Voices.

Indeed, it meant nothing in the end.

In that moment, Boron found that the only reason he was still able to keep it together – to keep everything together – was because of his stalwart will. It was invigorated, or rather, it had been, until Skullius quickly crushed him with unruly, unreasonably overwhelming might.

In the end, even that will didn't amount to much either. There was a layered devastation in that realization. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Voices.

Now, his will was fading, losing all its festering liveliness. How could it not, when Boron himself was missing a good third of his body now? Both his vaguely defined flesh and Broader Existence had been hit, and it was indeed fatal.

<Just like that…> thought the Deity. <Just like it was back then.>

Voices.

Just like it was on Koreen Paradis, when the Divines trampled on the mortals as they wished. They felt like a different species altogether, with their haughtiness and might.

Was Skullius the same in Boron's eyes, though?

Boron considered the tremendously mighty being a distance from him.

He was different.

Even now, when Boron was assuredly defeated, Skullius didn't look down on him.

<Was all he said true then?> thought Boron, teeth gritted.

Voices.

A blink earlier, he had attacked with everything he had, resisting Skullius and his stance.

…But the great throng of energy he had sent out had never posed a threat to the Sovereign of Refined Anarchy – just as he (Skullius) had said.

As it came, Skullius had manifested a large sheet of paper from his hand and spread it before him. Besides its color, it looked no firmer than a regular piece of paper, yet the invisible mass hurtling towards him was absorbed into the page, which then scrunched in on itself… and swiftly turned into a giant, blue rune that whipped forth and bashed into Boron's chest before he could fathom its speed.

That had been checkmate.

The agony from the wound was driving Boron nuts, but it might have been a mercy when compared to the… voices.

<End it already.> said Boron morosely.

Skullius drifted close to him. He didn't deal the final blow, though.

Was it hesitation? Boron certainly thought so. It angered him.

<Why pull back now? You proved me wrong, didn't you? End it already! What are you waiting for?>

Skullius considered the Deity for a while.

"I'm waiting for your last words. You have one lingering wish. I did say for you to hit me with everything. Do you not even realize it yet?" said Skullius. "Perhaps Direction is urging you towards that last wish as well. That could be why you're being overwhelmed by those voices."

At the mention of voices, Boron cooled. Skullius knew even that? How?

The tension in his one remaining shoulder slackened.

A lingering wish of his? What could that be? And how would Skullius know about that? What even was that ability he used – the papers he manifested that could seemingly do anything, including extracting everything about whoever touched Skullius?

Boron couldn't have fathomed the depth of the Maverick Wafer arsenal.

With what was essentially zero cost to his reserves, Skullius could produce lifeless wafers, paper-like constructs that could be utilized for offense, defense, and anomalous utility. Their sturdiness scaled directly to the raw physical prowess of their user, which meant that their inherent cutting power, rose along with Skullius' strength. The lifeless wafers could also be used to store attacks and distill them into one-time-use runes that brought out the full potential of said attacks, among many other unique uses.

The greatest ability granted by the lifeless wafer, however, was summarizing the memories, experiences, opinions, abilities, and potential of anyone the user desired. There were no exceptions, unless the target could not be touched. In essence, Skullius could master an individual's Direction by comprehending all these things about them. Direction was tied to choices and ambitions, after all, and Skullius could distill all of that into a book whose cover had the target's appearance.

This was how Skullius interpreted fates, how he seemed to be able to tell the future, and ultimately, how he seemed to know that Boron had something unresolved deep within.

"You knew the consequences of the Fundamental Barter you made," he said. "Every Deity knows, which is why they never try. You stole the faith of many mortals on many worlds outside of Aigas and translated that into strength, temporarily touching new heights as a Deity. But Deities are as much slaves to mortals as mortals are slaves to them. Inheriting a mortal's faith means whenever their heart cries to you, you have to listen. That burden and consequence is only beginning to weigh on you because you've lost most of your strength, right?"

Boron didn't say a word.

"You risked it all, just like back then, after your father died. That's a mark of strength for sure. If only you'd placed it correctly. If I were you, I wouldn't have cared whose example I followed – be it the Asper to Divine or the Primeval Deities. Once I broke free from Koreen's cruel system, I would have trusted only my experiences and surged onwards, relying only on my desires."

Skullius felt a little hypocritical saying that. He was, after all, a subject of unfair benefits – with Serenity's help and Fulgardt's powers. Boron had no such thing. He'd risen to the top through sheer talent and grit.

<Perhaps you're right. I'll never know.> There was still that sour pang of defeat in Boron's voice. Dissatisfaction.

"That's where you're wrong. Your heart is trying to tell you – to reconcile that at least, before you die."

Boron frowned, sweating from the agony. <What do you mea—>

"You've only ever valued one subordinate among your Carven species, and that's only a recent development." Skullius said nonchalantly. "It always confounded you why Quintess found joy in creation, in the weak little things he made. It felt pointless. But then, that little Carven of yours saved you earlier, from Elita's blade, and you rewarded him. You did so again when he fetched you that halberd from the Under and brought it to your hands in spite of everything."

Voices.

The realization struck Boron like a meteor. It was true indeed. He remembered that odd feeling he'd felt when Ashema delivered the halberd to him.

Despite all he said against Quintess, did he, in the end, understand the essence of being a Deity?