The loud crash still echoed in my ears as I struggled to stand, each movent a stabbing agony. My fractured ribs crunched under the strain, and hot blood traced viscous paths from my forehead to my chin. The world danced before my eyes, a blur of faded colors, and I felt the darkness pulling my consciousness toward its abyss.
Then the ground shook.
A sinister premonition swept through before the branches erged, writhing like hungry snakes, their tips sharp like ebony daggers, glistening and venomous. They dripped a thick, blackened liquid that corroded the earth where they fell, the branches arching over , preparing to descend.
They were not simple thorns, but violent spears that destroyed everything in their path, hungry for flesh and suffering.
"I can’t take it anymore..." I murmured.
The branches lood over , moving deliberately, like snakes savoring the fear of their prey. Each sharp point flashed, and the subtle scent of sulfur lingered like drops of death. I tried to move, but the pain cut through like a red-hot knife. My lungs burned, my arms—I could no longer feel them, my body had beco useless.
"Is this how it all ends?" My voice sounded low and lancholy as those words of resignation ca out, the irony not lost even in the midst of suffering. After so much training, so many promises, I would die in this cursed place, devoured by the fuses of a cursed demon.
"Master... forgive ." The wail escaped as I rembered all the promises I had made.
Images of my first-sester juniors—their young faces, full of hope—passed through my mind. They trusted . They followed , though. I failed.
A lump ford in my throat. Father... Mother... it seems I’ll see them soon.
The rustling of the branches grew closer, the sll of poisonous sap filling my lungs. I no longer had the strength to even tremble.
With a final breath, I let out the words I’d been keeping inside for years:
"I’m sorry..."
And then, I closed my eyes, waiting for the imminent end.
[Brat, is this how you plan to end up?]
A voice echoed in my mind, cold as ice, ancient as the stars.
"Who...?"
When I opened my eyelids, startled by the voice I’d heard, sothing surprising was happening.
Abruptly, the world stopped.
The monster’s branches hung suspended in the air, motionless. Ti itself seed frozen.
[I ask again: Are you going to die like a dog?]
"Who the... hell...?" My lips barely moved.
[Your young people need you. Are you going to let them die?]
A flash of anger coursed through .
"I can’t do anything! I’m devastated!" "I don’t want to do it, but I’ll die soon. If I had another chance, I’d definitely..."
[Kid, I can save them, but you’ll have to give your body.]
"My... body?"
[Yes. You will cease to exist. I will take your place.]
A deathly silence.
Then, another moan escaped my mouth. If I’m going to die, at least I hope they’re safe.
"Okay, do it. No matter what happens to , if you can save them, take my body."
[Good.]
Almost imdiately, sothing entered my body, an almost omnipotent force. Everything around beca clearer. The pain, the blood, the fatigue—everything faded, consud by a blaze of pure golden energy that coursed through my veins. My pupils dilated, capturing every glimr of branches pointed in my direction.
And then—
Ti began to flow again.
One hundred, maybe more, living ebony spears, dripping with poison, crossed the space toward in a deadly swarm. But now... now I saw every movent.
I didn’t chant. I didn’t summon.
The mana simply flowed, as if it had been waiting for this very mont. A shield of golden light erupted around my body, pulsing the mana fiercely. The first branch impacted—CLANG!—and I deflected it with a twist of the shield. But ten more took its place, their tips twisting like demonic claws.
Distribute. Filter. Accelerate. A series of pinpoint actions passed through my mind in a matter of seconds.
The mana branched out in precise streams: one part toward my brain, sharpening my perceptions to the extre. Ti gave way, slowing enough for to see the poison dripping in slow motion. Another portion of the mana poured into my arms and legs, infusing my muscles with superhuman strength.
And then... I moved.
BOOM!
The ground cracked under the force of my sideways leap. The demonic branches lashed out and tore through the air where they had been milliseconds before, digging into the earth with a hiss of frustration, creating smoking craters.
My movent was as fast as lightning, almost teleporting , adrenaline and mana burning in my veins. I took a deep breath, my fingers closing around the hilt of my sword, that old battle companion covered in rust and scars, surrounded by ancient runes. Upon contact, the tal responded.
SHIIING!
The rust fell off the blade in a cloud of fine dust, revealing a silver blade that glead with holy light, as if forged from lunar shards. Its radiance was so intense that even the shadows clouding my vision receded.
Eldrath the demon—a monster of twisted roots and poisonous sap—trembled.
He waited no longer. With a roar from the depths of his bowels, he shook the foundations of the earth. He launched another wave of sharp branches, this ti faster, violent, and desperate, as if sensing urgency.
But I was calm, no longer prey.
I was the hunter.
I dodged like a breeze, each step a perfect choreography, each movent fluid as water. The branches whistled around , stabbing into the void, unable to touch .
And then, I reached the perfect range.
The silver blade of my sword ca to life. The glow grew brighter, shining with a golden glow that illuminated the darkness like a miniature sun. The air vibrated around the blade of my mouth, as if the gods themselves were whispering in my ear.
«Cut.»
My voice was no more than a whisper as I swung my sword horizontally, but the world seed to hear it.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The sound of reality cracking filled the air. The demonic tree stopped. Then, as if an invisible force had disintegrated it from within, it began to crumble. Its branches turned to ash, its trunk split into a thousand pieces, and in a matter of seconds, nothing remained but a pile of black dust floating in the wind.
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