The first thing to respond to Skullius' remark, was the thunderous pressure of the twenty-five experts stationed around the great hall. It bellowed like a great beast and assaulted the Hybrid Luman, intent on punishing him for such a disrespectful gesture in the presence of their Majesties!
Erlton's presence didn't diminish the severity of the judgent at all.
Skullius rely scoffed when he felt the crushing pressure approach.
The [Wings of the Just] plastered behind his robe unfurled quickly, their massive builds and lengths spreading out wide and with a shocking level of intense golden luminosity!
This was enough to ward away most of the fatal force that was being channelled his way!
And truly, if it weren't for his wings, Skullius would have been flattened, becoming a dark red stain on the clean floor.
"This is new..." Erlton muttered to himself as he looked at Skullius; of course, he was unhard by the sudden confrontational force.
"STOP!" Darwel cried with a fierce expression, her eyes glaring at the royal guards. By the ti she had rose from her seat to make a stand, Sevill had already rushed to Skullius' side.
At once, the furious pressure wafting from the experts died down.
However... this result was not entirely owed to Darwel's exclamation.
Every Sif in the hall who wasn't her and Sevill looked at Skullius with perturbed looks.
As soon as the four wings behind Skullius erged, the blood of every Sif here cried, especially that of the King and Queen.
Skullius sighed and continued walking forward. He gave blank stares to each of the royal guards who failed to et his gaze properly.
They each trembled slightly when the Hybrid Luman's gaze lingered even a mont longer on them.
Skullius shook his head and retracted his wings.
The glow around him faded, as did the bubbling within the bodies of the Sif in the large hall.
...
Suddenly, the atmosphere within the space grew awkward for different reasons than before. Instead of reeking of a back and forth between the so-called wisdom of the royalty in Pelian and Opungale, now it held an imnse degree of confusion.
Shannazah and the girl in the black armour were quite surprised by this developnt.
From their perspective, a human, yes, a human had walked in and everything turned chaotic for a second before becoming eerily quiet.
Even the King and Queen seed to be stumped on how to open up the conversation surrounding what had just happened. It wasn't a normal sort of disturbance, after all.
When Skullius reached the end of the giant table where Darwel was, she backpedalled and stood by his side.
The Queen wore a disapproving look coupled with a confused one.
"Darwel?" she said that one na with a frightening tone that made the El Sif princess quiver softly.
"Moth... Your Majesty..." Darwel gathered her withering wits and faced her mother. "This is Festos."
It felt strange.
Darwel had introduced Skullius to her parents before, when they ca to see his sealed body. She had then explained what he was to them hours later, in this very room.
As she had discovered earlier this night, her parents hadn't bought what she had been selling before. She doubted they even rembered Skullius' na, thus she began by telling it to them again.
"He is a Luminant. A genuine Luminant. The last one that remains."
Sohow, Darwel's words adopted an echo in the grand hall. Or perhaps it rely seed so to those that heard and understood what she had just said. All the Sif except the royal Majesties seated before the gathered expressed imnse surprise.
To so, the aning of what just happened when they thought an insolent nobody had just walked into the hall, beca abundantly clear, and this brought them to convulse as they reflected.
Was this true?
If it was actually true... what would be the penalty for sothing so grave?
To others, the disbelief was apparent.
This couldn't be true.
So who were much older than Darwel doubted that this silly girl could tell a Luminant from any odd, mildly good-looking human.
Did she know how long ago it was when the last Luminant had perished?
"Darwel..." the Queen said before standing up.
This simple gesture of hers... was fiendishly threatening.
Skullius' eyes widened slightly.
'No wonder...' he thought with a bit of a grave tone.
No wonder indeed.
The Queen's voice brought about a fearso, commanding authority that was almost material in nature.
Darwel's stance fizzled under the beautiful woman's stare. She spent it all on her daughter without pause, until Darwel looked as though she would faint.
Skullius' lips moved about.
He hadn't known.
'This woman... She's beyond the Incandescent Stage...' he thought.
Indeed!
This was woman was at the Transcendent Stage!
For the first ti, Skullius was confronting an existence way beyond him in Stages!
The Queen was frightening!
No wonder his wings didn't have the sa effect on her and the King as they did on Darwel.
Not only that.
The two – including the King who said nothing, but kept a stern look on Darwel – seed to have atrocious egos as well, which likely fuelled their evident doubts about Skullius, and in turn their resistance to his authority as a Luminant.
Well, Skullius assud so.
"Your Majesty..." Sevill set out to speak on behalf of the failing Darwel, but a single finger raised from the serious royal garnered her silence.
Sevill's defiance still burned in her eyes though.
Skullius smiled.
It seed resisting the royal Majesties was easier when they were not within the vicinity.
Benyn and Cosycn showed signs of wanting to intervene, but they didn't.
He couldn't bla them. Just the Queen alone felt like an ocean packed within this hall, and she hadn't even loosened the full scope of her overbearing presence.
Said Queen then turned to Skullius.
"So, you are the walking boneman clad in flesh, poisoning my precious daughter and her servants?" she said.
Her voice didn't work on Skullius as much as it did on Darwel, thankfully.
Despite her ability to resist him, she didn't have the authority to crush him only with words, it seed. Perhaps it was denied her because she ultimately, was inferior racially.
"I've long left the na Boneman behind. I'd prefer it if you wouldn't insist on giving such a nickna. I believe you heard my na already. Be civil and use it," Skullius said sternly.
...
Darwel knew Skullius wouldn't submit to her parents, but she expected a certain level of tact from him when speaking to them.
Everyone in the entire hall was as shocked as she was at Skullius' reply.
Shannazah whistled silently while shrinking in his seat; the girl in the dark armour and those behind her rely watched stoically.
The Queen's expression didn't change.
"You ask too much of , boneman," she said. "What is it that you are exactly? What importance do you THINK you hold to so boldly march into this hall and speak out of turn? Because you are a Luminant? That is quite rich coming from a human. No Luminant ever left Opungale. Ever. No Luminant ever bred with a human."
"Now, if you would accept that you and my daughter fed each other dreadful, ignorant lies, and confess what manner of power you're using on all of us with Sif blood to make yourself appear more authentic as so Sif ssiah, I will consider letting you live. Better yet, I will even consider having Shannazah here take you back to Pelian once this is all over."
Cold silence endured.
Erlton had retreated a safe distance from Skullius, watching the proceedings curiously.
Everyone slled defeat. The Queen had established a dominant stance over Skullius, one that eclipsed his odd 'magic' from earlier.
Everyone was convinced he was the inferior party.
Even Darwel was beginning to accept that this wouldn't go as well as she thought it would.
But then...
Suddenly, the El Sif princess felt a mighty tug at her curvy waist that pulled her towards Skullius' figure!
As several gasps sounded, Darwel found Skullius holding her tight as he boldly looked at the King and Queen whose face turned sharp at once.
"I'm afraid I will have to ask you not to demand too much from as well," he said with a sigh of exasperation.
"I will not repeat what your daughter has already spelled out, and pardon , but I would rather have you maintain the sa bold stature you hold as royals, rather than the more deaning alternative."
"Unhand my daughter," the Queen spoke coldly, her facial details turning sharper.
"I cannot do that," Skullius chuckled. "I've fallen for her, you see. And I wanted to be so bold as to confess it before you, my inevitable in-laws."
...!!!
It suddenly beca scorching hot in the hall as the Queen's face contorted horribly.
Darwel gaped and paled.
What?!
Sevill and the other Sif shook dreadfully as well.
Out of all the things... out of all the possibilities... all the phrases.
This was the last thing anyone here expected to hear.
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