Chapter 566: Yggdrasil is not playing around.
High above the branches that supported entire continents, beyond the crystalline cities, the rivers of mana, and the luminous currents that traversed the Central Kingdom, two figures silently observed the horizon of the World Tree.
The place where they stood was one of the oldest regions of that dimension.
There were no buildings there.
No guardians.
No inhabitants.
Only living wood.
Ancient roots.
And the heart of Yggdrasil pulsing through everything around it.
A woman with long golden hair stood at the end of a huge branch that stretched for thousands of kilometers. Her eyes observed the distance while currents of mana slowly coursed across her skin like luminous veins.
She seemed human.
But only superficially.
Her presence was so vast that the very space around her seemed to adapt to her existence.
Beside her, Sylphie kept her gaze fixed downwards.
The young elf observed the movements taking place in distant regions of the World Tree. She could feel the dryads mobilizing. She could feel the branches awakening. She could feel the entire Kingdom reacting to Kael’s presence.
Her expression carried evident sadness.
After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke.
"Why does it have to be like this?"
Her voice was low.
No accusation.
No revolt.
Just sadness.
Yggdrasil remained observing the horizon for a few seconds before answering.
"Because there are things that cannot be decided by feelings alone."
Sylphie lightly squeezed her fingers.
"But he didn’t do anything."
"I’m not punishing him."
"Then why attack?"
Yggdrasil finally looked away from the distant landscape.
Its expression remained calm.
Serene.
But firm.
"Because he needs to prove something."
Sylphie frowned.
"To whom?"
"To me."
The answer came without hesitation.
The wind swept through the gigantic branches around them as silence returned for a few seconds.
Then Yggdrasil continued.
"I don’t want to hurt the boy."
His voice remained calm.
"But he will need to walk alone at some point."
His golden eyes returned to the horizon.
"Although I admit it was surprising that he managed to get help from that wretched dragon."
Sylphie sighed.
"I still think none of this was necessary."
Yggdrasil didn’t answer immediately.
The elf continued.
"We both know he’s trustworthy."
Silence remained.
Then Yggdrasil slowly turned his face to her.
For the first time, his eyes showed something different from his usual serenity.
There was weight there.
Experience.
Millennia of experience.
"He is so reliable..."
She paused briefly.
"...that he is a reincarnated being who has already died once."
The world seemed to freeze around Sylphie.
The young elf blinked.
Once.
Then again.
Her mind took a few seconds to comprehend what she had just heard.
"What?"
Yggdrasil looked back at the horizon.
"He wasn’t born in this world."
Sylphie remained motionless.
Her heart raced.
She tried to organize her thoughts.
She tried to find some alternative explanation.
But she found none.
Because Yggdrasil didn’t usually lie.
Not about important things.
"That..."
She swallowed hard.
"...that’s true?"
"Yes."
The answer was simple.
Direct.
Irrefutable.
Sylphie was speechless.
All that time.
During all the conversations.
All the moments.
She had never even considered that possibility.
Kael had always seemed strange.
Different.
Sometimes excessively mature for certain situations.
Other times absurdly disconnected from concepts that should be obvious.
But never...
Never that.
Yggdrasil observed her reaction without judgment.
Then it spoke again.
"Not everything in this world is what it seems, child."
Its voice became softer.
But no less firm.
"One day I will die."
Sylphie immediately raised her head.
Yggdrasil continued before she could protest.
"That’s how it works."
The branches around them vibrated slowly.
"I was a sprout once too."
She placed one hand on her own chest.
"Just like you."
Sylphie remained silent.
"You are still developing your roots."
Yggdrasil’s golden gaze turned to the young elf.
"You are still learning to exist."
Then she looked away at the horizon again.
"But that boy is different."
Her voice grew heavier.
"He developed."
A pause.
"He lived."
Another.
"He died."
Yet another.
"And began again."
The wind swept through the ancient branches.
Sylphie felt a growing unease rise in her chest.
Because now she was beginning to understand the true reason for that resistance.
The true reason for that worry.
Yggdrasil wasn’t afraid of Kael.
She was afraid of the unknown.
Afraid of what she couldn’t foresee.
Afraid of what didn’t belong to the world she protected.
"I cannot entrust the entire existence of this world to someone from another."
The words were spoken calmly.
Without hostility.
Without hatred.
But laden with conviction.
Sylphie lowered her gaze.
She wanted to respond.
She wanted to argue.
She wanted to say that Kael would never do anything to harm them.
But the words simply wouldn’t come.
Because now there was a doubt.
Small.
But present.
Yggdrasil observed her reaction in silence.
