Slivers of apple skin stuck between her front teeth had Cter hiding her mouth behind her hand from the humans around the large table which she sat alone at as a monster. She was not addressed as one though. "It will be for the better if you attend this as a human, Cter."

The slivers of apple skin that tickled at her gums were for the better though as she did not speak up against the Xoff king. Had she done that she would have been spitting apple pieces over the table, and had she done that the humans would have most likely sent her away immediately.

The apple helped with her hunger and kept her quiet when needed.

"I have heard about this from others and trust in their judgment, however I do wish to verify it with you, please. Do you know if your barrier magic can protect against a Fusion?"

Cter felt her eyes widen. Usually there was more lead-in before a question like that was posed, so she was taken back slightly. "Well," she said weirdly as her tongue flopped down from the roof of her mouth where she had been trying to poke loose some of the fruity skin.

She swallowed to reset her tongue in her mouth, but any answer she began to tell had it tingling strangely. "That is quite the direct question," was all she could say with good confidence. "Forgive my stalling, King of Xoff, but it is something I will have to think about a bit."

There was a small flutter in the Royal Mage of Ice's aura where he sat on the edge of the large table between Cter and the humans. The parchments he was reading and compiling did not react to the flutter in his aura, which meant that he deliberately kept it in his aura.

So that only Cter could notice it.

Like an elbow in her side to let her know that she was not saying things correctly, the Royal Mage of Ice fluttered his aura again.

"As in how to explain it exactly, that is," Cter added with a flustered motion of her hand. "I am sure that the barrier magic will be enough to keep in a Fusion, but I am sure you would want me to reason as to why instead of just trusting my word on the matter." It would still be her word on the matter, but she would at least be backing up those words with some good explanations.

...Whichever they would be…

The Xoff king's eyes narrowed. "I was under the impression that your left arm was that of Fusion flesh and that is why you can utilize magic without a sleeve as you draw upon the Cooperative Connection from the White Flesh instead?"

That's…

Yes, that was a good start.

"Indeed," Cter said after a quick cough into her right hand. "However I thought I would lead up to it rather than begin with it." She displayed the palm she had just coughed into as an apology. "Forgive me for assuming, King of Xoff, I only wanted to be thorough." There was a different flutter in Terri's aura, a warmer one compared to his previous, colder flutter. A good sign that she was saying what the Xoff king wanted to hear. "Would you want to see it?"

A spatter of curiosity flashed across the Xoff king's face, dampened by the worry about his soul. The worry was enough to have him placing his balled hand over his mouth for a few thoughtful seconds. "Will it..." he began with his hand opening up. "Am I going to..." His fingers sought to curl back into a fist again, and with a few added creases to his forehead he returned to covering his mouth again.

"It is only going to be something for your eyes to notice," assured Cter while placing her right hand over her inert sleeve. "If you know about my left arm you also know that a mere leather sleeve would not be enough to dampen it." She did not need the warm flutter in Terri's aura to know that she said it correctly.

The Xoff king's shoulders settling calmly was enough for her to tell. "I assure you that it is under my control, human king. Likewise I assure you that it will keep inside it any and all Fusions that might form by any and all humans deciding to join in with monsterkind below Mt. Ebott."

Small nods had the tip of the Xoff king's nose bending like squeezed clay on his clenched knuckles. "Please," he said through his fist. "Show us."

The ball room was quiet enough for Cter to hear the pinches on her inert sleeve's fingers. Five of them to loosen the glove part up to then drag off slowly until she reached her White Flesh.

Before she could drag it off quickly until she reached the bend of her left arm, but since that bend was no more and merely a squeezed-together shape from her barrier magic that was not a luxury she could afford no longer. As the inert sleeve passed across her shoulder she could feel it sink slightly where the White Flesh had affected her collarbone.

It was equally unpleasant as the softened collarbone sank in as it did when its shape returned.

