KINTSUkuroi
[Chapter XII] - End of an Era

Absolute disarray. That was the current state in which the northern half of the world suddenly found itself. With their leader gone, the hearts of the Giants was gripped by uncertainty. Now Deputy Regent Salvius Astregas became the target of harsh criticism from a major part of the population who demanded to know why he had allowed such a tragedy to befall them. He was her husband, after all. If Savan's self-imposed job was to protect all Giants, then Salvius' was to protect her, everyone believed, Salvius himself included. The Giant male, overcome with grief, could only offer them his sincerest apologies, which as expected did little to nothing to appease the angry mob.

"This has to be those little fucks' fault! Right after we allowed them into our land, Savan was killed! This can't be a coincidence!" a Giantess accused.

"Enough, Driode. Savan devoted her life to establishing a friendly relationship with the Humans. We cannot accuse them of such a heinous act so lightly." Salvius interjected.

"That's Miss Lins for you, Astregas! And Savan was an imbecile for thinking she could befriend those cunning, speck-sized shits! That soft-hearted idiot had it coming!" the female spat, removing some strands of blond hair that were covering her left eye from her face.

"I said that's enough —Salvius sprang up and forcefully slammed his hands on the plain, wooden desk that adorned his office—! You may have had your fair share of differences with Savan in terms of how to approach our relationship with our smaller counterparts, but I will not allow you to badmouth my wife, especially not when she's not around to defend herself! This act of cowardice won't go unpunished!" the male threatened.

"And NOW you decide to grow a fucking backbone!? Ever since I was a child, I told Savan that Humans can't be trusted! And she never took me seriously! What did YOU do!? Did you try to stop her!? Did you try to be the voice of reason!? No! You just let her do things her way, and that in turn got her killed! You have always been nothing but Savan's yes-man!" Driode countered.

Salvius glared daggers at Driode. The tension in the air became so palpable that one could almost touch it. Letting out a heavy sigh, he sat back down. Despite his anger, he knew one of them would have to prevent the hostility between the two of them from getting out of hand, and he was certain Driode would not be the one to do it.

The Deputy Regent was well aware of the circumstances surrounding Driode and Savan. The blonde had not had it easy: even as a kid she was surrounded by people who only wanted to use her, even her own parents. This made her grow up being wary of everyone around her, but eventually Ciel's mother learned about the sand gold-haired girl's situation and made the necessary arrangements for the kid to be looked after by some distant relatives. Driode always resented everyone for how they mistreated and exploited her, but it was fair to say that her caretakers and Savan were the only ones for whom she harboured some sort of respect.

The blonde woman gave Salvius a disgusted look, clicking her tongue in annoyance before turning away.

"Since you won't grow a pair and destroy those bug-like pests, I will get the job done myself! I'll see to it that not a single Human survives!" Driode stormed off.

As much as Salvius wanted to stop her, he couldn't really blame her for feeling the way she did. Granted, he was painfully aware of the fact that the Giants had visited cruelty upon Humans for two millenia, but if Savan's blood was indeed in the smaller race's hands, what they had done was unforgivable considering all that his beloved had done for them.

And if the Humans were not to blame for this tragedy...

He shuddered to even think of what that would actually mean...

Back in the Human world, a hour had gone by since Ciel became paralysed and, just like Siule had anticipated, the Giantess was now able to move again to some degree. Now resigned to the fact that she was facing reality and not some sort of dream, she looked at Nicolas, who averted his gaze from his lover.

"This is all my fault! I should've seen this coming!" he exclaimed, punching the ground in a vain attempt to release his anger.

"What...?" the Giant woman asked, her amaranth red eyes staring at him intently.

"It's all my fault! I should've seen this coming from a mile away! I'm always two steps ahead of everything! I should have been able to predict this! If I had, I would have been able to prevent this! If it wasn't for my stupidity, Savan would still-!" his self-deprecating onslaught was suddenly cut off.

SLAP!!!

Ciel's palm forcefully crashed into Nicolas' cheek, leaving him with a shocked expression on his face, his hand holding the cheek his girlfriend had just slapped.

"Get a fucking hold of yourself! How could any of this be your damned fault!? You had no way to know this would happen! Fuck, you were struggling with your own burden just a few days ago, and now you want to carry mine as well!? Do you really think I will allow you to blame yourself for something that makes you suffer as well!? How can you be so fucking stupid!?" the female in black lashed out.

"I... I wanted to be the one to protect you from pain for once..." the short male confessed, his eyes still avoiding hers since he deemed himself responsible for the mournful expression on the tall lady's face.

Ciel sighed softly. Extending her hand to gently grab his lover's chin, he made him look at her before pulling him into a tight hug.

"I know you may not believe it, but just you being here with me right now is the best protection I could possibly ask for. Your presence is the only thing from which I can draw comfort. Hugging you like this gives me inner peace, something I desperately need right now. So please, don't admonish yourself like this. You don't deserve to be subjected to such harsh self-punishment. I know you deeply grieve for mom's death as well, so don't force yourself to remain strong. That only breaks my heart even further. Please, Nic... You don't have to be a hero for my sake... All I ever want you to be is my lover." the Giantess cried, pulling her boyfriend deeper into her frame as she continued to hug him.

"...Siule is right about something, though... You do need to return to your home. The Giants will need your guidance if they are to overcome this tragedy..."

"I won't be going back home. We are." Ciel corrected.

"No, Ciel. I-" the male tried to speak, but the female assertively interrupted him.

"Don't even bother. I'm not leaving you, especially not alone with that bastard. I'm taking you with me, even if I have to kidnap you to do so." the bodacious woman declared.

Nicolas wanted to convince her to go alone. He wanted to make a point that if he stayed behind Ciel would gain some time for her to reorganise the Giant world, and in the meantime he could try to gather some much-needed intel on Siule's plan.

And yet, Ciel's assertiveness left him speechless. He recalled her words; how she stressed the importance of him staying by her side in this trying time, and as he did, he lost all desire to try to get his point across. He knew that if he thought about it logically, it made the most sense for him to stay behind, but still, he couldn't bring himself to leave her side. Especially not now.

'Fuck logic. Ciel needs me by her side, and I'm not going to fail her. Especially not now.' he thought before nodding at the taller female to show his agreement to her decision.

Siule was sitting down in front of a high-powered computer, typing frantically on the keyboard and watching intently at the screen as different graphics popped up on different spots. A few seconds later a big, red sign appeared in front of the display panel, covering the whole monitor.

COMPATIBILITY ERROR. ABORTING SIMULATION.

The tawny-haired woman sighed heavily before glancing at the vial with the Macrosia gene in it.

"Thirty-four failed attempts. I suppose there is no real way to guarantee full compatibility between the Macrosia gene and a foreign host. Since it's come to this, I don't have a choice." she input a new series of commands, which caused a new message to show up on the screen.

INITIALISING MACROSIA GENE TRANSPLANTATION

WARNING: Failure in compatibility may lead to organic-level overgrowth. Proceed?

Siule didn't need to be told about the potential threat organic-level overgrowth posed. One thing was clear...

Proceeding with the transplantation was almost a death sentence.

And yet, the brown-haired female didn't hesitate for a single moment before clicking on the desired option...

Yes.