The battle between the two trees continued for hours. Each one was trying its best to wrap around the other and to win the battle in order to grow stronger than before.
The monsters that appeared at the east of the city had been dealt with. The most powerful amongst them were low-grade Tier III monsters, and when faced against an entire group of Tier III players that was led by two Tier IVs, the monsters had no chance of even fleeing.
Reign and the others stared with solemn expressions at the two trees that were fighting. Most of the branches and even roots had been ripped apart or broken in pieces during the battle and the tree trunks were not faring much better as most of the bark was gone from both of them.
Reign stared at the smaller tree that was fighting vigorously, using its branches and roots much more aggressively and managing to take advantage early on before being stopped by the large tree that made a counterattack.
Hours passed, and yet nobody amongst them had moved but continued staring at the fight, hoping that they might be able to help out the golden tree.
Even after so long, however, the barrier that kept the other tree safe was still present, making it nearly impossible for anyone to join the fight and help the tree out. After a couple of rounds of attacking, Reign and the others noticed how the barrier was not as powerful as before as it would start flickering after absorbing a couple of attacks.
Still, Reign and the others had decided to stop as they wanted to attack the tree when it was in the most important moment of the battle in order to tilt the favors to the golden tree. As the battle raged on, less and less movement could be seen from the trees as they were no longer battling using their bodies, but their wills.
The two trees were not live other living beings as they had no soul, instead, they had a will, one that was similar to the will a planet would have.
The two wills clashed in a manner that was almost impossible for others to notice, even after using mana to boost their eyes, many wouldn't be able to see anything weird. Some could see some slight traces of what was going on, and only those who were well attuned to souls and had a lot of mana like Reign would be able to gain a clear picture.
Of course, even Reign wouldn't have been able to see everything if not for his connection to the tree. Laura and Shadow were able to see the battle partly, and the others could see glimpses of it.
Reign could see two figures above the trees. One was a golden child that looked no older than 7, and the other was a monster made from a couple of human corpses. The golden child was the will of the golden tree, while the monster was the one from the pale golden tree.
'It is good that you have taken down the Butcher, if things had continued the same way here, the tree would have been corrupted deeply before turning into a devil tree, a powerful monster that could corrupt and absorb entire worlds.' Aethion said in a solemn voice as he stared at the Will.
'The wills of the branches of Yggdrasil are different from other beings as they were the representation of the area they were at.'
'If a place had too many evil things being done, the will would get corrupt, if it was the opposite, it would stay pure, allowing it to condense its power by a large margin, just like you can see here.'
Aethion suddenly shook his head before smiling.
'It is good that the tree decided to attack, with the corruption of the will being so deep, even after you have taken over, the tree might have still evolved into a devil tree in the future, creating mayhem in the city and probably killing or driving most of the people here mad.'
Reign nodded his head, even though he didn't understand quite a bit of what Aethion had said.
The golden child moved and attacked the monster. Golden light flickered around the child as it punched, smashing the monster to a bloody pulp before the latter regenerated in an instant.
'Their wills are still quite strong, but when you attack the tree, it will make its will weaker as well.'
The two wills continued battling for over half an hour before the situation got more and more heated. In pure power, the child was the superior one without a shred of doubt, but the monster could regenerate itself in an instant before attacking again. As time passed, the advantage the child held became smaller, just like how things had progressed with their bodies.
"Get ready to attack!" Reign shouted as everybody started channeling mana, ready to attack at a moment's notice. The trees had started deteriorating. Even without being able to see the fierce battle that was taking place, they could imagine just how it was going from the state each tree was in.
Sometimes, they would even heal slightly before once again starting to wither, and soon, both trees had lost their luster while Reign continued staring at the battle.
"Now, attack with all that you've got!" Reign shouted before attacking as well. The barrier appeared once more, but it was thinner and weaker than ever before, and after tanking 10 hits, it was finally broken through.
The attacks landed on the trunk of the tree and did little damage, but Reign could see that it was working since its will had stopped for a moment before resuming the fight, but with slightly lower speed and power now.
"It's working, continue attacking, continue!" Reign said as he lead by example as he continued attacking from afar time and time again. The large size of the tree made it difficult for damage to be accumulated quickly as its size wasn't just for show.
The tree had great defensive powers as well, and they were on full display here as Wolf's flames which could even melt metals hadn't been able to do much against it. Reign's lightning, Shadow's darkness, and no attack seemed to have a decent impact on the tree, but it did help the golden tree out during the battle of wills.
'Come on, take it down, come on.' Reign thought as he continued bombarding the tree. They had been through a large fight, so nobody was at their peak, nor did they have all of their mana presents, which meant their attacks were not as effective as they could be.
Still, it was enough to make it difficult for the pale golden tree's will to start changing slightly. It first started shrinking slightly before some of the body parts started disappearing as well.
'It seems to have gotten some tips for the will creation from the Butcher, making it look like an Abomination from afar, but also from up close.
Reign and the others, as tired as they were, continued attacking and helping their tree out as they knew that the benefits it would give after it swallowed the other tree would be immense.
Their attacks were similar to how it felt for a human to be bitten by an ant, so even though it was annoying, the tree didn't really look at humans like they were a threat. Still, ants could kill many things if they were in a group, so after being bombarded by attacks for over half an hour, the tree's defenses were going down, allowing Reign's Golden Tree to occupy an advantage right now.
The golden child continued attacking the monster, but the trees themselves had started moving again and battling.
The two trees seemingly were locked into a hug while Reign and the others got near in order to try and tilt the odds out a bit more.
The two trees suddenly created a barrier, a cocoon of sorts before being fully shielded by it. Even their wills have been taken back to their bodies as Reign couldn't notice any of the two wills being present nearby now.
Reign waited with bated breath as he hoped for the best to happen, and after some 25 minutes, the cocoon that the two trees had created started falling down, and as it did, it showed that nothing was in it.
Reign still had a connection with the tree, and he could sense that it was here, but he had no idea just what was going on, until he saw the tree, or to be more exact, he saw the golden child.
The child suddenly appeared at the center of the cocoon before looking at Reign and smiling at him. As Reign raised an eyebrow at the confusion he felt, a change occurred.
The city, that had already been attacked 6 times during the battle, and thanks to their large numbers, they were able to kill or chase the enemies away.
The monsters have been successfully dealt with, and now, the dome had suddenly appeared, shielding the city once more.
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