Under the suction of hundreds of thousands of tubes, Aragorn's body instantly withered, all his nutrients devoured in an instant, reducing him to a state drier than a mummy.
His body trembled violently, and the fire of life in his eyes was extinguished.
However, at the very instant of his death, a scorching soul broke through the boundary between the illusory and the real, instantly traveling through the metal pipes to reach the base of the metal tower.
Then, a pillar of light radiating a soul-stirring brilliance surged toward the heavens!
"This is..."
Shawei's figure involuntarily emerged from stealth, a look of horror appearing on his face.
Even a single glance filled his heart with intense terror, as if a fatal crisis was approaching, yet he couldn't evade it.
"The Life Tree Project... I have to stop it... Hmm?! Jia'er????"
Suddenly, the figure inside one of the twelve massive pearls caught the corner of Shawei's eye, and he shouted out.
Unfortunately, Jia'er was unconscious at this moment and couldn't respond in any way.
"I'm coming to save you right now! Hold on!"
Black scales instantly spread across both of Shawei's hands, releasing tremendous power.
"Open... for me!!!"
His fist, infused with the terrifying force of the Serpent Bite Fist, slammed into the light barrier, but couldn't even make it tremble.
"How is this possible? Why is this happening?"
Shawei was on the verge of breaking down. A black phantom gathered on his fist as he struck the barrier again and again.
Unfortunately, the core defense—combining the Empire's highest technology and resources—stood immovable like a mountain.
Buzzing...
At this moment, a scorching soul had already traveled up the pillar of light into the sky. The crown-like metal tower began rumbling, radiating stirring light.
At the top of the pillar of light, a magic web spanning heaven and earth faintly materialized.
Creak! Creak!
The pillar of light emanating from the metal tower instantly split into several branches, beginning to connect with the magic web.
These branches continued to spread, and within minutes they had formed the shape of a tree of light, its numerous branches tightly interwoven with the Shadow
"The Life Tree! It's begun..."
In that moment, nearly all the surviving citizens of the imperial capital raised their heads to look at the giant tree of light.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Shawei kept throwing punches, the scales on his hands eventually cracking and shattering, splattering scorching blood onto the light membrane before him.
"Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, or Lei... either one, I don't care... please, give me strength..."
After falling into despair, Shawei could endure no longer and began praying to the beings in the void for help.
Inside the villa, Leilin and Wanshe's international chess match had reached the mid-game.
"It seems... these blood descendants have run into trouble? What do you think?"
Wanshe picked up a chess piece, a smile on her face, as if everything that had transpired was playing out before her eyes.
"No matter what we do, the Empire—no, the Royal Family now—their efforts are destined to fail..."
A hint of contempt appeared at the corner of Leilin's lips. "If even we can sense it so easily, how could the Lady of Night possibly miss it? She's probably discovered something long ago, just letting them carry on with their little moves. Waiting for the final harvest..."
"The question is, what should we do?"
Wanshe's beautiful eyes fixed on Leilin, carrying a hint of coquettishness. "I can feel it. You have other plans in mind..."
"That's my secret and the source of my confidence! Forgive me for not sharing for the time being!"
Leilin looked at the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents with sincere eyes. "When the time is right, I will fulfill everything I've promised. Until then, please trust me!"
"And for now? We just do nothing?"
The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents leaned back languidly, and it was unclear whether she actually believed Leilin's words.
"For now? We can add one or two variables at will, then watch how the Lady of Night reacts!"
Leilin smiled faintly, his finger tapping a black mandala pattern.
Inside the imperial palace, outside the imperial garden, Shawei's body suddenly burned with heat.
"This feeling..." He tore off his jacket. Then he saw a beautiful black bud beginning to bloom slowly over his heart, pain that felt like his body was being torn apart assaulting his nerves.
Last time, the unbearable agony had driven him into unconsciousness, but this time was different!
After several upgrades, Shawei could now grit his teeth and endure the pain.
"Ha... ahhhh..." The excruciating agony made Shawei bite until his gums bled, but he also felt a terrifyingly powerful force surging through his body.
"Serpent Bite Fist!"
Vaguely, a massive black serpent with crimson eyes, its body as large as several palaces combined, materialized before Shawei.
He contracted and threw his punch! Amid earth-shaking roars and thunderous booms, the surrounding ground trembled instantly, and the entire energy light membrane shattered.
