Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1151: Fate of Giants! (1)

Chapter 1151: Fate of Giants! (1)

?

Sause once again wore a broad smirk.

He wondered, because of Replicus' phrasing, if he had heard about his status from someone instead of having seen how desolate Edagon was despite being incredibly vast - as the largest continent on Aigas.

"Indeed, I am, ahaha," the Giant said. "But the tale is likely not as solemn as you think and it is too inappropriate to bring between the negotiations we were undergoing."

"Right," Replicus said. He had too many piles of curiosity floating through his head right and now admittedly, it wasn't his own idea to suddenly ask about something else. It was a product of having many voices debating in his head. "What have you decided on then? Will you show me?"

Sause gave a solemn breath and folded his arms.

"I will. Under one condition. I cannot judge the heart merely by words. I need assurance that I can truly trust you, ahaha. I suppose that will require a Tie of Exchange," he said.

Replicus didn't see a problem with this.

It was all well as long as Sause agreed to his request.

"Alright. Then, I will-" Replicus began when Sause once again gestured for him to stop.

"I will not be performing the Tie of Exchange with you, ahaha," Sause said, much to Replicus' surprise.

"What?"

"I will do it with what has become of the carcass of the Scaled Elder. He is under your command, is he not? I sensed a boundless presence earlier and a terrible heat. I can only assume..." Sause said as his voice broke lightly.

Replicus was perplexed, not just by what Sause was suggesting but also by the fact that he seemed to truly be torn about this matter. For so long, the Giant had remained a mystery to him. Sause had been a powerful creature beyond his reach, immensely knowledgeable and always casually expressing that his circumstances were things he could change on a dime. Well, perhaps not always.

Replicus never forgot how horrified Sause had been when he, Replicus, had told him that the deal for their Tie of Exchange was for the Giant to help him fight an Arch-Lich.

"Hmmm. I suppose that should work," Replicus said to the Giant.

He didn't think he had any reason to refuse.

Thus, he called upon Beyrmir and what seemed like boundless, boiling mercury spilled from him upward and rapidly constructed the mega behemoth that was the Mercurian Long-Snout Legend. Where the six limbs of the great Null Lifeform set its feet, the ground was splashed in scorching mercury. The weather seemed to change all around Edagon. An overblown version of summer rocked the world immediately.

Sause, Yuyui, Benzard, Aurolio and even Ferex looked up at the creature in both awe and shock.

"Oh my... oh my goodness..." Benzard said, his eyes bulging.

Aurolio wore an ugly look when he realised he couldn't even fathom Beyrmir's extended jaw, much less the dreadful power barrelling out of him like a limitless, scorching flood.

Yuyui was packed with more awe than fright. She seemed more enthralled by the fact that her master had something so vast and powerful as his servant, and in terms of sheer presence, it didn't lose at all to the original Jerthrax.

Sause, on the other hand...

His eyes turned glossy.

A strange look appeared on his face.

"Magnificent..." he said and a smile broke over his face.

Remnants of the history he had read long ago scrolled through his mind and as he compared them to what he was seeing right now, he couldn't help but feel that this version of his fallen Elder was more akin - in both size and stature - to that of the father of Jerthrax and Jiggorrhax: Seongssax, the Ivy.

Only a dragon of that calibre, last of the Eternal Drakkens could have matched up.

*

It didn't take too long for the Tie of Exchange to be completed. The terms, as one would expect, detailed that in exchange for Sause showing Replicus the truth about the Richness of Aigas, he was not to let his ambitions get the better of him and try to steal it. Of course, Sause was confident that Replicus, even though the Tie of Exchange was not made with him, would honour it, after all, as long as they were on Aigas, there would be retribution to be gained for the breach of the Tie of Exchange and Replicus placed a significant degree of value on his newest Apostle.

Following this, Aurolio asked Sause permission to accompany them as well. He was willing to also guarantee that he wouldn't do anything sketchy under a Tie of Exchange.

"You seem like the type to let bygones be bygones. Come on," he had said while looking at the Giant who couldn't believe how shameless he was.

Sause surprisingly allowed it, however. The look that flashed in his eyes seemed to suggest that he was confident nothing would happen to this object of interest even without the guarantees he was creating with Ties of Exchange.

If that was the case, Replicus didn't bother to give him fair warning.

Aurolio was crafty. During the battle in the Null Remnants, he had used their transfer out of Aigas to bypass the punishment of the Tie of Exchange which barred him from killing 'Skullius'.

Soon after Sause and Aurolio completed the magical contract, Sause led everyone to the far North.

On their way, they saw the devastation that had been wrought by Replicus' battle with Caxellac. It was tragic to say the least. There were signs that the continent had shifted in other regions, nearly breaking off to create a few new islands. It was rather terrifying. New lakes and rivers had been created, and Sause made it a point to mention each and every new change with an "ahaha" at the end of every sentence.

"So..." Replicus said, still floating in the skies, "...mind telling me now how and why you are the last living Giant? I assumed there were others. A few months ago in the Labyrinth of the Yoke, you spoke as though you had people waiting for you. Or was that a lie?"

Sause gave an airy chuckle. Benzard, who was walking next to him wore an odd smile. He remembered the day he woke up in a giant bed on Edagon.

(A\N: Refer to Ch.150).

"It was no lie. There were others here. Not too many, but they were there. Giants, both old and new. It's not easy for us to reproduce, you know? One would expect that our extinction is only a matter of time, ahaha," the Giant said. "The change in our fate began four thousand years ago, during what is called - as I heavily despise - the First Grand War. When my kind scoured Aigas, teaching all races about the Deities who made them, ahaha. I remember laughing when I heard the humans believe the Giants retreated from that war because they were defeated. Ha! Cruel, insensitive lies. We retreated for a more sombre reason."

[Author's Note]

Sorry for the absence. For those not on discord, I was at a funeral, but I'm back now.