Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Yuyui lay shook on the ground which populated by corpses, most of which were agape as if just as shocked as she was when looking at the scene before her.

Today was definitely one of the days she would pin to memory till the day of her death, her real death, as the number of occurrences that had spilled into the last seven-ish hours has dribbled between astonishing and insane.

The current thing which she was looking at with her two, different coloured eyes took the whole freaking cake however.

It was something she had believed to be a myth. Something society had discarded as a mere folktale, causing the complete disregard of the First Grand War of legend as mere such.

A legend.

A giant was standing a short distance from her.

The poor lady had to crank her neck up to see where the behemoth's head was as his whole figure easily reached the ceiling of this space.

The massive cloak this giant wore made her even more anxious, while its red glowing eyes made her shiver.

Luckily, asides from the giant smiling at her briefly with a wink weird wink added on top, he hadn't paid her much attention.

Instead, his gaze remained focused on the figure planted the ground, roaring with a soul crushing pressure while bound by hundreds of strings that came from the giant's fingers.

RAAAAAAAAAAH!

The air, space and mana rippled and rumbled as it was run through by this horrendous force, threatening to break apart as a result!

No one was exempt from the crushing feeling propounded except the giant.

Ferex, the ever protective Hound was currently held firmly under the giant's foot as he also struggled to free himself from its grasp but a stream of intricately woven mana coming from under the giant's expansive boot kept him and even his Unliving Thread in check!

Yuyui's eyes refused to blink.

She was that frightened.

The sequence leading up to all these events had been brutal, as it didn't ease her into the abrupt shift.

All she knew is that her master pulled out a large finger nail, infused it with mana and then in the next few seconds that followed him losing control, this giant had appeared.

Him binding Skullius and trampling Ferex who had instantly lunged at him, thinking him to be a threat, had been the giant's first course of action on arrival.

He had then placed something akin to a golden medallion on Skullius' back, the end of which glowed with a silvery light that lit up the roaring figure's back!

Calmly, seriously...

The giant continued to watch over Skullius' body with its menacing red eyes, the transition that slowly began to take place reflecting in his eyes.

Yuyui watched silently as the creature that roared, causing her heart to quake in immense fright was culled of its intimidating presence, its shout turning into a murmur then into silence.

Her new master had finally calmed down, his body laying on the ground silently on its belly.

The giant withdrew its strings from Skullius' body but kept its eye on him.

"That should do it," he said in a voice that caused Yuyui to swallow hard.

....

Skullius opened his eyes which couldn't give him any visual information as expected.

He felt for his body, his limbs and senses instantly reacting to his desire to stand, as it was obvious that he was currently lying down.

"Haa...."

Skullius took a light breath.

With his arms, he heaved himself, the contours of his flesh and its well sculpted edges showing as he exerted energy, his glittery ivory toned skin accommodating every movement with grace.

His long dark hair which neared his waist swept his back as he rose, the tufts of darkness around his wrists and ankles like hairs starting to recede.

The kilt of darkness around his waist, designed with symbols of light started to disappear as well, leaving him naked.

The [Wing of the Just] behind his back fragmented into light particles, his skin turning from its glittering state back to its normal hue.

In his dark vision, a set of notifications kept flashing in his eyes, ones that had been displayed long before he got sucked into his Inner soul space.

[You have successful unlocked another one of the 9 seeds of the 'Fruit of World Myths']

[Number 7, Seramoro, Oblivion's Edge]

'Hmmm...' Skullius hummed in his thoughts at this.

He fully rose, his senses vibrantly showing him everything around him with immense clarity along with [Elevated Mana Manipulation], whose performance was augmented to quite a shocking degree.

SSSSS....

Mana started to leak from Skullius, creating a haze of bright white around him!

The thick covering extended up to a meter and a half from the Hybrid Luman, a testament to how much mana he could output... when he wasn't even trying to pump out much mana!

BOOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

The ground under Skullius' feet couldn't handle the special property of his mana as it went and dug in on itself thrice, indenting deep into the stoney floor with impactful grandiosity while dust flew along with a harsh breeze.

Sause gave a whistle of amazement as he watched the little thing with long dark hair that had started to change from black to light auburn, exude a marvellously unique presence.

Skullius raised his head as he then went on to look up at the giant.

Swiftly, he floated from the four meter deep and six meter wide hole he had made and landed on the still intact floor.

His empty gaze made Sause smile while Yuyui and Ferex could note a great difference in their master.

The Hybrid Luman turned to Yuyui who couldn't utter a word, the white eyes that stared at her giving her a dreadful sense of fear.

