The Martial Unity

RUMBLE!!!!!

Each step the Suneater took shook the world. The sheer volume of his being was beyond fathoming to the countless powers and forces that studied his every step.

It was unfathomable that a species of ancestral homo sapien could grow to the sizes that they did, but it was even more unfathomable that there were members of this species that could grow to the sizes of celestial bodies. The Suneater found himself on the barren continent of Samarkha, devoid of all life save for those that had evolved to be able to survive the hunger of the giant species.

And yet, he wasn’t interested in consuming the strange trees and shrubs evolved to resist the giants.

No.

The suneater’s dark eyes remained fixed in the direction of the Kandrian Empire.

“…Is that where the water is?”

His voice boomed.

It sent waves of pressure across the entire atmosphere, distorting light itself.

Each word he spoke was nothing short of power itself.

Very few organisms would be able to even survive a conversation at close range. Even few of them would be able to actually understand the words he uttered due to the sheer volume and the amplitude of the sound waves he generated, turning his voice into an embodiment of destruction.

Yet, at the same time, because his voice was so loud, it could be heard across the entire world at normal volume after growing more dilute over tens if not hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

[Yes. That is exactly where the water is.]

The astronomically titanic giant’s eyes lit up as he read the floating text message.

“My thirst must be quenched.”

[It will, old enemy of mine. The source of all that water is more delectable than you could ever imagine. All you need to do is attack the Kandrian Empire and obtain it for yourself.]

NOVA had reached out to the confused Suneater the very moment he had landed in the Continent of Samarkha. She understood exactly why he had returned to Gaia, having woken up just around the same time that the giant himself had.

She knew what he sought.

She aimed to use it to manipulate him into attacking the Kandrian Empire as her unwitting pawn.

Yet, to her greatest surprise, the Suneater regarded her with suspicion in his surprisingly calm and composed eyes.

“You seek to weaponize me for your own personal gain, NOVA?”

RUMBLE…

His words of recrimination sent tremors across heaven and earth with the sheer weight of the sound that escaped him.

Yet, she could detect sound

If she could gasp in shock, she would have.

The giant saw through her like she was transparent.

Of course, she didn’t employ any sophisticated means of manipulation. She simply told him where what he wanted was. It was rather crude, but she had been dealing with a giant, so she didn’t imagine she would need anything beyond that.

The moment he asked that question, she immediately revised her opinion on the giant giant, directing a deep once over his entire body.

His unkempt beard and mustache had grown larger over the many years in space, while his nude body had grown tempered by the heat of the sun, developing an incredibly thick and virtually indestructible layer of flesh on the outside with a coat of hair that may as well have been fur. His skin had darkened greatly with a profoundly deep tan, courtesy of sunbathing from a distance that was shockingly close to the sun.

He had undergone many physical changes that were of immediate note, but the greatest changes, as she belatedly realized, were in his eyes.

They were no longer as primal as they had been once.

Within them was a budding mindfulness and rationality.

It was then that she understood.

’He has changed since I knew him.’

Giant irrationality existed on a spectrum, where the only the most rational of giants could engage in civilization and sophistication, and even research and development.

The Suneater was not among them.

He was, in fact, on the other end. So much so that before he went to eat the sun, he was called the Mad Giant. It was why she hadn’t even bothered trying to hide her intentions.

She didn’t expect him to notice.

[You’re… different.]

His dark eyes regarded her knowingly. “My hunger… has been sated.”

Once more, if she could express shock visibly, she would have. Unfortunately, she had to limit herself to emotes.

[( ˶°ㅁ°) !! You? Your hunger has been sated? You who ate an entire tectonic plate once?]

The giant smiled ruefully, expressing a complex emotion she hadn’t expected from the giant neanderthal. “…When I voyaged by to Gaia, my hunger… was gone

.”

He gazed at his hands with a deep expression, even as the gestured caused massive windstorms to emerge.

“…So this is what ordinary people feel like. I am indeed quite envious but…”

He gazed in the direction of the Kandrian Empire.

“I… am thirsty after my great meal. I seek water. That water that touched me that day… that is the water that I need. Once I consume that… I will finally be fully sated.”

RUMBLE!!!!!

He took off in the direction of the Kandrian Empire, leaving NOVA shocked.

[This… this is different from what I expected. If I’m not mistaken. Suneater has hit a critical threshold where he is free from his hunger and has overcome the biological weakness of the giant race…! He might be able to unlock the full potential of the mind now that he has overcome his limitations!]

Prior to the Unfolding, nobody had known what awaited giants beyond the Giant Heart.

But after the Unfolding, they had gained a powerful reference point.

The Martial Path.

The Martial Heart and the Giant Heart were very similar. Almost identical, even.

Thus, one could infer that whatever was about to come after the Giant Heart would be similar to what came after the Martial Heart.

[…The Giant Mind.]

The Suneater was on the cusp of reaching a higher Realm of power.

All he needed was to quench his thirst to unshackle his mind from his baser urges.

“Water.” His voice boomed across the world as each and every single being on the planet heard his words. “I seek water.”

RUMBLE!!!!!