Those who Fight For Tree

Year 155

The rifts opened again, this time, they went back to their earlier strategy of multiple rifts across the central continent. 

But we were getting better. My studies into the void mana and the daemolite had produced some useful information.The daemolite has a certain range of resonance with the rifts, that is mostly invisible, except when one has void mana. The daemolite’s ability to store void mana is actually quite good, compared to almost everything we’ve seen.

The next point, really, is why? 

The daemolite left by the demon king on this world, does it serve a purpose beyond just a store of void mana? Or does the demon king need that void mana batteries to travel to this world? Or is there some other purpose?

But anyway, our research into void mana and these void batteries made us more sensitive to the rifts, and so, I had about 4-5 hours notice that a rift was happening, and also their location. It’s just a lot easier to find something when you know exactly what you are looking for. 

The Valthorns, Hytreerion and all engaged in combat over the next few months, the rifts now popping in and out. They barely stay open for more than a week, and would close as soon as my forces get near. If this isn’t proof of demonic intelligence, I don’t know what else is. They clearly have some way of transmitting information back to the homeworld, and are able to act on it. Thankfully, the type of demons remain the same. It’s still the quasi-undead demons. Is there like some kind of facility in their home world that decides on the demonic themes? 

As the year went on, it’s increasingly clear that something big was going to happen. My sensors were going wild, and I knew exactly where it was going to happen. Of course, we had to be tuned in to that specific magical resonance to detect it. I’m betting my money on this being the demon king, and he will appear in the Central Continent. I’m quite sure of it. 

Immediately, I had that area where we detected the magical fluctuations cleared, emptied of all people, and loaded with all the magical traps and weapons. If a demon king’s gonna appear on our continent, I’m gonna hammer it with everything. I also started to flood the area with my [Giant attendant trees]. 

This was my chance to test how long I can hold out against the demon king. 

Kei was on the way back from the other continent. The other two heroes agreed to come as well. It seemed to me that they are compelled to fight demon kings, even if they disagree with me, and have no love for the central continent. 

Perhaps, it is a requirement of the [hero] class, that they must challenge the demon king.

-

Of course, my actions were not missed by the common folk, or the elite. I decided it was just right to be forthcoming about it, so I informed everyone that the demon king will be on the central continent.

Once again, panic.  

-

Schadenfreude. That’s the feeling from the other continents and the temples. They delight in the fact that I will have to face the demon king. Damn them. Not that they can do anything to help. 

-

I called on the kingdoms of the central continent to share their hero items. Many of them have a few, legacy of their founding heroes, or gifts from visiting heroes. We built bombardment stations, built around the hero items. We can prepare for this, and so we will. The hero items were all supported with massive arrays of mana-storing potatoes. 

If one doesn’t hurt the demon king, maybe a few of them together can. Together with the heroes, I’d hope to make this battle a swift one. After all, apes together strong.

I even equipped Hytreerion, my massive tree walker with that Cannon of Alantara I stole from the temples. Hytreerion’s massive mana pool meant he could support one hero item on his own, and to bolster his mana capacity, we also started research of mana-storage beetles. Mobile-mana batteries meant to augment Hytreerion’s large mana pool. 

These mobile mana-storage beetles started off as beetles with a large mana-potato grafted on their back. Over time, the biolabs made improvements to the ‘bond’ between these mana-potatoes and the beetles. 

Eventually, I even got them to explode if triggered in a certain way. It’s a roundabout way of getting back to Beetle-banelings. 

Point is, I needed mana-storage, since the point is to create huge ‘bursts’ of energy output. We’ve also planted the entire area with modified potatoes, and charged them up with all the mana I could get. 

If a demon king’s coming, I was going to blow it up as much as I can. 

“Seriously, this is... really just camping at the spawn point, isn’t it? What if the demon king doesn’t spawn here?” Kei admired my work when she arrived at the location. We’ve built multiple fortresses around the demon king’s spawn point. 

My rift attuned sensors did not detect any unusual changes. For now, all of them point here. 

“But, sure.” 

