Chapter 3305 Voice of Reason (Part 2)

At the same time, the Golems raised their Spirit Barriers and pushed their power cores to the limit to form an emerald wall to oppose the incoming prismatic light. The Tower Blade Spell devoured the World Tree's offensive and blasted through the Spirit Barriers without slowing down.

Extinction vaporized the Golems and pierced through the Yggdrasill's bark like paper. The wood beyond was still filled with magical treasures and mystical arrays that boosted its defense but fared no better.

The blazing wave of multi-colored mana emerged from the back of the Tree a split second after hitting the front, erasing entire elven villages from existence and ravaging everything the wave found on its path.

Extinction lit the sky like another sun and opened a fissure in the ground deep enough to reach Mogar's molten mantle. Only the barrier sealing the Fringe from the outside world halted the Tower Blade Spell's course but didn't stop it.

The hardened veil simply reflected the energy mass back, sending Extinction to strike the World Tree again, this time in the upper part. The Tower Blade Spell cut the Yggdrasill's branches and set their leaves ablaze, giving the Tree a look almost identical to a regular tree after a forest fire.

Almost because no tree would naturally bear a clean-cut hole nor was it big enough for the phenomenon to resemble a colossal mountain gallery. Lith and Solus could see on the other side of the Yggdrasill and so could the approaching forces.

Lith's allies had stopped advancing for the duration of Extinction, afraid that it was some last-ditch spell the World Tree had conjured against them. Once the Tower Blade Spell faded, the spontaneous truce between the two opposing factions lasted a few seconds longer.

The Brood and the Eldritch-hybrids were in shock and awe at the vision of what had become of the World Tree after the blinding flash of light. The Golems and the possessed elves, instead, were just paralyzed.

The Yggdrasill was in too much pain to control the Golems any longer. As for the elves, without the influence of the World Tree, their minds had gone blank in abject terror.

The spells they had prepared faded and those they had imbued in their equipment fell apart into sparkles of mana. No elf aside from those who had the will and talent to become a Chronicler ever left the safety of the Fringe.

On the day of their first real battle, the elves had been forced to face Divine Beasts and creatures of legend of all sorts. They had seen people they knew for centuries die gruesome deaths, their champions turn into wooden slaves, and their villages burn all in a matter of minutes.

The rest of the populace trained in magic and martial arts only to keep alive the different traditions of the different tribes. They executed drills and spars from time to time, but the worst that had ever happened was a flesh wound.

On the day of their first real battle, the elves had been forced to face Divine Beasts and creatures of legend of all sorts. They had seen people they knew for centuries die gruesome deaths, their champions turn into wooden slaves, and their villages burn all in a matter of minutes.

If not for the Yggdrasill abusing their trust with the Great Assimilation, the elves would have long dropped their weapons and run for their lives. Which was exactly what they did after a few seconds passed and no one had yet stomped them to death.

'I can't believe I've been pushed into a corner like this.' The World Tree cursed their bad luck. 'I can still win but to escape the jaws of defeat I'm forced to put everything on the line.

'My chances at Guardianhood are going to decrease greatly but at least I'll have the power to kill all of my enemies!' With that thought, the Yggdrasill took a deep breath and used the world energy captured by Root Cause to form new auxiliary cores.

The secret of the white core was known to the World Tree's bloodline for generations now but none of them had ever thought about actually using it. Becoming a white core meant eternal life but also increased the chances of falling prey to eternal madness.

It meant cutting off the legacy of the First Awakened and uprooting the many elven tribes that relied on the World Tree for protection. All the knowledge stored in the libraries would be lost and the consequences for Mogar's balance unpredictable.

Worst of all, at least for someone who wanted to become a Guardian, a white core brought the freedom to refuse a world tribulation at any time and sever the path toward the communion with Mogar forever.

The current Yggdrasill craved such power but they couldn't dismiss the possibility that they might subconsciously turn down a tribulation out of fear or panic. Failing one of Mogar's tests meant death.

There was no do-over or second chances.

For someone blessed with eternal life and unlimited power, there was nothing scarier than death.

'These idiots have no way of knowing that my predecessors developed a breathing technique suitable for the white core exactly for a contingency like this.' The World Tree thought as more and more auxiliary cores formed in their trunk and the boundary between matter and energy thinned.

As their evolution progressed, the Yggdrasill felt all the plants they had ever come in contact with become one of them. The Tree felt the powers and bloodline abilities of the Fae, both known and untapped, bloom inside of them.

The bloodline abilities mixed together, forming something new and unique.

The Yggdrasill also felt a conspicuous razor-sharp Davross edge pierce through their trunk and ravage his regenerating wood.

"Did you really think that we would stand there like morons and let you do whatever you want?" The hybrid said, their voices both incredulous and spiteful.

Only then did the World Tree notice there was no pillar of world energy surrounding their body.

'I'm no different from Thrud! Mogar is not sanctioning my transformation and is not willing to help and protect me during my apotheosis.' Until that moment, the Yggdrasill had been certain that all of their actions were for the greater good.

That what they were doing was for the sake of Mogar and the balance.

Suddenly, the thoughts of the various Chroniclers who had deemed the World Tree as insane as their late predecessor didn't sound like the nagging of lesser minds incapable of seeing the bigger picture anymore.

Those words were the voice of reason, snapping the Yggdrasill out of their wilful quest for power.

"Wait, I-"

"Save it for someone who cares." The hybrid cut the World Tree short with a grunt, plunging Ragnarök hilt-deep inside the wooden trunk and releasing an Annihilation from within the Tree's nigh-indestructible body.

The anti-Guardian spell flowed from treetop to roots tips through the channels that brought water and nutrients to the various parts of the Yggdrasill. The mana burned the lymph and enlarged the vessels carrying it until the hybrid was certain not a speck of the World Tree would survive.

Lith and Solus had fought enough Fae to know the members of such race only needed a fragment of their body to regenerate themselves.

The Yggdrasill kept progressing toward the white core but the Annihilation destroyed them faster than even their growing recovery abilities mended their wounds.

"You don't understand!" The Yggdrasill said with a begging voice. "I have not selected a successor. No World Tree has ever died before they could choose their replacement. There's no telling what might happen if you kill me now!"

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