Elizabeth made everyone run to a place where apparently there was nothing but a big mountain.
"I am Elizabeth, daughter of the Supreme Blood Deity, open the restrictions." (Elizabeth)
With my sister's scream the image of the mountain shakes for 1 second before a wooden gate rises from the ground in front of us and opens.
An Elf with two bird's wings on his back was standing waiting inside, it was possible to see a village as well as a World Tree on the other side of the gate.
"Welcome to Living Tyranny, Elizabeth."
"Where are Valerius and Val?" (Elizabeth)
"They have been waiting for you since you arrived in our world, as soon as you pass through this gate you will go to where you are waiting."
"Zenos, as soon as we arrive, go with Silvia straight to the World Tree, we don't have time to lose." (Elizabeth)
"All good." (I)
When Elizabeth first passes through the gate it seems to disappear while the strange Elf was still standing on the other side alone, trusting my sister I went next, I felt the space taking me like a current before I appeared right under the World Tree, it was a tree of pink wood whose leaves were the color of the rainbow.
Silvia followed right behind me and together we ran towards the World Tree, we put our hands on its roots.
Soon several roots grew where I touched and dug into my hands and arms at high speed, my arms became a mess of flesh and blood with even my bones breaking.
Silvia's situation looked the same as mine, but she waved at me at the same time as an Aura that seemed infinite entered my body only to collide against my own Aura and Authority like a wall that barely holds in place.
"(I apologize, but we don't have time, cooperate for now Zenos.)"
"..." (I)
"She won't harm us, believe me." (Silvia)
I lower my Aura defenses while trying to control the rejection of my Authority, then I feel this intrusive Aura touch my Soul causing my consciousness to sink.
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When I realized I was in a rose garden, there was a mature woman with pink hair and wearing green clothes, she looked at me and when she turned around I realized that next to her was Silvia.
"I apologize for my rudeness, but I needed more catalysts for my power, my Elf King can't handle the amount of power I need to manifest right now."
"This is the Spirit of the World Tree, we are inside his mind now, his name is Val." (Silvia)
"I am the one who cares for this world, nice to meet you gardener of World Trees, Zenos." (Val)
She snaps her fingers and everything goes dark, then an image of this planet very similar to the one I saw before we left Border City appears between the 3 of us.
The image was kind of transparent allowing to see the energy flows of the world, I could even feel each one of them as if it were inside my own body, so a flow of countless lives mixed together was contaminating these natural energy flows, it was like pouring sewage into a crystal clear river, the smear of dirt was easily noticeable as it tried to spread.
The origin of this filth lay in a specific area of the world I recognized as the site of the worst battle my children fought.
"The creatures weren't a threat to the world when alive, but once they died their blood seemed to come to life, seeping into the ground as it became pure energy to invade natural energy flows." (Val)
"The shredded bodies that were left behind were controlled as a Flesh Golem or some sort of Zombie Mutant by Necromancy becoming that monster you defeated along with its Familiar." (Val)
The images of Ragnar's fight against that Serpent monster appear in place of the image of the planet, then the images of blood flowing into the ground and in the end, it shows a type of energy emanating from the blood.
"The monsters' blood and bodies were different creatures, the battle was a distraction, and we fell into their trap." (Val)
I could feel this energy, it was hidden within the vitality and the Blood, it was very concentrated sacred energy, but the feeling I felt was strange, it was like a virus, and it contaminates more and more.
"Why didn't you kick it out by now?" (I)
"I can contain, even isolate the contamination, but my Authority only rules Nature, against the power of blood and Holy Power I am acting outside my influence, the vitality they use is also unnatural." (Val)
"I needed Holy Power to go against it, also Authority under the Blood, I was waiting for you." (Val)
"Having my sister here is a nice bonus." (Val)
"Dad, just follow my lead, I know what to do." (Silvia)
"All good." (I)
I begin to use my Holy Power and Authority to travel along with my daughter's power, I didn't know what to do but she as a former World Tree knew exactly what her sister wanted.
I felt my power and Authority traveling through countless roots streams of energy and even traversing the planet itself, I alone could never have done this, but now my power was being amplified by the World Tree, it was using my power as a weapon carrying its energy together.
But when my power finally collided with this tainted energy, my consciousness was pulled into another space.
When I realized I was already in a place where the sky was purple with a white sun on top and blue clouds, the earth was black as ink, it was as if darkness had taken over everything and a single man was smiling, I didn't see his face that he too was shrouded in Shadows, but his eyes were manic and before I knew what was happening the space shook as a giant silhouette loomed behind the man facing me.
At that moment I feel an energy of boundless nature welling up from within me spreading in all directions as if it were clean water washing away the dirt.
-------------
When I opened my eyes once more I was in front of the World Tree, my hand was still touching its big root, and my arms were completely healed with no root left inside.
Silvia was beside me opening her eyes, I exchange a look with her who smiles at me before my sister appears from behind her placing a hand on our shoulders.
"Tell me everything." (Elizabeth)
---------------
Pov Athena:
We were leaving somewhere else after going through a large Teleportation Gate, I was with Miriam, Astrid, Zadiris, and Alice in a room talking about the attack a few hours ago.
"You mean it was your enemies, those who deform the flesh and are desecrating life?" (Zadiris)
"Yes, the creatures from earlier looked a little different, but we call them meat soldiers, those had more strength and higher regeneration." (Astrid)
"We are also unaware of the magical jamming device they used, but everyone except me has lost the ability to move their Magical Prostheses." (Miriam)
"I couldn't even move my body, even my mind was thrown into chaos as some of my organs stopped working." (Astrid)
"Thank you for keeping me alive until my Magical Prosthetics reset, Miss Alice." (Astrid)
"That was something I needed to do and the reason Miriam Miriam wasn't affected was because of the power she received from Zenos." (Alice)
"But the point isn't about that, the first thing we should find out is how did they know where we were going?" (I)
"Could they have followed us here somehow?" (Zadiris)
"I didn't see any kind of vehicles, I didn't see any other threats besides them either." (I)
"I thought of capturing the only individual that looked intelligent, but it was not possible, his body burned out as suddenly as the magical jamming device." (I)
"What kind of fire was that to burn non-flammable solid matter in the cold vacuum of space?" (Astrid)
"Curse of a Necromancer, I studied a lot about it when I was still in the Church of Light." (I)
"The name is 'Death Flames', a Curse as the young woman just described, often used among criminal Necromancers to hide their tracks." (Zadiris)
"It seems your enemies were able to solve your people's problem in their own way, Necromancy needs the individual's direct control, someone without the ability to manipulate magic directly would never be able to use it." (I)
"I can imagine how they did it, it was a possibility I considered when we got here, but it was immediately dismissed." (Astrid)
"The answer is quite simple if the individual has no limits on what he is willing to do." (Zadiris)
"If your body isn't suitable, get one that is, many Alchemists and Necromancers build a body to replace the original, it could be a Homunculus or Undead." (Zadiris)
"They fear death very much to transform themselves into these lifeless things, I've also heard of Hominculi from Miriam's reports, they need a lot of magical knowledge, Alchemy, and very specific materials for their creation, they don't have a theoretical basis or experience in practical area in question for creating such an Artificial creature." (Astrid)
"You mean they used a person for this? They stole the body of a living person?" (I)
"I'm saying they've done much worse than that, they distort living bodies, they shape their bodies like a jigsaw puzzle, their minds are not bound by any common sense or morals." (Astrid)
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