The Human Giant

The moment the crystal sword fell into Tiki\'s hands, she felt a hundred pounds of crystal slam into her palms, shocking her and nearly causing her to stumble. Tiki looked at the crystal sword, almost shocked to her core since she had never expected to find it suddenly in her hands. 

"Yoze, wait,"

Tiki looked up from the crystal sword and noticed that Yoze had already disappeared, leaving her without the opportunity to ask him what he wanted her to do with it. She guessed that Yoze must have concluded that it was safer to keep the crystal sword with them than to take it with him to New Swampscott City.

But she wanted to ask if there was anything about the sword she needed to watch out for. She had heard plenty of stories about mythical swords that only showed their true power to those who were worthy and consumed the souls of those unworthy, just like the Starving Ghoul Sword that was wielded by the legendary Whale Ghoul and created using the bones and souls of hundreds of evil ghouls. 

It was said that in the hands of the Whale Ghoul, the Starving Ghoul Sword had unimaginable power in that it held the ability to not only repair itself but also strengthen itself by consuming anything. Regardless of the material, the sword could and would consume any substances to improve itself. 

From metal, plants, and rocks to even the flesh and bones of living creatures. It was a mighty sword that could give its wielders extraordinary powers. Still, for those who were unworthy, their flesh and bones would be consumed as soon as they touched the blade.

With stories similar to the Starving Ghoul Sword swirling around her mind, Tiki almost wanted to drop the sword in fear of being eaten alive. Yet, she couldn\'t bear to let go. Instead, her grip over the sword became tighter and tighter as she felt a slight calling from the sword.

"Tiki, with the crystal sword in your hands, how about we test it? There is no point in having a sword that we can\'t use, and since Yoze passed it onto you, he must think you could handle its powers." Jewel said with curiosity.

"Uhh yeah. Let\'s go check out what it can do." Tiki snapped out of her dazed state and felt chilling calm, as if all her stress and worries melted away like snow.

Noticing that Tiki was acting strange as soon as she had touched the sword, Dreyer instantly went into alert as he leaned into Jewel\'s ears and whispered. After hearing what Dreyer had to say, Jewel threw him a glance and calmly shook her head.

"Do you suspect that something is wrong with me?" Tiki said.

While Tiki, Dreyer, and Jewel were discussing what they would do with the crystal sword, right beside a sleeping old man was the little serpent whose vertical pupils watched them with boredom. Finally, after watching them talking for a few seconds, the little serpent grew bored and cuddled into the sleeping old man and fell asleep.

Unaware that Tiki suspected that the crystal sword was some legendary weapon that bore a curse, Yoze was rushing toward New Swampscott City. With Yoze\'s current top speed it didn\'t take long before he saw the massive white walls surrounding the city to protect it from army invasions and demons.

Behind the massive black walls the Leaning Library that he had witnessed when he first arrived in the city. Even though it had only been a few days since he left, Yoze felt as if he had come back home.

"The City is gathering its army as well?"

Yoze\'s eyes twitched as he saw that more than a thousand soldiers were dressed head to toe in black steel. They all radiated an intense pressure that only came from peak first-rate martial artists. On the shoulder of the soldier\'s suit was a brown bird with three golden eyes, which showed that they were all part of New Swampscott City\'s elite squadron, The Three-Eyed Golden Crow.

Even though the assembly of New Swampscott would have been Yoze\'s main concern at any ordinary time, his attention was rapidly absorbed by the immortals standing on the other side of New Swampscott.

They were standing on top of a mini hill a few miles away from New Swampscott City, where five young people that looked to be in their twenties were standing by a large hill wearing strangely colorful clothing. Each of the five youths had confident looks as they looked down upon the dozens of men and women who ranged from their early teens to late 90s.

Some elders were so old that Yoze could smell and see a thick fog of Black fog of death spiritual energy consuming the small amount of spiritual energy they had left. While the five young men and women who stood next to the hill held confident smiles that radiated colorful light that matched their clothing, everyone else looked like peasants standing before their kings and queens.

Both hoped to be recognized and join the royals in the lavish and privileged life, wanting to avoid gaining their attention in case they drew ire instead. But, for these rogue immortal cultivators, almost nothing could be worse than making a bad impression on an immortal. 

Not only would their death be painful and horrifying, but everything they had worked for and everyone they loved would be at risk of having the same fate. So regardless of age, the immortal cultivation stage reached, or their status in the mortal world, all the rogue immortal cultivators hung their heads low and waited for their opportunity to shine.

"Those tattoos are nearly identical to Immortal Welse\'s immortal tattoos." As Yoze made his way toward the group, he slowed down to attract less attention from the immortal, but when he noticed that out of the five suspected immortals, three had immortal tattoos on their bodies, his heart jumped.

One that attracted the most attention from Yoze was a young man who appeared to be in his late 20s. The young man was covered in black tattoos in the shape of various weapons from the gods.

Yoze was even able to recognize a few of them, such as the Dark Queen\'s Chains of Redemption, the Lightning Hammer of Injustice, and the Spear of Death. On the young man\'s skin were hundreds of weapons that radiated their intense pressure and aura Yoze had a feeling that each one of those weapons could manifest into reality.

Similar to Immortal Welse\'s tattoos which wiggled across his body as if they were alive, the young man\'s black immortal tattoos swam across his skin like fish. There were even a few times that Yoze was convinced that some of the tattoos that were in the shape of weapons tried to escape the confines of the blonde man\'s skin but were trapped, unable to escape their container and unable to commit a slaughter.

As Yoze was examining the blonde young man, he seemed to notice Yoze\'s gaze and glanced back at Yoze, which revealed the intrigued light in his eyes. Then, seeing that he was caught, Yoze shifted his attention to the other two immortals with immortal tattoos.

The first person that attracted Yoze\'s attention was a young girl who looked to be in her mid-twenties. The young girl had long blue hair tied into a ponytail and wore a blue dress covered in shifting stars.

Matching the young girl\'s style, her entire arm was covered in star shapes, blue tattoos, and circled arms in a hypnotic pattern. But unlike the blonde young man or Immortal Welse, whose tattoos moved across their entire bodies with little restrictions, the young girl\'s immortal tattoos were strictly restricted to her arms.

"That young girl must still be in the stage of forming all her immortal tattoos, or else she would be in a similar boat as Immortal Welse." Yoze\'s mind raced back to the Immortal Tattoo Cultivation manual and noticed clues that the blue-haired girl was still creating her immortal tattoos.

"While she still hasn\'t completed her immortal tattoos, she should still be capable of using immortal spells that use her immortal tattoos. " Even after finding out that the blued-haired girl was still making her immortal tattoos, Yoze didn\'t dare underestimate her since just one strong spell or technique could kill demons.

Like the blonde-haired man, the blue-haired girl seemed to notice Yoze\'s presence as she stared directly at Yoze\'s eyes with her hazel-colored eyes as if she wanted to devour his soul. Knowing that he had to shift his attention, Yoze turned his focus on the last immortal to show visible signs that they had practiced the immortal tattoo manual.

The last immortal appeared to be the youngest out of the three looking as if he had just reached adulthood. His clothes were similar to the clothing that government officials dressed their children. It was simple, elegant, and too expensive for any regular person ever to afford.