Souran's body and soul were untouched.

Ferex had decided not to tamper with them before Skullius had a good look. Beyond that, however, he was also worried about some assurances Souran might have placed on her body in case she lost it to an enemy. Who knew how it would react to external influence.

Skullius appraised the body thoroughly.

"It's still strange to me that these creatures can survive without a body and a soul. They are virtually Divine without actually transcending Divinity," said Skullius.

He already knew the details thanks to Soidon, but actually having a specimen to use for a study in order to confirm the idea was sobering.

And to think Skullius was planning to siege the home of these creatures – where thousands upon thousands of them, some on infinitely higher levels than Arch-Liches, led armies of powerful minions while basking in the grace of their progenitor, Emmae, the Eminence of Undeath – with just a small band of very killable, less experienced combatants…

'Bold indeed,' thought Skullius.

"I used to think Undeath was inconsequential because it's technically the weakest Existential Parallel, but fighting a Lich in person was an eye-opener. It was frankly worse than fighting a Deity," said Elita, scanning Souran's body. The look of it forced her to recall an experience from her journey with Void. "They are strong, resourceful, and crafty. I guess their home encourages them to think like madmen – intense competition and all."

"Yeah," said Skullius. "There's apparently no sense of camaraderie between them, only transactional relationships that normally end in betrayal."

Elita grabbed a stone and chucked it at Souran's body. It bounced off just as anything would have.

"I bet you anything there'll be a violent reaction to any contact from a living creature," said the Void User, and she turned to Skullius. "What do you plan to do? I don't doubt your strength one bit, but you know better than anyone else that conventional strength doesn't mean anything to shrewd Liches."

"…Yeah." Skullius.

How he still had to worry about Doom Factor 2 despite being the Null Devil King of the Null Verse was telling – even if most of that could be attributed to his stubbornness.

Sighing, Skullius opened the [Legion Eyes].

They were the product of an Andori that allowed him to view the world around him in many different states of matter. Previously, when he used them, he was a little reckless, and they would mutilate everything in his line of vision needlessly. Now, however, Skullius could isolate exactly what he wanted to affect without spilling over unnecessarily.

Souran's skeletal body fell away, and his vision poured onto her soul. It was just as he expected, large and complex, but heavily patched, as though it was the amalgam of many different souls combined into one cohesive mass. However…

"I see. The soul has no… substance," Skullius said.

"What?" Elita turned to him.

"It's like a blank vessel in itself. Souls are receptacles for information, but this one, powerful as it is, is actually empty. No information at all. It's an effective trap yielding little reward for any enemy who dares try to touch it." Skullius closed his [Legion Eyes]. "I suppose Liches are able to strip the content of their souls along with their consciousness – something possible only because they have the assurance of their phylacteries, no doubt. Smart."

As Elita mulled over what he'd said with a deep frown, Skullius gave a sheepish smile to Ferex. He'd known that the Apostle was extremely eager to absorb Souran's soul.

"Don't be too greedy," Skullius said to him. "There'll be more chances to feed on Liches in the future. You already grew by a lot, didn't you?"

Ferex spilled a single, sullen growl.

Skullius chuckled.

"So, there's no way to use it?" asked Elita.

"I didn't say that." Skullius marched onward towards his next target within the Null Remnant. The shadow of Beyrmir followed. "It just might be the perfect piece for the formula I'm creating."

As curious as Elita was, she didn't bother asking what Skullius meant by a 'formula'. She'd already had her fill of Skullius' obscure ideas. They might have been too dense for her brain. Then again, being here in a Null Remnant was perhaps just as vexing. She had been holding on to reason only because she'd been worried about Red Rage, but there were too many phenomena and variables here that completely contradicted what she knew from the wider Reality, not to mention too many potentially devastating combatants.

Perhaps the most ridiculous of them… was yet to hatch.

"It's going to be a while longer, I think," Skullius said as he came to a stop, looking at the bright, golden seed perched on top of a great stone pillar.

Sila.

After absorbing the versions of himself – the miniature Adamantine Prodigy Beetles that had refined themselves according to the Undeath-themed attacks they took from Soizar – he was yet to awaken as a new being.

Already, he had become an antithesis to Undeath, but now…

'I can scarcely wait,' Skullius thought, grinning.

He could have used his Maverick Wafer abilities to find out what Sila would become, but he anticipated the surprise. He wanted to experience it raw.

'You'll have a reward waiting for you when you come out. Your friends from back then are waiting. I didn't forget your yearning for them, Sila.'

With that, Skullius left the Stone Hub of Taboos with Araeyn, Weaver, and Elita. From the Hatcher, he warped to the Warmoth's Treasury, where he'd said he'd rendezvous with Pherdanta. The Commander of the Order, along with the Stark Troops, was already waiting for him, having exited the Timemould Mirror Box.

"I take it the evaluation went well?" Skullius asked Pherdanta.

"Exceptionally," said the Unlimited Star.

Skullius detected the intense smell of blood on her. He narrowed his eyes. "You didn't kill any of them, did you? Especially not…"

"I wouldn't dream of it, master," said Pherdanta with a reassuring shake of the head. "For Sila's sake, I pulled my punches."

Gerriey bit her lips when she heard this and resisted the urge to cry out: "The hell you did!"

She still had Pherdanta's sword firmly in her grasp.

"Good," said Skullius, and he led the way towards a different section of the Treasury.

The Warmoth's Treasury housed both the Timemould Mirror Box and the Warmoth's collection of Treasures and artefacts.

Skullius had decided that the healthiest first initiative he could take, where his lower-level underlings were concerned, was to grant them heavy-duty weaponry – Divine weaponry. For now, that would be a sufficient upgrade.