My world-tree system-Chapter 51 - 50: No time to breathe...

The cocoon shattered, pieces of wood and vines thrown in all directions. A shockwave sent Foster reeling backwards, and a deathly silence fell over the city.

Then a footstep sounded.

And then another.

Something was slowly rising from the debris.

Foster felt his heart clench.

It was no longer Kassandra.

Her body was still there, but nothing about her resembled the elf he had known.

Her once silky hair had become rough, a sticky black, as if soaked in a living ink that slowly dripped down her shoulders. Her skin had lost its elven glow, turning grey with dark veins pulsing at an inhuman rate.

But it was her eyes that chilled Foster.

His gaze, once filled with determination and intelligence, was gone.

Her pupils had disappeared, replaced by an abyssal void, a hungry blackness, a nothingness where all light drowned.

- Kassandra?’ Foster said hesitantly.

Seeing the monster turn its gaze towards him without answering, Foster hesitated.

- Kassandra, are you still there?

An unintelligible, guttural sound came from her mouth and then she moved.

Not a simple advance, no.

A dazzling surge, impossible to follow, like a shadow distorting itself out of time.

Before Foster could react, an icy hand closed around his throat.

He had no time to counter.

His back slammed into the trunk of the Mother Tree, raising a cloud of dust and leaves.

- Kass...!

There was no reply.

She was no longer there.

Only an immeasurable, brutal, crushing, unknown force was pressing down on him.

He tried to free his throat, but his attacker squeezed harder, literally lifting his body off the ground.

His breath caught, intense pain radiating from his windpipe.

This thing...

Was stronger than him.

Much stronger.

Then there was a scream.

- Foster!

The sound of footsteps multiplied and the clash of armour.

The elves of the World Tree burst into the central clearing.

They stopped dead in their tracks.

Their leader, their Lord of the World Tree, Foster, was suspended a metre above the ground, strangled by a familiar but unrecognisable figure.

Their faces froze in terror.

And then Kassandra slowly turned her head towards them.

A twisted, unhuman smile stretched her lips.

And her grip tightened further.

The world was becoming a blur around Foster.

The icy grip around his throat didn’t weaken, squeezing every breath, every heartbeat. His lungs emptied, his body struggled against the shadow that took hold of him.

But he remained a fighter.

And even when death clamped down on him, his instincts still responded.

The monster’s attention was diverted for a moment, drawn by the elves arriving as reinforcements.

This was the loophole.

His loophole.

In a tiny, almost imperceptible gesture, he held out his hand slightly.

A simple whisper of magic.

His grimoire flickered green behind him, like a star ready to consume the night.

- Roots of the World Tree.

A cracking sound.

A root sprang from the ground like a living whip, faster than lightning, sharper than a blade forged by the gods themselves.

And in an instant, the monster’s hand was severed.

The hold released immediately.

Foster fell, rolling on the floor, gasping for breath, his throat marked with reddish streaks.

The air burned his lungs, but he was free.

He raised his head just in time to see the creature staring at the bloody stump where his hand had been severed.

- Foster! Köflik shouted and ran to join him, closely followed by the other elves.

The monster’s black blood stopped flowing.

Filaments of dark energy spiralled, intertwined and merged, recreating flesh and bone in a fraction of a second.

In the blink of an eye, the monster’s hand was back.

Intact.

As if nothing had ever happened.

Foster felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

- ... Shit.

The enemy turned towards them again, his mouth stretched into a demented grin.

- Köflik, find a solution or we’re dead, I’m going to try to beat him and if not hold him back, I’m counting on you.

Foster couldn’t hold back any longer.

The air around him distorted, vibrating under the power he was releasing. His golden tattoos lit up violently, tracing luminous arabesques on his skin.

Then his breath changed.

An invisible wave swept through his body, kicking up dust and shaking the air like a silent explosion.

His pupils disappeared.

In his eye sockets, only two beams of pure light.

[Avatar of Life Activation]

Foster struck first.

His fist pierced the air, a devastating shockwave exploding in its wake.

But the monster was already elsewhere.

Kassandra, or rather what she had become, slipped into the shadows, escaping the blow with inhuman speed.

Then she counter-attacked.

An arm shot out, a simple movement...

But the wind howled under the impact.

Foster blocked in time, crossing his forearms in front of him.

BOOM!

