Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1422  Permanent Haven (3)

Asthon could understand. After the Ashing of Time, the world was starved of the immense, rich volumes of pure mana that used to dance and twirl in the atmosphere, free for all – human and beast. All creatures could develop quickly back then, beasts even more so than humans, at least where raw energy reserves, and the skill in controlling those reserves was concerned.

But now, it took ages for a beast to obtain a Crown and ages more to Ascend and get marked with the star. And unfortunately, just as beasts failed to evolve their Territories to Havens, humans also lagged and failed to touch upon the Beyond the Veil Stage, not to mention Divinity itself.

BOOOOM!

The Haven was assaulted, but the coarse vibrations from whatever blasted it did not travel through its bizarre space. They rattled the individuals within instead. Grim and the other beasts spat blood from their orifices and stumbled to the grass-layered ground.

"Dammit!" the Unlimited Star cursed as he wiped the blood from his nose. Hauza, who was a few meters to his right, was leaking some cold, blue substance from his lips. Some of his teeth had even shattered.

A fierce roar came from all around right then, but it sounded very distant. The battle outside the Haven must have been intense, which was astonishing. Jiggorrhax must have been pulling out all the stops to survive for so long. The Fruit Bearers were likely a large part of why he was still sticking though, Grim judged.

'Some of my organs burst,' the Unlimited Star thought, but then he jerked.

His intestines which had been ruptured to bloody ribbons were reformed, along with his lungs.

Hauza's eyes went round. His teeth were restored as was everything within him that had been violated. The same was true for all the other beasts.

Azila was the first to recover from the surprise of it all. It wasn't too marvel-worthy for the Haven to have the properties to heal such wounds so quickly. It was to be expected.

"What do you want us to see? How can we surpass you? You spent more than 4,000 years with the humans, and in addition to reaching the peak of what a guardian beast can achieve, you learned different facets of power. You learned Magecraft for Suzamete's sake! How can you imagine there's more a mortal beast can obtain from Aigas?" he asked, looking up at the skies.

Asthon didn't answer immediately. Unbeknownst to the beasts, he was appraising the situation outside. It was… dire.

He answered the Great Mane Mountain Ape a second later.

"Are you blind?" the old bird said. There was a subtle hint of fury in his voice. "Did you not just witness the battle that rocked Aigas hours ago? Was one of those participants not a beast by Aigas' standards? Did you not see him battle a Herald – Jiggorrhax, for that matter – on equal grounds without a Permanent Haven? There are many ways around what you know. Let me break that ignorance of yours! It's fickle as glass anyway! For that, I need you to discard your pride! You all need to discard it and become roots that steal the secrets of the fruits above them!"

Azila shuddered. The old bird's voice thundered through him and almost ruptured his freshly healed organs again. Hauza didn't have the stomach to argue as Azila did, but he was still a little sceptical.

Still, if Asthon could discard his pride and suffer the folly and wisdom of humans for millennia, who was he not to try?

"Alright," he glanced at Grim. "I'll give it a try."

Azila gave him a look and relented.

"Me too."

The other beasts, far less powerful and ballsy than the ape and goblin, could only follow in their steps and look at Grim curiously.

The Unlimited Star didn't know what face to make. He was glad he had made conversation with them all earlier though. That probably contributed to how quickly they decided it wasn't so bad to invest their powers in him – whatever that meant.

"Good. I will not applaud you too much for your choice since I had to force it, but well done," Asthon said right as the Haven was struck again by another tremendous burst of force. The beasts healed before they could wretch and cry about their injuries. "You're already greater that most of the beasts from this age and the one I was born in. Now, all of you – except Grim – open your Territories."

Azila, Hauza and the other beasts drew away from each other and mobilised their energies.

One by one, they began opening their Territories while minding not to extend their boundaries too far. The Imaginary GeoScapes were formed, and for Azila and Hauza's Territories, little living creatures could be seen thriving within them.

In the former's Territory, a forest scape of golden trees, little golden dragonflies could be seen, with a few as large as the average human, buzzing around quicker around their juniors. They exuded pressures of Tier 7 beasts and a little higher. They were called StarGold Clusterflies. Skullius had killed one them back in the day, in the Tremur Forest.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.7.)

