Ahri, still smiling with that serene grace only soone who had witnessed civilizations rise and crumble like sandcastles could pull off, stepped forward and locked eyes with Umbra — the tiny white dragon now curled up behind Kael's neck like a shy hatchling.
"This little thing?" Ahri raised an eyebrow with the sa casual air one might use when sharpening a dagger. "That's an old hag disguised as a baby. Literally." She crossed her arms, wearing a dangerously sweet smile. "Straight up textbook 'adorable liar' energy, isn't it?"
Kael slowly turned his head to look at the small creature on his shoulder.Umbra — wings tucked in, big innocent eyes, tail curled like a nervous kitten — was doing the best helpless mascot impression the world had ever seen. But Kael already knew that face ca with fine print and hidden clauses.
"Umbra…?" he asked in a low tone, the kind that knew betrayal was coming.
The wyvern let out a tiny puff of shadow mana and sighed.
"Okay, okay! Geez, you're all so dramatic. Yes, I am a… primordial, alright? But just a fragnt, okay? Like… a sliver of a concept! A forgotten slice of sothing you'd probably call 'god of the earth' or 'foundation of the world'—whatever, those definitions get fuzzy after a few millennia."She puffed out her tiny chest and added, "But look, I'm peaceful! I just wanted to travel, escape that suffocating forest, live a little, feel the wind… and not get absorbed by so sparkle-mad goddess with divine narcissism, thank you very much!"
Ahri stepped forward, smiling a smile that promised no peace whatsoever.Umbra imdiately dove into the collar of Kael's shirt like a child ducking from thunder.
Kael brought a hand to his face, exhaling deeply, the weight of the revelations pressing down on him like a mythical stone.
"Alright… let's recap," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Ahri is a goddess disguised as a pet fox. Umbra is a primordial fragnt with an identity crisis… and in front of sits Yggdrasil — the World Tree herself, sipping tea like this is just a casual picnic."
He paused. Looked up at the sky for a mont, as if hoping so cosmic force might send him a manual. Then he muttered:
"After everything I lived in my past life… maybe this insane reincarnation really was the best option."
Silence.
One second. Two.
Then, in perfect harmony, like a choir of cosmic judgnt:
"You're a reincarnate?!"
All three spoke at once —Ahri with genuine surprise,Ygg with a sudden gleam in her eyes,And Umbra with a shrill scream from inside Kael's shirt.
Kael's eyes widened, freezing in place like a deer caught in the divine headlights of three runaway celestial chariots.
"…Shit," he muttered. "Said too much."
Ahri blinked — and suddenly she was inches from his face, her golden eyes glowing with a hunger for answers.
"Reincarnated from where, exactly… love?"
Umbra tugged at his sleeve with a tiny claw. "You're like… a transmigrant from another existential plane?! THAT'S INSANELY RARE!"
Ygg simply smiled. But it was the kind of smile that made the surrounding trees creak and the flowers tilt toward her — like even nature was leaning in to hear what ca next.
"Interesting..." she murmured. "Very interesting."
Kael, caught between three cosmic forces ard with triple the questions he had answers for, did what any sane man would do.
He took another sip of tea.
"...Definitely, the tea is the only normal thing here."
The three entities — a millennia-old kitsune, a living goddess in the form of a tree, and a miniaturized pseudo-primordial dragon — pounced on Kael like starved hyenas at a feast of forbidden secrets.
Ahri was the first, grabbing Kael by the collar with a strength that did not match her feline charm.
"Another world? Another life cycle? Tell you were a legendary hero, an emperor, an immortal sage — sothing sexy!" she demanded, her golden eyes glowing like lanterns in a predator's hunt.
Umbra climbed up his shoulder, dangling from the side of his head like an annoying earring.
"Where did you co from?! How?! Were there portals? Runes? Did you cross the Veil?! How did you die? Ritual? Blood magic? Dinsional tunnel?!!!"
Ygg leaned over the tea table, now clearly more invested in the drama than the cosmic mission. The flowers around her grew and bent toward Kael, curious as if they too wanted to listen.
"You're a migrating soul… a foreign spirit in my world… ahhh… so rare, so dangerous…" she said with an enchanting smile. "Tell , little Kael. Where did you co from? What was it like? What did you see? What was the na of your realm?"
Kael's eyes widened as he tried to retreat — but he was surrounded. Literally. Ahri's nine tails swayed like walls of living silk. Umbra was practically inside his ear. Ygg looked like she'd climb over the table and into his lap if that's what it took.
"I–" Kael tried, swallowing hard. "I just…"
"You just what?" Ahri whispered, pressing her face even closer to his. "Co on, say it… before I lick the truth out of you."
Umbra tugged his hair. "TELL , TELL , TELL !"
Ygg opened a fan of petals that whispered in an ancient tongue, releasing a scent that slled like forgotten mories. "I'm waiting, Kael. And I don't like waiting."
He raised his hands, exhausted.
"I died, okay?! I died… and woke up here!"
