Immortality is certainly desirable. But if one were born with immortality, that would be even better.
To resist death is to betray all that one has experienced as "life" thus far.
Each painful decision, each sorrow hatched from loss, each joy ignited by gain... The love and hatred of days past are leveled by ti.
When one looks at the graves of a lover or an enemy’s grandchildren or great-grandchildren, the emotions of the past that arise in the heart seem all the more absurd.
As if everything one strove and suffered for in the past has lost all significance due to the great extension of life.
In this respect, the intense desire held by the Gold rank and the concept of substituting "soul" as fuel for extending lifespan pave the way for their completely restructured worldview post-deification.
The view of life for the short-lived species is naturally quite different from that of the Long-lived Species—it is only logical.
The giants themselves are among the Long-lived Species.
But it is the undead and the gods who are the true Long-lived Species of this world.
——The Skeleton King is both undead and a deity.
"The so-called ’funeral’... is the ritual of bidding farewell to the deceased."
The Skeleton King still knelt before the Bone Burying Crone, speaking softly, "The earliest funerals... took shape in the early first age. The so-called ’Rite of Bone Burying’ ans to have the earth swallow up the deceased...
"Why did the ancients think... to bury the dead with the earth?"
His voice was calm and icy, and just listening was enough to send a chill down one’s spine.
"Naturally... it wasn’t to give them rest. Linking ’internt’ with ’rest’ ca later, when people associated the earth with silence, like the silence of winter or of corpses.
"——At its root, burial is for forgetting. Burial is to avoid seeing each other again."
At this point, the Skeleton King fell silent for a mont.
It was as if He wanted to take a deep breath... but He no longer had the function of "breathing."
"Therefore," the Skeleton King said softly, "burial—is betrayal.
"People would of course rember the deceased, but they have always known from the depths of their bloodline and fear... that one would ultimately face death. Therefore, the fear of death itself is not that great. What they fear more is that ’death’ signifies absolute severance from all they possess."
The words of the Skeleton King flowed more smoothly: "What they fear is not ’death has co,’ for they already know ’death will co.’ From the beginning, what they feared was ’death’ severing their life.
"As if banished to the farthest reaches of the heavens. Emptied handed, banished beyond this world to the next... The ancients’ imagination of the afterlife largely stems from this."
As He gradually adapted to modern syntax, the Skeleton King spoke not so haltingly... and thus, the heavy and strange oppressiveness of His words was sowhat lessened.
The heart of the Dragon Well tea throbbed violently.
His instinct made him feel unease and excitent.
He was vaguely aware...
That the Skeleton King seed about to undertake so major action.
Because their initial eting was so abrupt. Now, he suddenly recalled... they had not conducted any ritual to summon the Skeleton King.
Therefore, it was impossible for the Skeleton King to have co here of His own volition.
In other words.
The Skeleton King’s appearance here had nothing to do with them. They had rely happened to be present at the ti.
He must have——and only could have, returned to the Dirge Prefecture long ago.
That raises a question.
What would this lone old bag of bones be doing back in His holand?
Visiting relatives?
Or perhaps...
"...It is precisely because of the ’Five Laws of the Deceased’ that death severs and abandons everything, which makes it terrifying. Apart from the fear of having to abandon what cannot be abandoned, death in and of itself is not frightening.
"My country was once called ’Dirge.’ That is not its true na."
No one responded, and the ancient voice of the Skeleton King echoed self-sufficiently in the very center of the sea of graves.
"Because it resonated with the ’Farewell Song’ for a month throughout the nation. But unlike what other nations thought... it was not because of their bravery, but because after long periods of contemplation, we giants have co to look directly at death and face it. It was actually a celebration, as well as a send-off.
"There’s a saying that has long circulated amongst you dwarfs—giants have no vision in their youth, and cannot speak when old. The forr part is true... for giants have only one large eye, and if youngsters keep their eye open a little too long, they feel tired.
"We are not like you, needing hunting and handicraft. Therefore, we do not need eyes to locate prey—the giants possess ntal abilities, and just with these ntal abilities, we have enough sense of space. During tis of nutritional scarcity, nutrition has to be prioritized for the brain and the trunk, and the developnt of eyes can be postponed."
"Only when the body becos robust and the brain is fully developed do giants open their eyes. This is used for finding mates... The clearer and brighter the eyes, the better the developnt of the brain and body, and the more competitive one is."
"And the aged giants, they can actually speak. But they do not speak in front of people... This is because they are gradually severing their ’ties’ with the world."
"If two people argue and then part ways, it’s painful for both. But if they never see each other again, over ti, all emotions will be washed away. Giants, as they age, are already preparing for their death—just as you prepare in infancy for youth, and in youth for adulthood."
"You just dare not face death... And so the older you get, the more you want to escape, the less you want to hear of dying. As if by not hearing it, death won’t co..."
"——Yet death cos in the end."
The Skeletal Lord said so calmly.
Coming from Him in His current role, the statent seed ironic.
Because the Skeletal Lord Himself was a god born from the evasion of death...
In the records, the Skeletal Lord was the last Great Duke of the Dirge Grand Duchy—when the great barrier collapsed, and the Dirge Grand Duchy was the closest to it. Before the smaller barriers could be erected, the Dirge Grand Duchy was already overwheld by the Mist, with nowhere to retreat.
Faced with "inevitable death," all the Transcendents who believed in Granny Tomb had imdiately used their last strength to kill the other Transcendents within the duchy who held different beliefs, and absorbed all the curses from them... Then they took poison, and just before death, used the Divine Arts unique to Granny Tomb to seal their own skeletons.
After everyone else had committed suicide, the Skeletal Lord quietly comnced the Sublimation Ritual.
He absorbed "death" from everyone, turning it into the foundation of His own ascension. Under His hollow cloak, He bound the souls of all the citizens.
——It was He who kept all from resting in peace, He who managed to betray death itself.
It was this betrayal of "inevitable death," the betrayal of fate, the betrayal of duty, the betrayal of His citizens, that made Him the God of Betrayal.
So now...
The unease and excitent in Longjing Tea’s heart grew stronger.
What exactly did the Skeletal Lord want to say?
What did He really want to do?
Longjing Tea beca increasingly aware that sothing was approaching... Even the Delicious Goose with not so strong senses and the Wandering Child began to feel a chill down their spines.
"I buried everyone. I bid farewell to everyone. I betrayed everyone. I forgot everyone."
The Skeletal Lord spoke word by word: "I have severed my ties with everyone. I bid farewell to everything of mine—my world was destroyed that day."
He slowly rose from the ground.
His figure was towering and majestic, like a pure white mountain.
"I’ve always felt that sothing was not right."
The old man’s voice sounded distant: "So that’s it.
"I had already buried myself long ago..."
Upon saying this, the Skeletal Lord, standing like a knight, paused for a mont.
"——Sorry, Granny."
It was a very low voice.
Only Defu caught this whisper.
The next mont, the Skeletal Lord did sothing none of those present had expected—
He calmly chanted.
"[Annihilation] befall——"
——Proverb of Ruin.
The supre Decree spilled forth.
In front of the Skeletal Lord.
A dark grey, tsunami-like conical aura spread ominously forward——
And the first to face it was Granny Tomb’s statue and the grave behind her protected by it.
Just in an instant—the two were utterly obliterated to dust!
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