The Human Giant

"To have such a strong body could mean that he is a practitioner of martial arts. And talented at that to be able to train his body to this extent." Yoze thought to himself and made another mental note to visit this temple and grab a few talents on his way back.

After completing their greeting Soma and Donta seemed to have their personalities change as they both acted in a more refined and elegant manner. They no longer acted as close to one another as they kept an arm\'s length distance away from each other at all times.

They barely looked in each other\'s direction as they addressed Saint Griffin with their respective titles. From the way they were acting, Yoze confirmed that their relationship had not only been not approved, but it seemed that Soma\'s father didn\'t even know about it.

Their acting was incredible, and if Yoze hadn\'t seen how Soma and Donta acted around each other whenever Saint Griffin wasn\'t around, he would never have guessed that they were together. He would have simply thought that they were two followers of the same temple, but their status and personality were too different to form a solid friendship, much less a relationship.

"I apologize if our greeting shocked you, sir. Our temple believes that we must show our full support and energy in greeting others since we are all the children of the Rainbow Lord."

"And as the Saint of this temple, I, of course, have to put in as much effort as my old body will allow me to have. Which some say is getting stronger every day." Saint Griffin grinned, showing his pearly teeth underneath his thick beard.

Even though Saint\'s smile was supposed to be non-threatening, the mere thought of seeing a nearly eight feet tall muscular man grinning at you was enough to give people some chills. While others felt that Saint Griffin was too tall to be considered a good Saint for the temple since his mere presence was intimidating, Yoze couldn\'t help but feel a little sad.

He was saddened that Saint Griffin didn\'t live up to his fullest potential and become a few inches taller. That way, he could have a friend who was as tall as him and push him to also get taller. 

"Don\'t worry about it. You didn\'t scare me one bit. But I do want to know where you are going to be taking this little fella when I hand her to you." Snapping out of his slight disappointment, Yoze asked a question that had been bothering him and would determine whether he just took the small bird with him.

"Yeah, yes, our sacred bird is, of course, going to receive the best treatment that we can offer her. Outside our temple in a secret location is the main nest for the Earthly Phoenixes."

"That is where her family is currently living and where she will be staying. We try our best to fulfill all of their requests so they don\'t have to forge for themselves or feel that they need to protect themselves." Saint Griffin calmly explained while not giving any hints as to where their secret location was located.

"May I ask how you are planning on stopping this little fella from escaping again? I would feel terrible if I heard that this little fella got injured after I had handed her over due to getting into danger while attempting to escape." Yoze asked a follow-up question.

"We have 24-hour coverage of the whole nest area and will increase the number of followers monitoring the area to prevent our sacred birds from leaving without our notice." Saint Griffin said in a quick and brief manner 

Having gotten the basic information that he wanted and knowing that if he continued to ask for deeper and more sensitive information about the temple, he would probably face additional hurdles when he tried to visit, Yoze stopped asking questions and handed the baby bird to Saint Griffin. 

"Thank you for your assistance, sir," Saint Griffin said as he slammed his chest with his fist.

"Chip! Chirp! Chirp!"

Meanwhile, the baby bird was continuously chirping at Leah as she struggled helplessly to escape. Seeing this scene made Leah feel his heart ache with pain as he knew that he was helpless to stop this.

Even though this was probably for the best for the baby bird to reunite with her family and not be wandering the world, not knowing of its dangers. He couldn\'t help but feel that the baby bird had some reason to be so scared of going back to its main nest.

He couldn\'t help but allow his mind to wonder about what he would do if he was stronger and could put his foot down and investigate this matter thoroughly. He would even demand that the Rainbow Phoenix temple put more effort into regaining its connection with its main branch and collecting the resources it had been lacking over the years.

"If I was in Yoze\'s position, I wouldn\'t so easily believe what the Rainbow Phoenix temple says about the condition that the Eathly Phoenixes family lives in. If I found out that the Earthly Phoenixes were living terrible lives, I would take them back with me and support them." Leah\'s mind thought about the many choices that Yoze had made and how he would have done them differently.

"Leah, are you ready to go?" Yoze asked Leah, noticing that he was still in his thoughts.

Noticing that the little bird had been taken away while he was stewing in his own thoughts, Leah nodded his head mechanically as he didn\'t feel as excited to be heading to his new home. Seeing Leah nod, Yoze picked him up before throwing a glance at the rainbow temple and disappearing without a trace.

As Yoze and Leah were busy traveling across to the other side of the region, back at the edge separating the Branch Forest from a straight path to New Swamp Town, the town\'s army, had been fighting for nearly two days.

With the constant struggle to suppress the rapidly expanding forest plant life, there wasn\'t any time for breaks or rest periods to discuss their strategy. Soldiers\' bodies were starting to feel the stress of battling for numerous days as the constant clarity of the minds being refreshed enhanced the feeling that their bodies were a prison.

A prison that was holding them back from unleashing all of their potential and allowing them the pleasure of becoming war gods of destruction. With the fatalities of soldiers rising and the plant life rapidly evolving and becoming stronger, the mood on the battlefield was ice cold.

The only expectation was a lone general who was grinning ear to ear as she read the letter in her hand. After reading the letter in its entirety, General Blazing Phoenix let out a hearty laugh as he burned the letter to ash.

"Finally, those government officials finally understand the danger they are in. With their permission to use means necessary and with complete compensation, I can finally burn this entire forest to the ground!" 

"Soldiers fall back! If anyone has not retreated in three seconds, the army will not compensate your family for your death!" 

Shouting orders to all her soldiers, General Blazing Phoenix immediately dashed into the Branch Forest without caring for her own safety. Just as her body crossed over the boundary of the battlefield into the Branch Forest, she shouted.

"Times Up!" 

Before General Blazing Phoenix even spoke, thousands of different sizes of branches, roots, and vines shot toward her, planning to use her body as nutrition for their growth. Unfortunately, they would never get the chance as her body was almost instantly covered in a thick layer of blood.

With an almost insane smile, General Blazing Phoenix spun her body to form a mini blood tornado that shot her hot blood to every single living thing surrounding her. The moment her blood touched the plants, they writhed from pain as they caught on fire, which rapidly grew out of control.

With thousands of plants simultaneously caught on fire, the blood-red flames seemed to fuel one another as the flames continuously expanded, causing a massive forest fire. With her entire surroundings on fire and every living thing surrounding her being turned into ash, General Blazing Phoenix felt that it was time for her to get serious.

With a single thought, she triggered all her blood that formed her blood tornado to ignite, forcefully turning herself into a 50 feet tall Fire Tornado that was sending blood-colored flames all through the Branch Forest. With the burning blood flames turning everything to ash for a moment, she overcame the regeneration speed of the Branch Forest plant life, creating a massive safe zone where nothing was allowed to enter.

With a completely safe territory for herself, General Blazing Phoenix breathed a soft sigh of relief as she issued another order to her soldiers.

"Activate Burning Sea Plan!" 

Hearing her orders through the raging flames, numerous soldiers\' eyes twinkled with excitement as they dragged out large metal crates filled to the brim with explosives.