“Can you help?” I spoke to Kei. “Your array of guns, are you able to place them as fixed objects? Since I was quite certain where the demon king will appear, it is entirely possible to really break this.”

“But is killing the demon king the answer?” Kei asked. “ We did that last time, and all it did was lead to this point here.”

“If you’re not willing to help me kill the demon king, then help me immobilise it to a significant degree, such that we can repeat what happened.” 

Kei thought for a moment and then agreed. “This is pretty much trying to injure a pokemon so that you can catch it, but not too much that it’s dead.” 

I got that reference, but I just continued. “So, help?”

“Yes.” 

She spent about a month using her [hero’s forge] to set up multiple cannon arrays. But, her arrays are powered by her star mana, so for now, they are pretty much like single-use turrets that will expire once the star mana runs out. Still, with so many cannons, traps and weapons, I’d hope to at least significantly weaken the demon king.

“When are your two friends coming?”

“They said they will come once the demon king appears.”

Ugh. So glued to their harem. 

-

“So this is what mom’s been up to.” Arlisa said. She had snuck out after I asked Lausanne and many others to help with the preparations of the site. She stood at the edge of the cliff and looked at the vast area now cleared into a battleground. The entire area, and anywhere with 50 miles was evacuated where possible.

Overnight, towns and cities in the area were emptied, the people moved as far as they could. We had large convoys of beetles ferrying people from the towns and cities to large dedicated ‘new-towns’. 

“What are you doing here?” Lausanne, of course, could sense her daughter from a distance away. It also helped that one of Arlisa’s bracelets are enchanted. 

Arlisa jumped when Lausanne snuck out behind her, undoing her [Camouflage]. “MOM!” Arlisa was about to flip. “Wait. Why didn’t I sense you coming?”

“Your [Detection] abilities are probably too low.” Lausanne patted her 14 year old daughter’s head. She’s a level 34 [Ranger], and it’s considered slow when Lausanne herself hit Level 60s at that age. But, of course, Arlisa was also taking life a lot easier, and did not have to fight as many monsters as Lausanne did. Naturally, her level would be lower. 

There’s also a part of her ‘rebelling’ by not following her mother’s footsteps. When everyone expected her levels to soar, she resisted it. She claimed that she was still trying to figure out her life and didn’t want to move so fast. 

“Now, you want to see what we are doing?” 

“Is the demon king going to appear soon?”

“Aeon thinks it’ll be soon. This entire place is loaded with formations, which... he isn’t sure will work or not.”

Arlisa was worried, and her facial expression reflected that. “Will you be fighting, mom?”

“No against the demon king. Hopefully not. Jura is. Along with those who received the seed. But the rest of us will be helping to control the other demons that appear. Aeon expects the demon king to be accompanied by a large army.”

“...I see.” 

-

The Valthorns went through the plans over and over. Kei, as the hero, was also involved. The moment the demon king appeared, we would activate all the weapons and traps against the demon king, and then only would Kei engage. One-on-one against the demon king is going to be tough, but the rest of us will play support. 

Everyone was in their best equipment. We moved our best anti-demon artifacts to the fortresses around Ground Zero. The signals we detected were increasing, and getting stronger. The tension in the air was rising. 

And yet the two heroes have not even left their continent.

“How long do you think we can hold back the demon king?” 

“Based on our calculations and data provided by past heroes, master... we should be able to suppress the demon king for at least a day. Our base case scenario varies, but the median is around 6 days.” Patreeck modelled the potential battle, and 6 days wasn’t great. The key is whether Kei can kill it. Based on our current data points, we should be able to take the demon king down by about 40-50%. Kei’s star mana would have to make up for the rest of the shortfall. 

That’s barring any cheap tricks. 

-

I made progress with my various energy research. There was no progress for the blackstar gems, however. Still, the energy research did not unlock new color. At least, not yet. All it did was add more mana to the pool. 

It’s fine. It was loading the entire area with more mana anyway. 

-

Jura, Lovis, Faris and Edna were all Level 125. It seemed there was a natural limit for experience seeds, and that limit was Level 125. All the experience seed did not work beyond that point. 

Darn. I suppose you can’t cheese your way to divinity through experience seeds. They had to earn their last 25 levels. 

