DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro pulled Krog toward a table to have him sit down again, and Jess immediately came over to the two of them, holding Krog's arm, "Why did you do that..?"

"He just pissed me off." Krog practically growled in a quiet voice, still staring at the Goliath that was busy speaking to the guides and warriors of Baram. But even he was turning his head, glaring at both Krog and Eiro, really unsure of how strong they were.

Sure, he was surprised to suddenly be attacked like that, but that in itself shouldn't be the case. Despite the surprise, the Goliath should have been able to react and fight back, but he was completely suppressed just now. And then, while they were both about to attack each other, Eiro simply stepped inbetween them and easily stopped the two, without the Goliath even being able to see him approach. It was like he just appeared there in an instant.

"Urgh..." Krog groaned quietly, placing his face into his hands, "I'm starting to feel sick all of a sudden."

"Ah, right. That." Eiro said, slightly smirking, "That's just because something inside you is awakening or something. It doesn't seem to be a blessing, but something similar."

"What're you even talking about?" James walked up to them with a light frown, and Eiro smirked lightly, "It's the thing that's going to make him even stronger, like the abilities that you unlocked upon receiving your new class."

Krog lightly raised his head again, looking at the Demon, "What?"

The Demon quickly explained, "While you were pummeling that guy, a notification popped up in front of you, right? Well, that was a response of your ancient ancestor... or something like that. You fought for the honor of your father, for the sake of being called a true Goliath. And that awakened something in your blood."

"Can ya just fuckin' say what it is?"

"Well, I think it's quite obvious, but Goliaths didn't come to exist just because some humans went off and did their own thing. They're the descendants of ancient Giants. And very rarely, Goliaths happen to awaken to the power of said ancient giants. And now, you're one of them." Eiro quickly explained, and the three people standing around Eiro, Jess, James and Krog, were now staring at Eiro completely confused.

"...Excuse me?" Krog let out, and Eiro raised his brows, "What, are you surprised at the Giant bit, or the awakening bit?"

"Both?" The half-goliath let out immediately, and Eiro smiled lightly, "Well, your giant ancestry is a fact that isn't really known about too well. It was hidden because, well... Giants were thought to be monsters, and all that. Either way, it's a thing. And now, what are you surprised about in regard to the awakening?"

"Well first, all of it. Like what does it mean? But also, I'm just a half-goliath, so how could that happen?" Krog asked, and Eiro slightly tilted his head to the side, "Because you don't have that much less giant blood in you than regular goliaths? I mean, the first descendants the giants had with humans weren't really considered human, but after generations of living amongst them properly, their descendants were giants again, and were then considered their own clan. And as you can see, they really took to the 'clan' bit." Eiro pointed out, "It's not really about blood in the first place. You're still a descendant of the ancient giants, just the same as all other goliaths. Just that you have some other ancestors outside of that."

"Yeah, but still, I'm not a full goliath, how does that work?" Krog pointed out with a wry smile, as Armodeus placed a hand onto his shoulder, "My grandpappy's an elf, and I became an Elder Dwarf. It doesn't matter that much."

Krog turned his head, surprised to hear about this, as Armodeus shuddered slightly, "There's other parts wrong with having elven blood though..." He grumbled, slightly turning his head toward James, "Ah, not tryin' to be rude or anything... you're alright. For an elf."

"Err... Thanks?" James replied with a wry smile, as the focus turned back toward Eiro and Krog, as the Demon continued to explain, "We'll have to wait and see how your awakening shows itself, since this kind of change usually only initiates when you change your class for most people, but it should be something related to strength and combat, considering your talents." Eiro explained, as he slowly stood up again, somewhat annoyed by something that he was hearing in the background, "I'm going to copy down some writings about other awakened goliaths that I read about and give them to you, it's some real impressive stuff." He said, before quickly making his way over toward where the Goliath champion was currently talking to some of the guides.

The moment that Eiro approached them, one of the guides looked at him, "Good. There is something we need to talk about. The fact that your companion attacked a champion is unacceptable." She said, and Eiro looked at her with a deep frown, "What, and the fact that this asshole insulted someone that I consider family by now is fine? If Krog hadn't done it, this guy'd be dead by now, so you should thank him instead." Eiro said bluntly, and the Goliath looked at Eiro with an intense stare.

"Dead? Dead?! You think you'd be able to truly beat me in a fight, you small-" The Goliath exclaimed, and Eiro rolled his eyes as he gathered and compressed magic in his hand. With a single swift motion, he punched the champion's stomach, imitating what he had done during the tournament's finals, just that he was now using gravity magic. It was a similar effect of doing immense damage while not seeming so from an outsider's perspective. The goliath wasn't moved an inch to the back after all.

The Goliath champion stood there while Eiro's fist was doing immense damage to his body, and threw up blood that covered the Demon's clothes from top to bottom.

"You will not punish my friends, and neither will you punish either of us. It was just a simple, well-natured fight between new friends. Understood?" Eiro said, slightly glancing at the guides that were gathered around them, "Now please excuse me, I have something to talk about with my new companion, alright?"

Eiro pushed his fingers into the Goliath's arm, and forcefully dragged him along the wooden path to a spot where nobody would be able to listen in on them.

"Alright. What's your name?" Eiro said bluntly, as the goliath was staring back at him, "H-Huh?"

"I asked you what your name is."

"My name is Tin." He slowly replied, and Eiro slowly closed his eyes, "Alright then, Tin. I need you to understand that you and I – we're playing in different leagues here. If I wanted to, I could have probably killed you back there quite easily. But I didn't. Because I won't need to. You learned your lesson, and it won't ever happen again, right? You will never bother a Goliath that is not part of a clan anymore, right?" Eiro said, staring deep into Tin's eyes.

"What's it to you, huh? Why'd you care how I spoke to that dis-"

"Seriously? I know that you aren't a complete moron, so why are you acting like one?" Eiro frowned deeply, "First of all, that's one of my best friends, and as I said earlier, someone I consider family. But beyond that, I already mentioned to you that my son is a Goliath. That wasn't a joke, you know? He's a full-blooded Goliath, but if you bring any of this clan bullshit over to him, or even think about saying anything negative to him, then you're dead, alright?" Eiro said in a clear tone, while Tin could really feel the demon's threats in his whole body.

But the goliath wasn't all too happy with that, pride practically taking over his mind. Eiro turned around and began to walk away, despite Tin's anger. The Demon, quite fed up with this guy already, swiftly returned back to the bar.

"What happened this time?" Ariella asked with a slightly awkward smile, and Eiro looked back at her somewhat nervously, averting his gaze, "I just spoke to him for a bit, that's all."

"About what? Look at how angry he is right now..." The nephilim said, slightly looking past Eiro to see Tin stomping around like some child, and Eiro simply sighed, "I just told him to not mistreat Krog and Rudy because of his stupid 'Goliath Pride'. If he gets mad about that, it's not my fault."

"Shouldn't you... you know, try to get along with him? Exactly for Rudy's sake? I mean, you tried to patch things up with Hijar and Biril for Leon, but wouldn't it be useful for Rudy to know a bit more about Goliath clans?" Ariella suggested, and Eiro slowly turned his head toward the beach, where Rudy was sitting on a rock next to Arc, as the two were just casually talking to each other.

Eiro scratched the back of his head with a sigh, "Fine. We'll be here for a while, so I guess I'll give it a try. But if it doesn't work, it's not solely my fault, alright?"

"I know, I know, don't worry.." Ariella said, giving Eiro a quick kiss, before the two of them made their way back to the table where the others were now sitting, contemplating over the fact that Krog seemingly awakened to his Giant blood.