Design
Appearance: Skully is a literal skull — the skull of Agiel, which is now a cursed relic. The skull is bleached white, cracked in several places, with a row of jagged, razor-sharp teeth lining the jaw. These teeth are slightly misaligned, giving it an eerie, unsettling look. His eye sockets are completely dark, hollow, and devoid of any visible eyeballs, but there are flickering, blue pupils that occasionally shine through, hinting at the remnants of Agiel's soul trapped within.
Horns: Twisted bone-carved horns curl from the top of the skull, resembling twisted ram's horns but sharper, almost like they're made from jagged shards of bone. They extend from either side of the skull, giving it a menacing, intimidating appearance. The horns have small cracks and lines where the bone has begun to shift and break from the effects of Murmur's experiments.
Additional Details: Small veins of dark energy pulse under the surface of the skull, faintly visible when he uses magic or is agitated. The jaw of the skull is often tightly clenched, giving it a permanent scowl, and it may occasionally shift or crack with movement. Crackling energy often emanates from the eye sockets, especially when Skully is agitated or preparing to use his powers. His voice comes through as a deep, guttural tone, but in moments of intense despair or when he's overwhelmed by emotions, his voice shifts to something much more childlike — the sharp, innocent tone of Agiel before the transformation.
Personality
Cold and Distant: Skully is a being of coldness and detachment. He harbors no warmth, especially toward others. His only purpose is to torment and grow stronger, focusing on his own existence and resentment.
Likes to Annoy and Intimidate: Much like Flowey, Skully enjoys manipulating others, particularly by causing discomfort and fear. He is constantly looking for ways to belittle or intimidate others, projecting an image of power and control.
Condescending: He believes that he is superior to others, especially in terms of power. Skully constantly exerts dominance, both verbally and through his actions, aiming to make others feel weak in comparison.
Resentful Toward Daeva: Skully sees Daeva as a failure and often refers to her as an "Old Scumbag", which encapsulates both his distaste for her age and his deep anger at her perceived weakness. In his mind, Daeva failed to protect her own children, and he holds her responsible for Agiel's demise, even though he was the one who was ultimately corrupted by Murmur's experiments.
Bitterness: Skully's entire existence is marked by bitterness toward his circumstances. The despair of his former life as Agiel is now twisted into a desire for vengeance and an unhealthy obsession with finding acceptance or retribution, though he's mostly content to remain distant and act out his anger in passive ways.
Backstory
After the meltdown of Agiel's body caused by Murmur's horrific experiments, Murmur discarded the remains, throwing away the bones left behind. One of these bones, Agiel's skull, was left to rot. However, due to the side effects of Murmur's twisted experiments, the skull began to flicker with blue light in its empty eye sockets, signaling the emergence of something new inside it.
For an incredibly long time, the skull floated in darkness, learning how to manipulate magic using the residual energy from the experiments and the life force still trapped within its bones. Over time, Skully's presence became more defined, and he discovered his ability to teleport, as well as the bone-spike manipulation that became his primary method of attack.
His first instinct was to seek out Daeva, the one who had once cared for him in his former life. He thought that if he could find her, he might receive some form of recognition or maybe even redemption. However, when he finally found Daeva, her reaction was not what he had hoped for. Fear, disgust, and despair flooded her as she tried to hide from him. This realization shattered Skully's illusions about his place in the world, making him realize that Daeva had rejected him completely, seeing him as nothing more than a monster.
Bitter and hateful, Skully chose to become distant and cold, no longer seeking affection from Daeva. Instead, he focused on trying to gain strength by taking the bodies of others, hoping to use them to eventually gain a new form, though every time he tried, Daeva stopped him with her whip. Eventually, Skully gave up on this futile search for a new body and became a lurker, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Abilities
Teleportation: Skully can teleport short distances, allowing him to appear and disappear at will. This gives him a high mobility and makes him difficult to target in combat, often striking from unexpected angles.
Bone Spikes: Skully can manifest sharp bone spikes from the ground or his own form, using them to impale, pierce, and kill his enemies. He has full control over these spikes, able to manipulate their size and placement for both defense and offensive strikes. These spikes can also be projected at enemies with incredible force.
Got it! Here's the revised Bone Manipulation ability for Skully, reflecting his power to shape bones into complex forms, including creating bodies:
Bone Manipulation: Skully's control over bones goes far beyond simple weapon creation. He can reshape and manipulate bones in a variety of forms, including using them to create entire bodies. This ability allows him to craft animated skeleton warriors or even large, bone-based constructs from the remains of fallen foes or his own fragmented form.
Body Creation: Skully can use his bone manipulation to assemble and animate a complete body. This could be a humanoid skeleton warrior or even a massive bone golem, depending on the amount of bone material available.
For example, Skully once created a huge warrior skeleton, dressed in skeleton armor with a long, sharp skeleton sword. The body is crafted with a spine, ribcage, arms, legs, and skull, all bound together by Skully's dark magic. These bodies can be controlled to fight and defend as though they were living entities, though they are limited by the durability of the bones and Skully's concentration.
Bone Construct Control: In addition to creating full bodies, Skully can also mold bones into armor, shields, or defensive barriers. These constructs are animated with his magic, allowing them to shift and adapt to his needs, creating a formidable protective defense or a fearsome offensive unit.
Bone Reshaping: Skully can alter the shape and structure of bones with high precision. Whether it's shaping claws, spikes, or even sharp bone wings, he can turn bones into multiple configurations for offense, defense, or even mobility. This makes him extremely adaptable in combat, able to generate anything from bone projectiles to bladed arms.
Bone Binding: In extreme circumstances, Skully can bind a captured enemy's soul to a skeleton body or use bones to trap souls within a cage of bone, preventing escape. This ability is highly draining, as it requires powerful magical control and a sufficient amount of bones to ensure the body can function properly.
Regenerative Bone Growth: Over time, the bones Skully creates from his own form or other sources can regenerate and grow stronger, creating more complex and deadly structures as the battle goes on.
Voice Shift: Skully's voice can fluctuate between the deep, powerful tone that he normally uses and the sharp, childlike voice that reflects Agiel's true nature. This is a manifestation of his inner turmoil, especially in moments of intense despair or remorse.
Immunity to Physical Attacks: As a skull, Skully is immune to most physical attacks and can only be harmed by those that affect the spirit or soul, making him a dangerous entity to deal with in close combat.
Skully is a figure of hatred and resentment, and his abilities reflect the darkness and regret that he now embodies. His backstory ties heavily into his desire for revenge and the rejection he feels from his past life, particularly Daeva.