From Human to Skeleton: Revived with Infinite System Crystals Chapter 730: Omina's Slow Route

Omina asked for a chair. That frightened Ty more than the missing finger. She did not ask for help. She did not ask for sympathy. She did not ask anyone to acknowledge the raw place where her field command privilege had been torn out. She simply looked at the Lost Property clerk and said, "Chair."

The clerk pointed to a stack of three-legged stools.

"Seating is not guaranteed during contested ownership."

Omina stared. The clerk stared back. Yun-Jin picked up one stool, broke the weakest leg off against the counter, wedged the remaining two legs through the lower shelf, and made it stable enough to hold a war cri or a stubborn general.

"Chair," Yun-Jin said.

Omina sat. No one comnted. JJ looked like comnting physically hurt her. Heissman looked like he had prepared seven comnts and was grieving their loss. Ty respected the silence because it was cheaper than getting shot by everyone in the room.

The black case sat on the counter between them. Inside, his missing finger tapped once every few seconds. Not impatient. Counting. Omina held the claim options in one hand.

"Purchase is bait."

JJ nodded.

"Price will be sothing we cannot afford or sothing we can afford and should not pay."

"Theft is bait."

Yun-Jin glanced at Ty.

"He was considering it."

"No," Ty said.

Four faces turned to him. He corrected himself.

"Briefly."

Heissman lifted one finger.

"In the interest of precision, your brief thoughts often have property damage attached."

The clerk stamped a form without looking up.

ACCURATE.

Ty pointed at the stamp.

"Do not join."

The clerk turned a page in the umbrella magazine. Omina tapped the list.

"Duel is bait. Erebos would not post a claim he intended to defend with ordinary violence."

"Inheritance?" JJ asked.

"Requires proving chain of possession before death, after death, through undeath, and across the skeleton separation."

Heissman grimaced.

"A beautiful nightmare for soone less urgently alive."

"Apology?" Yun-Jin asked.

The finger stopped tapping. Everyone looked at the case. Ty's chest fla shifted.

"No."

JJ studied him.

"You don't know what it ans."

"Still no."

Omina did not argue. She crossed apology out with the blunt end of the pencil.

"That leaves negligence claim, improper custody, and purpose contest."

The clerk's pen paused. Omina saw it.

"There."

Heissman leaned closer.

"You have found the pulse."

"Erebos assigned purpose," Omina said. "That ans he accepted responsibility for use. If the assigned purpose damaged the original holder's na integrity, he exposed the claim."

JJ's wrist panel brightened.

"So we don't argue the finger belongs to Ty because it was his. We argue Erebos used it badly."

"Badly for whom?" Ty asked.

Omina looked at him.

"For the finger."

The room went quiet. Ty turned slowly toward the case. The finger tapped twice. Heissman exhaled through his nose.

"Horrifyingly elegant. If the finger is treated as a witness or claimant, rather than passive property, then Erebos's claim basis can be attacked from inside its own logic."

Yun-Jin frowned.

"Say it normal."

"The finger gets to complain."

"Thank you."

The clerk closed the magazine. That was the first honest sign of danger.

"Negligence challenges require counter-witness."

Omina did not blink.

"Define."

"A witness with standing against the highest claimant."

"Ty."

"Original holder has direct interest."

"JJ."

"Sponsor has material interest."

"Yun-Jin."

"Pain-bonded witness lacks custody relevance."

Yun-Jin's eye twitched.

"I hate being categorized by pain."

"Common response."

Heissman raised his hand with the solemnity of a man volunteering for a bad play.

"I have hated Erebos academically for so ti."

"Academic hatred lacks standing."

"Your institution is philistine."

The clerk stamped:

COMMON BUT UNHELPFUL.

Omina leaned back on the ruined stool. Her face went pale for one second. Yun-Jin shifted closer but did not touch her until Omina gave the smallest nod. Then she steadied her shoulder. Ty watched that nod. It bothered him.

Yun-Jin's help did not bother him. Omina asking without words looked harder than bleeding.

"Who has standing?" JJ asked.

The clerk slid a new form across the counter.

ACCEPTABLE COUNTER-WITNESSES:

EARTH WITNESS AFFECTED BY CLAIM USE

HOSTILE AGENT OF HIGHEST CLAIMANT

PRIOR CUSTODIAN

ASSIGNED PURPOSE RECIPIENT

"Earth witness is Jade," JJ said.

Ty's hand tightened. Omina saw.

"We do not pull her unless necessary."

"It is necessary," the clerk said.

Omina's eyes cut toward her.

"No. It is convenient."

The clerk smiled faintly.

"Convenience often survives as necessity."

JJ muttered, "I want to buy this entire office and fire it into a lake."

"Bodies of water reject municipal burdens," the clerk said.

Heissman looked delighted despite himself.

"That was almost wit. I am devastated."

Ty tapped the black case with one knuckle. The finger answered. Tap. Tap. Tap. A rhythm again. Yun-Jin tilted her head.

"It changed."

"Yes," Ty said.

"You know it?"

"No."

He did. Sowhere. Or part of him did. A mory with no picture. Bone against table. Rain against glass. Three knocks from under a floor. The clerk opened a drawer and removed two witness summons. One was white.

One was black.

"Challenge accepted for preliminary scheduling. Bring one Earth witness affected by claim use and one hostile witness with traceable service to Erebos Alkandros."

Rima's na appeared on the black summons before anyone spoke. JJ read it upside down.

"Convenient."

Omina's mouth thinned.

"Too convenient."

Ty looked at the white summons. Jade's na appeared, then blurred, then appeared again with a red line through one eye. He picked up the paper. It cut his fingers. No blood ca, because bone had little to give. The summons drank blue fire instead.

The clerk stamped the case.

PRELIMINARY PURPOSE CONTEST OPEN

The shelves behind her shifted, forming a narrow aisle toward the handleless door. The soul-door tag swung once.

DO NOT WAKE WITHOUT ADMINISTRATIVE NEED

The words changed.

ADMINISTRATIVE NEED UNDER REVIEW

Omina stood too fast. Yun-Jin caught her.

"No," Omina said.

For once, the office listened. The aisle stopped moving. Heissman lowered his voice.

"Our next error appears to be waiting politely."

Ty held the summons until the edge stopped burning.

"Then we finish this one."

The finger tapped inside the case. This ti it sounded like agreent.