I also gave my 5th Soul Strengthening seed, this time to one of my Patreearchs, Priest Lumoof. He was a Level 85 [Aeonic Bishop]. Though he was old, he had a lot of support abilities, and I needed someone like that to support the first 4. 

Now was not the time to save on experience seeds, so I also pushed him up to Level 125. 

Year 156

The demon king didn’t waste time. The rift was massive, so massive that it seemed like the sky itself twisted. 

“It’s coming.” Kei said from a distance away. We watched, as massive skeleton dragons and mammoths stepped out of the rifts. The ‘champions’ of the demon king. 

“Should we blow it up now?” One of the Valthorns asked nervously.

“No. Only when the demon king is here.” There were at least 50 of those champions, and I can’t help but remember Harris describing them as fodder once they were at level 130s. They could destroy a champion in a single-star mana attack. 

The demon king’s heads appeared. It was a massive skeletal serpent with large reddish spires along it’s jagged spine. It had three heads, a three headed skeleton serpent, one head resembled the skull of a mammoth, one head resembled a dragon, and one resembled a cobra. Everyone felt it. 

“Hold.” Kei said nervously. This was her first full-powered demon king. The last one was a dud. She instantly notified her two ‘friends’ that the demon king had descended. 

Indeed. I got the notification the moment it’s entire body appeared. 

[Demon King Tigash has descended]

It’s three heads roared. The demonic champions, who surrounded the area, turned and charged.

I feel a tingle in my network. Fear. Everyone seemed to be caught in its aura and presence. Kei immediately stood straighter and activated her own star-mana form. It glowed like a lighthouse in the dark, and instantly, the fear subsided. 

Point 1. Demon King has some kind of fear aura.

Point 2. Heroes have a natural anti-fear aura.

“Ready.” I notified everyone to take cover. “It’s time for some explosions.”

All the hero items prepared in the entire area activated, and the first volleys of energy blasts shredded the demon champions. The barrage of bullets, projectiles and beams from all directions, even Hytreerion.

It was beautiful. It resembled Total Annihilation when I let loose multiple long range cannons, or those old videos of battleships going all out. The valley was filled with the sound of all the cannons and artifacts unleashing fury on the demons and the demon king. The 50 or so demon champions were destroyed quickly. 

After the volley, came the traps. The entire ground beneath the demon king glowed. Overcharged mana potatoes embedded in the ground, configured into a literal mana bomb, and the multiple explosive formations around them. Together, they would explode as one single massive bomb. The single explosion for the mana was so large it could be heard a 100 miles away, the fortress braced for the shockwave of energy. 

The detonation lefta massive crater. 

“Where’d the demon king go?” No. It was an illusion. We saw the three heads still floated, surrounded by massive skeletal shields. Those shields looked like they took some damage, and it’s body was gone. 

The eyes on the three heads glowed, and instantly we saw it’s body regenerate. It roared, and more champions emerged from the rift. 

Kei sprung into action. She could remotely ‘recharge’ her arrays as long as she’s within the area, so the cannons kept up the attack. 

I felt drained as the weapons and traps called on more mana, but this was the moment we’ve prepared for. Two to three years of preparation all for this single moment. We unleashed everything we could, as suicidal beetles loaded with mana potatoes on their back charged towards the demon king. 

One of the heads roared, and a huge red energy blast torched the walls. We quickly activated defensive shields, but they didn’t last very long. The beams were as powerful as the heroes! Tower after tower, incinerated. 

“These fortresses are a bad idea. We should have built them into the ground, instead of above ground!” One Valthorn commented. Which I agreed with. Tall fortresses were a stupid idea against demon kings with beam weapons. Naturally things above ground would be in their line of sight, and line of fire! I shall have fortresses built underground next time. At least the earth and dirt helped to absorb some of the damage!

The artificial minds helped me reconfigure some of the magical weapon arrays, connecting them to fresh mana potatoes. We needed to keep up the pressure, as more demon champions emerged from the rift. 

“We’ll take the champions, let Kei focus on the demon king.” Jura, Edna, Faris and Lovis stood and charged in. 

