[A/N]: Final chapter of Book 1 tomorrow... Please enjoy.

Silence filled the riverbank, an eeriness born from the violent and bloodied death of the Malum Hobgoblin. The thick scent of fungi, blood and flesh filled the air, dozens of tendrils writhing with corruption laid scattered about, the remains of Xochitl drenched in the bones and viscera of the dead Knight Ranked creature.

Broken constructs of castle natured spiritual energy laid beside remnants of Carna Ascia.

A chaotic eruption of stone pillars laid scattered about amidst severed limbs and putrid blood splatters.

A violent amount of spiritual energy saturated the air, water and earth around the riverbank. Spear interacted with Blood. Mountain corrupted with Fungi. Lotus devoured by Corruption. Lake combining with Wood to birth mudless swamp.

The Ink Shadow Incarnation almost arrogantly spat out the broken body of the hobgoblin. A horrifying mess of blood, bone and brain matter spilling out onto the mushroom-covered sands.

The sight was uncomfortable to say the least.

Sariel was unable to steel her stomach, throwing up at the sight of a Mana Core mixed in with what she thought was a small intestine. Shamael turning his head away from the sight, looking to comfort his sister beside him.

Wilheim just furrowed his brows, lifting his head to glare at the Incarnation Of The Hunt, while Avahni just glanced between Ler Setanta and Ru Luan Di, ignoring several of her System notifications.

The indomitus shastasaurus looked down upon the human and ginseng, glancing between the two with an almost malicious expression across his dinosaurian expression.

"Did you enjoy that, little primate? Ru Luan Di certainly did."

Ru Luan Di just shook his head, choosing to remain silent despite the obvious provocations.

Although his silence only seemed to provoke the Incarnation Of The Hunt further.

"Oh Ru Luan Di. It is unlike to you to remain so quiet in my presence?! What happened to the Primeval Jade Throne or the Imperator Of Incarnations? You used to be called the "Crown Prince Of Annihilation", but now look at you, nothing more than a floundering Mortal playing in the sands."

Ler Setanta just glanced towards Jon, whose shoulder Ru Luan Di was standing on.

"You used to break primates that dared to even gaze upon you and now you choose to stand beside one, as an equal? You say, "how the mighty have fallen", but look at you, a liar and a hypocrite."

The little ginseng king lifted his head, before shaking it from side to side.

"I said that I abandoned my Titles Ler Setanta. I meant that literally. There is no fragment in existence that carries my previous Titles. The Hallowed Saint Of Ash And Rebirth and the Immortalis Panax Rex are both dead, leaving nothing but my Mortal and Knighthood Titles in existence."

The indomitus shastasaurus almost appeared surprised at his words, closing the distance between himself and the human and ginseng. Four golden-coloured eyes stared straight at Jon and Ru Luan Di, piercing through the lies and falsehoods of the Liver Of The Ginseng King.

"Oh, so you do consider this primate you equal then?" The dinosaurian creature whispered with a grin.

The ginseng king remained silent, ignoring the fact that Jon was glancing towards him. Ler Setanta softly chuckled, his deep and bellowing voice echoing throughout the forest.

"You hear that primate? You are nothing more than an ordinary beast scratching at the door, begging to be let in. Without me, you would be nothing more than a red fleshy paste used to fertilize the ground you defecate on."

"That poor excuse for a Knight would have killed you before you could land a finishing blow. Your body is half rotted from the afflictions coursing through your veins. If it was not for your Fragment Of Mind, you would have long since lost your ability to even stand."

Jon controlled his Sea Of Knowledge, preventing his emotions from bleeding into his thoughts. He was unsure of how Ler Setanta was able to discern the fragments that he had integrated and wondered whether he could see abilities other than those with the Mutation Trait.

Glancing towards Ru Luan Di for a half-second, Jon shook his head, dismissing the words of the indomitus shastasaurus.

"If I had all of my spiritual energy going into the fight, I would have won." Jon replied in Avant, still maintaining a strong demeanour, "If anything, it seems as though you were just wasting spiritual energy instead of finishing the fight in a single blow."

"Or were you incapable of doing such a thing?"

The Liver Of The Ginseng King continued to circulate fire natured spiritual energy throughout his system. Veins afflicted with numerous types of blood poison and corruption allowed a cleansing inferno to flow through them, incinerating fungal spores and microscopic flesh parasites from his arteries.

Despite his best efforts, Jon felt his eye twitch while speaking, expression paling as the Incarnation Of The Hunt widened his grin.

"Oh? So you would prefer I do something like this then?"

Jon watched as the Ink Shadow Incarnation beneath the indomitus shastasaurus surged, swimming across the ground towards the river. Jon did not quite understand what Ler Setanta was talking about, before feeling his breath hitch, stepping forward despite his legs not desiring to do so.

Thought over form took precedence over pain and injury.

Jon raising a hand and moving to manifest Luin back into his grasp, seeing the Memento Source Fragment swiftly move closer and closer towards Ashvattha Rana. The Earthen Treasury Womb barely had any time to react as the thirty-metre long shadow emerged from beneath her, shifting the sands where she had buried her roots and opening its monstrous maw to swallow her-.

"Setanta! Stop!".

The movements of the Ink Shadow Incarnation came to a complete and utter halt as the cries of a feminine voice shouted across the riverbank. Everyone, from Wilheim still sitting atop Titus Claudius, to Shamael still comforting Sariel, to Ru Luan Di placed on Jon's shoulder all turned towards the source of the voice.

