Chapter 113: Chapter 108: The Last Sky Before the Heart
The heavens darkened.
What had once been a realm bathed in eternal golden light now stood divided between radiance and corruption. On one side, rivers of liquid mana shimmered beneath floating islands covered in crystal forests. On the other, darkness consumed everything in its path, leaving behind twisted landscapes where only crimson lightning illuminated the sky.
Between those two worlds...
John hovered in silence.
Before him floated an army.
Hundreds of corrupted champions filled the air in disciplined ranks, their black armor reflecting the crimson glow of corruption. Each warrior carried a different weapon—greatswords, spears, war hammers, twin daggers, bows forged from living crystal—and every one of them radiated an aura far stronger than the ordinary guardians they had fought inside the Archive.
Behind the legion stood twelve towering commanders.
The same elite guardians John had sensed earlier.
Unlike the others, these twelve still retained fragments of their personalities.
One raised a massive shield engraved with faded golden runes.
Another rested an enormous halberd across his shoulder.
A woman wielding twin crystal blades stared at John with expressionless crimson eyes.
The tallest among them stepped forward.
His armor was cracked, revealing veins of black corruption pulsing beneath.
A tattered white cloak fluttered behind him.
Around his neck hung an ancient dragon-scale pendant.
John’s eyes narrowed.
"Dragon scales..."
Aerion noticed it as well.
"He fought beside dragons."
The commander’s crimson eyes focused on John.
Then, in a voice like grinding stone, he spoke.
"...Dragon..."
John answered calmly.
"I am."
The commander’s gaze lingered on him for several long seconds.
For the briefest moment...
The crimson glow in his eyes flickered.
A memory.
A fragment of who he once was.
"...Leave..."
Everyone froze.
Lythriel blinked.
"Did he just..."
The commander’s voice grew strained.
"...Too late..."
His hand trembled violently as he gripped his halberd.
"...Cannot..."
Black corruption surged across his body.
The faint clarity vanished.
His roar shook the heavens.
"DESTROY THE INTRUDERS!"
The legion moved as one.
---
The sky exploded into chaos.
Hundreds of champions charged simultaneously.
Their coordinated assault was unlike anything John had ever witnessed.
"They’re trained!" Aerion shouted.
"They fought together before they were corrupted!"
The first wave unleashed countless attacks.
Blades of crimson energy.
Storms of crystal arrows.
Walls of black fire.
Even the air itself seemed to fracture beneath the barrage.
"Sylvara!"
"I know!"
Dozens of magical circles bloomed around the mage.
Layer upon layer of barriers expanded outward.
The attacks struck.
**BOOOOOOM!**
The protective shields rippled violently.
Several shattered instantly.
Others barely held.
Sweat formed across Sylvara’s forehead.
"I can’t block another volley like that!"
John looked around.
If they remained surrounded...
They would eventually be overwhelmed.
"We break through!"
Aerion immediately understood.
"Straight toward the World Tree."
Lythriel grinned.
"My favorite kind of strategy."
She lowered her spear.
"Forward."
---
John folded his wings.
Then exploded forward.
The air behind him detonated with a thunderous boom.
His target—
The commander wearing the dragon-scale pendant.
The corrupted warrior met him head-on.
Halberd and claws collided.
**CLANG!**
Shockwaves spread for kilometers.
Floating islands shattered beneath the impact.
The commander smiled coldly.
"...Strong..."
John pushed harder.
"But not enough."
The halberd twisted unexpectedly.
The commander shifted his footing with perfect precision.
John’s balance faltered.
A fist slammed into his chest.
The dragon shot backward, crashing through three floating crystal formations before regaining control.
"He knows how to fight dragons," John muttered.
Aerion appeared beside him.
"He probably learned from them."
The elf glanced toward the pendant.
"Or fought alongside them."
The commander attacked again.
This time Aerion intercepted.
Silver sword met black halberd.
Their duel became a blur.
Every clash released arcs of silver and crimson lightning.
John took advantage of the opening.
Dark mana gathered around his mouth.
"Abyssal Breath!"
A torrent of black dragon fire erupted.
The commander crossed his halberd before him.
The flames engulfed him completely.
When they dispersed...
His armor had melted.
The dragon-scale pendant remained untouched.
More importantly—
The crimson crystal embedded within his chest had become visible.
"There!"
John charged.