One of the demon king’s three heads, the one resembling a cobra opened it’s mouth and shot a huge spire-projectile. Where did such a projectile even come from? The projectile exploded into thousands of smaller spires, and those thousands of smaller spires transformed into small zombie-like creatures. They charged out of the crater, and attempted to reach the magical cannons. 

Beetles! Thousands of beetles emerged and met the zombie-army. 

The mammoth-head’s eyes glowed, and all the zombie-minions glowed and gained strength. A buff effect. 

Jura hacked through hundreds of zombies and managed to land a finishing blow on a champion. Hytreerion too loaded up its’ mana beetles and shot another projectile. It impacted one of the demon champions, it staggered and then fell. 

It was pure chaos as the cobra head turned again, this time it shot a beam at Hytreerion. Shit It was too big and bulky. I activated all the defensive abilities I had, but it still tore through them. It knocked Hytreerion back by a few hundred meters, and made a large wound on it’s back. 

The mammoth head roared and a fire appeared between its’ tusks. 

“The fuck is that.” My sensors went wild. 

Kei’s multiple arrays fused together into a large cannon, and then fired a purple-and-white energy beam. It hit the Cobra head and the cobra head crumbled. 

The mammoth head’s fire glowed, and in an instant the entire crater and it’s surroundings were charred with black demon flames. 

It was a very familiar pain. The fireblast hit the surrounding weapon posts, multiple hero items were destroyed. We felt it as some of my subordinates died. Jura and the heavy rankers immediately dived to avoid the blast, but Faris’s staff was instantly torched. 

Kei had a magical shell protecting her. It glowed white, and she had suddenly transformed. This was the ‘star-mana’ form. Now, she was the core and center of a massive magical weapons platform. Each of it’s energy blasts were purple-white and contained huge quantities of star mana. 

It was a form I’ve never seen, and I wondered whether she was still holding back? Or is this something that only activated when she faces a demon king?

Yet, the Cobra Head, that we thought was destroyed, reconstituted itself.

“Master. The mammoth’s head, there’s ten slots with six red crystals on it.” Patreeck mentally shouted in my mind. I immediately zoomed in. “When we nuked the entire place, 3 of the red crystals crumbled, and just now, when Kei destroyed the cobra head, one more crystal turned to ash. It’s a life-counter!” 

There’s six more lives. “Kei, those heads can regenerate. You need to knock them all out at least 6 times.” I suspect 9 times in total. They only stopped regenerating if they were out of crystals. I quickly explained the details as we kept up the pressure. 

The dragon head’s turn to glow, and it shot multiple beams. 

“Master. Bad news. Rifts opening across the continent.” Treevor repeated. “At least fifty.”

Fuck. Most of my high leveled guys are here. “Beetles and get everyone not occupied. Activate the adventurers and the local militia too.” I still had a few guys. Horns was not involved in this conflict since he was too low leveled, but he could help with the other sites. “Lausanne, need you to take a team and get to one of the rifts!”

Yet I couldn’t distract myself from the conflicts throughout the continent. I felt my entire body tingle, like static, as if I was right next to a lightning storm. The dragon-head roared and dragon-head launched more energy beams. These beams behaved more like strings than beams, and it destroyed a few more fortresses. 

Kei flew and weaved between those strings like a pro, but even then, she got hit a few times. The arrays took the damage for her. It felt like watching a touhou game. The dragon-head released multiple slow-moving floating energy-mines. These were like explosive wisps, and they went in all directions. 

“Aeon. What do we do?” Edna shouted as she hid in the ground together with Faris. “We’re pinned down and we can’t get close!” 

They had a few shields up, but they didn’t last very long. The flames burned them easily. It seemed that either the demon king’s flames are not really flames, or my resistance just got nullified before the king, or I’m still too far. 

There were about 30 demon champions left, and the demon king traded blows with Kei. The King concentrated on Kei, and focused its attacks on her. Honestly, the rest of us are just distractions for the two true titans. 