Silence.
All three blinked.
"…That's it?" Umbra asked, an eye twitching.
"You just… died?" Ahri frowned, like soone had spoiled the ending of a book with no twist.
"How did you just end up here by dying?" Ygg raised an eyebrow. "Did you fall from the heavens like a ripe apple from the Tree of Transmigration?"
Kael shrugged, half annoyed, half embarrassed.
"I woke up in this world with this body. I just rember… lying there, in the dark… after so kind of accident. And then… poof. Here. No portals, no ritual, no epic background music. That's it. I died… and woke up."
Ahri stared at him for a long mont. Then, she crossed her arms.
"What a dramatic letdown."
Umbra let out a "h" sound and slid back onto his shoulder.
"I was at least expecting a pact with a Chaos Entity who impaled you with a ti-spear or sothing. Y'know, so personality."
Ygg, however, kept her gaze steady — sharp, analytical.
"…You didn't co here by accident, Kael," she said at last, her tone deeper, more solemn. "Even if you don't know how… no one reincarnates into the heart of my domain without reason. Especially soone bearing the Hunter's Mark."
Kael sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, well… if the reason shows up, let know. Because so far, I've just been trying not to die again."
Ahri gave a sly smile, biting her lower lip. "Don't worry, sweetheart… if it's up to , you'll die in far more interesting ways."
Kael froze again.
"…I need more tea."
Ygg clapped her hands — twice. Sharp. Firm. Like the crack of ancient branches.
The sound echoed with an authority that sliced through the air like an enchanted blade. The flowers around them subtly withdrew, as if they too understood the playti was over. Even Umbra, who had been growling softly on Kael's shoulder, went silent.
"No more cosmic confessions and revelations for now," Ygg said with a serene smile, though her erald eyes glead with unwavering focus. "Let's return to what matters."
She uncrossed her legs, adjusted the floral fan on the table, and raised her chin with the grace of a being who holds worlds together with a blink.
"The Heretic Cell. The plague threatening my dryad and my essence. I need you to destroy them, Kael Scarlet."
She looked at him with sothing between expectation and challenge.
"Now that the Divine Contract is sealed… the question is: what do you want in return?"
Ahri rolled her eyes, arms still crossed, but remained silent. Umbra went completely still, her tiny wings ceasing their fluttering, as if sensing sothing.
Kael didn't answer imdiately.
He looked at Ygg. Long and silently.
Not like soone gazing at a distant, untouchable goddess.
But like a hunter staring down a target whose heart had finally been exposed.
Then he raised his hand — and pointed.
Directly at Ygg.
"I want you."
Silence.
Deep. Total.
The forest seed to hold its breath.The leaves froze midair.Even the sounds of life — insects, birds, wind — ceased for an instant, as if the world itself awaited her response.
Ygg remained still.
Her eyes narrowed, ever so slightly, as though trying to see past Kael's flesh and into the core of his soul.
"You…" she began slowly, tasting the audacity in the air,
"…want ?"
Kael didn't look away. "Yes."
"You want the World Tree… as paynt?"
"Yes."
Ygg blinked — and sothing in her aura shifted.
The flowers around her blood all at once, like a silent applause to his answer.The canopy above swayed softly, deliberately.The ground trembled, almost imperceptibly — as if the roots themselves were stirring.
Then she laughed.
But it wasn't a light laugh.
It was slow. Deep.Like thunder rumbling through ancient boughs.The kind of laugh that belongs to soone who has heard everything, seen entire eras rise and fall — and still finds surprise in a mortal's defiance.
"You don't want absolute power.Nor forbidden knowledge.Not even a divine throne."
"No," Kael answered. "I want you. In flesh. In spirit. In bond."
Ygg rested her chin on the back of her hand, her gaze now burning with a sharper interest. This was no longer play.
"Most would beg for a branch of . A fragnt. A glimpse.You… want the whole."
Kael shrugged. "I don't do halves."
Ahri stared at him, mouth slightly open.Not out of jealousy — but pure, stunned disbelief.She actually coughed.
"Did you just propose to the literal FUCKING TREE GODDESS?!"
"It wasn't a proposal," he replied, eyes never leaving Ygg. "It was a condition."
Umbra let out a long, low whistle. "Dude… you've got balls."
Ygg rose slowly.
And the entire world seed to rise with her.
The tree canopy above shimred, the sky turned a glowing gold.Ancient branches moved. Roots below pulsed.It was as if the entire astral plane bowed to this mont.
"Kael Scarlet…" she said, her voice now filled with the totality of her power.
"If you fulfill your part…"
She stepped toward him.
Just one step.
But it was enough for her aura to envelop him — not like heat, but like sothing alive, ancient, inevitable.
"If you destroy the blight…"
Another step.
The distance between them was now re inches.Her presence trembled in the air like a storm trapped in crystal.
"Then perhaps…" she whispered, with a smile both divine and dangerously human,
"…you might earn ."
Kael smiled. Lopsided. Dangerous.
"I already started."
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