Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Darwel's breath quickened. Unlike the guards, she could afford to show cracks in her confidence.

What she had seen was absolutely mortifying.

A flame had devoured one of her mother's most trusted guards, a powerful one at that, but she still remained standing, her body complete – no parts of her charred or singed – and yet she didn't move. She simply kept staring ahead as she had been before when her loyalty to the Queen possessed her to go against the Ode.

Being unable to see her face – as Darwel saw – raised the eerie tone by several degrees.

There was a cold silence.

It seemed even the Queen was surprised by what had happened. She seemed to be the only one to truly see clearly and understand what had ended her precious guard. However, even if she couldn't understand how.

How in the world could one burn another's soul in 0.01 seconds?

How?

As this phenomenon stumped even a powerhouse like Embrell, it was only natural that it terrified the throngs of soldiers waiting on either side of the enemy duo between them.

"Did that spook you all? Funny, I thought you plant worshippers had spine. Though, I suppose you don't have the best collective role models in that regard," the Ode spouted with a tooth grin. He then walked over to the standing corpse, still with color and lingering bits of determination and vigor. 

He poked the corpse and it fell over backwards, somehow managing to maintain a rigid stiffness as did so.

Before it could slam on the ground gracelessly, however, Queen Embrell caught it.

A melancholic look spread over her face. Her vibrant eyes were drowning with a depth that could only be inspired by age, and if one looked past them, it wouldn't be impossible to glimpse the crippling sorrow nesting within her soul.

Softly, the Queen, under the fuss of Darwel and her guards who split themselves between watching her and guarding her from the crimson-haired young man, laid the corpse on the ground and faced the young Ode.

"Answer me. Why?" she said with a frosty look in her eyes.

The Ode knew she wasn't asking about the guard. She had recovered rather quickly from that. Commendable. 

Of course, Embrell was talking about the reason why Maqi was attacking them. 

The young man, his father and all of Maqi seemed to truly believe that Opungale had done them wrong.

What was this wrong that deserved payment with such senseless killing?

It wasn't the Ode who answered this question, however.

"It has been ages since the Grand Wars, but I would have thought you all carried records of times past, revisiting them through the millennia. Honoring them, whatever they may hold. Do you mean to tell me that you do not?" Umbett said, her eyes stowed within wrinkled, rather, ridged eyelids, swelling with disappointment.

The crimson-haired young man folded his arms.

"We know our history as much as anyone. We celebrate it. We adore it. Nothing in it has ever warranted the discrimination your nation has towards us," the Queen said, her tone turning to a more hostile one. "We decided to open up our people to yours after all this time with the alliance we made with Pelian, but this… this is your response. I had developed a little faith in the path your new First Horn took."

The Ode cackled loudly, causing more than a few soldiers to flinch.

"How buttery. You make it seem as though you had the purest of intentions, but that's not the case, is it? If you were really serious about establishing a meaningfully relationship with humans, you would have done it with the most sensible people around. You would have gone to Emeradis! Everyone knows the King of Pelian is a fool who hides in his palace with his pathetic spawn. He is nothing like the progenitor of his line. He would have sooner allowed you to own half of Pelian if you asked kindly enough than deny your request for an alliance. Ha! You knew it! You sent that little brat to do it for you because you knew Royan was easy pickings! Isn't that right, my dear?" 

The Ode's rant ended with his eyes sharply staring at Darwel who felt as though all the air around her fled at the attention of the unfathomable prince before it.

Embrell rushed to block her from the crimson-haired man's view.

"So that was the last straw then? That was why you finally chose to attack?" the Queen ground her teeth as she spoke.

There was still no mention of what exactly spurned this hatred.

Hadn't humans and Sif alike weathered the deception of the Giants in the First Grand War and the ruthlessness of the Immoral in the Second?

Was that not what history said?

"We only made our move after a certain man stopped getting in our every time. But in any case, this indeed was the last straw. We have been itching to settle the score. When Fulgardt unleashed his full madness on Feinheath, we appealed for your help. There was sure to be familiar camaraderie between us since we shared the struggles from the Giants' scheme. But no. You refused. You kept to yourself."

"We, Maqi, took responsibility for the demon that was birthed in our land and spread our forces to assist all over the continent. The wiser Royans of the time, called for your help, even Emeradis did, but you sat still. It wasn't your concern until the fire reached Opungale and even then… the hot battles that decided our fates were fought on human soil."

Embrell and all of the Sif donned dumbfounded faces as the Ode spoke, a genuine bitterness in his voice.

Wait…

Wait…

"It's been a common theme that we Maqians discriminate against your kind, but that was never the case. THIS…was why."

Queen Embrell stammered, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"What… what are you talking about? That… that never happened!" she said.

No way. That was not what happened. What kind of bullshit reason was that?

There were records of everything Opungale was involved with from as early as hundreds of years before the Grand Wars, and what they said… was the opposite of what the Ode was accusing the Sif of.

"That's not true! There's no way! Our ancestors were not cowards!" Darwel found the strength to shout. "They would never do such a thing!"

The Ode frowned, the cracks of shadow darkening his face.

"Is that right?" he said as the air around him turned furiously hot. "I suppose its one record against the other. That's what it all comes down to, isn't it?"

Everyone was still locked in disbelief and Queen Embrell had partially lost her burning desire to fight immediately.

No. This was not right.

It didn't seem like the Ode was making up a random story. He truly believed what he was saying.

Maqi truly believed that somehow, in the past, the Sif did such a thing! That they remained silent while everyone else burned.

Deep down, Embrell thought to her husband's suggestion to have a calm discussion first. This might have been the best solution… if there had been a chance for it.

"We didn't come to compare records anyway, or to confirm anything," the Ode said, his figure getting shrouded with mana. "We came to take this land. The fates of your people can be decided later, if you decide wisely. Now, you can choose how this goes. You can watch us burn all you've built down after coming at us all at once, or you, my dear Queen, could battle me in a traditional Kuthmuk, one on one. If you win, we'll leave. You have my word. If I win, well…"

At that moment, a random combatant standing in the thick of the crowd of Sif became encased in a great green flame that vanished in the next moment, leaving him whole, yet also… not so.

"…your fates will be sealed."