Kei’s attacks filled the skies, and her barrage of star-mana bullets took out demon champions easily, 2 shots, and the demon champion was destroyed. But that was not her objective! She wanted to attack the demon king but these champions kept getting in the way!

“Black-fireblast incoming!” I alerted the engaging forces, as we noticed the mammoth head had a small spark of fire between its tusks, again. This second shot incinerated my beetles, and a few more arrays.

I got mental notification that a few of the arrays are ready. I had to shoot, or they might get destroyed. 

“Go Go Go!” 

Right next to the demon king, my Giant Attendant Trees were nothing more than firewood. It’s energy beams ripped through the trees like they were a piece of thin scrap paper. It was a mistake to ask my elite forces to engage in this battle, as they scrambled to flee for their lives. 

My mistake. Next time I won’t field anyone less than Level 100. Anyone less than that is nothing more than a liability. It’s true that they could help with the demon champions, but with the demon king’s attacks, I couldn’t even protect them. The demon king clearly didn’t care for it’s own subordinates, as it shot beams that incinerated both ally and foe. 

The demon king was beyond them, truly. The traps and the cannons were infinitely better choices. 

“Kei. Can you push the demon king to the marked spots?” I asked. We had traps made in the surrounding area as well. We were prepared to nuke this entire area to smithereens if we can take out the demon king.

“Am trying.” She responded as she dodged wave after wave of magical bullets and beams. 

Her attacks managed to hit the dragon-head and it crumbled! 5 crystals left! The rift abruptly closed behind the demon king. There were no more champions, as Kei’s projectiles and the few arrays took out the remaining champions. 

It didn’t take long for the dragon-head to start regenerating. But it was enough to buy time. As Kei’s array transformed into massive mirror structure and temporarily ‘deflected’ the demons’ bullets. The sudden shift hit the Cobra-head and it too, crumbled after five or so star-mana hits. 

I quickly attempted to create multiple giant attendant trees around the demon king and used my vines to latch onto them, when they were still regenerating. There was only the mammoth head now. My vines grabbed on to all of them and I tried to drain them of mana. 

I heard a voice in my head when that happened. ‘Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee usssssssssssssssss.’

[Mental incursion detected. Blocking... sCraMb---]

[Excessive demonic mana in network. Expelling...]

Fuck. Fuck. Not now. Patreeck and my domain stepped in and blocked off the attack.

‘Pawns...’ The voice was legible now. I felt it in my head. Shit. Shit. ‘Pawns...’

“Master we couldn’t block all of it. We must detach. We must disconnect the vines.” Patreeck shouted in my head. “It’s in your head!”

‘Pawns...’ I saw visions of their homeworld again. It was a massive purple world. ‘Long ago. Before the slavers.’ Massive, purple, and they were giants. They were all monsters and their cities were massive canyons. Monsters. A primitive society. 

‘Fight the slavers.’

More visions, large, massive cities of giant monsters. Then... a beam of light.

Kei’s energy blast weaved through the trees and hit the immobilised mammoth head and it too crumbled. All three heads abruptly twisted and fused together, and in an instant, those giant attendant trees were vaporised, along with my vines. 

The link to my mind broke, and I was knocked out of the vision. 

In its place, the three heads combined, turning into a single-head with three faces. The dragon, the snake and the mammoth. Was that some kind of symbolism? All three mouths opened, and it shot out huge red beams in all directions. 

Faris was too near! Still, he kept attacking the demon king, his attacks made small, tiny cracks on the large three-faced creature. 

One of the mouth turned to face Faris and shot a red beam. It happened so, so quickly, and he was too near. Faris was caught in the red beam. He was vaporised instantly.

[Faris has died.]

FUCK!

“Retreat!” I screamed mentally, but it was too late, really. The red beam was crazy powerful. My shields were nothing more than paper before a flood. This power was above and beyond whatever data I got from Harris. When we simulated the past demon kings, my shields still managed to weaken the power of the attack, but this was easily three to four times stronger. 

Jura shook his head. “No. We’re this near, and we’re this close. It’s either we win, or there’s nothing left for us.” He threw a magical spear. It hit the demon king’s face and caused a tiny crack. 