Then she concluded:
"Even if I turn the whole world against him..."
Her voice echoed softly through the mana currents that coursed through the World Tree.
"...I won’t accept someone like that profiting from you."
Sylphie’s face hardened.
For the first time since the beginning of that conversation, she raised her eyes and stared directly at Yggdrasil.
"You’re talking as if I were an object."
Yggdrasil didn’t respond immediately.
The elf continued.
"As if I couldn’t choose."
Silence remained between the two.
In the distance, thousands of kilometers below, the mana of the Central Kingdom continued to churn.
Kael continued to advance.
Nidhogg continued to fight.
And the World Tree continued to awaken.
But at that moment, none of those things seemed to matter.
Because two Yggdrasils were facing each other.
Kael noticed the change almost immediately.
Until just a few minutes before, he had been fighting cautiously, freezing opponents, dodging attacks, and searching for ways to avoid permanently damaging the creatures of that realm. However, the situation had ceased to be a simple roadblock. Yggdrasil itself had begun to mobilize increasingly larger parts of its structure against him, transforming that crossing into a deliberate ordeal.
The branch he carried close to his body pulsed constantly.
The golden wood emitted gentle currents of energy that spread through the runes left by Elion and coursed through every part of his body. It wasn’t an uncontrolled explosion of power. It was something deeper. A continuous feeding. As if the surrounding environment recognized the presence of that fragment and allowed it to absorb a small portion of the primordial mana that filled the Central Kingdom.
Kael traversed the air between two continental branches as dozens of new creatures appeared before him.
This time they weren’t just dryads. Figures made of living roots emerged from the ancient wood. Some possessed humanoid bodies composed entirely of hardened plant fibers. Others resembled gigantic animals molded from luminous trunks and leaves. None of them showed hesitation.
All attacked.
Kael gripped his sword firmly.
His body vanished.
The acceleration was so sudden that the air exploded behind him in a wave of pressure.
The first creature didn’t even have time to react.
The cut pierced its living wooden torso, severing the mana connections that sustained its physical form. The body began to disintegrate before even reaching the branches below.
Kael didn’t stop.
His momentum carried him directly against the next group.
The sword described a precise horizontal arc.
Then another.
Then a third.
Each movement was executed without waste.
Without exaggeration.
Without any unnecessary display.
It was pure technique.
Years of training.
Decades of accumulated experience between two different lives.
The creatures kept appearing.
He kept advancing.
Chains of ice accompanied each blow.
Frozen blades formed around him and shot in multiple directions. Some intercepted projectiles. Others struck distant targets before they could even get close.
A colossal beast made of roots tried to block him.
Kael spun his body.
The sword descended.
A compressed wave of mana coursed through the blade.
The impact opened a gigantic fissure through the creature and the branch it was perched on.
The monster instantly lost its form.
Even as he advanced, Kael could feel the energy around him.
Primordial mana flowed constantly.
It came into contact with the runes.
It was refined.
Absorbed.
Adapted.
His body grew stronger by the minute.
More resilient.
Faster.
More efficient.
That should have been impossible for an ordinary human.
Perhaps that was exactly why Yggdrasil had decided to observe him so closely.
New enemies emerged.
Hundreds.
Perhaps thousands.
Kael had lost count.
His focus remained entirely on the opening Nidhogg had indicated.
Nothing else mattered.
A rain of plant spears descended from the bright sky.
He raised his free hand.
An ice wall instantly appeared.
The projectiles struck the barrier and exploded into fragments of mana and wood.
Before the shards reached their position, Kael had already disappeared again.
Movement.
Strike.
Mana.
Speed.
Everything happened in continuous sequence.
Without interruptions.
Without pauses.
Without room for doubt.
The creatures sent by Yggdrasil were powerful.
But none of them possessed the experience of someone who had already lived a whole life before that one.
None of them carried the weight of past mistakes.
None of them understood what it meant to receive a second chance and decide not to waste it.
Kael advanced like someone who already knew the value of his own existence.
In the distance, gigantic branches continued to move.
The dimension itself seemed to observe him.
The spiritual pressure gradually increased.
Something greater was awakening.
Something far above the dryads, guardians, and creatures that had been sent until now.
Kael felt it immediately.
His gaze lifted to the golden horizon formed by the infinite branches of the World Tree.
Then he gripped the hilt of his sword again.
His face remained calm.
Without fear.
Without arrogance.
Only determination.
Because, at that moment, he finally understood one thing.
Yggdrasil wasn’t trying to kill him.
It was trying to decide if he deserved to continue advancing.
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