Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1153  Fate of Giants! (3)

"WHAT?!"

Replicus, Aurolio and Yuyui exclaimed.

Sause laughed.

"I believe I prefaced all this by stating the reason behind our falling back wasn't at all so sullen. To us, it was the greatest honour and of course, the perfect punishment for acting contrary to the freedom that the Deities established on Aigas. Well, I think that's how those who were devoured felt, ahaha. I wasn't there. I merely read the records and heard a few eye-witness accounts."

"Hold on. Were your kind simply fed to Jerthrax as a form of punishment? That seems a little harsh," Replicus said.

Sause shook his head.

"No. If that were the case, we would have all been fed to the young Elder, but we weren't. Only about two-thirds were sacrificed. As for the purpose, ahaha, well, I suppose you can chalk it up to Divination. Unlike Elder Jerthrax, who was close to reaching his prime when he perished, Elder Jiggorrhax was highly proficient in six Advanced Classes and two others that would have been the equivalent of Hidden Classes back in those times. One of his Advanced Classes was Divination. I believe, according to his words – the records I, Benzard and many other Giants have found – he foresaw the catastrophe that followed the departure of the Deities Listafelle and Quintess. The weakening of the Rules that allowed outside cretins, undead and all to harass Aigas. He saw it all despite being none the wiser to the cause."

"For that reason, he felt it necessary to bring up Jerthrax, who was roughly five hundred years old at the time, up to considerable strength. That could be achieved by sacrificing the lives of the Dragonsson with Creeds in tow to accelerate his growth."

Replicus' curved eyes shone bright.

So many Giants were sacrificed for Jerthrax's sake and in turn to weather the foreseen danger.

'I see. The Emissary mentioned it in his narration of the Ashing of Time. Jiggorrhax used his powerful breath to patch up Aigas while Jerthrax, the second Elder protected the whole of Edagon, shielding it from the adverse aftereffects. I suppose this was what Jiggorrhax hoped. He probably didn't know exactly how he would handle the tragedy, but he wanted to be able to protect Edagon as well if push came to shove – if he needed to do something drastic, like he ended up doing,' the Warmoth's Progeny thought.

(A\N: Refer to Ch.842).

"Interesting. I wouldn't have thought," Aurolio said, his mouth twisting.

Yuyui shivered.

"Who are more important between dragons and Giants?" she asked with a slight tremble. "I mean, Giants are supposed to be the proud descendants of the dragons, so is it really alright for them to be sacrificing themselves?"

Sause scratched his chin.

"It's not as simple as who's more important. We as Giants were never meant to surpass the dragons, only just to preserve what the dragons represented, especially the Eternal Drakkens. I always found that honourable, quite like my kin, but a bit stale. Perhaps that was why Fulgardt's ideals, while they didn't sway me, enticed my mind; they had me entertaining newer trains of thought. I almost spilled over the edge because of him, but reined myself in at the last second, ahaha," he said. "I don't regret it though. I would have missed history in the making – the unusual progression in the power system of Aigas that was brought on by humans, shockingly."

Aurolio raised a brow.

"Unusual progression? What do you mean?" he asked.

"Territories, of course," the Giant said as the trudged on.

"Territories?" Replicus asked, confused.

What did Territories have to do with this ?

"You probably don't give it much thought, do you?" Sause scoffed significantly. "Territories were never meant to be part of the system the Deities designed for the humans. They came to be when the man who formed Pelian – if that's what it's really called – formed a contract with a particularly powerful guardian beast to learn such power, transferring its knowledge to the humans. Only then did Territories become an integral part of the Incandescent Stage. It was rather interesting when I learned it too. I understood the appeal, but of course, it had a price."

"A price?" Replicus was perplexed but couldn't find the words to properly ask every single question he had at once because Sause was moving so fast.

Sause looked at the clouds that were growing nearer and nearer by the second with a rather solemn gaze.

"Beasts were never meant to reach Divinity. Or rather, their path to it is far more treacherous than that of humans. That's how the Deities deemed it. A blockage was put in place, to steer them away from Divinity. That is what a Majestic Territory is. An expression of the self that keeps one detained and hypnotised by a tiny glow, a tiny demesne they can create themselves as a mortal. It keeps one's sight limited, and usually most beasts never grow out of it. They begin to think they have attained great power when there are others out there capable of creating an infinite number of such tiny demesnes," Sause explained while Replicus, Aurolio and Yuyui gaped.

"That's why higher-level beasts are compelled to stay within their Dormant Territories. They remain stalled in delusions if they are weak-minded. When humanity attained the power to use Territories, heh, I watched them slope downward, viewing the Incandescent Stage as a peak of power much too glorious and rarely advancing further. Humans at the Incandescent Stage sacrifice their Creeds to supply energy for their Territories instead of looking towards how better else to use these powers, which, by the way, have the capacity to warp reality in their favour. How… pathetic."

Sause's audience was gobsmacked.

Majestic Territories were such things?

Blockages, he said.

Obstacles to Divinity – intentional obstacles at that!

Sause continued.

"The path to Divinity was a lot simpler before Territories, you know. Stages weren't nearly as rewarding when it came to diverse powers but they gave a straight shot to become Divine if one could weather the ninety-four Tasks and six Trials, ahaha. Of course, even with the added blockage, some humans were persistent enough. In a Way, Territories provided an alternate course to Divinity for the rare, extremely powerful among them. Some might even say that version of Divinity is better, but who knows? And of course, I refer to Fulgardt. I helped, but he was pretty much a few decades away from finding the answer to Divinity all on his own."

The Giant sighed and laughed at the faces Replicus and the others wore.

Faces of ignorance.

"I can't believe you dared to want to see what makes Aigas Rich without understanding these little things. Ignorance sure is bliss, ahaha."