The Emperor nodded at Sword Grandmaster Shang.
Sword Grandmaster Shang returned the nod. He then leaped forward, leading the charge. Eight Grandmaster level combatants followed behind him.
Their ranks included Sword Grandmaster Shang, the Spear Master that followed the woman in the veil, the Seeker, The Ruler of the Scholar Region, and the five Grandmasters of the Mainland.
Somehow, the Emperor had gotten all of them to temporarily follow his lead, and even display the full extent of their abilities.
Behind them were more than fifty first rank Masters. Hundreds of lower level Masters followed behind them. This was the force of an entire world, and it was not yet done.
As the army closed in on the Treant, a roar was heard throughout the Mainland. A golden dragon with two wings and a long, majestic body, soared through the air.
On top of it was a man bathed in gold.
He briefly looked at the Seeker and the Ruler of the Scholar Region, who nearly retreated on instinct, but soon looked away. The Emperor had even forced the Temple Master to put aside his hatred for heretics.
Skymender stood by the Emperor as the army charged.
They looked into the distance. Despite the power of the army, neither felt that there was any chance of winning.
"I have always wondered how defeating the Treant would affect the world, but it is simply impossible. Nothing can possibly kill it. Even fire, a tree's usual weakness, does nothing to it. If anything, it is more resistant to fire than anything else. Prepare to retreat on a moment's notice." The Emperor said.
Skymender nodded.
The golden dragon reached the Treant first. It spat out a breath of golden flames. The flames were so large that the trunk of the Treant was completely bathed in them.
Suddenly, a screech rang out. From one of the branches of the Treant, an eagle soared.
The golden dragon was under attack, and its flames redirected towards the eagle.
The eagle was not a match for these flames, but a root of the Treant suddenly moved at an unimaginable speed.
The golden dragon was sent flying backwards, knocking down mountains.
It soon got back up and charged, injured. A panther Mythical Beast leaped off of a tree branch, attacking the dragon. Another Mythical beast followed, this time an armadillo.
This trio formed an offensive that could not be ignored.
Around that time, the Grandmasters reached the Treant.
They ran on the tree, slashing, stabbing, or shooting wildly.
Their power was immense, but compared to the size of the Treant, it was truly nothing.
Mythical beasts surrounded them, causing intense fighting to break out. All the while, the Treant's roots moved like tentacles, slashing wildly and destroying every piece of ground it touched.
It was uprooting the entire continent. At the same time, lightning struck down constantly. Most of it simply dispersed in the air, but a fraction constantly attacked the Grandmasters and the golden dragon, as though it had a mind of its own.
The battle actually seemed winnable. The Grandmasters were holding their own, pushing the Mythical beasts back. The golden dragon was slowly injuring the three Mythical Beasts it was fighting.
It seemed that there truly was hope.
And then the Treant opened its eyes.
It was as if it had been sleeping before, moving on instinct.
As its eyes opened, one of its roots snapped. In the next moment, the body of one of the five Grandmasters of the Mainland burst like a bubble, exploding into a rain of blood.
He had let his guard down slightly, and he had died instantly as a result.
Everyone else was filled with dread, instantly stopping and paying much more attention to their surroundings.
Some, however, forgot to look up.
The Spear Master brought by the woman in the veil was struck by a thick bolt of lightning, severely injuring him.
The Treant's roots whipped around.
Now, the Grandmasters had to constantly dodge the roots while being attacked by the Mythical Beasts.
The Temple Master also had to fight the wild roots.
The situation turned around in an instant, becoming hopeless. It was nearly impossible to do anything while dodging the giant roots and facing the bombardment of the Mythical Beasts.
Even Sword Grandmaster Shang was forced to constantly move around. Time passed, and more of the Grandmasters were injured.
The Temple Master still managed to push back the three Mythical Beasts and attack the Treant, but the Treant fought back. The golden dragon had no advantage. The three Mythical beasts fought it while it clashed with the roots of the Trent.
The Treant continued to move forward. Although it looked slow from afar, it was moving extremely fast. It wouldn't be long before it reached the Emperor and Skymender.
Although Skymender had heard of the Treant's terror, and had felt its ominous presence, only now did he truly understand how much of a different level it was on.
Although the Grandmasters and the golden dragon seemed to be fighting against the Treant with a hope of survival, Skymender could tell that the Treant was still barely putting any effort in.
The group of Grandmasters began to dwindle.
They started with nine.
Now, they had six. The deaths of the six remaining would be sped up due to the lack of combatants.
The first rank masters had just about been completely wiped out, while the rest of the Masters taking part formed a sea of blood.
There were no further surprises. The Grandmasters were continuously pushed back.
Finally, the Temple Master shone with a bright light, as did the dragon.
In just a few seconds, it killed two of the three Mythical Beasts and charged at the Treant.
It slashed its claws, and three arcs of golden light flowed out, causing the largest damage the Treant had received thus far.
The golden dragon rapidly attacked the Treant as it shone with the bright gold light.
Skymender could faintly make out the figure of the Temple Master atop the dragon, his body slowly being turned into spots of light that floated away.