reach Deadmanland as soon as possible.

VOW had made it so that the countdown he had on his guidance field (for Doom Factor 2) matched the flow of time in the world he inhabited. If Skullius settled in a world far inferior to Aigas, he could afford himself years to grow before he needed to face Somanda.

But there was a snag.

It didn't matter how long Skullius delayed attending to Doom Factor 2. The fact of the matter was that it got stronger and stronger with the passage of time, and now, with Somanda capable of using it to possess him, it would be dangerous to delay going to Deadmanland to deal with the Lich.

But perhaps the other part of Skullius' plans – a particularly crazy one – involving the Legendary grade tool SoSei would mitigate this downside by a large margin.

Future Skullius refused to tell his younger counterpart how he voided Somanda's control and kept his copy of Doom Factor 2 in check, but that didn't matter much. Skullius was confident he would prevail with his own machinations. His only hope was that Future Skullius knew him well enough to discern what kind of effect he (Skullius) wanted grafted onto SoSei.

"I will find a way," he told Suzamete, his eyes fixed on the remainder of the spare string of time still visible from the drape Grim had just flown into with Jiggorrhax. "How do you do intend to close these drapes really? They are fixed onto the present by Boron's powers, right? How is Grim supposed to change that?"

<It's simple. There are Rules that forbid excessive tempering with time on Aigas. The circumstance that your Fulgardt self created by cutting the world was not particularly strange. In fact, it was within the confines of what the Rules allowed. Aigas wasn't going to allow that to last. Any time-related effects – as long as they do not affect Divines – will always be reversed by the Rules; it's just like how space always heals after receiving an attack that can damage it.>

<Boron used his Amras to delay the effect of this recovery Rule. I'm not sure how long it's meant to last, but his Amras is stronger than mine, and I'm already spreading myself thin with everything I have to keep in check for the world to stay functional. All Grim has to do is stitch the drapes of time together with his strings of time (like a stitch) – going in and out of them multiple times. Once the string is drawn taut, I will handle the rest. I will force the drapes together using the stitch to supplement the energy I lack, and when they make contact, that should enable the recovery Rule to erase them both in one fell swoop.>

Skullius took a few moments to ponder this strategy. It made sense to him. Time or rather Consternals did seem to have tremendous power behind them; it stood to reason that they could indeed aid in time-based complications.

Skullius had seen his future counterpart swipe away the great void and reveal a Consternal string; that had been evidence enough as to the power of this concept.

"Will all the experts and beasts that came through these drapes also cease to exist once they are gone?" he asked.

Suzamete chuckled. She picked up on the hidden question Skullius wanted to ask.

<Yes, but Fulgardt will remain. If that Deific Undead you fought earlier was still kicking, he'd remain also.>

"Good," said Skullius and he stood up just when Jiggorrhax and Grim escaped the first drape and headed for another with the string of time in tow. He smiled at them. "I trust that Sause knows by now?"

<He does. And the rest of Aigas can handle what comes next. Hopefully.>

Skullius nodded and smirked before gracing the Deitess with a soft look.

"You're not so bad after all," he said.

<And you're an anomaly.> Suzamete said, shaking her head, and she disappeared into a crack in space that formed behind her.