"Jia'er!"
Shawei lunged toward Jia'er's location.
"Get lost!"
A surge of furious emotion rose from the pillar of light, and the syringe needles from before suddenly erupted outward, hurtling toward Shawei.
"Just these..."
Shawei reached out with both hands, but the instant he made contact with the tubes, his expression changed wildly.
"This hardness is ten thousand times more terrifying than alloy! And this horrifying force and electrical current..."
Bang!
His figure was sent flying without surprise.
"The Life Tree Project tolerates no disruption!"
Amid soul fluctuations that were almost roars, the light tree in midair seemed to finally complete its preparations, its form expanding explosively.
"Hmm?"
Almost in that same instant, Shawei's head spun, feeling as though his spiritual consciousness was being pulled from his body. Fortunately, the protection of his bloodline power and the mandala flower allowed him to barely maintain awareness.
But he would rather have passed out than witness this scene. In Shawei's eyes, tiny motes of light were rising from every part of the imperial city, converging toward the metal base here like rain.
The twelve pearls glowed, and the faces of the girls inside all showed expressions of pain.
Powerful soul energy appeared to undergo a transformation through them, then all converged into the center of the metal tower—toward the Life Tree of Light.
After receiving these motes of light, the Life Tree of Light grew ever larger, and gradually, the pulling force on Shawei grew stronger and stronger.
"It's already begun!"
Ling, piloting the Light of Hope mech, sighed and separated from Crow Eye.
"Curse you! This is all your fault!"
Crow Eye looked around. There, an invisible energy network had materialized, wrapping around the ordinary people who had collapsed from the plague like tree roots.
Then a tiny white-hot mote of light was extracted from a human body along with the root network, drawn into the Life Tree. Seeing this, an expression of extreme fury and shock appeared on Crow Eye's face.
"Even if you defeat me now, it's useless..."
Ling gave Crow Eye a bitter smile. "First, the diseased bodies—the soul energy of these people will serve as the Life Tree's first nourishment. Then it will be the uninfected ordinary people, and finally the extraordinary individuals and blood descendants... As the Life Tree grows, its soul-draining power will become increasingly terrifying. No one will be able to escape... Some people think they can be safe just by shedding their Quick Shadow? How laughable! The Weave is everywhere—such actions would let them live a few extra minutes at most, nothing more..."
"If you know that, then why won't you go stop it?"
Crow Eye was furious beyond measure, the monstrous hundred-serpent creature roaring as it charged again.
"Because... this is my fate..."
A bitter smile appeared on Ling's face, and her eyes held a distant, nostalgic light.
"Cough cough..."
She coughed twice, spitting out crimson blood.
"Even now... I can't hold on any longer? After all, I only have an ordinary person's body..."
Ling wore a smile as the Light of Hope armor met the charging monster head-on. At that moment, the roots of the Shadow Weave reached her, penetrating her body—that sensation of having her soul seized made Ling's expression freeze.
"Self-destruct!"
In the instant before losing consciousness, Ling issued her final command.
Boom!
The Light of Hope armor seized the hundred-serpent monster, and then a terrifying mushroom cloud erupted into the sky.
"I really wish I could go back to childhood... and see that emperor behind the swing, pushing me..."
A smile curved Ling's lips before she sank into complete darkness, her body consumed by terrifying flames.
"Crow Eye! Crow Eye!"
Borti rushed over, but all he found was a bottomless black pit.
The blast radius of the Light of Hope's self-destruction had been surprisingly small, but this wasn't out of mercy—it was to concentrate all its power on Crow Eye.
This area had been completely annihilated, with even the earth layer entirely gone, revealing a deep, bottomless passage to the core of the earth.
Could Crow Eye survive taking that force head-on?
Tears streamed down Borti's face as he kept calling out.
"Cough cough... don't worry! Before I destroy the Empire, I won't die..."
Several long black serpents reached out like vines to grip the edge of the pit, and Crow Eye climbed out. His current condition was far from good—nearly half his body had been destroyed, and he had lost both legs and his right arm.
"She was a worthy opponent, and also a pitiable one..."
Crow Eye looked at the pit and sighed.
Splashing sounds...
The muscles on his body surged and writhed, and in the end, new arms and legs grew directly from the stumps.
The newly formed limbs bore fair, smooth skin, indistinguishable from before.