In Hauza's Territory, what might have been a small city in a frosted cavern, tiny little naked humanoids with fox-like ears, and wings as thin and brittle as dried leaves, could be seen. The strongest among them was a Tier 1.

Grim marvelled.

'Yeah, in a battle of Territories, I would definitely lose to these two if I don't apply the trick the boss taught us,' he thought.

But Asthon was far from amused.

"This is underwhelming, I must say. I expected you to have developed further than this with how much you were psyching yourselves up, itching to jump into death's clutch," he said. He couldn't be bothered to lessen the blow of his words with a kinder tone. "You focus too heavily on making your subjects stronger in Tier. Can you not develop their ability to use Perfect Aura? Why didn't you establish them with both Classes and Mutations? What is wrong you two?"

…?

Azila, Hauza, Grim and the rest took a moment to process what Asthon had just said.

Grim was the first to speak, utterly dumbfounded.

"Wait… Did you just say Perfect Aura? For beasts?"

Azila was second.

"Both Classes and Mutations?" He felt like an idiot.

What was Asthon talking about?

Asthon might have face-palmed.

"This is why I wanted you to watch, you fools!" he growled. "There's no value in these useless puppets you have created. I will sacrifice them for Grim and you will begin anew."

His attention scrolled down to the Unlimited Star.

"Do you know how Hidden Classes were developed?" Asthon asked, but didn't give Grim the chance to answer. "During the First Grand War – the time when Giants tried to take Aigas over – humans and Sif travelled to Sacred Forests to observe beasts and magical phenomena foreign to their civilizations. They wished to grow strong enough to fight the Giants. I wish I met the human who developed your Hidden Class, Grim. I will carry on the insights he gained all those years ago."

***

Outside the Haven, Jiggorrhax was fighting a bitter battle. Some of his scales had already come off, some of them eaten away by death. A dragon's scales were a symbol of pride and wisdom brought on by age. The harder they were, the stronger a dragon was. Jiggorrhax had lost his scales earlier while protecting Aigas, and he was losing them again so soon.

He was giving too much for his world, he thought.

The only reason he and Fruit Bearers were alive was because they were sticking close to the dome-shaped boundary of the Haven behind them. @@novelbin@@

The Impermanence Fiends seemed to regard it with some kind of…aversion. They weren't afraid, but they didn't dare break it even though they probably could.

They teased and vanished from existence every so often. They had a clear target in mind, but they were conflicted. This target was in the Haven. They must have lacked the intelligence to endure the stress the contradiction brought on them.

Because of this Jiggorrhax and the Fruit Bearers only really had to worry about the Chronocle Fiend for a while. It too lacked great intelligence. It had yet to do anything other than strike a thread it had drawn from the void with one of its spears. The creature must have been in denial that it wasn't working… or perhaps, it was afraid to deplete more itself with stronger attacks. Not yet.

Fortunately for it, the vibrations from its basic attacks had been extracting Jiggorrhax's time and smashing his physical body pretty hard. Just three had left him in this state – practically half-dead.

As for the Fruit Bearers, they seemed surprisingly unconcerned with their own lives. Frankly, Jiggorrhax wasn't sure if they could be affected by the Chronocle Fiend at all. They prioritised keeping his siphoned time away from the Chronocle Fiend and healing his wounds.

But Jiggorrhax was on his last legs. He had no attacks that could harm the Fiends and that strained his mental fortitude even when his body was healed by whatever Treasures the Fruit Bearers had.

'How much longer?' he thought as flames built up in his mouth. He would unleash his flames and see if they did him any good against the enemies that harnessed time and death.

But before he did, however, a cavity opened up in the boundary of the Haven behind him.

Jiggorrhax turned and the Impermanence Fiends immediately went wild.

Someone came out of the Haven, drifting softly and slowly in the void. He had shed away his Nitros. He didn't need anymore.

Jiggorrhax was about to express his relief when…he shuddered. He momentarily forgot to keep his own Nitros about him.

…!!!

"What in Suzamete's graces…!" the dragon exclaimed.

The abomination, or perhaps, perfection, slowly drifting towards him was…