The commander roared.
Dozens of lesser champions intercepted.
Lythriel descended among them like a falling comet.
Her spear danced in wide arcs.
Every strike shattered armor.
Every kick sent corrupted warriors tumbling through the sky.
"I’ve got them!"
She laughed.
"Go!"
---
Meanwhile...
Sylvara hovered above the battlefield.
Her eyes were closed.
Dozens of detection spells spread across the hidden realm.
She wasn’t watching the battle.
She was searching.
"There..."
She whispered.
"I found it."
Aerion glanced toward her.
"What?"
"The corruption."
"It isn’t flowing randomly."
She pointed toward the distant World Tree.
"Every champion is connected."
Thin crimson threads stretched across the sky.
Thousands of them.
Too faint for ordinary eyes to notice.
Every corrupted warrior was linked to one destination.
The roots of the World Tree.
John immediately understood.
"Cassian."
Sylvara nodded.
"He’s controlling them."
"If we defeat him..."
"The army loses its master."
---
The realization changed everything.
"We don’t need to destroy all of them," John shouted.
"We only need a path."
Aerion smiled faintly.
"A much better objective."
The four immediately changed formations.
Instead of standing their ground...
They became a spear.
John at the front.
Aerion to his right.
Lythriel to his left.
Sylvara above them.
Together they charged directly through the legion.
---
The battle became relentless.
Champion after champion fell beneath their assault.
John crushed corrupted crystals with ruthless precision.
Each time one shattered...
A golden soul rose peacefully into the sky.
Some bowed.
Others saluted.
One elderly warrior simply smiled before fading into light.
Freed at last.
John felt no satisfaction.
Only sadness.
These heroes had protected the Heart until the end.
Even in death...
They had been denied peace.
Not anymore.
"I’ll free all of you."
His voice carried across the battlefield.
"I promise."
The ancient souls vanished like falling stars.
---
Far below...
Cassian smiled.
He felt each corrupted champion disappear.
Yet he did not care.
"They’ve served their purpose."
Before him remained only three chains.
Each pulsed with immense golden light.
The True Heart floated behind them.
A sphere of living radiance nearly fifty meters across.
Its heartbeat echoed throughout the hidden realm.
Cassian pressed both hands against the nearest chain.
Darkness poured from his body.
The chain resisted.
Ancient runes blazed brilliantly.
Then—
**CRACK.**
One more seal broke.
Only two remained.
---
Above...
The World Tree groaned.
Its colossal branches trembled violently.
Leaves of pure mana drifted through the air like golden rain.
One enormous branch finally gave way.
It broke with a deafening roar.
The branch fell from the heavens.
Straight toward John’s group.
"Look out!" Sylvara cried.
John turned.
The branch was enormous—nearly a kilometer long.
There was no time to dodge.
No time to flee.
He inhaled deeply.
Dark and golden mana swirled together around his body.
His companions instinctively moved behind him.
John roared.
"Abyssal Dragon King’s Roar!"
The sky exploded.
A massive wave of compressed draconic mana surged upward.
It collided with the falling branch.
For one heartbeat...
Everything stood still.
Then—
The gigantic branch shattered into millions of glowing fragments.
Golden leaves filled the sky.
The hidden realm seemed to weep.
As the fragments drifted around them, John noticed something strange.
Each glowing leaf carried ancient symbols.
Not random markings.
Words.
Messages.
Memories.
The World Tree itself was trying to tell them something.
One leaf landed gently in John’s claw.
The golden inscription glowed.
Only four words appeared before fading away.
**"Beware... the False Heart."**
John’s eyes widened.
"What?"
Before he could speak—
The entire hidden realm shook more violently than ever before.
A horrifying crack echoed from beneath the roots of the World Tree.
Then another.
The heartbeat that followed was no longer slow.
It had become faster.
Stronger.
Alive.
Deep beneath the ancient roots, Cassian looked up with manic delight.
The final two chains trembled violently.
A voice, impossibly ancient and filled with boundless hatred, echoed from within the prison.
"At last..."
"...my prison weakens."
And for the first time since entering the Eternal Archive, John felt genuine fear.
The warning on the leaf echoed in his mind.
**Beware... the False Heart.**
If the World Tree had risked its last strength to deliver that message...
Then the greatest danger ahead was not the imprisoned being.
It was something waiting for them before they could even reach it.
---
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