Kei’s star mana blast managed to hit and it knocked a big chunk off the demon king’s three faces. 

“It traded defense and hit-points for power.” Patreeck commented in my head, quickly summarising that it’s defensive stats are probably not that high. It’s also a ‘relative’ thing. To Kei, yes, it’s totally a glass cannon, to us, it’s still impossibly tough. “It’s a glass cannon.”

“With 10 lives. Not exactly a glass cannon.” Still, my eyes were locked on Jura and Lovis, both attempted to get closer. Lovis threw a few magical spears at the demon king from her location, and it did just tiny bits of damage too. 

“Not anymore. There’s only two red-crystals on its mammoth-face.” 

The demon’s energy beam and the beam from Kei’s array had a clash of powers normally seen in anime. The two energies met and had a short tug of war but eventually, Kei’s purple-white beam lost. The demon’s power pushed through and Kei’s array was destroyed in another big explosion. The beam was so strong it even burned a straight line for about 10 miles, I felt like a line of trees just vanished from my network. 

Kei was alive. She managed to dodge sideways but she had lost an entire limb. Blood streamed out of the charred parts. But she stood. Alive and defiant. 

I immediately sent vines to surround her, and attempted to heal her. At this distance, my root strikes would be weak, but whatever. I unleashed all I could, and summoned multiple giant attendant trees again. 

The Demon King roared and black flames instantly torched my root strikes. One of them hit the demon king and caused a little more cracks. 

“...not yet.” Kei said, my vines now wrapped around her entire body. Her arm was lost but my vines quickly applied healing energies to suppress the wound. She lifted her other hand, and her body glowed. 

Her lifeforce and soul was flickering. I could sense her entire soul spring cracking and crumbling, even the marbled hero-blocks. 

Ten magical large projectiles, they resembled armor-piercing rounds appeared in the air, made of star mana. This was it, as all of her mana left her body. Her body now felt like an empty shell. If this didn’t work, the demon king would win. A flick of her finger, and all ten massive magical rounds flew towards the three-faced demon king. The demon king roared, it’s three-faces unfurled like a book and took the attack head on. 

The projectiles exploded on impact, each explosion was small, but they were dense with star mana. Each shot resembled a mini-nuke on its own.

There was a short moment of suspense as we watched the dust settle. 

It was not enough. 

When the dust settled, there was still one face. The mammoth face was still there, cracked and weakened, there was no crystal left on its head. This was its last life too.

If only the other two heroes were here. 

Kei... fainted. Her life force flickered and faded, she was weak and dying, even if I managed to suppress the bleeding. I called on my mana to heal Kei and supported her, but I could sense her soul spring crumbling...

The demon king’s movements were sluggish. Its face were filled with thousands of cracks and it roared. 

Kei’s anti-fear aura faded away.

I froze. I had flashbacks of that very first time when I met that demon king, and I remembered how it chopped off my trunk. It felt like old wounds had suddenly reappeared, their wounds that I thought had fully healed just flared up. Old pains and wounds just burned suddenly, things I didn’t even know I had.

What do I- 

“Master!” My artificial souls voice broke me out of my flashbacks. 

Then, I saw Lovis and Jura both charged at the demon king. Somehow they were unaffected. They were equipped with anti-demon spears and launched an attack together. Their weapons glowed as they used everything they had at the demon king.

“What are you guys doing?”

We have a clear shot. Both of them mentally responded, even though I sensed and shared their fear. I didn’t know what compelled them to even try for the demon king. Their spears crash into the demon king’s skeletal face. The cracks on its face glowed. It’s a familiar look. Things I’ve seen in dreams.

It was going to blow. Flames shot out in all directions.

Why do they always blow up.

“Fuck get the shit out of there!” 

I quickly extended my vines and attempted to drag both of them out of there, and used my vines to latch onto the exploding demon king. If I could drain some of its energy, the explosion may not be so big. 

I wrapped my vines and roots around Kei, she was too weak to move in her half-dead state, and used my vines to haul her away. 

Jura and Lovis ran as fast as they could, I made layers after layers of wooden shields. Everything. I made Giant Attendant Trees too, by the hundreds. 

