Summoned Skull propped himself up on the stone and looked down at his chest.
The black aura lodged in the gaps of his bone armor was gone, and the purple lightning had weakened considerably.
He raised a claw and clenched it several times.
For three years, the Despair God's will had weighed on his soul.
Attacking other spirit dimensions, capturing Tributes-those orders had never left him any room to refuse.
He had a consciousness of his own and knew what he was doing.
But whenever he wanted to stop, that power would take over his body directly.
Ultimately, Summoned Skull had been nothing more than a puppet in Antihop's hands that could fight.
Now, the restraints were gone.
This human had beaten him in a Shadow Game until his field and hand were empty, and had broken the chains around his soul along the way.
The process had been humiliating.
The result wasn't bad, though.
Summoned Skull looked up at Yūki, the ghostly blue flames in his eye sockets flickering twice.
Little remained of the hostility that had once made him want to grind the other party into the cracks between the stones.
"You want a Dimensional Passage."
"Yes."
Yūki crouched down, his tone direct. "How to open it, reliable coordinates, and a guarantee you won't send me straight to the Despair God's home. I want all three."
Summoned Skull wasted no time, reaching his right claw into the damaged bone armor over his chest.
Snowstorm Princess immediately raised her ice hammer.
Silent Magician also held her staff across Yūki's front, its gemstone glowing silver.
Summoned Skull paused.
"I'm just getting something."
"Go ahead."
Yūki poked his head out beside Silent Magician's shoulder. "We'll watch."
Summoned Skull took a fist-sized black orb out of his bone armor.
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