Cter had to be doubly aware of that unpleasant feeling too as she needed to keep it suppressed lest the Xoff king saw it on her. Once she got to her arm though the unpleasantness became familiar, and as she slowly revealed more and more of her left arm the gray from the overcast through the tall windows disappeared among the harsh white of her White Flesh. The shimmering, glass-like refraction of her barrier magic surrounding her White Flesh in a tight package had the Xoff king searching for the outlines of Cter's fingers for a second or two before he found them.

The Monster Mage found something else though. Next to the squinting king there was a slight movement of the wide-brimmed hat, and a faint, stripe-like glow within the deep shadow it cast.

"I do not envy you, Monster Mage," said the Xoff king. "However do understand that when I say that I would not want to trade places with you I mean more that I do not want more to become aware of the cursed souls we carry."

Cter did know about that though, and it was strange to her that the Xoff king did not seem to know that. Surely the Hero of Xoff must have at least felt that Cter had done something to him. Surely he must have said something about it to any of the other humans.

Unless...

"Does it...hurt?"

Hm? "What?" Was it the Xoff king again?

"Does it hurt?" the cautious human repeated. "Your arm?"

"No," answered Cter with a quick shake to her head. She lifted her barrier magic around her left arm, and the White Flesh followed along. "I can not feel anything from my White Flesh. I can only really sense change in pressure when I touch at things." The harsh light changed like a bumped-at torch as Cter formed demonstrative fists with her left hand. "It is numb and empty, but not hollow. Muted is a better word. Muted like a whisper in the another room behind a closed door and two pillows pushed into your ears." A pink, iridescent shine formed inside her palm. "Magic, however."

The Monster Mage placed her shining palm flat onto the large table harder than King Asgore had done just a few hours or so before. Methodically she dragged it across the wooden surface, leaving in its trail a layer of viscous crystal which began to form scales of hardened crystals within it. The hardened sections rose into flowers and trees that were found in the Royal Garden during high spring.

Melodic crackling and hollow chiming arose from the liquid crystal as the crystal garden thickened with more and more specimens. It was not a large spectacle like the magical fireworks she had displayed when she visited Fenkeep Castle, but the detail she conjured were impeccable. The crystal magic grew solid like rock, but the pink petals and leaves swayed as if just as soft as their natural counterparts.

"I am not able to feel the touch of a rose's petal no more," Cter told as she caressed one of the crystal flowers with her left hand. "However, I can project what I remember it feeling like the same as a master painter can project the image within their mind onto a canvas. Even more so, if I am allowed to boast for once."

As she released the crystal rose's petal it bounced the same as a real flower would, and its reflective glimmer from the harsh white of Cter's White Flesh bounced just the same across the entirety of the large table. She conjured a magical bee to sit on the rose, and left the crystal garden for the humans to marvel at.

"I can let my own magic through the barrier shell I keep around my left arm while keeping the White Flesh subdued within it, King of Xoff." Cter bowed her head. "I hope that is enough to prove to you."

From the Xoff king moving aside some of his low-hanging fringe to see better Cter's display seemed to have done enough to convince. It felt nice to make magic in a more displaying manner again, and judging by the Xoff king's reaction it also seemed to have done more to protect monsterkind than the barrier magic the three Monster Mages raised around Jarasevo.

Did it mean that Cter forced upon her magic onto her colleagues for nothing then?

No, she had to tell herself with conviction. The barrier magic was to stall for time, and that it did. It did its job even if the humans managed past it afterwards. It was necessary, same as the crystal garden Cter had let flourish on her side of the large table. The moving clouds outside the tall windows had the reflected light from the crystal magic moving across the ball room.

It shifted slightly the shadows on the humans' faces, and revealed more of the hidden one within the wide-brimmed hat. The white-fleshed stripes came more into view as Manny lifted his head slightly. The outline of his lips were faint.

He was smiling.

"Your display is quite brilliant," said the Xoff king, taking away Cter's attention from the young mage. She let her magic dissipate, briefly filling the room with reflecting brilliance from the crystal magic turning to shards. The conjured bee was the last to fade as it landed on Cter's bent finger. She extinguished its magic as if it was a small candlelight with a small puff of air. "And I have no doubt that what you are saying is true about the barrier magic being able to hold in the White Flesh of yours."