I pulled and tried to drain as much energy out of the demon king as I could. My vines wrapped around the demon king’s cracked faces many many times, and my entire body was temporarily flooded with the demon king’s mana, but it wasn’t enough. The mammoth-face still detonated, and instantly, there was an explosion just as big as my traps. Black, blue and red light cut through my vines and all my shields, and it was as if the void itself was here.

“What could I do? Wait. Teleport! My Star-mana Ropeway!” I wanted to activate my teleportation ability to save them, but I had used all my star mana. The explosion was too quick, and my subsidiary tree was charred before it even completely spawned. 

The black-ish energies exploded and caught Lovis, Kei and Jura. I tried to shield them, but the energies attacked my roots too, and it incinerated them instantly. The energy felt like a shockwave of radiation, and it interfered with my roots, vines and trees’ ability to regenerate. 

“Fuck!!!!!” I was far away, but if I had a human heart, it was like watching a tragedy unfold before my very eyes. I felt it sink. I wanted to deny this reality. No.

Jura was closest to the demon king, and the impact of the blast was strongest on him. Even with all the shields and power I could muster, it was nothing before that King. His entire body was pierced by the light, and charred by the explosion, and he collapsed.

“Jura!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

He died, even though my vines tried to reach him. I tried and tried to create shields, and I saw Jura activated his familiar to shield himself too. But the explosion was too strong, too dense. 

The notification I dreaded came in.

[Jura has died.]

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!” I mentally yelled. 

Lovis managed to escape a little further, but it wasn’t enough at all. Just like Jura, the demonic rays pierced through and charred her body, and she died within seconds.

[Lovis has died. Aeon’s Demonslayer class was released.]

Kei was much further away when the radioactive shockwave hit. It tore through the layers of wooden vines, and I felt the rays pierce through the wounds. But at the same time, I thought I felt a strange flow push back at the demonic radiation. Something equally powerful, if not stronger.

Yet, I got a strange notification. [Kei has died. You have received a fragment and a Titan Soul.]

Then I looked at her again, her body had fused with all the vines. Her heart is beating, my vines had entered her body through her destroyed arm, to keep her alive. She was no longer human. Only her face was left intact, but her body had... melted into this strange part-crystalline, part-treevines structure. There was a heart in there that was still beating, I could sense it with my vines. 

It was no longer a normal heart. It was... a crystal? The crystal collapsed instantly and formed a cocoon made of crystal and a huge tangle of roots within.

“What happened?” I asked, then one of the artificial minds flooded my mind. I saw the explosion rip through Kei’s body, but then, she glowed. A part of it crumbled away, and a part of it remained that pushed back against the wave, like how a magnetosphere deflected a solar flare. In that process, the shockwave caused her body to shift and change. 

[Demon King Tigash has been destroyed]

[Due to your excessive contribution in the fight against the demon king as a non-hero, you have been granted a special experience multiplier. You gained 27 Levels. You are now Level 197]

[Jura has bequeathed the skill - Warlord’s Barrage. Skill absorbed into Root Field. Root Fields upgraded to Fields of Death]

[Lovis has bequeathed the skill  - Spear of Destruction. Skill modified and changed to Roots of Destruction]

[Faris has bequeathed the skill - Vine Control. The following skills have been merged. Healing Vines, Constrict, and Absorption to Root & Vine Mastery]

I... I couldn’t. I couldn’t check the rest of the skills. I had to pause for a moment and consider what had just happened. 

So I didn’t. I’ll get back to the skills the next time. 

-

“Oh. I died.” Jura’s spirit appeared in my soul realm the next day. So did Lovis and Faris. “I figured that would happen. I’ll disappear in a few months, right?”

It was a strange feeling to see him there. “...I’m sorry.” I shouldn’t have put them through that. But against the demon king, could I even think of holding back my best fighters? No. 

Jura shrugged. “I’m glad I did it. To fight a demon king and managed to land a hit to finish it off? If that’s not going out with a bang, what else is?”

Lovis agreed.

“Thank you both.”

Jura smiled. “I’m glad we still have these few months to say my goodbyes.”