Echoterra: Rise of the Verdant King-Chapter 45: The Lord of Ruin

BZZZ!

The Forgotten Atlanta Expanse shuddered as Clayton Hunt became something more than human, something humungous... something more like Verdant Lord.

He was the Verdant Lord, a titan of bark and thorn, towering fifteen feet above the shattered alley like a deity, his chest split with green fire, vines writhing like a god’s wrath.

His Heartseed Core roared, churning, defying the Voidstar Crucible’s nullifying wave that had nearly unmade him.

And then, roots; massive, sentient, pulsing with Territorial Sentience surged from the earth, untouched by the Ironblood’s tech, as if the Expanse itself refused to let him fall.

Commander Drayce froze, his black alloy exosuit glinting, chest-core flickering under the Verdant Lord’s gaze.

Rhea, her exosuit cracked from Clayton’s earlier vines, staggered beside the third soldier, a silent man with a plasma lance.

Joren’s body lay still, devoid of life, roots blooming from his chest.

The Genesis Suppressors hummed, but their pulses faltered against the primal fury of Clayton’s form.

"Thought you could burn me out?" Clayton’s voice boomed, no longer human but a chorus of roots and rage, laced with his Scorchpath cynicism.

"Big mistake, tech junkies".

His Tremor Sense kicked in, fine roots threading through the ground, mapping every vibration; Drayce’s steady stance, Rhea’s labored breathing, the third soldier’s subtle shift.

His Hive-Sight? It flickered, instinct reaching for the Aphid Network left behind in Echoterra, but the Expanse’s feral roots filled the void, whispering like subordinates.

The Royal Sporemark pulsed in his vein, yearning to claim kin, but these Ironblood were no kin. His only kin was nowhere to be found.

As for these guys? They were prey.

Drayce raised his rifle, plasma charging. The leader of the Omicron Cell was shaken by what was happening in from of him, he was intimidated, but he was the leader for a reason. Despite his dread, he tried to hold his nerves together facing this sudden monstrosity.

"You’re no lord," he accused again. "You’re a blight!" his vox crackled with zeal, but Clayton caught a tremor. Fear, or doubt?

The Ironblood rejected Aspects, fearing Genesis mutation into Behemorphs, grafting tech like Drayce’s core instead. But that zeal was cracking.

And then...

’Spine Bloom’.

Clayton’s tendrils erupted with jagged spikes, venomous sap gleaming.

He launched a barrage, thorns whistling like shrapnel. The third soldier dove, but... too slow. Spines punched through his exosuit, Bloodthorn Fang sap seeping into his veins, tearing him apart from within.

It was gruesome.

He collapsed, gurgling, dead before he hit the ground.

DING!

~----~

[Target Eliminated: Initiate Ember Soldier]

[Genesis Embers Acquired: 3]

[Aspect: None]

~----~

Rhea screamed, firing her lance, plasma scorching Clayton’s lignified shell.

His Predatory Bloom absorbed the heat, Flame Resistance dulling the pain, but his Genesis Threshold screamed.

DING!

~----~

[Genesis Threshold: 98%]

[Aspect Strain: Catastrophic]

[System Alert: Core collapse in 15 seconds! Survival probability: 8%.]

~----~

Drayce’s core flared, the Voidstar Crucible humming again.

"Die, rootspawn!" He slammed a second orb into the ground, red veins pulsing brighter. The null wave hit, stronger, starving Clayton’s roots.

His Parasitic Roots withered, unable to drain the alley’s biomass. Pain tore through his core, like Echoterra’s Spore Choir clawing him apart all over again.

For a moment, the pain triggered bitter memories that were hidden at the back of his mind, brutal memories forged in the crucible of Echoterra. But it lasted only a moment, Clayton shredding it apart.

He was no seed anymore. He was a King.

’Core Maw’.

Roots around his chest snapped forward in a surge, thorns absorbing the null wave’s residual Genesis matter, stabilizing his core for a heartbeat.

Then, he lunged, a vine thick as a tree, his Thorn Stem evolved trait pulsing, slamming into Rhea.

She flew, crashing through a concrete wall, her exosuit sparking, bones broken but alive. Barely.

Drayce dodged, impossibly fast, his core glowing like a Furnace Core relic. He drew a blade; black, etched with anti-Genesis runes, scavenged from a Null Crown Behemorph. Clearly, Null Crown Behemorphs were their favorites.

The blade screamed as it cut Clayton’s vine, nullifying its growth.

Clayton growled, pain lancing through his Verdant Lord form, but he didn’t falter. The pain only triggered more spite from him.

He snarled.

’Phytoleech Bloom’.

He slammed a tendril into the ground, draining residual biomass from the dead soldier’s corpse, evolutionary data flooding his core.

Strength surged, just enough.

He lashed out, vines coiling around Drayce’s legs, thorns biting through his alloy. The blade hacked free, but not before Bloodthorn Fang sap seeped in, slowing them. Drayce staggered, visor cracked, core flickering.

Clayton’s vision blurred, blood dripping from his bark-split chest.

He couldn’t win this war; not now, not with his core collapsing. The Ironblood’s zeal was unbreakable, their tech a match for his roots. He’d make them bleed still, but not now; not today. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

’Root Web’.

He unleashed a sensory grid, roots burrowing deep, collapsing the alley’s foundations. The ground caved, swallowing the Voidstar Crucible and half the ruins in a cloud of ash and bone.

Clayton’s Verdant Lord form surged forward, vines shielding him as he burrowed, Parasitic Roots tearing through subterranean biomass to fuel his escape.

Drayce fired, plasma grazing his shell, but the Expanse swallowed him whole.

He emerged a kilometer away, in a moss-choked crater, his Verdant Lord form crumbling.

Bark flaked, vines withered, and Clayton’s humanoid form collapsed, bloodied, burned, barely alive. His Heartseed Core flickered, Genesis Embers drained to nothing.

"Three hundred... thirty years old," he gasped, coughing blood, his dark humor defiant. "And I’m still... running from punks with shiny toys".

DING!

~----~

[Soul State: Germinal Bloom ~ Progress: 5%]

[System Note: Survival confirmed. Hostile encounter resolved.]

[Verdant Armistice Network: Signal Detected]

["Seek the Pulse Beneath. The Earthcore Calls."]

~----~

Clayton’s eyes widened, the cryptic message burning in his vision. The ’Earthcore Signal? What the hell is that?’

Something stirred in the Expanse, roots whispering, guiding him toward... what? A Rootsite? A purpose?

He didn’t know. But he’d survived.

And that was enough.

For now.

...

[A sadistic part of me wanted to change my mind and update 1 Chapter today just to maximize the impact of the previous Chapter’s cliffhanger, but nah, I already made up my mind. 2 Chapters per day now. I’ll try to keep up.]