[The progression of Doom Factor 2 has been unceremoniously halted!]

’It’s frozen...’ thought Skullius as the notification flashed before his eyes. It was unneeded. From the instant he saw that flash of green, how it wove around the red thread, emitting sparks of what might have been a chill, he knew exactly what DRADPAS had done.

<Surely, now you don’t have any excuses, right?>

"..."

Skullius had none, indeed. Even if he had several reasons for why he didn’t want to accept the task, he wouldn’t have been able to speak of them because of shock and a plethora of other emotions and thoughts. It was a blessing that his thought phantoms were now restricted to the War Body, otherwise, he might have gone mad from their yammering.

Of course, the Primeval Deities were capable of something like this!

Of course, they could undermine the devious machinations of High-Liches so effortlessly!

Of course...

<I’m aware of your goals, what drives this journey of yours.> said DRADPAS. <That’s why I didn’t completely sever your connection to that former Lich master of yours. Freeing you without consequence would be a trifle, but I thought doing so would reflect poorly on us – taking away your agency and ambition like that. Thus, I’ve only stalled this infection. Until you destroy the Breaking Chasm, or however else you interpret our request, it will not bother you, even if it is triggered by something you see. I believe this works in your favor, and on many levels.>

Skullius eyed the Primeval Deity.

Still, he said nothing. He was having a tough time suppressing what he truly thought about the ordeal.

It almost showed... as a broad grin on his face.

"I see. I’m grateful that you were considerate of my objectives, and this... this is an overwhelming incentive for sure. I’ll get rid of the Breaking Chasm," he said with grace.

...But inwardly, he was bursting with mad, wild excitement.

It had been no lie. Skullius was interested in the Breaking Chasm and what was happening within it. In fact, if it were easy to infiltrate the Breaking Chasm Boron was from, he would have gone there just for the sake of exploring, but that wasn’t an option, and he didn’t know the location of another Chasm to visit.

...But then DRADPAS, SVEERCUSK, and ABBON-RIGGIE had revealed one to him. They would no doubt show him exactly where it was, even if it was only to serve their own interests.

Yet the Deities doubled down. Now, they had not only temporarily clipped Skullius’ greatest hindrance to freedom, but left him a blueprint of how to do it for himself!

’And that’s on purpose, it seems,’ Skullius thought. He hadn’t missed the implications behind DRADPAS’ last sentence just now.

The Primeval Deity released the string, the conceptual visualization of Skullius’ malady, and it fed back into the deepest threshold of three-dimensional space. Skullius narrowed his eyes at that. He imagined it was going to be a chore trying to replicate just that slight feat.

...And DRADPAS knew that too.

<What a delight!> said ABBON-RIGGIE. <I’m thrilled that we have you to count on for this. Should you complete the task without any hiccups, we wouldn’t mind doing you a few more favors. Not to strum our own chord, but we don’t typically visit anyone in person like this.>

"I thought so..." said Skullius coolly, and deep down he thought:

’This is a greater honor than you deserve, worm, is all I hear.’

<We’ve marked the location of the Breaking Chasm. Anyone with a good pair of eyes will be able to see it, but that shouldn’t work against you. That place is already garnering a lot of traction at the moment.> said SVEERCUSK, and his form drifted backwards.

<We’d appreciate it if you’re brisk. Take no longer than 10 Consternals.>

<We’ll be waiting.> said ABBON-RIGGIE. <Make a spectacle of it if you can.>

The three beings melted into the purple canvas of space in the Third Layer of the Hatcher, and soon, they were gone.

Only then did the will of the Warmoth finally cool down and vanish. Susu’k rushed to Skullius.

"Master!" he cried.

"Five days..." Skullius didn’t pay the Strawler any mind. Slowly, his guard fell, and he dug into thought.

10 Consternals was the equivalent of five days, using the measurement of time on Aigas. But the value of a day in Consternal terms was much higher than that on Aigas. Time moved faster on worlds. The 10 Consternals the Primevals had bought Skullius were already so much longer than the total amount of time Skullius had before Doom Factor 2 swallowed his sanity.

’And I have five days to unravel how DRADPAS froze it with Conste,’ thought the Hybrid.

Something told him it was going to be harder than he imagined, though.

He tried it.

Channeling Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz and infusing the bits of Conste and Eklhesh (space and distance) he had access to in his fingers, he tried to find the thread of Undeath connecting him to Somanda.

...

Nothing happened at all. Space remained unbothered by his attempt to pinch at it with his fingers and would not unravel to reveal what he wanted.

’Of course...’ Skullius gave up at once. He had another concern. ’That’s probably another reason why DRADPAS hid the thread.’

The trace of Conste following Skullius around was probably going to be the Primeval Deities’ eyes and ears, if it was true, in fact, that their objective was to use Skullius as a spy.

’They likely chose me because no one would believe that an anomaly like me would be aligned with the Primeval Deities. Still sounds like a gamble, though. I’m missing a lot here.’

"Simmer down," Skullius said to Susu’k, who was terribly tense.

"Simmer down? What just happened here—"

"I know. Terrifying..."

Despite the calm look on his face, Skullius was indeed a little shaken by it all.

Primeval Deities had invaded his sanctuary and made demands of him that he had to accept. On the surface, he had been dominated and humiliated, considering his current status.

...But Skullius was not afraid of the power of the Primeval Deities. What scared him was what he didn’t know – the unknown. He was faced with enemies who knew infinitely more than him. There was nothing scarier than that.

’Maybe I am part Fulgardt, after all,’ the Hybrid thought, and found it within himself to chuckle. ’But I have a chip I can use to level the field when it comes to information too.’

Future Skullius had signed an UNLIMITED CONTRACT with COLMUUN, one of the strongest Primeval Deities.

And because he (Future Skullius) was, at his core, Skullius, the original Bearer of Null Life had done the same.

Indeed, Skullius had signed an UNLIMITED CONTRACT also, and with another all-powerful Primeval Deity, one second only to AKHASHA in strength.

’Let’s see what TITEMIUS has to say, shall we?’