The faint smile disappeared.

"Would you please also demonstrate that the barrier magic can also block things physically?" continued the questions with a friendly gesture of the Xoff king's hand. "And both at the same time, as well?"

Cter blinked over to Rasliela who she held eye contact with hard. "You can ask the Royal Mage of Noitaidarr for a testimony of barrier magic being able to block physical attacks." The one good memory Cter had from her time as the supposed dean of Soul's School was when the spear broke against her barrier magic.

A moment she delighted in, and more so being bale to remind Rasliela of it. "Same with the contingency she sent to lay siege to Jarasevo. They did not attack the Monster Capital due to us Monster Mages raising barrier magic to protect it. If that is not enough–"

"Then I can add in my testimony as well," said Terri with a factual tone to his voice. When Cter turned to him he was already facing the Xoff king. The drift of his magical fog betrayed that he had turned away from Cter just before she had turned to him. "Cter's barrier magic can withstand an armed attack striking it directly without much effort from her or much damage onto the magic."

But why did he interrupt Cter to say that? Did he not want for Cter to demonstrate the magic before the Xoff king? Did he interrupt to in some way protect Rasliela? Who's side was he on, really? Where was the flutter in his aura?

"I see," came with a few thoughtful nods from the Xoffian king. "And it is different from your shell magic as well, Dr. Fech?"

Wide, fearful eyes that seemed to push up Sarbor's bushy eyebrows so high up that they joined his hairline shot over to Cter, making her flinch slightly. She already knew that he had that shell magic though from the Hero of Xoff's memories, as well as his calm deposition to it.

Despite her having never actually heard it she still felt as if she was used to it. That only seemed to confuse Sarbor though, as the reaction he got from Cter was the complete opposite of what he sought after.

"Dr. Fech?" repeated the Xoff king after a long silence. His voice was cold, but it was not as commanding as the cold would have suggested. The Xoff king wanted an answer as it was important to him, but he was not going to force one out of the good doctor.

"Y-Yes," answered Sarbor with a rapid shake of his head that almost had his bushy mustache swaying as his hair did. "I-It's d-different. I..." He glanced back at Cter for a split second. "It's...weak. It w-would not hold against an armed attack and I w-would not want to test that to verify, please." The quiver in his voice told that he would not want to demonstrate it at all if he could. "It is different in both what type of magic it is and what it can do. It is something that is...mine."

For more worse than better, Cter could hear.

"I can confirm what the doctor is explaining," added Rasliela as Sarbor's hand disappeared into the pocket where he had kept his watch in at the Council of Three Countries. "His magic is different and weaker than that of Cter's barrier magic." A few drops of poison dripped from her tongue. "While we might have begun the idea of vesselization with the shell magic the idea only became a proper one once we learned of Cter's barrier magic."

Once they learned of…?

Wait! When?

At Soul's School? Was that was Rasliela and Terri were doing at Soul's School while Cter was there? Researching a way to contain the monsters? How long has Sarbor had his magic? Before the Second Fusion, it must have been, like Kry and Kurant told! Surely though it could not have been anything worth mentioning as a containment magic if it was that weak.

Cter remembered though that he could make it visible and sturdy enough to be seen in broad daylight when he talked to the Hero of Xoff just before the Final Battle. The Second Fusion must have made it more prominent for him then. Magic that was planted within him by Cter and made to flourish by the Second Fusion.

Just as how Cter did it with Kurant and Kry…

An acknowledging nod had the deep-hanging fringe bouncing over the Xoff king's forehead. "I see." He pointed at the parchments around the Royal Mage of Ice. "And to make it clear, you have not been able to reproduce the barrier magic?" He received a simple, denying shake of Terri's head. "So that only leaves Cter as the one to be able to produce this barrier magic which we are set to use?"

