"Titans…"
Eren murmured the word under his breath as he thought of the giant skeletons he had seen in the past back at Eliza's palace. He felt like he had been summoned back into the same place as a weak Ace ranker– surrounded by titan skeletons looking at him with their hollowed eyes.
Nira Nightshade was intrigued by Eren's reaction, thinking he was struggling to comprehend the titans' existence. So she explained further.
"Imagine a mana-wielding entity that's 100s of meters tall. They looked like humans for the most part but had gigantic bodies.
Can you imagine the scope of their physical attacks? Can you imagine their elemental spells and the damage they can cause?
Titans' attacks changed the shape of the land permanently. They affected the regions of Anfang in such a way that some of the geographical phenomena we see today originated from that period."
Eren remembered the residual mana signatures coming off the titans' skeletons. They had invoked a sense of dread in him when he was a mere Ace ranker. It had been a long time since their deaths.
Eren realized that the dread he felt at the time was not only because of his low rank. His subconscious mind had recognized the danger they posed when they were alive. This realization gave him goosebumps.
He stopped dwelling on the memories of Eliza's palace and focused on Nira Nightshade's explanation.
"When I say titans were walking calamities, I mean it in a literal sense. They were unstoppable forces of nature that did not give a damn about the ants trying to cope with them. The Anfang Alliance would deploy armies of rankers and cultists to take care of one titan. And the latter simply killed them like swatting a fly.
The period when the titans walked on the land of Anfang was truly the darkest time of this world's known existence. Almost nobody could deal with these titans on their own."
Eren realized why Eliza kept the giants' skeletons as her kill trophies to keep her company. They reminded her of her prime when she was injured and alone inside Purgatory and gave her the strength to carry on in her desire to seek revenge.
Eren couldn't directly ask about Eliza to Nira Nightshade without raising suspicions about his uninitiated half-blood status. So he asked about the Witch of Enderflame in a roundabout way.
"Sage Nira, were Sages of that time also incapable of taking care of Giants? Was there no one who could cope with these natural calamities by themselves?"
Nira shook her head in denial and sighed before answering Eren's question.
"You think titans at that time didn't have Sage-level entities in their midst? This was an all-out war among the denizens of different worlds, Eren. There were practically no stops.
The Master and Grandmaster fought enemies of their level. The Sages had to fight someone of their stature as well. The rest of the rankers could only be considered cannon fodder who battled with their equivalents. During that era, everyone was forced to participate in the war in some way.
Injuring one of these Titan invaders would be a huge moment of victory for the Anfang Alliance. If the rankers' army managed to kill one of these titans, they would be celebrated as heroes in the Anfang Alliance.
Most of these heroes never saw the celebrations that were held for their victories over the Titans. That's because most heroes would die in confrontations with such calamities."
Nira looked at the hall's ceiling and thought of something before continuing.
"As for someone who could contend with titans from the Anfang Alliance… There were indeed some entities who could pull off such a task. Only a handful of them.
But since most of them either belonged to half-blood clans or had cultist origins, their names are shrouded in mystery even among the rankers who know about the world's true past.
It seems like deliberate attempts have been made to hide these heroes' names. Just so that select strata of people wouldn't get credit for their huge contribution– especially the half-bloods. This was also a form of whitewashing history, Eren. One that was done on a much larger scale than what we did with the kingdom of Edinburgh.
People who are the cream of the crop in Anfang, however, can't remain oblivious to these names. The contribution of these few rankers is greater than what the Anfang Alliance achieved as a whole."
Nira Nightshade paused for a moment and realized Eren was looking for more answers from her with the way he was looking at her. She felt like an old woman telling fantasy stories to a kid. Thinking of the Spirit Beast he had in his possession, she decided to indulge Eren in his request some more.
"The entities who could kill Sage-level Titans on their own could be counted on one's fingers. They were called Titan Slayers.
Titan Slayers were highly respected in the Anfang Alliance in wartime. The alliance would use them as a deterrent against Titans and another bunch of powerful invaders.
The Titan Slayers would be deployed at critical times when the alliance's armies were failing to keep their front. They were so strong and charismatic that their mere presence on the battlefield was enough to cheer up the failing armies.
If Titans were walking calamities, then Titan Slayers who could kill them were also walking calamities in their own regard. As such, the Anfang Alliance also started fearing the Titan Slayers along with the titans they were battling."
Eren nodded at Nira Nightshade before asking her his next question.
"Any particular name that comes to your mind when talking about these Titan Slayers?"
The Sage archer didn't even take a second to answer.
"Witch of Enderflame– Eliza Samael.
The most feared, respected, and revered Titan Slayer of her time. She has the most solo Titan kills. Not just that. Her actual contribution to the war against the invaders is much larger than that."