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Avahni.

The pale-faced lutin lacked a significant amount of spiritual energy. Her Water Mana Core devoid of all water natured spiritual energy, while her fire natured spiritual energy continuously expended to cleanse Jon of the debuffs he was currently afflicted with.

Xochitl had drained the vast majority of her wood natured spiritual energy, Metzli draining what little remained.

If it was not for the fact that Avahni had not used her Wind Mana Core for anything other than her Fragment Of Heart and Fragment Of Marrow, she would have long since passed out.

The Incarnation Of The Hunt paused the movements of his Memento Source Fragment, narrowing his four-golden eyes and peering towards his summoner with a disinterested expression on his face.

"And why should I, elf?"

Ler Setanta responded in Nain, allowing Wilheim to understand the words that he shastasaurus was saying. The thirty-metre long dinosaur creature floated through the air for several seconds, lowering its gaze as it looked down towards Avahni's miniscule figure.

"Because Rana is Jon's friend, which makes her mine as well! And I don't take kindly to when friends hurt one another!" She responded, tilting her head back and staring at the monstrous image of the Incarnation Of The Hunt.

Ler Setanta almost responded with an eye roll.

"I expected my summoner to have a few screws loose with a Source so outwardly pronounced, but this is ridiculous. Friends? When have I relied on such weak concept?" Ler Setanta's voice practically dripped with malice and disgust.

The indomitus shastasaurus let out another disappointed click of his tongue, moving to turn his gaze back towards Ru Luan Di.

But-.

"Oi! I'm not finished talking to you yet Setanta!" Avahni shouted, looking around for half-a-moment before picking up one of the bones of the Malum Hobgoblin and throwing it at the head of her Fragment Of Ichthyosaur.

Avahni even had to overload her Fragment Of Marrow in order to make the distance, but watched as the femur hurled through the air, colliding dead centre with the nose of the Incarnation Of The Hunt.

The sound that the bone produced the moment it crashed into Ler Setanta caused the tension across the riverbank to grow even more strained, Titus Claudius immediately abandoning Wilheim and sprinting across the sands while expanding his [Fire Chevalier] Aura to envelop Avahni before-.

The indomitus shastasaurus snatched up the green-haired lutin, extending his bestial claw-fins. With a simultaneous swish of his tail, Ler Setanta smashed his appendage against the bull-sized figure of the Custodian Of The Fire Swarm, hurling the fire swarm beetle into the Earthen Treasury Womb.

The beetle and bodhi tree smashed into one another, although the latter remained undamaged due to her roots being unaffected.

Titus Claudius was not so lucky.

"Titus!" Avahni shouted, extending her arm towards her Fragment Of Beetle, seeing purplish-blue blood splatter onto the sands.

The green-haired woman scrunching up her face in anger as she lifted her head towards Ler Setanta.

"Why would you do that!? Titus did nothing to you!" she shouted.

Her words fell on deaf ears, wind brushing past her face as the Incarnation Of The Hunt carried the two of them higher and higher into the air. Ler Setanta used two of his golden-coloured eyes to glance at her struggling figure, revealing several rows of serrated teeth behind his grin.

"Why? Why do I need a reason to do anything?!" He shouted, so loud that even Ru Luan Di could hear him from the ground.

The gazes of everyone present turning upwards towards the soaring image of the indomitus shastasaurus.

"I do things because I can! I do things because it pleases me! I do things because there is not a single creature that walks this earth that can stop me!"

"I am the one who swallowed the Stars Of Nightmare! I am the one who shattered the Immortal Ginseng Benedictus! I am the one who stepped beyond the Rank of Throne and opened the gates of divinity! I am the beast clad in blood and nightmares, who does not stop until his hunt has been completed!"

Ler Setanta peered down at Avahni still struggling within his grasp. Almost snarling as he felt her tug on the connection born from his Fragment Of Ichthyosaur.

"I am the Maw That Announces The End Of The World! I am the Shadow Beneath The Lies And Waves! I am the Thearch Of Violence And Water! The Beast That Dwells Within And Without!"

"I am everything that my Race has to offer and more!".

The Incarnation Of The Hunt glared down at Avahni, crudely struggling against the will and concepts contained within his Fragment Of Ichthyosaur. How could a Mortal ever hope to contend against the inexorable resolve born through ten thousand lifetimes of tempering?

"You dare to ask me for such a reason!?"

"I kill because I can! I inflict pain because I can! I rend the stars from the very sky because I-."

Ler Setanta felt his eyes widen, looking down at the green-haired elfin in his hands. His expression morphed into one of painful familiarity. Not just Avahni, but Ru Luan Di, Titus Claudius, Metzli, and Xochitl could feel the overflowing of emotion from the Fragment Of Ichthyosaur within Avahni's Water Mana Core.

It was neither longing nor obsession.

Neither desire nor passion.

Nor joy or sadness.

Something, somewhere in between fear and hope.

For a moment, Avahni was almost convinced that he was…

Mortal.

"… Jibril?" He muttered, almost fervently.

Before he vanished, disappearing into Avahni's Furfur-Gale Heart.

Leaving the lutin to drop several hundred feet down, eyes widening in shock.

The sound of her screams echoing throughout the System Introduction as her companions beneath her swarmed to slow her inevitable descent.

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