The warm flutter in Terri's aura returned. "Yes," he answered directly to his king. "That is the case we are faced with." Swirling streaks in his fog followed his hand motioning sweepingly towards the Hero of Xoff. "And with the added knowledge that the barrier magic can be shared and is cumulative when more than one mage comes together to combine their magic into one we should collect a focused group of powerful mages that are able to wield the magic the same as the First and Second Monster Mage did."

From the pile of parchments was pulled one which Terri swept over to the Xoff king with a gentle, magical gust of cold air. "Following the Soul Rainbow we should have seven, all with different colors to their souls. I have good confidence of one of each color from powerful mages that should be readily available for us. Six of them are in this castle at the moment, with the seventh being that of Lerjung, my mentor."

"The Monster Mages," read the Xoff king with an unsure rub to his chin. "We will be needing all three of them, according to you." His eyes shifted to Cter and then towards the double doors engraved with the Delta Rune. He pondered for a short moment, tapping one finger on his cheek while he did. "Their help is necessary, from all three?"

"Yes."

The Xoff king looked to Rasliela for further comment, who cleared her throat to–

"Agree with King Asgore's proposal about the Underground, and us Monster Mages will assist with the sealing process." Cter felt her back straighten and her chest swell with air.

"We want to live with monsterkind in the Underground, and the only way for us to be allowed that is if the seal is made one-way as King Asgore proposed. We will seal it from the outside and make it more powerful than we can break and then live the rest of our lives with monsterkind. Agree to this, and you will have my magic at your disposal, as well as the assistance of the First and Second Monster Mage."

There was neither a cold or warm flutter from the Royal Mage of Ice's aura, and from the Xoff king there was only a narrowed stare which weaved between challenging and curious. "And this you can promise, Monster Mage?"

Had it been Idyll asking Cter if she could lift up King Asgore's ear and whisper a suggestion about allocating some more exotic spices to the Royal Kitchen, then yes. However… "As it is a decision that is above me making on my own I can only promise you in every way but officially and in writing." She folded her fair-skinned palm over to the door.

"Us Monster Mages follow King Asgore and Queen Toriel though. Wherever they go, we follow, and should we need to cooperate with you humans in order to follow them into the Underground then so be it. For the monsters we will be human. We will help if they let us, and they will only let us if you allow us to follow them."

The Xoff king's nose disappeared behind the rolled-out top of the parchment that Terri had sent over to him. "Royal Mage of Ice?" he addressed without looking up from the parchment. His breath touched at it, bending it slightly. "You have written red as the soul color of the Fourth Monster Mage. When did she tell you of it?"

Good question.

One that Cter would love to hear the answer to as well.

"She told me at Soul's School," answered Terri while averting away from Cter.

"She was the last one to tell me about her color, and with it the list became complete. If it had been a color that was already known then I would have sought to replace that one instead. We are in luck that the three Monster Mages have different colors to their souls, but I suspect that was one of the reasons that the monsters chose them, if only subconsciously. They compliment each other, and so do the colors of their souls. It is something quantifiable, and we have only begun to scratch at the depth that is the nature of the human soul."

And those scratches had brought with them scars deep enough between humanity and monsterkind that the only solution was to seal away monsters and magic from the humans, apparently.

And also when did Cter tell Terri the color of her soul? She...didn't. It would have been something she remembered, wouldn't it? Was he lying about it? Saying it to fit the Soul Rainbow?

In all honesty that was fine with Cter.

If it meant that the Xoff king would be convinced enough to agree to King Asgore's proposal about the seal to the Underground then fine, whatever. If it meant that Cter was given a color to her soul then that she could live and let live with. She wanted to know one thing though. "You said that the color of a human's soul is something quantifiable, Royal Mage of Ice?" An eyebrow raised as he turned to her. "What would that mean for my soul then? What does my soul being red mean?"

A second of shuffling among the parchments resulted in one being slid over to Cter. On it were seven words written glowing in their respective colors. Her eyes found the red glow, and the word beside it.

She chuckled slightly.

"Hope."

Yeah, sure, she could live with that.