A shockwave shattered the ground beneath him, throwing chunks of stone in all directions.

He took three steps back.

Three steps too far.

The monster was already upon him.

A thin black leg, almost unreal, rose with surgical precision.

An upward kick.

Foster didn’t even have time to dodge.

The impact hit his chin, lifting his whole body into the air.

He felt himself go.

But this time, he was faster.

A pulse shook his body, a deep throbbing.

In a flash of consciousness, he clutched at the roots of his power.

His hand opened, and the next moment, a colossal tendril of wood sprang from the ground, twisting like a giant snake.

- [ROOT OF THE WORLD-TREE]!

The root pierced the monster’s torso.

Well... it should have.

Foster saw the flesh open under the impact...

Then immediately closed again, as if nothing had happened.

A shiver of horror ran through him.

The monster smiled.

And struck again.

Its hand shot towards him, extending like a dark whip, charged with unhealthy energy.

Foster dived to the side, barely dodging, but the attack pulverised the ground where he’d been a second earlier.

Even as the Avatar of Life, even with all his power, this monster was too fast, too strong, too resistant.

And every blow he didn’t block brought him closer to death.

- Köflik, my friend, be quicker... Foster murmured.

Köflik’s point of view:

öflik stared at the fight with a dull tension, his fists clenched until his fingernails bit into his skin. Every blow Foster landed sounded like a death knell in the air. He wasn’t winning.

Even in his Avatar form, even with his power increased tenfold by the Mother Tree, he wasn’t dominating.

Kassandra - or rather, what she had become - seemed impervious to pain, unstoppable, a monster of corrupted energy.

A monster that was crushing them.

Köflik felt panic swell in his heart, an icy shiver run down his spine.

They were going to lose.

No.

He couldn’t accept that.

- We’ve got to do something, damn it!

His voice cracked like a whip, shattering the torpor that had settled over the elves around him.

Giovanni, his eyes haunted, shook his head.

- But what?! Even Foster can’t beat her!

Another elf spoke up, trembling with rage.

- We can all try to attack her together.

- And get wiped out in an instant?’ replied Giovanni sharply. We’ve already seen it! This thing... it’s stronger than anything we’ve fought so far.

The silence fell again, heavy and unbearable.

Köflik gritted his teeth. There had to be a solution.

His gaze fell on Foster.

Then on the Mother Tree, unchanging, venerable, the source of their power.

And a thought sprang to mind.

- Wait... what if we didn’t beat her?

The other elves turned their heads towards him, dumbfounded.

- Explain yourself.

Köflik took a deep breath, trying to order his thoughts.

- The Mother Tree protects us, recognises us. It nourishes us, gives us our own strength...

He looked up at Kassandra, his face distorted by this dark energy, by this mark that was consuming her.

- But she isn’t one of them.

Giovanni shuddered.

- That’s why the dome rejected her.

Köflik nodded.

- Exactly.

He looked at his companions, his heart beating wildly.

- If the Mother Tree refuses to accept it... then let’s make it do so.

- You mean...’ began an elf.

- We bind her to us.

The shock in their eyes was instantaneous.

- Wait, wait. Giovanni raised a hand. You want to integrate her into the Mother Tree’s network?!

- Yes, I do.

- But she’s already marked by that magic!’ exclaimed another elf. We don’t even know what it’s doing to her, or if it’s even possible!

- That’s just it. Köflik was talking fast and thinking even faster. She’s a battlefield. The darkness is trying to possess her... but if we force our bond on her, if we draw her into the Mother Tree...

He looked at them all.

- Maybe we can get her back.

The silence dragged on.

Giovanni ran a trembling hand over his face.

- So what do you suggest?

Köflik took a deep breath.

- We’ve got to surround it.

The elves frowned.

- If we form a circle around her, linked to the Mother Tree, we can create a barrier of energy that will disturb her.

He glanced at Foster, who was still struggling.

- Foster will have to pass on his essence to her.

The elves widened their eyes.

- You want him to give her... his blood?’ Giovanni gasped in horror.

Köflik nodded.

- If his blood gets into her, the link will be forced.

- But that’s madness!

- It’s the only option.

Köflik stared at each of the elves.

- If we do nothing, we’ll all die.

The silence that followed was even more oppressive than the battle.

Then, slowly... Giovanni clenched his fists.

- So let’s do it.

A shiver ran through the group.