Void Sprout

Void Sprout

Year 215 (continued)

The entire pit was captured? Chung asked as my vines have captured the trees. Weve figured out how to make some bioluminescent plants, which lit up the path, and made it easier for us to defend the pits from the demonic assaults.

Only the core chamber is unclaimed. Beetles, with adapted legs meant for walking up and down vertical trees, also served as my defenders here.

Damn. If Ken could see this. This is hella beautiful if it wasnt a journey to the death. Then Chung slapped himself. Choi! Shouldnt have said that.

Prabu smirked. It shouldnt be that hard?

Initial data suggests its slightly weaker than a demon king, but still significantly stronger than a champion. Seems to be the leftover husk of a demon king, or at least, a part of it was the demon king..

I could technically teleport them down to the edge of my vines, but I didnt want to reveal that part of my abilities, so they made the journey riding on Lumoofs carriage of vines.

As the heroes approached the core, Stella and my sensors began to detect some movement.

Somethings happening to the astral paths, and Im detecting some magical pulse from the demon.

It was a momentary magical surge that quickly subsided. Then the demon repeated it again. And then it got stronger, and stronger.

Whats that? Stella asked, her eyes peeled to the stars above.

Ive got no idea. It felt like a warning beacon. Or an alert beacon, meant to alert the demons that it is under attack. But it sounds like we may have company.

There was still nothing in the astral paths. No movement.

Lumoof and the heroes approached the core, and found the demon mother coiled up with the core.

Well, that is our opponent. Lumoof introduced, and the heroes quickly got ready. The demon mother, at that moment, abruptly shrunk its size and hid within the core.

Uh, where is it going-

I think it can see your star mana and is hiding from you. Edna responded, and knows you are here to get it, but Lumoof just laughed. It knows that you wont destroy the core, so its using the core as a shield.

Oh, I think you can leave this hide-and-seek to me. My avatar jumped to the core, and then, my roots surged out. My roots and vines spread out, and the demon mother was no larger than a small cow, attacked my vines. It was strong, for sure, but destroying my vines revealed its location.

The demon was indiscriminate and happily attacked the core, but this close, I felt a rough, hazy presence touching on my avatars will, it called to us. It was groggy, as if its been long asleep or unconscious.

Something pulled it back.

Follow the colored vines, and itll lead to the demon.

The heroes approached the core. Meanwhile, through Lumoof, my vines flooded the holes of the core and attempted to slow down the demon mothers movement. It could easily cut through my vines.

After a few minutes of hiding, it soon realised its initial plan to escape or hide within the core wasnt going to work because the heroes eventually caught up and attacked it.

The demon fought the heroes within the core for a short few minutes, and found itself outmatched. The heroes landed a few hits, but frankly, they held back because they didnt want to damage the core. Yet, it was clear that the heroes would win if it remained within the core.

So, rather than remain in the core, the demon flared its magic, burnt through my vines, and then rushed out of the core. I tried my best to delay it, but it still managed to blast through them after a few hits.

Chase after it!

That flaring of energy seemed to mark something else as well, as Stella immediately noticed something unusual was happening.

Aeon, somethings coming! Ill do my best to delay it. I need you to send more void mages over to me right now. She immediately barked orders as a group of void mages on standby immediately jumped to action, and I sent them through my clone.

The demon rushed up the pits, and I tried my best to block it, and covered the pits with thick walls of wood and trees. It heated up like a shining, burning missile and blasted through my attempts to delay it.

The heroes and everyone else gave chase, and fired attacks. Just attack it, dont worry if you land a hit on the walls or anything. I can always fix the trees later!

Each attack weakened the demon mother, but it moved with speed equal to the demon king, and dodged most of the heroes and my domain holders attacks.

At that moment, Lumoof immediately asked. Should I stay in to secure the core, or go after it?

My vines approached it, and Edna, once again, withdrew our valuable antimana glass weapons and stabbed the egg. It wobbled from the strike, and the anti-mana glass did its work.

Unlike the demon king, this egg didnt pose that much of a challenge. It wasnt as strong as a full demon king, and that made a world of difference. Lumoof immediately closed in, and in avatar mode, my vines wrapped around the egg.

Lumoof winced slightly as my vines drained it of mana. I then inserted my own mana into it. Through Lumoof, my mana flooded it, but instead of converting it, it began to disintegrate.

The egg somehow stopped its attempts to detonate itself, and instead, struggled in its dying breath. It pulsed, attempting to fight off whatever nearby, but its weakened attacks barely hurt Lumoof.

We had defeated it, and the egg melted away to reveal a ball-shaped metal shell within. My vines quickly wrapped it, and sent it back home for further investigation.

The rifts had closed, and my defenders crushed the remaining demons.

We freed the parasiteworld from the demon mother, and elsewhere, we noticed the tide of demons attacking us began to dwindle.

Down in the core, my vines had wrapped around the core, and started to drain it of its demonic energy. It was like an engine covered in old grease and gunk, and it took a while to clear it.

Then, the much needed announcement came. If anything, a title seemed like a worthy prize.

[Title Obtained : Liberator of A Fallen World]

Huh. The heroes were rather amused. A title.

As I began to drain more demonic energy out of the core, the core began to glow. It was as if it was restarting after a long time.

Uh....

My vines from the entrance of the pits entered the core chamber, and grew on the walls of the core. Here, in the depths, gravity was a little wonky.

The will of the parasite world began to rouse from a long, long coma. It would take some time before it could communicate, I sensed that its will was fragmented, and there was still a lot of demonic mana residue to clear.

***

Is everything alright up there? Edna asked as she looked up at the still dark skies. The energies still felt unstable, even if none of the rifts were active.

Seems normal for now. The void mages answered. Its now quiet in the path, were just dealing with waves from the sudden closure of rifts.

The heroes loosened up after hearing that all-clear, and some of them stretched. So, what now? Were done?

Yes. Lets get all of you back to safety, and let this planet recover slowly. Itll be some time, I think. Lumoof answered. The fact that we got the title is a sign we achieved what we came to do. Aeon will need some time to figure out how to access the core mana.

Chung looked at Lumoof. Can we be here when that happens? Id like to see what Aeon does to the core. Im not paranoid or anything, but yknow, letting Aeon have the core is a big... uh... responsibility, and I just want to see whats happening.

Lumoof nodded. Well keep you informed.

Prabu ribbed Chung in the elbow, and Chung just said. Ever heard the phrase, trust, but verify? Letting anyone control a planets a big deal, even if its an empty one.

The heroes returned to Treehome and mountainworld, and my domainholders also withdrew. I watched the parasiteworlds core carefully but there were positive signs. The recovery rate of natural mana of the world seemed to start to tick up.

This was a very, very slow recovery, and Patreecks quick calculations suggested it would still take fifteen decades for the mana to fully recover to Treehomes level. Of course, this was a straight-line increase, not an exponential recovery, and its possible that the recovery of the Parasiteworld worked exponentially.

With everyone back in their respective homes, I focused on retaking the entirety of the parasiteworld from the demons.

***

Stella woke up about half a day later on the Parasiteworld. She rested and underwent treatment in a healing pod. I didnt want to move her, not until I had a bit more certainty on the damage she experienced.

As my avatar, I always had direct insight into Lumoofs health, so I knew exactly how he was. With everyone else, I needed to do more checking and tests.

Stella smiled when she woke up, and I immediately felt it. The density of void mana around her began to swell, and her condition suddenly improved, as if something just clicked.

The void mage had finally gained her domain.

The domain of [Void].

With both the core and her ascension, the great plan could now take another leap forward.