Her heart started beating ferociously, the saliva she kept in her mouth drying...

What was this...?

She felt so nervous and her body started to exert the little water it had left just to sweat!

The few seconds worth of time that Skullius looked into Yuyui's eyes were enough to almost cause her to die from shock.

"Dear Quintess what a gaze, aha ha," Sause said with a cheery grin. "If I didn't know any better, I'd sat you were one of Fulgardt's Chosen at the very least."

Skullius didn't respond. He didn't understand what the giant was saying anymore as they were no longer communicating as souls. Instead, he gripped the long, light auburn hair behind him, gathered mana around his hand and sliced it off!

This effectively left him with medium length hair which he trimmed a bit further.

Sause's grin grew wider as he saw this.

This wasn't a simple haircut, it was a gesture that let him know the result of his work.

Skullius pointed at his mouth and then his ear before shaking his head, the giant taking only two seconds to realise what he meant.

A small string stemmed from Sause's finger and reached Skullius' chest, a connection being formed immediately as the Hybrid Luman curiously looked at the length thing.

"I wouldn't have guessed that you'd suddenly lose the ability to communicate even in the Known Language, little one, aha ha. How have you been getting by?" Sause said, Skullius being able to hear him now even though he was still speaking from his lips and in the same language.

What an interesting ability.

"Many events happened in-between this moment and last time we met," Skullius said with a slightly deep voice that differed quite a lot from that which he had previously. "I see you've gotten bigger rather than stronger."

"Hahahahahahaha!" Sause laughed, his voice causing a low tremor to shake the space. "What can I say, size is one of the defining features of a giant."

"Good for you," Skullius as he quickly donned the Stacked Series of the VergeRider. His eyes sharply landed at Sause's feet before he spoke in a chilling voice. "Now get your foot off my Apostle... bro."

"Oh, scary," Sause said in amusement.

The giant followed Skullius' request with unveiled intrigue, Ferex who had been caught under the creature being let loose as he then rushed to Skullius.

"I see you're doing well with the WILLS within you, aha ha. Make sure you're ready for the next batch. I likely won't be able to help you as easily with those and all those that come after that. I can't contend against Divine WILLS casually after all."

"I'll keep that in mind," Skullius said as he walked up to where the array around the frozen Yuyui began.

He pointed at it languidly and turned to Sause.

"There's some kind of obstruction here. Mind breaking it for me?" he asked in a tone that sounded more commanding than pleading.

"Oh? You have taken a liking to this young miss? Sadly, I'm not a wingman, you know, aha ha," Sause said with chuckle.

"Yes I have. She has a high likelihood of keeping me alive in the future. Freeing her will add a certain amount of... assurance that I won't end up being a pain in your pelvis," Skullius said as he raised his brow. "Sound good enough?"

Sause gazed at Yuyui who was just about to recover from her previous encounter with Skullius' frightening eyes.

The poor lady grew stiff once more as the large eyeballs of the tall giant zoomed in on her.

"Interesting. I'd only heard about those cruel witches..." Sause said. "Very well."

The giant swiped his hand over the array that held Yuyui within its borders.

The magical construct shone bright with destructive luminescence but then the flashes of light shattered as if they were physical, leaving the groves that made the construct's entirety on the floor as simple carvings devoid of anything unique about them!

Just like that...

Just like that, Yuyui was free.

The lime haired woman hadn't even realised it yet but Skullius did.

He collected the fingernail for the Tie of Exchange and stored it back into his storage ring which he had once again equipped.

"Ferex, carry her," Skullius gave the order and the Apostle rushed to grab Yuyui in his upright form.

The Hybrid Luman then turned to Sause.

"It seems I'll be exploiting everything I can from this exchange. Look forward to it, large bro," Skullius said with a smirk.

"Hahahahaha! To think you'd start growing this cocky, little one. Very well, I'll play along just a little until it's time to reap MY reward," Sause said as a bright ring of red energy burst from under his feet and with a massive rising force like a gushing wind, he vanished, leaving an empty spot.

Skullius sighed.

'That went well,' he thought. 'I feel different but I guess I can at least be happy that I now understand what the WILLS do.'

The Hybrid Luman sat down.

He had a lot to digest.

For one, he had been wrong.

The WILL OF UNDERSTANDING was the greatest asset among all the WILLS he had gained this time.

Even saying that was an understatement.

'Let's see if I'm right...' Skullius thought.

But...

'Tomato flinger...'

Sila's voice interrupted him.

'What is it?' Skullius replied casually.

'Why did you spare me?' the aged soul asked in a bitter voice.