Bro, I'm not an Undead!

It was indeed a secret that no one knew about the Sif.

They were quite reserved and enjoyed simple lives without much conflict – at least post the Grand Wars. They cherished these simple lives; adoring the blessings of the seas, the fruits of the forest and the life that both gave.

The Luminants had also been enthralled by the peace when they were forcefully brought to Opungale. They had assimilated to the burdenless life much better than they would if they had been brought anywhere else on Aigas.

However, reserved and kind as the Sif might have been, they were not helpless plant worshippers as most thought.

They had a secret.

The Sif did not have unnaturally long lives… naturally. They were similar to humans, though, dietary differences did give them an edge life expectancy wise.

Millennia ago, many years after Fulgardt, after the Ashing of the Time, a special species of flower, large and graceful, began to grow in the land. It was a gift, much like the natural barrier around the continent. 

The High Family of that time, all El Sif, were graced with the knowledge of what this plant was for, and how to use it to preserve themselves.

The flower was a natural director of life force, with a will of its own. It deemed the Sif worth granting its blessings, which aligned with the goals of the King and Queen from that time onward.

Preservation.

All royalty lines that came before and after recognized that peace was misleading. It could drain their strength if they sank too deeply into it and neglected the possibility of another catastrophic event brewing in the future. Most from these royalty lines hadn't found a solution, but the Deathly Ruse changed everything.

Using its power, exceptionally formidable experts born in Opungale through the years, were allowed to live out their lives after reaching their full potential. When they grew old, they would be given to the Deathly Ruse, which would turn them into seed in a process called Seedification, preserving their body and soul in that form until such a time when they were needed.

Indeed, actualizing such an absurd concept, was the Deathly Ruse's power.

Preservation.

Once one was turned into a seed, they could either be stored within the stems of the Ruse indefinitely, or be planted deep within the ground in order to bloom and sprout back to life once again, their body back to prime, and also their soul. While it took up to a fortnight, sometimes less, for the process to complete, it was very well worth it.

As the years flew by, this practice did not remain exclusive to experts. It extended to the common Sif as well.

Every year, those who were close to the end of their lives while having lived under specific circumstances, unfulfilled, terribly ill or having gone through some gruesome tragedy, would be given to the Deathly Ruse during a special ceremony. They would be granted what the Sif called, the next Cycle. A new life.

The same was true for those that conducted important work around Opungale; vital researchers, doctors and the like.

It was easy to abuse this ability, very much so.

However, the long lines of El Sif created rules to manage the use of the Deathly Ruse in such a way that didn't dangerously ignore the natural order.

Only one Cycle was to be granted to common folk after their former life. At the end of it, they would not be given another.

For all the experts that were preserved, and not yet planted, if a century passed – from the moment of their 'demise' – without their strength being required, they would be allowed to pass on without being given a new Cycle.

This, to all those that governed the use of the Deathly Ruse, seemed fair.

Of course, the power of the flower… flowers, wasn't limited. Its scope far exceeded what was known by the general public.

….

This full scope was currently being demonstrated.

Every single Sif on the continent had been turned into a seed; seedified.

Billions of seeds floating over sets of clothing that dropped to the ground, could be seen everywhere in the air.

The Ode and Umbett hadn't expected this particular surprise. 

The crimson-haired young man looked hundreds of thousands of the seeds around him curiously, then at the only Sif who remained.

"Wow… I did not see this one coming," he said with a genuine tone of surprise.

"I'm glad," Queen Embrell said with relieved glint in her eyes.

"Though, I do wonder if those fellows will leave them be," the Ode said and he pointed at the swarms of the seahorse-like creatures flying above, desperate to shoot down but deterred by the presence of the three monstrous experts.

Queen Embrell had already known that her people would still be under threat even in this state.

In fact, the summoned creatures were already attacking the seeds of those who weren't protected by her presence.

Thankfully, the Deathly Ruse immediately began to draw the seeds towards it.

Millions of them flashed from region to region, scattering in order to escape the pursuit of the equally numerous, greedy enemies.

The seeds that made it simply sank into the large stems of the Ruse as though dropping into a calm pool of waters, safe, but as it turned out, the collection of supernatural flowers wasn't safe either.

The discount swimmers practically flooded towards the Ruse since it exuded a large energy signature as well, but it wouldn't be taken down so easily. It couldn't be harassed to oblivion by a few tens of millions of bizarre seahorses.

Then again… perhaps a hundred million of them would do the trick.

Queen Embrell frowned.

She had hoped that her husband would show to defend the Deathly Ruse, but seeing as he wasn't, that must have meant…

"You've gotten the collateral out of the way. How about we begin now?" the Ode shattered the Queen's bubble of worries as he stepped forward, battle ready and smiling.

Embrell still had burning tension lit in her mind. She was distracted, but not enough to show it openly.

"Fine," she said heavily.

"Are you going to fight me in those baggy robes?" the Ode asked with a face close to bursting into laughter.

The Queen ignored him.

The crimson-haired young man extended his hand towards her.

Embrell just had to shake it, and the traditional battle rite would begin.

She hesitated only for a moment, her heart unsettled and weighing a couple more grams than normal, but she reached in too.

…

Right then…

A foul, blackish red light abruptly changed the highlight of the night!

All three amidst the chaotic swarms of seeds and seahorses turned to the source.

The giant tree of light in the far distance, to the west, had suddenly became suffused in an atrocious sort of… Aura, that looked like a demented flame burning and rising up!

Umbett's facial skin crumpled like paper.

"Ode…" she said in a dark, rough voice.

The crimson-haired young man frowned at the unexpected sight as well.

"What is that?"

Embrell wasn't sure as well, until she remembered her daughter muttering that this thing belonged to that arrogant man she thought was a Luminant.

What was going on?

In the next instant, Umbett, her hand moving so quickly it might have not moved at all, cast a blurred, irregular shield around herself and the Ode. 

A micro-instant later, something the Ode didn't see crashed against the barrier with a precise, explosive impact so forceful and so outlandishly sharp that he felt it in his flesh despite whatever it was not being able to even scratch the barrier around him.

Well… there were two of whatever this attack was, but he couldn't have been able to distinguish them, since they came in super rapid succession.

Umbett and Embrell – who was seemingly exempt from the attack – on the other hand, saw.

They saw it all.

It wasn't only the hag and the Ode who were targeted by this strange attack.

The evidence of it showed when the corpses of tens of millions of the summoned creatures fell from the sky without warning.

However, it was billions of their parts that fell to the ground like bloody, messy hail, all finely carved, butchered and sliced into even pieces, some too small to see.

Umbett and Embrell had seen it, but they couldn't quite articulate what they had seen cut up the little menaces.

Whatever it was, however, was terribly lethal.

Viciously so.

…

Far off, the source of the chilling, inexplicable attack chuckled and tilted his head.

"Well, it was worth a shot," he said disappointed, yet highly enthused.